My mother in laws Jetta she got brand new a few years ago needs an engine after something like 10 years, both mechanical and electrical. Dies randomly like something electrical. Consumes a quart of oil every few hundred miles and getting worse. This thing was driven regularly but lightly (several times per week but few miles) by a little old lady who took it right to the dealer for any little thing. Oil changes and other maintainance strictly and religeously on schedule and performed by the dealer. The quote for the engine was ridiculous too but I don't remember what it was exactly because I only heard 2nd hand and I wasn't taking notes in prep for a post like this. But they are getting another car rather than fix this one. The rest of the car is in excellent condition, so it's not like some beater, yet it's still not worth doing the engine.
You can see right through my 97 4runner from all the rust and it's running and working fine. Does not drink oil. I neglect the piss out of it. I haven't changed the oil filter in probably 3 years, just add a new quart once or twice a year, probably 5 to 10k miles. It has needed repairs. I put a new starter in a few years ago. Pulled the injectors and had them rebuilt a couple years ago (basically they just clean them and put new screens and o-rings on them). couple hundred bucks each time.
Anecdata, sure. All anyone has is their own experiance.
I think VW are unreliable and expensive to repair and nice looking.
Inefficiency basically. Burn more fuel for the amount of work output, because of heavier parts, simpler designs, less magic.
I prefer such things so I am not damning them for this, it just is the unfortunate reality. It's a trade-off.
A simple example is adding a turbo increases both power and efficiency, at the cost of more parts, shorter mtbf, and less robustness. Ie aside from just more parts to wear out sooner, the system is less rugged even when new and perfect, more easily incapacitated by a spec of dust, in a machine that doesn't live in a chip fab clean room.
You can see right through my 97 4runner from all the rust and it's running and working fine. Does not drink oil. I neglect the piss out of it. I haven't changed the oil filter in probably 3 years, just add a new quart once or twice a year, probably 5 to 10k miles. It has needed repairs. I put a new starter in a few years ago. Pulled the injectors and had them rebuilt a couple years ago (basically they just clean them and put new screens and o-rings on them). couple hundred bucks each time.
Anecdata, sure. All anyone has is their own experiance.
I think VW are unreliable and expensive to repair and nice looking.