10 VW's you'll only see in China

compu_85

Gadget Guy
Joined
Sep 29, 2003
Location
La Conner, WA
TDI
... None :S
The lack of features, thinness of the metal, and cheapness of the interiors might make you cry too!

-J
 

Jetta_Pilot

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 14, 2005
Location
West Hill, Ont.
TDI
2015 Passat Highline TDI Candy White (SEL Premium) long gone 2002 Jetta TDI
The lack of features, thinness of the metal, and cheapness of the interiors might make you cry too!-J
Well when I had to remove the inner fender screws on the rear fenders to mount my mudflaps, I thought the AMERICAN built 2015 Passat's fender metal was made of airmail paper. Thinnest crap I've ever seen on a car !
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Fenders are always thin, they should be, the offer no structure really, and should be easily deformed on impact. Some are made of plastic.

What Jason is talking about is the inner structure that many Chinese cars, even Chinadubs, are made from. The Chinese do not value life like we do, so their safety standards are pretty lax. They often use lower grades of steel, and they soldier on reskinning old designs from the '80s... only in some cases they somehow manage to make them worse. There are some pretty dramatic crash test videos out there of some of these cars. Seriously awful. A 1985 German or American built A2 Jetta or Golf actually holds up BETTER in a crash than a 2005 Chinese Jetta that is a facelifted version of the same car.

Given how horrible the fit and durability is of so many Chinese made replacement car parts, as well as pretty much any tool, appliance, etc. that you may buy, despite on its surface looking and feeling just as good as the original, I'd say the idea of a Chinese car in total, even a Volkswagen, is not likely to be as good as we'd think it to be. At least, not by our standards.

But their prices reflect that. Better steel may add several hundred dollars to the price of a car, and more inner structure steel means more steps to assemble it, and more energy to weld it. They leave that stuff out.
 

kjclow

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 26, 2003
Location
Charlotte, NC
TDI
2010 JSW TDI silver and black. 2017 Ram Ecodiesel dark red with brown and beige interior.
Isn't the Chinese Jetta built on the same design as the NCS Jetta in North America? I also thought I remember reading that their one of their other sedans was based on the NMS Passat design. So that 10 cars not available here may be closer to three or four.
 

compu_85

Gadget Guy
Joined
Sep 29, 2003
Location
La Conner, WA
TDI
... None :S
The NMS Passat was sold in the Chinese market as a premium car... it got features there we couldn't get here. I imagine it was priced accordingly... many times more than the most basic cars.

-J
 
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