New member greeting and question- How reliable is your vw?

[Gbug13]

I am new here, I just wanted to give a big hey ya'll! I am here to learn all I can about vw vehicles. I hope to purchase my very first one soon. I have a strong interest in the air cooled vws off road capabilities. I will ask a lot of stupid questions and probably get a lot of stupid answers.
So let the fun begin!!!

And I had a question, how reliable is your vw? I have heard some say they will survive the shtf and others say if you own a vw you will work on it constantly. What is your answer and why?

[CanStan]

Well, they're all correct. If you work on it constantly, it will survive anything.

People who band-aid and neglect their VW's will constantly have issues and find them unreliable. People who spend lots of time and money to improve and maintain their cars get lots of trouble free miles out of them. Pick your poison I guess. Doing preventative maintenance on your own schedule saves you from doing emergency repairs at inconvenient times.

[Glenn]

[Joe 20]

Both of mine are very reliable. I do keep after them though.
_________________
"Someday the world is gonna be populated by nothing but Volkswagens'" Corporal Klairvoy

[oprn]

We have been having a bit of trouble with starting on the cold mornings with our daily drivers, Jetta TDI, Lupo and Forester. Guess what DID start the other day after sitting since August? The air cooled '73 VW based Manx copy Buggy! And without a block heater or even charging the battery...

Now that's reliable!
_________________
We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[Cusser]

[kingkarmann]

It strongly depends on who built it, what parts were/are used and how it's maintained
_________________
"Depression is a malfunction of the instrument we use to determine reality.”

Mike Gerson

What is your "Bespoke Reality"?

[FarmerBill]

It's definitely a higher maintenance to reliability ratio than a modern vehicle. You can have an extremely reliable air-cooled VW, you're just going to have to work harder (or pay more at the mechanic) to have the same dependability as a modern car.
I mean I change the oil in my Toyota every 5000 miles, the computer does all the fuel mixture and timing work for me. The valves don't need adjusting every few thousand miles. If something does go wrong the idiot light comes on and then I plug in the reader and the computer tells me what to fix. The body is galvanized steel and plastic so it doesn't rust out in the salt.
I'm just saying, if you're going to have a vintage VW as a daily driver (or any vintage vehicle) be prepared to budget a lot more time for maintenance. Oh and keep a good stash of common wear parts, 'cause the guy at the parts store is going give you a thousand yard stare when you ask for points for your bug.

[TDCTDI]

I put 50,000 miles on mine in two years. Yeah, I broke stuff but I don’t know of a modern car that would withstand any of the abuse that I put my car through.


Link

_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[KTPhil]

This forum may give you a better idea about off-roading VWs:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewforum.php?f=9

They are strong, but you need to learn how to "listen" to them to see if problems are developing. Lack of maintenance and procrastination will take them down.

[consvws]

My daily driver has been a 56 beetle for the last several years. I spent plenty of time & money fixing it up, but in the last couple years I just drive it. I did have a voltage regulator fail on it, took all of 5 minutes to replace. I check the valve adjustments every oil change. Some people have had bad experiences with vws & maybe they just owned a basket case. I am someone that will claim that old aircooled vas are very reliable. Hope you find a good car that gives you many years of enjoyment!

Conrad

[gt1953]

Look as long as you are on top of the maintenance and spend a half and hour per week with your vehicle will start on the first try every time like my vehicles do. Reliable YES!
_________________
Volkswagen: We tune what we drive.
Numbers Matching VW's are getting harder to find. Source out the most Stock vehicle and keep that way. You will be glad you did.

72 type 1
72 Squareback
({59 Euro bug, 62, 63, 67, 68, 69, 73 type ones 68 & 69 type two, 68 Ghia all sold})

[goober]

It's a machine and like all machines, if you push it beyond it's parameters you'll have problems.

I've never equated maintenance of a machine with it's ability to do a job. I can think of many low maintenance machines I have that are less than dependable with less than stellar performance. My cell phone, my new washer, my snowblower even my shoes are less than dependable and performance challenged.

Our Bugs were designed for our participation. VW wanted us to play with their creation. All the unique things we have to do to maintain our Bugs was anticipated and planned. It's easy. Our Bugs invite us to participate on a mechanical level unlike the modern vehicle which insists we stay away.

Years ago I put my two Bugs in good mechanical shape and I've maintained them at that level. Right now, if I were to checked my oil, tire pressure and tank up, I could easily and dependably travel 500 miles and back. I've driven my Bugs to Prudhoe Bay and the Arctic on several occasions.

I don't need a more dependable vehicle than my Bug.

[grandpa red]