VW GOLF vs. HONDA CIVIC (II)

azninvazion

I am just like very other 16 year old new driver.
Debating: Personal experience Reliablilty Honda or
Rumored Reliability VW. I do like the look of the
VW but the reliability factor still has a great
piece of the decision making pie.

My father had a 78' Beetle. The car lasted a long
while, but it was the A1s so they were all proven
to last long. My family has 3 hondas and had 5
toyotas (2 were stolen), all successful. The 3
toyotas that we have are all still running. 2 were
stollen so some drug dealer probaly is profiling
in the 88 cressida, with a 95' T-100 in his garage,
both of which were ours. Anyways my point is that
we have a 84' Toyota Pickup Truck with 200k+ and
is still running. The only problem is the clutch.
A 95 Toyota Pickup which is still running and was
a replacement for the stolen T-100. Our third
toyota is a 95 V6 LE camry, which runs like a charm
which will probaly continue. My brother has a 95'
Civic 4dr which is still running. My Cousin had a
87' Accord which had 250k+ miles easy. We traded
it in for a grand. Another cousin recently bought
a CRV, which I think is going to last forever.

Other then the old beetle, we have had me
experience with a VW, and lots of experience with
[non-permissible content removed]. So what's the solution? I just want to hear
some of your experiences with VWs. Just want to
know how long you have had it for and how many
miles that you have put into it. Also, how much
upkeep you pay on the car average yearly.

Thanks all and sorry for the long message.....Pete


P.S. Could you also e-mail me your responses
because I think I will forget to check this Board.
Thanks Edmund supporters!!

arnie328

I've owned both... and have been VERY happy with both. I've put close to 200,000 miles on both.

But I've always leaned towards the Golf, just because it has a more comfortable seat for a big guy like me.

Arnie

97grandamgt

I know a person who had a VW Jetta with 250,000 miles on it, that was still running when he got rid of it. But that Jetta was a late 80s Wolfsburg version, that was built in Germany. Most are now manufactured in Mexico, but then Most Hondas are made in America. The one drawback to VW is that they tend to have a low resale value. Hope I could be of assistance.

sftroubl

I'm a '98 Golf owner, so far completely happy, and the car has been trouble free. Overall it seems every bit as solid and well put together as the best Japanese cars. By most accounts, the build quality on the just-introduced 4th generation Golfs and Jettas is even better. Of course, ANY brand-new model is likely to encounter some glitches in the first year of production.

vanderboy

I'm a '94 golf owner. Quality is ok, not great. At 35000 miles the clutch began to slip. I ended up
replacing it at 45000 ( i knew it was bad so i thought i'd try to get as many miles on it as possible.) Having owned an Omni hatchback for
135000 miles and a Mazda GLC with about the same amount of miles before replacing the clutch i could not understand the premature failure. Lehigh Valley VW assured me that it was
my driving habits, not their quality. Looking back
on it I think the automatic clutch adjustment mechainism was never set up correctly. At 85000 miles the AC quit - not cool. Am waiting for spring to fix. Also , at 10000 miles the AC / heater blower stopped working in positions 2, 4. The electrical contacts weren't connecting, a soft blow with a hammer fixed that. (it was easier than bringing it back to the dealer. My kids broke
the cup holder between front and back seat, it was flimsy. Also, my oldest son tried using the overhead hand assist to get out of the backseat. It came off in his hand. The rear hatch back has been rusting almost from day one. I mentioned this to the dealer and he wasn't sure if it would be covered under warranty. If rust begins because of an owner inflicted injury its not vw's responsiblity. I mentioned to the dealer that there was another one on the lot with the exact same problem. He then said it would problably be covered but a regional representative would have to inspect. In closing I say,

BUY HONDA, BUY HONDA, BUY HONDA!

volfy

Thank you Rev. vanderboy,

Congratulations and best of luck on your conversion to Honda-ism. 'Hope you continue your religious practice of fixing bad electrical contacts with hammer blows. We'll miss ya!

isellhondas

Welcome! But...won't you miss all of the electrical problems, handles falling off etc??

rdeschene

Vanderboy. It had a Rabbit of late 70's, early 80's vintage (I can't remember the year) - made in the U.S.A.. You have a '94 Golf. It is really incredible, though, that these two vehicles which share no components in common have shown the same deficiencies: broken trim, corroded electrical contacts and early rust. That just indicates poorly engineered and/or assembled trim and electrical parts.

By the time I got rid of that car there were few interior switches that hadn't snapped off in my hand in the cold or had to be disassembled to have the contacts cleaned or just been replaced outright. Having to kick the slush off the fuel pump to keep it from freezing was a funny habit I had to get into, to allow for its (point-blank) STUPID placement.

I ideally want a vehicle to be MORE THAN a reliable appliance, but that means I expect it to be a reliable appliance PLUS something else. We'll see how the German-built VW's fare - and I might check out a new Golf just to see where the fuel pump is now! ;-)

pudd

I bought a brand new '94 Golf GL and had it for slightly over a year and had *zero*, *none*, *nicht* problems with it. I totalled it and came out of the car without a scratch. I now own a '97 Golf k2 and haven't had any problems with it except for the battery that died and had to be replaced. It's funny because other VW owners I personally know just have good things to say about them. A friend had an '83 Golf GTI which he drove every year to the south of France in the summer(hot climate)and returned to the the Swiss alps with it in the winter for skiing season. All he did to that car is regular maintenance and it never let him down once despite the years of commuting from hot to cold climates, along with the constant abuse. I never heard him saying anything about his fuel pump freezing either. What I do remember him saying though is "this engine is unbreakable". He sold it with close to 200,000km and it was still running strong. His experience with that car convinced me to buy VW and I don't regret it. I've known other VW owners since('93 Corrado, '95&96 GTI VR6), and all are more than satisfied. p.s. Also, never directly heard of, or personally experienced electrical problems. I don't sell VWs either.