are Volkswagens off-topic?

62k miles? You've been changing the gear oil and differential oil regularly, yes?

Hoo boy...

If you want reliability, IMHO nothing beats a Camry.

Then again, at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, they have this new Ford "Five Hundred", which doesn't seem too bad. 'Course, it was a new car. I annoyed my co-workers on the trip by ripping into Ford (Fix Or Repair Daily... Found On the Road Dead)

I just hope they don't have a plastic intake manifold, like GM likes to do...

Recommend you just do some research on Consumer Reports before you buy.

Michael

Hello John,

A friend had that happen on an Opel (Vauxhall) once. Took the tranny out, onto a kitchen table (this was back in college...), changed the gear and the tranny shifted better than new ones did. No idea why as we emptied a whole crate of cerveza while at it. What puzzled me was that the gears of "modern" cars are awfully tiny compared to the one I had in my 60's Citroen with much less horse power.

After 62K? That's early. Does anybody else drive that car and maybe doesn't know how to shift correctly?

If they took the tooth out maybe you'd luck out before the next one flies off. But when that happens on 101 during rush hour, oh boy...

I was very happy with my big Audi station in Europe. Never let me down. Sold it to my former neighbor and when he was over here he said it's running just fine despite it's age of nearly 20 years now. He does long hauls to Sweden, pretty impressive.

Japanese cars are very nice as well. Both of ours never let us down in

10 years and some of the roads out here aren't exactly "roads". IMHO a Corolla has the same Fahrvergnuegen as a Golf or Jetta.

In S.F. I'd side with Jim who advocates automatics in urban areas. Of course, in Germany they call that "Rentnerschaltung" (retiree tranny).

No idea. In Europe they were always called Golf.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

62k miles is next to nothing for a modern car. You should at least get double the milage out of it. My previous car (Toyota diesel) had over 200k miles before its engine started to produce some extra noises.

Why do you need a 2.5l engine? Just more wear and tear and stuff that can and will break. Any Japanse car with at least a 1.6l engine will do just fine.

Depends on the automatic gear box. Sometimes I drive around in a VW Passat with an automatic gear box, but it really sucks. It never gets it into the right gear at the right time.

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Reply to nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.)
Bedrijven en winkels vindt U op www.adresboekje.nl

I have driven manual transmission vehicles exclusively since 1970, and never had a problem with a transmission. Clutches, yes, and a broken tooth in a differential once, but never in a tranny. I have had a 1965 Chevy Malibu, 1961 and 1966 Ford vans, 1972 and 1977 Toyota Corollas, a 1982 Toyota pickup, a 1986 Isuzu Trooper, and presently a 1997 Saturn SW1 and a

1998 SL1. Most of these vehicles had over 200,000 miles when I sold or junked them, generally because the frames were rotting away. I never changed the tranny lube. I have never owned a VW, but they seem to have a good reputation. It is possible that a manufacturing defect could have caused the broken tooth, but your comment on the synchronizers makes me wonder if there was another problem. Usually when my vehicle has had problems shifting, I have found problems with the clutch, causing poor disengagement and harsh shifting. If your vehicle is otherwise in good shape, and you like it, I would suggest getting a used or rebuilt tranny (and a new clutch). It would be a good idea to disassemble those components to see any other clues to their demise. In general, I would rather give money to a hard-working local mechanic than buy a new vehicle from manufacturers who refuse to offer high efficiency vehicles, and insist on pushing their zoom-zoom-zoom mentality.

Good luck,

Paul

[snip]

62K??? My Q45 has 133K on it and can still outrun about everything around.

Buy a Nissan product with automatic tranny.

...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |

Sure, but the Golf was 14 years old, and all of the miles were city driving on some pretty steep hills. It's probably been shifted 1e5 times. One hard failure in 14 years ain't bad.

Too late, I just picked up a new manual-tranny Rabbit. It's impressive, actually a little too spohisticated for my rude-and-crude tastes. I know that it's impossible to perfectly balance an inline 4, and inline 6's can be made very smooth, but this inline 5 is phenomenal... I keep hitting the 6k redline limiter in first and second gear before I notice any drama. The mathematics of balancing a

5-cylinder engine must be nasty. The sucker can sure climb hills.

There are lots of 10 and 15% grade streets around here, and one 24% nearby, but it's one-way downhill. First couple of winter rains, you're guaranteed to slide through the stopsign at the end of the block.

This ain't it:

John

Oops, correction: that block of 22nd street is a 31.5% grade. I should have bought a tractor.

John

I've been thinking of getting the Rabbit, how is the handeling? 3000lbs is pretty heavy for a hatchback.

Cheers

Heh heh !! I was waiting for 'Dirty Harry' to come over a crest trailing car parts :-)

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Cheers ......... Rheilly P

Where theres a will, I want to be in it.

John Larkin's 72K would be equivalent to 133K if you flattened it out.

;-)

Cheers! Rich

Have you ever been to San Francisco? I'm surprised he got that many miles out of a manual, especially if he's as easy on the clutch as he seems to hint. ;-)

Thanks! Rich

Cheers! Rich

Dunno... I've only driven it a few miles, so I don't know how it'll do when pushed. The bhp/lb is about 20% better than the old Golf, so at least it goes. It does feel German, everything tight and quick. Toyotas are better machines, but they just feel too American for me.

It's amazing that the dealer had Audis that aren't very different, really, but cost 3x as much. Why would anybody pay $62K for a car?

John

Hello John,

They put the five cylinder in there? My father had that engine in his Audi. In a Golf that'll make it a rocket.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

"John Larkin" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

You just bought it new and are already pushing it to the redline limiter??

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Steve Sousa

I did that a few times on the test drive before I figured it out. And why not? Breakin rules have changed a lot; most everybody now recommends that you don't run for sustained periods at constant RPM for the first 1000 miles, but they don't say to avoid high revs or anything.

Considering how much technology and how much electronic crap they keep adding to cars, it's paradoxical that they keep getting more reliable. Electronic instruments seem to follow the same trend, more complexity and more reliability.

John

I had the same qualms about babying the engine when I bought my second plane, a Piper Malibu, N4360V.

In order to get off the ground, you have no option but to run at max power. Then, for cruise, you throttle back to 75%, or 65% if you want the greatest endurance. I don't recall any limitations on power setting during the breakin period. About the only thing different was the recommendation to use pure mineral oil for the first 25 hrs. The engine was designed in the 1930's and changed very little over the years. They usually ran 2,000 hrs to major overhaul, which is about the same as 400,000 miles in a car. (200mph * 2,000hr = 400,000miles)

So, except for speeding tickets, you should be OK at redline:)

Regards,

Mike Monett

message

components

The only transmission I ever had a problem with was when I had my 5 speed

1985 MPFI Camaro, at about 220,000 km's. I drove the *crap* out of that car (stuff like kicking it to the floor in 1st and doing a burnout, 0-100 km/h in about 5.5 seconds, sometimes a little better if the fuel injection was just right for the weather and could quickly hit 100 km/h in 2nd gear, wide open launches where everyone in the car is slammed to and glued to the seat, etc), and eventually 2nd gear's syncro went bad (sheared the 8 or 10 alignment pins right off of it!). When the syncro went bad, trying to get it in second gear, probably too quickly a few times, I smashed the tips off the shift fork! This caused shifting into first to be progressively unreliable, and finding second was getting rare (but going from 1st to 3rd was no big deal, as the car had enough power to not need second at all, unless the extra performance was wanted). Being on a low budget at the time (student) I took a syncro and a shift fork from an S-10 transmission and fixed it. The newer transmissions went to a Borg Warner T-5 "World class", from the standard T5, which were built stronger, and used better 3 piece sycros.

I test drove a 4dr today, Im very impressed. Its got spunk, but seems to only come in black or silver for the 2dr in 06'. Seemed nicer than the civic, less road noise too. I also liked the steering more than the new civic, it has a smoother and more controlled assist.

Cheers

Around here, you literally see blocks of parked grey, silver, and the occasional black car. Most of the cars are the same color and albedo as asphalt, and basically camoflage themselves against the roadway. I tried to get the flaming red Rabbit, but they couldn't find one, so I had to settle for the blue, 4-door. Maybe I'll see how much Julio would want to paint it red.

John