South African- built Golf V's

[Joshinthecity]

South African- built Golf V\'s

Does anyone have the inside scoop as to what the quality is like on these South African "German" cars ?
Mine is built there and I'm not complaining, more curious..

Thanks,

Josh.

 

[kwhiner]

South African- built Golf V\'s

I always thought that the euro built VWs would be the best. But after 4 yrs and 82k+ miles my Samba Golf is doing just fine. With the robot welding and various parts coming from VW factories/suppliers around the world. I have a hard time believing it really makes any difference where the car is assembled.

 

[HopefulFred]

Re: South African- built Golf V\'s

Agreed.

In my reading around here, the only times I see people contend one manufacturing facility is better than another (because of its location) the speaker has nothing but unsupported anecdotes or prejudice to back them up.

 

[bender16v]

Re: South African- built Golf V\'s

I asked the dealer when I got mine a couple weeks ago since it was built in Brazil and my other 3 are from Germany. He said that VW inforces their global quality policy on all plants, so the vehicles should be the same.

 

[Fahrfuwerfuelen]

South African- built Golf V\'s

My USA '05 Jetta was assembled in Mexico, with the PD engine from Poland and the tranny from Argentina.
Looked in the fresh air vents by the windshield wipers and saw a sticker that said Czech Republic. So parts come from all over.

Also have a '97 Dodge Ram p/u which was assembled in Mexico as well.

My guess. Has to do with labor costs.

 

[vwrobert51]

Re: South African- built Golf V\'s

from what i know, brazil factory is the most newest factory and has the most modern systems, and true it dosent mattter were car was made they all have to meet the same quality. my jetta wagon was made in wolfsberg, but just wait until we start seeing cars in u.s. made at chinas factorys, its comming,

 

[Jwagen04]

Re: South African- built Golf V\'s

my jetta wagon was made in wolfsberg, but just wait until we start seeing cars in u.s. made at chinas factorys, its comming,

I would never buy one made in China ...

 

[vwrobert51]

Re: South African- built Golf V\'s

wait, its comming soon from ford, gm, jeep, vw, toyota ect! its a matter of labor cost, get used to it or take good care of the car you have.

 

[Jwagen04]

Re: South African- built Golf V\'s

wait, its comming soon from ford, gm, jeep, vw, toyota ect! its a matter of labor cost, get used to it or take good care of the car you have.

A good many plants would have to shut down here first before that happens. People may have gotten used to buying shoes from China, but I don't think a brand name car made in China is going to fly any time soon. Now I know there is talk of the Chinese hitting the US market in near future, but these are going to be under the name of "Hungmisu" or something along those lines, akin to the Yugo's of a few years back. People that bought those knew exactly what kind car they were buying..heck it was named after that great industrial powerhouse of the world, Yugoslavia!

Call me old school, but to me it DOES matter where the car is built. One of the reasons I bought the Jetta Wagon is because it is assembled in Deutschland. I also looked at consumer review sites, and the German built wagon had a consistent overall quality rating far greater than their Mexican built counterparts. If it had been built here in the good ole USA or Canada that would have been even better!

 

[vwrobert51]

Re: South African- built Golf V\'s

thats why I bought my jetta wagon also, I even sat down and built my car with what I wanted, and waited 3 months before it came to me all wrapped up right from the boat, I did my own PDI and no ones touched it but me, not even the lot lizard did a detail, (2004 jetta wagon GL with tiptronic, p/d no sunroof wheat beige with cloth black interior with monsoon sound system and 6 disc changer michlen tires ) all for $ 18,500 out the door (employee cost).

 

[vwrobert51]

Re: South African- built Golf V\'s

hey back to josh and his SOUTH AFRICAN built golf, I dont think you car was made in SOUTH AFRICA, if so how did you get it in the U.S.? whats the VIN # as far as I know only vws in U.S. are made in MEXICO, SOUTH AMERICA (golf) and WOLFSBURG, and EDMAN (PASSAT) TOUREG AND R-32 IN HUNGREY,

 

[Jwagen04]

Re: South African- built Golf V\'s

hey back to josh and his SOUTH AFRICAN built golf, I dont think you car was made in SOUTH AFRICA, if so how did you get it in the U.S.? whats the VIN # as far as I know only vws in U.S. are made in MEXICO, SOUTH AMERICA (golf) and WOLFSBURG, and EDMAN (PASSAT) TOUREG AND R-32 IN HUNGREY,

Perhaps he meant South America (Brazil).

 

[Joshinthecity]

Re: South African- built Golf V\'s

hey back to josh and his SOUTH AFRICAN built golf, I dont think you car was made in SOUTH AFRICA, if so how did you get it in the U.S.? whats the VIN # as far as I know only vws in U.S. are made in MEXICO, SOUTH AMERICA (golf) and WOLFSBURG, and EDMAN (PASSAT) TOUREG AND R-32 IN HUNGREY,

I'm typing this from Sydney Australia

 

[vwrobert51]

Re: South African- built Golf V\'s

OK THAT EXPLANES IT, YOUR GOLFS ARE MADE IN SOUTH AFRICA,

 

[erickordt]

Re: South African- built Golf V\'s

G'Day Mate,

Great to see another Aussie with a Golf here : ) Australia stopped getting Golf TDIs in 1997 (Golf III) and were only reintroduced here late last year with the Golf V (Diesel costs about 10 cents a litre more here than normal fuel).

I own a Golf V TDI with DSG and likewise with my parents. The South African build quality has had numerous critisms laid at it by various motoring editors here in Australia (like seat knobs dropping off and so forth). My parents Golf was missing a o-ring in the Turbo charger and also the DSG had a electrical problem. Additionally, the paint finish on the drivers door is rather rough relative to the rest of the vehicle.

However, beyond that they seem well built and rather solid. Infact, if you examine all the parts used on the vehicle you will see they all come from over the world (e.g. the tyres from France, body panels from Italy, gearbox from Kassel).

Anyhow, after almost winning a very big Car of the Year award here (came second in the Wheels magazine) it was extremely impressive. Typically it won the dud of the year award with the Mark III and Mark IV.

Anyhow,

Hooroo
From Eric in Perth, Australia

NB: They sell Chinese built Volkswagen Polo sedans here (Like a Golf but slightly smaller - same size as a Golf Mk 1) which seem well built from initial inspections.

--------
1996 Golf TDI Mark III
2005 Golf TDI Mark V with DSG

 

[vwrobert51]

Re: South African- built Golf V\'s

You see !!! POLOS MADE IN CHINA SHIPPED FOR SALE IN AUST.Its only a matter of time when we see them here. remember I told you so.

 

[erickordt]

Re: South African- built Golf V\'s

You see !!! POLOS MADE IN CHINA SHIPPED FOR SALE IN AUST.Its only a matter of time when we see them here. remember I told you so.

Yes - you can read about them here:

http://www.autoweb.com.au/cms/A_102357/newsarticle.html

Australia is the test market for Chinese built Volkswagens. However, I imagine for Australia its not a bad place to get cars from due to the close proximity and alot of our exports going to China. I read an article somewhere that they expect the Chinese to start making cars for America at incredibly low prices to try and penetrate the marketplace.

Eric in Australia
1996 Golf III TDI
2005 Golf V TDI avec DSG

 

[DrStink]

Re: South African- built Golf V\'s

[

Call me old school, but to me it DOES matter where the car is built. One of the reasons I bought the Jetta Wagon is because it is assembled in Deutschland. ... If it had been built here in the good ole USA or Canada that would have been even better!

You're old fashioned.

Is a Saab Swedish or American? Does it matter if the Saab in question was assembled in Trollhaettan, Japan or Ohio?

Is Jaguar American or British? Is DCX American or German?

Is Opel an American car is spite of having neither sales or nor manufacturing in the US?

How does a NAFTA built VW compare to a Swedish built Saab?

Is a Saab built in Ohio better than a Honda built in Alabama?

Should I buy a Saab 9-2X built in Japan, a Honda Civic built in East Liberty Ohio, a BMW X5 built in South Carolina or a Pontiac Firebird built in Canada?

In a global economy, trying to assign a country of origin based on the nameplate is naive at best and otherwise likely to be very misleading.

Even if you assume the final assembly point matters, which I don't due to robotics and modern manufacturing process controls, should the assembly point take the blame for a parts supplier halfway around the world?

If a Mexican assembled Jetta 1.8T leaves you stranded, do you blame "those lazy mexicans" when you really should be blaming Bosch in Germany for making bad coilpacks?

My sister's Jetta Wolfsburg and her husband's A4 both needed coilpacks replaced - no small feat since they are stationed overseas. Meanwhile, my Mexican built TDI has been rock solid.

My point? Before you conclude that German built VWs are more reliable than Mexican VWs, you'd need to control for the percentage of each engine type produced at each facility.

 

[erickordt]

Re: South African- built Golf V\'s

I concur to a degree.. however - take for instance the South African built Volkswagen Golfs in relation to the German built Volkswagen Golfs.

In South Africa a high proportion of the assembly work is done by humans - an iniative Volkswagen has with the South African Government to employ a large black and mostly unskilled workforce (e.g. a result of the apartheld era and a high unemployment rate). This workforce in essence replacing robotic work in assembling the automobile as used in Germany.

Whilst I do not critise this, the fact is that humans are more likely to make errors in assembly. My parents golf for instance had its TDI motor assembled in South Africa for the new Golf. This engine was missing an o-ring in the turbo charger assembled their - indications are this is more than likely a human oversight in the assembly process. Robots are typically less likely to make this error (e.g. dont get fatigued).

As such, I thing where a car is built does contribute to its overall quality. Whilst in Sydney (Australia) recently I was overwhelmed by the quantity of Volkswagen Beetles on the workshop floors in the garages (they sold 12 beetles across all of Australia last month I believe). These mexican assembled Beetles appear to have some serious problems in the assembly process just by viewing the sheer quantity in for warranty work.

Eric in Australia
1996 Golf Mk III TDI
2005 Golf Mk 5 TDI avec DSG

 

[Dimitri16V]

Re: South African- built Golf V\'s

I would not be comfortable with a German built car nowdays after all the cuts in workers benefits. My 99 Golf TDI paint started flaking in a year, even though the car was made in Germany. Most problems with newer Vws are associated with quality of the parts that other companies supply to VW

 

[SoCalTony]

South African- built Golf V\'s

Does anyone have the inside scoop as to what the quality is like on these South African "German" cars ?
Mine is built there and I'm not complaining, more curious..

Thanks,

Josh.

I don't know about South African assembled VW's but BMW assembles the 325i in South Africa and supposedly they are built better than the German-built 325i's. The BMW South Africa plant won an award back in 2002 for the best "European" plant in Initial Quality.

http://www.bmw.co.za/Info/News/archive/ehighestquality.html

My Brazilian-built Golf has been fine, it has never left me stranded and I've driven it all over the US. It really doesn't matter to me where the car is built, it could be built in Mongolia for all I care. As long as it's assembled well and reliable, that's all that matters.

You know, back in the 60's Japanese cars were a joke, look at where they are now. In 10 years maybe Korean cars will be as highly-regarded as Japanese cars, you never know.

 

[b0gman]

Re: South African- built Golf V\'s

My Jetta A3 was built in the Germany and so far 120k miles so far had no problems whereas my girlfriend's best friend has an 03 Golf which has had the autotranny locking switch go bad and 2 of the 4 windows fall in the door. Her car I discovered is a product of ''wonderful'' germexican engineering. I dont buy that i doesnt matter where a car is built

 

[lea]

Re: South African- built Golf V\'s

My golf delivered last week, has a few issues, it had paint chips on the rear door due to malaligned hinges..fixed.
back passenger side door wouldnt lock...fixed...wiring wasnt pushed in far enough...

now, when i start it, (ive done 400k) it doesnt run very well when cold. it takes about 5kms or so to warm, and some of my trips are shorter than that..so it has me worried. im going to the dealer next tuesday and hoping to get it fixed..i cant run the airconditioner while its cold, as it upsets it badly..thats gonna be a problem in winter.