New Consumer Reports favorable to Golf, TDI, Passat...

I'm sure someone probably posted a summary already, but I didn't see it, so here's the link to my reply in another thread where I provided the reader's digest version of Consumer Reports (new car issue: April '01) writeups regarding VWs.
http://forums.tdiclub.com/NonCGI/Forum3/HTML/004777.html

blue909

would seem the jetta was rated lower because of higher incidence of electrical problems...

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by TexasBill:
would seem the jetta was rated lower because of higher incidence of electrical problems...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


That's strange. There are still people on the Vortex who are adamant that the Jetta has less rear seat room than the Golf, and that the ground clearance is actually different.


[This message has been edited by TDI ESEL (edited March 10, 2001).]

Heck, there are people on THIS forum who think the Jetta has less rear seat room...

And they're probably right as far as head room goes.

FWIW, zero electrical problems. 9 months, 9,000 miles.

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GotDiesel? (Diesel... It does a body good.)

2001 Jetta GLS TDI Green/Black leather, 5-speed, the works.
1966 Cessna 150

Yes, I have read every detail of the new CR issue. I would love to know what data drove the electrical problem rating. Was it the infamous Relay 109, or was it some of the grounding problems I've heard about?

That being said, our Jetta is 10.5 months old with 17.5K miles. Runs like a champ.

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2000 5spd Atlantic Blue Jetta

"I would love to know what data drove the electrical problem rating."

Consumer Reports does their rating system based on form postcards that readers send in. So lots of CR readers checked the box "Uh, yeah, I had an electrical problem"--that's the data behind the rating... Not that its a bad method, or anything.

That's a good point, and it isn't CR's job to be technical car gurus or auto writers. It's likely possible that Golfs and Jettas have different issues related to suppliers and build since they're made in different plants really far apart. To cite an example, nylon snap features will have issues breaking off when the assembly plant has a dry, cold environment but will not if the air is humid and/or warm.

[This message has been edited by TDI ESEL (edited March 11, 2001).]

CR doesn't need me to defend it's sruvey/ratings procedures, but considering they get something like 2.5 million responses, it makes sense that they have to limit possible problem categories to a finite number of choices... thus 'electrical' and not more specific.

Looking at the CR complaints re: late-model VWs, the problems reported seem to mirror the general complaints folks have mentioned here: electrical and hardware predominate. Even those of us lucky enough to have trouble-free TDIs (thus far... knock on wood) can agree that VW still has a way to go before they give Honda, Lexus, etc... a run for their money in terms of reliability. BTW, tho' the Golf GLS TDI '00 tested actually placed at the very top of the list (small car) scoring even higher than the Honda Civic EX they tested, the Honda actually took the 'best small car' title in the text ahead of the charts. This seems to be due soley to the Hondas higher reliability/predictied reliability ratings.

blue909