http://forums.vwvortex.com/vwbb/Forum6/HTML/015464.html

Not very flattering stuff.

 

screw those guys....who cares? I personally would never pay $30k for a VW.

 

I would never trade in my Maxima for a fart wagon.

 

I think they are being very civil... and most of their comments are "I drove one" or "I own one and.." so at least their comments are educated... and not just spouting off. Bottom line is most of them are correct at this point (its not a long thread yet and could get nasty as time goes on).

If our VW dealer had not been total asses and demanding $2K over list for the V6-GLX, I'd be in a passat.. and I would probably be very happy with it. I would most likely have good paint and not cringe at the thought of having something repaired at the dealer.

 

Passats are nice cars, however, there are several reasons I didn't get one:
They are expensive, especially for VW's and they are not offered with anything other than 15" wheels (even the Jetta is offered with 17"s), I found that to be a bit strange.
I have no regrets about not getting one, and every time I get behind the wheel of my Max, I am glad that is the car I am driving.

 

Hey!!! I have a 99 Maxima and to this day I have had no problems. Most of my freinds have Maximas and they have had no major problems. I know someone who has an 89 Maxima with 289 thousand miles and has never had a major problem, its still going strong. It sucks that some new Maximas are having paint problems but hopefully it will get fixed. I can go on here for ever but to get to the point I would rather have the Maxima's realiable powerful V6 engine. After all, Maxima's engine has won Ward's pretigious "10 Best Engine" award and Maxima stands alone as the only automobile to win this coveted award for 7 years in a row.

 

I agree. They are not attacking the drivers of the Maxima and I agree with some of their comments, especially the one about the "lack of sound insulation" when rock and pebbles hit the door. Everytime I hear that sound I think to myself, "well there is another chip".

I drove a passat and it just wasn't me. Plus do to color blindness I guess, I could not see the dash very well at dusk with the lights on. It seemed washed out to me.

Someone on that sight said he would like to have the reliability of Japan cars. Here I am thinking I would like the reliablity of German cars. Go figure....?

 

...but the things that turned me away from it were:

1) Ridiculously high price / low value
2) Less than stellar reliability (esp. electronics)
3) Performance not as good as Max/auto, Accord V6
4) New model just around the corner (when I was buying)
5) CRAP *SS CUPHOLDERS!!!

The last one just topped it off! Come on, for close to $30k you'd expect some half-decent cupholders for crying out loud!! The cupholders in my Accord V6 can swollow a Super Sized McDonald's drink! The other things I *had* to have was bulletproof reliability because of the high mileage I drive (30k/yr). I can't afford the downtime of having a car in the shop (very often), and the Japanese have been and continue to be a step or two above Germany and other Euro makes in terms of reliability, and a couple steps ahead of Detroit.

I still like the Passat, though. It's a nice car, just not for me. I like the revised styling of the "new" Passat but haven't had a chance to take a close look at one.

 

If this person asked the same question on this forum you'd get the same types of responses only they'd naturally be in favour of the Max! Most of the replies are pretty reasonable, some of them even say the Max is better. Which it is, of course :

 

We forgot to mention the warranty, only offered with a two year warranty.

 

I think we're confusing build quality with reliability. When i think reliability, you can't beat Japanese. The Germans are known for the quality materials, workmanship, etc. Put them together and people will swarm to the dealer if the price was reasonable.

 

I just love some of the comments like...."the door in the Passat closes with a thud" while the door in the Maxima closes with a ting. LOL.

 

Oh yeah, that was the other thing. A 2 year B2B warranty was COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE in my book, especially with Passat's tending to fall apart on you after 2 years (from Consumer Reports), dealership's poor reputations for satisfaction, and high repair prices.

My Honda only has a 3yr/36k warranty on it, but Honda's aren't prone to falling apart like VW's are. And even then Honda will often do free repairs outside of the warranty period if you've kept up on maintenance.

For VW to have LESS warranty, LESS reliability, and a poorer reputation for service satisfaction was yet another thing that kept me away from the Passat.

 

I forgot about the warranty... 2 years!!! no way... plus when I said "2 years? For $30+K, do you think you could get an extended warranty for me? doesnt that bother your buyers?"

He said no one ever asks for the extended warranty or even minds that its a 2 year warranty.. Total BS. I told him that if he couldnt give me an extended warranty as part of the deal (remember they were asking almost 2K over list) that he could keep his car.. I ended up walking off the lot and he called the next day saying he could deal. I hung up on him.

 

Kandee, I agree! You're a "G" Genius that is

 

When they talk about the "quality" materials in the VW cars, why is it a reliabilty problems? My co-worker has a 98 Jetta that has been in the shop more than my 83 Chevy pick-up. Every regulator for the power windows has been replaced, the driver's side was replaced 3 times. The closest dealarship to us is a TOTAL A$$HOLE, they have like the worst track record for happy customers. Butt they are they only dealer with-in about 90 miles, so they know they can F people. I'll take rice over sausage anyday.

 

...that's what my wife said to the new Passat, after test driving the Maxima.She picked the Max over the VW.
The Passat is too narrow, less rear leg and head room, and cant seat 3 comfortably, like we can get three teens in the back of the Maxima.
VW paint is NO better than Nissan's. My mom's silver Beetle looks like hell from chips and fading after only two years on the road. The worst paint on the road today!!(of any car I have ever owned or seen

 

I'm no Genius but thanks for typing that!!! Nice website!!! I didnt know that the 2003 is going to get an independent rear suspension, well I will send you a photo of my car in a week or two.

 

Until I got in there.....I am such a trouble maker!

 

hahaha, im the one who supported the Maxima! I like my Jetta, but the Maxima is better!

 

shame on you it's bad to start trouble

\

 

VW are made in mexico btw....that is a big turn off for me. I personally think that VW and Audi are like Nissan and Infiniti.....and VW and Nissan are everywhere in Bay Area. BTW, those people are a lot nicer than those from CL forum.....maybe they are a bit older and not really concern about racing.

 

I am still so ****ed with my VW experience that I had to post this in the VW forum thread - oh and by the way, not all VW's are Mexican, my GTi was manufactured in Munich, Germany and had far more problems than my wifes Beetle from Mexico.

To start, I wish that I had know about this forum when I owned my GTi.

I agree with many of the sentiments in this thread, I do feel that the materials used in VW's have a better class of look and feel - I loved the interior of my GTi.

Unfortunately after just under 10 months of ownership I got rid of my sack of **** VW, although my wife still has her Beetle.

I won't go into great detail, but as an overview, the car was off the road for nearly 3 months
while I owned it. It had to have two bodywork repairs to deal with factory defects, the interior rattled and squeaked like no other car I have ever experienced (believe me I have experienced a lot of cars). There was significant power fade between 2,600 and 3k revs and when ever I took the thing in the dealer caused more problems - forget to order parts, cause damage, forget to do things etc. etc.

To summarize, I had 14 problems when I took the car in for it's first 5k service (including the alarm not working that took over 6 months to fix) all of which were never addressed by the time I took a bath and got rid of it.

I probably should have persued the issues harder with the dealer and with VW themselves, but to be frank, whilst the Beetle is better, it has been no angel either (a hesitance issue has still never been solved) and I decided that it wasn't worth my time and energy for a car I had come to hate with a passion.

We had two VW's and would have been repeat customers, but VW has lost us forever. I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER VW.

This is my VW experience, my Nissan one has been better (if not perfect), but in the future before I make any new car purchasing decision I am going to find that vehicles forum and sit on it for 6 months before I do anything.

Good luck

 

Passats are very nice cars. After owning one for three years I considered leasing another. The car did not fall apart. Sure, as with my Max, there were a few things that needed reparied, but I found the service to be very good (for the most part).

Regarding value, I still think the Passat is a high value car. The materials used (interior specifically) are of much better quality than those used in the Maxima.

With that said, Im very happy with my Max...its got more *****, and handles nicer.