RUMOR MILL: Volkswagen Group Considers Changing Name To Auto Union

@reviews so true

I own a 2013 VW Touareg and have no issues with regards to reliability.

@M5_2010 and that sample of one obliterates the reliability and component failure issues that any VW service department will tell you are customary.

@m5_2010 I guess we are the 2 lucky ones since everyone else must have horribly reliability, according to @reviews and @mattdarringer. Thank God that my 2 VWs 4 Audis were very reliable the chosen ones.

^^ Ha...wait for a couple more years. You will sell - and at a loss lol.

@7msynthetic Indeed. VW's are wonderful cars to drive, BUT my advice is to LEASE not buy, but if you must own the thing, buy a Godzilla of an extended warranty because you will need it.

My wife and niece drive Tiguan's. Her friend has a Jetta Wagon and employee has a Jetta sedan. All the VW's are driving great. There have been no recalls or issues for anything. They really enjoy driving VW's.

@Dr550 LOL did you also prescribe them Prozac? The service writers at our store would love to be able to make customers take tranquilizers.

@reviews and MattDaringer,
We currently have a 2009 TOAUREG (my wife's car) purchase brand new, It has 58K miles and it has been great. She also had a 2002 PASSAT (also purchased new), we put 110K miles with no issues. I had a 1994 Honda Accord, put 120K miles, had to replace at A/C compressor, brake rotors, the roof lining which started coming off and replaced the alternator; purchased a 2005 MB C230 Sport (brand new) had to replace the block head at 60K ($3,500), I put 145K miles on this car, traded the MB for a 2009 LS 460 (brand new), so far I have put 152K miles, replaced the rotors twice, the alternator, issues with abs vsc system and the navigation system. And don't get me going about the used Celica that I bought and the engine blew, the Pathfinder with the gas tank leak, the Pontiac Bonneville SSE that blew the transmission. As you can see, issues in most of them. Not sure where that Japanese reliability went in my cars.
As we can see, this reliability stuff is BS, keep drinking the kool aid, both of you sound like haters to me. No constructive criticism from you, just hate. I bet you just hate German brands because they are all breaking records in sales worldwide besides their "awful in long term reliability". I guess people that can afford them don't give a Sh*% about reliability.

And yes, I am in the market for a new and it will probably be a BMW 428i, a VW GTI or a LEXUS RC 350. I like them all and I guarantee I will have issues with any of them.

@USNA1999 and your infinitesimally small sample 100% refutes the reality of the service department at the dealer. Got it! You're a true believer (apologist).

@MattDarringer: are you really a car enthusiast?? You are mostly the first to comment something negative about most automotive brands. Glad I don't work with you, you come across as hyper critical, pretentious and a know-it-all. My experiences and that of my families with German car brands (Porsche, Mercedes, VW and Audi) is that they are great cars to be appreciated...but then we are car enthusiasts (and optimistic/well balanced in our judgments).

@Ccoxx (not gonna make the obvious pun) When you manage interests that make money off of selling cars there is NO TIME to be in the ether of brand euphoria. The bottom line is the bottom line. Our VW/Audi/Porsche store loses money hand over fist at VW because (1) there is virtually no profit in selling a VW, (2) VW is 6-8 months behind on warranty reimbursements which eats our profit, and (3) we have to eat costs here and there to make customers happy once the VW warranty ends and VW full on ABANDONS them.

I'm a realist and you're an enthusiast with rose colored glasses on.

I am indeed a car enthusiast. Want a TVR or a Noble as a track car? I can do that? Can I interest you in an Aston? Meet me in Newport Beach. There are two tracks within 40 minutes of where I live. You can find me at either of them in my Boss 302 or a TVR Sagaris as often as I can make the time.

I don't live in the bullspit of brand euphoria. VW is a crappy brand for quality, reliability, and durability. And I have the documentation to prove that.

I have owned 3 Audi A6's followed by a VW passat 4x4 3.6 followed by 2 x 4 motion CC's meanwhile we are on our 3rd Golf GTI for my wife. MattDarringer to put it mildly is talking out of his arse. I ran Honda Odyssey vans for our business a few years back, one needed a new transmission, new front struts and new radiator at 50k, just out of warranty.

Between the top makes and do not think there are any significant differences in reliability, when you are comparing 1 major issue out of 100 vs. 1.2 or 1.5 out of 100. You are not going to make a decision based on a 1/2% difference between say an Audi or an Infinity.

@reviews you should know by now that people do not want to hear the truth. VW fanatics cannot comprehend that Hyundai/Kia cars have better build quality, reliability, and durability versus Volkswagen. Ditto Ford, Honda, Toyota, and Mazda. Despite GM's recalls to protect their own asses, their cars are also better than VW.

I would love nothing more than for VW to "find Jesus" and get in the game. VW created the hot hatch market, the Mini Cooper S and the Focus ST are the better cars to own.

Not going to happen. This is just internet rumor mill nonsense.

Wow I made it to COTA here in Austin and these two are still talking smack. Matt do you really sell cars? You do really give carsalesmen a bad name. I can see you are true professional, don't let your boss find out the garbage you post here because you will be fired so quick. Yes, my sample is small but I base my decisions on my experiences and no matter what you or reviews claim none of the people on this board or anywhere will base their car purchases on what two guys are posting here. Just a fact. Enjoy your weekend posting garbage and drinking your hatorade, I have to go burn a few laps here.

@USNA1999 as I've said 100 times. I do not stand on the lot selling cars. I am a part of a group of investors who own chunks of dealers therefore I am privy to as to (1) why the profit is or is not good at a given store and (2) which of the stores we're involved in have lower warranty incidence rates. VW has much more warranty traffic than its nearest competitors and it treats dealers as the enemy.

Strangely Porsche and Audi treat their dealers with great respect and offer great support. It's hard to believe such a schizophrenic difference can occur among three brands from the SAME company.

@caterham The only reason we have not sold our interest in VW is because VW almost always has Audi and Porsche in the same store, so it is impossible to drop VW by itself. The profits from the Porsche/Audi side are quite significant.

We do own an interest in a Kia dealer and the store is quite profitable as are Ford and Hyundai.

"Ditto Ford, Honda, Toyota, and Mazda. Despite GM's recalls to protect their own asses, their cars are also better than VW." really? This sounds a bit exaggerated...

But Matt if VW is that bad why not start selling Kia? I'm sure you'll make a good profit out of that. They never break and everybody will buy it like hot bread. Just drop the VWs you hate so much and do what you preach.

I know there are Apple fan boys but now I'm wondering if it's possible that there are any VW hate boys :))

@MattDarringer Your attitude towards VW made me curious so I will be asking around. For now I started with Google and here are the top links for LEAST reliable cars

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2012/10/the-10-least-reliable-cars/index.htm
http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2013/10/top-10-least-reliable-new-cars-the-2013-edition.html/10
http://www.automotive.com/worst-cars/least-reliable-cars/

They are all full of Fords, Hyundays and the likes. The only VW that makes it on place 6 is the Beetle. No Jetta no Passat no Golf no Touareg. So what are you talking about man? I don't want to go into theorising but for now I just have the feeling that you are bad mouthing VW for other reasons. Maybe you have a stake in some dealership, maybe in a Ford or a Kia or a Hyunday and you don't like competition from VW so you r just trashing it where you can.

If you really are who you say you are than you do a poor job at expressing yourself...you work too hard to show that VW is much worse than the rest but online reports show a different image. So you are either passionate at hating VW or bash it for money. In both ways, your opinion on that is not OBJECTIVE!

A colleague of mine drives the old GTI and he told me he ll get the new one. I will ask him to go together do a test drive. Just after that I'll try a Kia Cee'd. It's not my kind of car but I'm curious now.

A. Even if they are the same company, I think Audis are more reliable than VW's. This based on personal experience (at least that of my family's)

B. VW is down in a spiral sales wise (here in the U.S.) and the company does not seem to care. Why? I think they are big enough and VW is one of those brands with a solid fan base, kind of like Subaru or Saab back in its day.

C. Please do not include VWs in the same category as Hondas, Mazdas, Toyota's and even Korean cars. It is just not fair with the Asians who are a million times more reliable. Now, that said, and in fairness to VW, I think that they still have a lot for them like a good driving experience, fun brand, and their relationship with Audi.

A. Volkswagen uses most of the same parts on Volkswagens as they do Audis. I can see where you might perceive a difference in quality from the same brand since Volkswagen has lower priced cars, also as with most companies, the older cars won't be as reliable as newer cars.

B. Volkswagen said its July sales were 30,553, down 14.6% from a year earlier, as the brand's new-design Golf compact had only just begun to hit dealerships.

Sales of the high-performance GTI version of the Golf, on sale since April, rose 39.4% to 1,727, suggesting a VW sales rebound once the full Golf line is available.

The versions most people choose, TSI gasoline model and TDI diesel, trickled into showrooms in July and could begin boosting sales in August when supplies are plentiful.

VW also has updated its SportWagen, is rebadging it a Golf model instead of a Jetta, and that will add to Golf's tally.

Jetta, at 13,142 including SportWagen, was off 0.6% but remains the brand's best-seller in the U.S.

C. Do you know Mazda uses/used Ford platforms? Have you ever sat inside of a Mazda, then in a Volkswagen such as a GTI and notice how much better the material, and fit and finish inside of a Volkswagen?? I looked at a Mazda Speed 3 before I purchased my GTI. The hard cheap plastics in the Mazda turned me off. Honda? Massive recalls, Toyota, massive recalls, and Hyundai just takes someone else's car and copies it weld for weld and sell it as their own.

I own a 2007 GTI and it's been the most reliable car i've ever owned. Sorry my experience doesn't fit your generalized reliability opinion of Volkswagens.