>  > If you don't mind an utterly dull-handling car, get a new VW.
>>  Probably unreliable too. If you want something utterly reliable, get
>>  a Toyota.
>
>Personal opinion or fact?

Ask the guys at "Wheels":
"Wheels"  <wheels@acp.com.au>

>Based on my experience with a brand new 1.9 Jetta
>TDI the handling is fine and the suspension is well composed and absorbs
>potholes with aplomb.  The body is solid.  Car magazines tend to interpret
>the car's compliant suspension as bad handling.

US magazines perhaps. But plowing understeer is bad handling. Modern
VWs & Audis suffer from it.

>Toss in a few potholes and
>speed bumps and it works just fine.  I used to own an '87 Jetta GLI and
>spent quite a bit of time in an '84 GTI.  I think my comparison was fair.
>
>>  US ones are far worse.
>
>Really.

Yes. The US market gets soft springs and little rebound damping... on
virtually every imported model. Including the Golf GTi. "Wheels" was
MOST critical of the 80s GTis.

>  >The mags do say that manufacturing quality and fit & finish are very good
>>  (another turnaround; however VW's plastics record is unbelievably
>>  bad, so time will tell whether the new dashboards will shrink, sag
>>  and break in half and window winder handles snap off), approaching
>>  Toyota levels.
>
>So, are you just paraphrasing car magazines or can you very this information
>from personal experience?

Personal experience!!

>Yes, the early 80's VW's plastics leave something
>to be desired.  (Shrinking dashboards?  Breaking in half? Where do you get
>this stuff?)

Where? From nearly every 70s Golf, Scirocco or Passat (Audi 80) I
have owned or seen. Split down the middle, then sag. And window
winders which inevitably break off.

>  Based on my observations the plastics and the interiors on the
>new batch of VWs, such as the B5 passats, hold up rather well in the
>southern Alabama furnace.

How about in 5 years' time... will the dash skins be shrinking?
Hopefully not, but time will tell whether VW has really gotten its
quality act together.

>Look at the Passat resale values and compare to
>the perrenial American-Joe favorite, the Honda Accord.  I'd say people are
>voting with their wallets and the resale value challenges the Honda.

I admit that Hondas RUST. Even Japanese-assembed ones. I love Honda
bikes but its cars' long-term quality sucks.
--
Andrew Grebneff
165 Evans St, Dunedin 9001, New Zealand
<andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut