I feel you guys, Cindy... more than one might know. I lived, ate, breathed nothing but VWs for many years. The last water-cooled car i owned was a 2002 Golf, a good car, had it for 5 years, sold it to Justin, who is loving it. But, i have had family members who bought these cars out of loyalty to the brand which provided my living for so many years, and each of them has had issues, serious issues. My dad's Passat's saving grace was his warranty. It covered his transmission failure at about 35k miles, his A/C compressor implosion, right out of warranty, that was still covered under a good will program, and of course all the other little annoyances that are more minor. The extended emissions warranty covered the ridiculously expensive converter when it seperated at a welded seam... ask me how many times i saw those rolling in to the shop....The transmission has developed another shifting problem again, now the car has 80k miles on it. And sometimes, it just dies while he goes down the road, a fuel pressure fault is to blame. Luckily i encouraged an extended warranty. That was a good thing. Amanda's Jetta got a new trans when it started to destroy itself with roughly 8k miles on the clock. Phil's A4 had a mechanical fuel pump take a dump, again, skated in under the warranty. Again, serious dollars if it happened outside of warranty. Not saying they're bad cars. All i ever see are the broken ones. All I am saying is that if VW wants a customer to consider ever coming back, quality and affordability of ownership need to be addressed. But, and here's the kicker.... i know for a fact we have a lot of customers who own BMWs and Mercedes Benzes with 250k miles on them that don't cost as much to keep on the road. Truth. Period.... I guess that's why this former loyalist bought a Subaru... and loves everything about it. I think i am going to go adjust some points now. And smile about thoughts of the good old days.....
