We have had 6 VAG cars (4 have been VW's) since 1986. Took delivery of the 6th last Wednesday. The first 2 VW's (1986 and 1989) were quite superb but the 1996 VW was a bit rattly and the paint was very soft. We kept it almost 7 years so so I think that suggsts it was not that bad. We had another 1996 VW as well, that had soft paint (it was the same colour as the other 96). We have had a Seat Leon which was magic and now have a Skoda Superb which so far matches my expectations.

All have been 100% reliable.

Our last few visits to VW showrooms have been greeted with total disinterest by the staff but since we like the cars we have bought Seat and Skoda instead. Not only are they cheaper but the dealers want to sell and the cars are pretty much identical to their VW siblings.

If you like the cars buy with confidence. Hope you find an interested VW dealer, if not try Seat or Skoda. But don't forget Audi, sometimes they are better value than VW.

Waw. Do I sence a bit of anti VW vibs in hear ? I had the build quality in mind with the original post rather than reliability but its complety relevent. Twelve cars, a million miles never a breakdown, no calls to the AA. A few problems in the last 7-8 years but nothing that stopped me driving, cant be too bad. Japanes cars are the best for reliability, no question.

A wiley old car trader advised me once saying, if you are thinking of buying a new car dont go to the showroom go look at well used ones first, see how they stand up because that will be your car soon. VWs stand up very well in that test. Other makes that stick in my mind are Toyota, some of the bigger Hondas were above average. The worst exampes were when looking for a Sharan alternative, two MPVs of French origin one with 80K and one with 105K. Really saggy drivers seats and theadbare fabric showing the foam underneath. Unless the driver was wearing sandpaper trousers thats not good enough in my book.

I have always been happy with VAG build quality, they were the first to use contiuous lazer welded bady seams rather than spot welds, gives a very rigid body that reduces rattles and squeeks. Even old ones are'nt rattled. Other makes have likley cought up over the last ten years, I was impressed when I looked at both Toyota and Mazda recently, not looked at others yet.

Having praised VAG I have pretty well made up my mind not to buy another, emissions, not the cheating because they all do it, More the lies, lack of information, the poorly developed fix and their shamefull treatment of their customers that have problems. They need to fix peoples cars properly and give them a good warranty before I will be back.

Edited by Stanb Sevento on 08/03/2017 at 11:30

The title of this thread made me laugh!. Im not sure VW's have ever been as good as the many VW affionados would have us believe. The problem is that percieved quality and quality are not the same things. But when it comes to cars, showroom appeal is where people sem to make their minds up. VW's have interiors which look and feel nice, seemingly a cut above the riff raff. I used to work at a VW dealer between 2000 and 2004, and frankly, if you knew where to look, it was not hard to see where in the cars the money had been saved to put in the lovely dashboard and trim!. During my time at this dealer i was reading a magazine which had one of the 'JD power surveys', which looked in detail at each and every car's reliability based on owners reviews and experiences, also how the dealers performed in resolving problems, and also, how satisfied owners were with their cars overall. In this survey, the then current MK4 golf scored pretty poorly, i dont remember exactly how far down the results table the golf came, but i do remember it was slightly BELOW the fiat stilo!. I cut this out and stuck it up on the wall in the valeting bay (sales staff would often let customers view cars in the valeting bay, especially in winter). Needless to say, it didnt last long!.

The problem always is that people's expreiences are very subjective - anyone (as you did) all through their car owning life without any problems with a particular make, whilst others have had numerous problems. I think what many (including myself) have alluded to is that from larger surveys, VW have done far less well from a reliability standpoint than their own marketing blurb would, like us to believe.

You are correct that reliability of their cars is still good, looking at the raw figures (there's normally about a 10-15% difference between the best and worst manufacturers), however VW's widely publicised cost-cutting over tha last 5-10 years (as Mercedes did 15-odd years ago) has, it appears (to me), lead to a significant increase in faults, warranty claims and now the dieselgate issue, including the what appears to be a poor quality fix (from an engineering/operational perspective) for the engines affected.

I think you possibly are confusing trim quality/fit and finish with engineering quality. Think about this - how many mk4 and 5 Golfs (or older) do you see on the roads these days - there used to be loads about, now (especially the mk4) very few. And yet, still lots of Japanese equivalents (including my own 11yo Mazda3) knocking around, and yet originally sold about a fifth in numbers in the UK. They may have less fancy, hard-wearing plastics and trim materials, but for the most part their engineering is sound, and with a bit of TLC can go on and on. Speaking personally, I know where I'd rather a manufacturer spend their manufacturing budget on if they had to choose one or the other, and it ain't soft-touch plastics and brushed metal trim...

VW still has legions of fans and still makes 'good' cars (and vans - the Transporter has lots of fans). Not for me though, perhaps because of my local dealers; I'd still like a Phaeton V10 diesel - but I can't get it with the one essential option: a driver :-)

Which makes have taken over from VW ? I can't point to any company that has taken over their 'reliable' mantle. Perhaps the whole car industry is moving on before each technology matures.