Unpimp your ride!

[Ma Deuce]

I'm looking right now - for starters, there's 3 Skoda's (VW's budget line) in the top-ten of Top Gear's 2005 survey. I'll look for more.

Wait a sec; VW Group turned Skoda into their budget line? I thought that Volkswagen was supposed to be that (hence it's name), and that Skoda would continue pretty much autonomously under the VW Group's management. Well, they've done stranger things to muddy their brand boundaries, like selling a $70,000 luxury barge under the VW name (isn't that what Audi or Bentley is supposed to be for?)

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

As cars go, Volkswagen is more or less shit in every respect (quality, reliability, design)

:wtf:

Are they selling different VW's in Europe and the US ? Because VW is one of *the* best brands in terms of quality and reliability.

In the United States, Volkswagen consistently scores either as well as, or worse than General Motors brands such as Chevrolet. The problem being that Chevrolet isn't exactly known as a very reliable brand, at all. On top of that, Volkswagen repairs are costly, due to limited availability of parts and mechanics trained in repairing Volkswagens.

In the US, reliability tends to break down as follows:
- Toyota then Honda tend to be the most reliable makes, on average, with Toyota enjoying a fairly distinct edge over Honda.

- Subaru and Nissan lag a bit behind Toyota and Honda with Subaru being somewhat more consistent across its models and throughout its recent history than Nissan is. (Though all Subaru really makes for the American market are two cars (cars based on the compact Impreza platform, and cars based on the midsize Legacy platform) sharing a small handful of powerplants.)

- Trailing far beind Toyota, Honda, Subaru, and Nissan is Mazda. Being assimilated by Ford hasn't helped matters any. Buying into Mazda was supposed to bring Japanese reliability to Ford. However, the converse seems to be the case.

- Everyone else competes for dead-last, with European imports doing somewhat worse than Ford, Chrysler, Mitsubishi (who happens to supply powerplants to Chrysler,) and GM models (all Isuzu sells these days to the consumer market are rebadged Chevorlets,) and Korean imports being widely regarded as "shitty, but improving fast."

[Ma Deuce]

In the United States, Volkswagen consistently scores either as well as, or worse than General Motors brands such as Chevrolet. The problem being that Chevrolet isn't exactly known as a very reliable brand, at all. On top of that, Volkswagen repairs are costly, due to limited availability of parts and mechanics trained in repairing Volkswagens."

Who's figures are you using and how old are they, because in J.D. Power's 2005 survey, Volkswagen's dependability score (in terms of problems per 100 vehicles) was well behind Chevrolet and most other GM brands.

PDF File

[Death from the Sea]

hey, that was Satan from the movie Constantine....

[Bounty]

Wait a sec; VW Group turned Skoda into their budget line? I thought that Volkswagen was supposed to be that (hence it's name), and that Skoda would continue pretty much autonomously under the VW Group's management.

Well, Skodas are built on a common VW platform but equivalent models sell for less... I don't know what the official policy is.

Well, they've done stranger things to muddy their brand boundaries, like selling a $70,000 luxury barge under the VW name (isn't that what Audi or Bentley is supposed to be for?)

The Phaeton was a pet project of the previous (?) director.

In the United States, Volkswagen consistently scores either as well as, or worse than General Motors brands such as Chevrolet.

That is very, very odd. Anyhting from the VW group is almost synonymous with "will outlast the cockroaches" in Europe, last time I checked. My parents and grandparents have been driving VW's and Audis since the '50s and none of them have ever broken down.

[Oberleutnant]

Wait a sec; VW Group turned Skoda into their budget line? I thought that Volkswagen was supposed to be that (hence it's name), and that Skoda would continue pretty much autonomously under the VW Group's management.

Well, Skodas are built on a common VW platform but equivalent models sell for less... I don't know what the official policy is.

The segmentation of the most important VW brands goes something like this:

Skoda (Czech) - Budget cars for those who don't mind about the brand image all that much. Skoda has made great strides forward after VW acquired it following the fall of communism and is now in par with its mother brand. Recently Skoda Superb has become a common sight in the local taxi business that has historically preferred Mercedes-Benz and Volvo models. You pay several thousand less than you would with VW and still get a great car.

SEAT (Spain) - Affordable and unconventional sporty brand. Here they still bear the stigma of being unreliable POS, even though modern SEAT has nothing to do with the SEAT circa 1980 that was owned by the Italian car manufacturer Fiat.

Volkswagen (Germany) - Good, well-rounded quality cars. The primary brand. Most of other brands' models are based on platforms originally developed for VW models. For example, the new Golf platform is also used by Skoda Octavia, Audi A3, SEAT Leon and Toledo.

Audi (Germany) - Premium high-performance cars with above the average price tag. In Europe, they compete in the same market segment with BMW, M-B and Volvo.


All four are built on the same platforms and share high number of parts. There's hardly any major difference. When my dad was looking for a second car for the family, we tested Skoda Fabia, SEAT Toledo and Volkswagen Golf among many others. They were almost identical to drive, although the level of polishing was slightly better in Golf then the rest. We ended up buying Skoda because of its price and size.

I've also driven Audi A4 when my dad had one and tested VW Passat. Again, there wasn't any difference between the two (enough to justify the higher price?), though the former was smoother and nicer to drive.

[Dalton]

- Everyone else competes for dead-last, with European imports doing somewhat worse than Ford, Chrysler, Mitsubishi (who happens to supply powerplants to Chrysler,) and GM models (all Isuzu sells these days to the consumer market are rebadged Chevorlets,) and Korean imports being widely regarded as "shitty, but improving fast."

God, Fords suck. I had one for about a year or two that was just a money pit.