29 Dec 2003 | Bah said...

As a current VW owner, I was insulted by the introductory television commercials for the Toureg.

Volkswagon made it seem like all other VW models were inferior simply because they couldn't "go" where the the Toureg could "go".

29 Dec 2003 | dm said...

The Jetta ad with the oversized foot is excellent. From the first scene to the last I did not take my eyes off the television. There is a goofy, surreal story (with an underlying theme) in the commercial while still being very heartfelt.

To whom does VW outsource its adverts to, if in fact they do? They are consistently solid in every way.

29 Dec 2003 | Brad Hurley said...

They are consistently solid in every way.

unlike the cars that Volkswagen makes, which are consistently rated as "average to poor" in reliability.

29 Dec 2003 | Bah said...

The Jetta ad with the oversized foot is excellent.

No offense, but I wasn't impressed by that commercial. Isn't there a similar commerical out right now?

All in all, I think VW's commercials aren't as good as they used to be. Remember the one of the GT in the tree? Or the convertible Golf where the kids preferred to drive around in the country than to go to the party? Or the Passat ad where at first it looked like the man and woman were flirting, and they actually had kids in the back of the car?

29 Dec 2003 | pb said...

Totally false, Brad. Check Consumer Reports and you'll see that VWs compare very favorably.

I think VW screwed up with the Touareg and is now screwing up with the Phaeton. Noone wants a $60k VW. The new Volvo SUV is destroying the Touareg. They should have brought both of those vehicles out as Audis (well, they did with the new Audi A8). The Touareg is too heavy, over-engineered, overly luxurious and too expensive for a VW.

Thw "new" Jetta is goofy, too. With virtually no differences from the previous version and yet an advertising campaign focused on the differences.

I think VW has lost its step both with product and advertising.

29 Dec 2003 | Bah said...

The Mini advertising is *so* much better.

29 Dec 2003 | JF said...

The Audi Pikes Peak (which may be called the A7 instead, although I hope they keep it as the Pikes Peak) is based on the Touareg platform and will be out as a 2005 model.

29 Dec 2003 | PK said...

For 60k I guess it's the "rich people's car."

29 Dec 2003 | MrBlank said...

Not to nitpick, pb, but when I was shopping for a new car I found that Volkswagen cars were rather low on the reliability list. To my dismay though. I really wanted a Jetta.

29 Dec 2003 | hp said...

Vis a vis quality and reliability of VW vehicles, they compare rahter well with those of companies generally perceived as leaders such as Toyota and Honda. The most recent surveys include the issue with ignition coils, which VW could have handled in a better manner. Without this (all owners got the replacements free of charge), VW vehicles rate fairly high both in those 90-day surveys as well as in long term.

Speaking of 90-day surveys, those are somewhat misleading since anything is reported regardless of how serious it may be (for example, a failed turn signal lamp will be registered at the same level as failed ABS system or problems with engine or transmission).

As for Touareg, VW is being rather conservative in its market expectations so their allotment for the U.S. market is fairly modest 40,000 or so. Based on where I am, they are selling well (at least, for now).

As for Phaeton, I think it is a terrific car (I drove a W8 and V10 diesel in Europe) but am not sure that it fits VW brand well or that it will be a great success. Besides, there may be some overlap with Audi A8. Still, it may work out fine in the long term.

Regards,

hp

29 Dec 2003 | Bah said...

The piston rings on my VW were installed upside-down at their Mexico plant. This caused the engine to eat a quart of oil every 1000 miles. (This wasn't just an isolated issue. I've got two friends who have had the exact same problem since then.)

After researching the issue online, I discovered there had been *thousands* of cars that left the plant like this.

It took me six months for the dealership to finally admit the problem. Their excuse was I had a high performance engine, and it was natural for the car to go through that much oil. (Ha!)

So, yeah VW, what I don't need are massage seats. What I really need is a company that can honestly admit their mistakes.

Trust me, this will be the last VW I will ever own.

29 Dec 2003 | Brad Hurley said...

Totally false, Brad. Check Consumer Reports and you'll see that VWs compare very favorably.

Actually it was the Consumer Reports ratings that I was referring to. Although admittedly I haven't checked their ratings in the past year or two, so maybe the reliability of VWs has gone up recently. But when I was car shopping in 2000 and in years before that, I always ended up steering clear of Volkwagens because of the bad quality ratings.

Here in Quebec, the current ratings by Protegez-Vous magazine (our version of Consumer Reports) show most VW models as being below average in reliability, on par with cars by GM.

29 Dec 2003 | Adam said...

I think we were talking about advertising. I like that VW can have a sense of humor about the usual "Beauty of Driving" mantra that get's delivered. Not that I don't like those ads either, just that it's refreshing. I like the magazine ads that are designed as a "spot the differences" ad. Or the one with the yellow VW and the space shuttle next to the highway and a guy goes "Hey look a yellow one". So who DOES do all of these?

30 Dec 2003 | miles said...

also check top gear survey from england, the biggest customer survey in the country, and it's moderated to weed out false reports (all but 3 of the 30 something respondants claiming to own a ferrari were foudn to be telling the truth!)

the VW Golf ranked 106/137
the VW Sharan (a 'people mover') ranked last in the survey, 137/137.
other VWs scored 78th, 79th, 94th, 96th, 97th.

not particularly impressive.

30 Dec 2003 | pb said...

Wow, looks like I'm very wrong.

I do remember reading Consumer Reports earlier this year and seeing VWs receiving decent reliability marks. Maybe it was only the Passat.

30 Dec 2003 | ek said...

Yes, I think the Passat is the only VW that still receives passing marks from consumer reports -- though even that may no longer be the case.

As for the ads, since 1995 the U.S. work has been done by Arnold Worldwide out of Boston, which is part of the Havas agency holding group.

Arnold came up with the whole "Drivers Wanted" campaign, which has included all of the ads that we all remember such as the Nick Drake ad, the Turbonium ad, the man and woman flirting at the stop light ad, the da-da-da ad, the domo arigato ad, etc., etc., etc. In other words, lots of good stuff.

Back in the day (i.e. the late 50s - early 60s), VW's ads were done by Doyle Dane Burnbach (aka DDB), which produced the truly revolutionary "Think Small" and "Lemon" ads for the Beetle. Those were all the brainchild of Bill Bernbach, one of the best and most important copywriters and creative directors in the history of advertising.

It's amazing how modern and fresh those ads still look today.

30 Dec 2003 | Anonymous Coward said...

Ok. This is seriously off topic (kind of). Speaking of car advertising, has anyone seen that incredible Rube Goldbergesque Honda Accord ad?! I think this ad is also on par with those VW ads. Plus the Accord is a much better car than any VW (IMHO).

Flash is required
Watch the Honda Accord ad

30 Dec 2003 | Don Schenck said...

I love my Toyota. Not only is it reliable, but I dusted some clown in an RSX the other day; he tried to "hang" with me on the twisties. Nice try.

VW's ads are cool. My favorite car ads on the tellie are those by ... by ... none.

My least favorite? Celine Dion singing about the PT Cruiser Turbo. Ackk!

30 Dec 2003 | Michael Spina said...

I've bought at least three CD's based on music from VW commercials.

30 Dec 2003 | hp said...

Speaking of car advertising, one of the best auto commercials I have seen in the past few years is for Peugeot 206, which, unfortunately, is not sold on this side of Atlantic. It can be seen here (QuickTime required).

Best,

hp

30 Dec 2003 | Mary said...

My VW Jetta brake lights were turning themselves on at night in the garage and draining the battery. I have a four-year service warranty so I called VW and they had it towed for free for service within a half-hour of my call. One day later the problem was fixed (no charge) and the VW dealership even cleaned my car.

Overall, I really like my Jetta. The stero F8ck*ng rocks and the car gets great gas millage. The only thing I don't like about my VW is the cloth seats which look dirty or stained nearly all the time. I should have upgraded to the leather interior. My mistake.

30 Dec 2003 | Chris from Scottsdale said...

Just a comment that some of your older archives from 2002 have tons of spam in the comments. You might want to check it out.

30 Dec 2003 | peck said...

There is not one VW owner that I know that doesn't have some nagging problem with their vehicles. One was even told that the loud groaning noise from their brakes was "a feature". I used to love VWs back when it was the Rabbit, Scirrocco and GTI - now they are all fancy pants and high and mighty.

31 Dec 2003 | jim Cuene said...

Boy, I love that VW advertising, don't you. I wonder if there's a good discussion of VW reliability over at some other website....

31 Dec 2003 | Brad Hurley said...

Well, I apologize for bringing up the reliability thing in the first place, although I think the two topics are related somewhat, in the sense that this is a compelling example of how great advertising can be used to sell mediocre products.

01 Jan 2004 | Eric said...

Why do you apologize about bringing up reliability and then turn around and make the 'mediocre' comment.

It's the same problem with your first comment, not backed up with stats or references. You must work for the press.

01 Jan 2004 | Brad Hurley said...

Um, everyone else already provided the stats, and they're readily available online for anyone who wants to check. VW hires great advertisers, and their cars seem well designed. I grew up in a VW family: my father drove microbuses all through the 60s and 70, my brother had a couple of Beetles and now owns a Jetta. But until Volkswagen does a better job at quality control, I think it would be hard to justify calling their cars anything but mediocre. To me, an excellent car is one that is both well designed and rarely needs to be taken to the shop.

02 Jan 2004 | Don Schenck said...

I hope Porsches are good ... because in about two years I'm trading the Spyder in for one.

Or an Elise??

02 Jan 2004 | Michael Spina said...

I don't know about the rest of the Lotus's reliability, but at least the engine is Toyota.

02 Jan 2004 | Don Schenck said...

Yeah, the 2zz in the Elise has been the subject of much discussion over at my one haunt, Spyderchat.

Some have figured out how to and have successfully put the 2zz in a Spyder ... although I'd rather to turbo.

Oh ... yeah ... car ads. Ever notice you don't see ads for the Spyder? That's cool.

04 Jan 2004 | Kathleen said...

Now a days most of VW ads are produced by Arnold Worldwide in Boston... mostly known as Arnold / Boston.

Arnold does a lot of quality work... titleist, footjoy, royal carribean, monster, etc

However, I must say I found their new VW Jetta ad. "The Story of Ben", the boy with the one larger foot ... in very poor taste. My daughter was born with a condition which resulted in one foot being larger than the other, and she must have part of her foot amputated - just so she can walk normal... I did not need VW to point out and make light of the hardships she will face, I feel there is a lot she will be able to do .. other than "just drive a VW Jetta... 'cause it is a perfect fit!" I can not believe VW would air such an insensitive ad, especially since they (VW) try to be so PC.

05 Jan 2004 | Chris said...

I had to jump-start my new Touareg (dead battery) twice for in the last 10 days. Something is draining the battery and apparently I'm not alone as my dealership reportedly has several Touaregs with the same symptoms. It's been in the shop for almost a week now. Anybody heard of a fix for this?

05 Jan 2004 | ek said...

Chris, the good news is the problem you are having seems to be fairly widespread, affecting both V6 and V8 Touaregs.

The bad news is that VW does not seem to know what the cause is yet. Strangely, the current thinking seems to be that the problem may be resolved by ensuring that you arm your alarm when leaving the car. Apparently, arming the alarm puts the varioius in-car electronics systems to sleep more quickly than leaving the car unlocked (though at least one dealer seems to be advising the opposite, that owners keep their cars unlocked if possible, and some owners are reporting the problem even when they arm their alarms).

Check out this thread on the excellent VWVortex.com for more info: http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1157253

From what I've read, the V10 diesel version of the Touareg due for release in the U.S. later this year will come with a second, dedicated starter battery, which should prevent this issue from cropping up in that version of the car (it seems that the V10 diesel requires more juice to get started than the petrol engines).

Not to rub salt in your wounds, but man, I would never, ever buy a German or American car in its first model year -- you're basically putting down big bucks to be a beta tester.

06 Jan 2004 | One of several Steves said...

VW's advertising seems to be hit-or-miss lately, and isn't as consistently good as it was about 10 years ago when they began their renaissance in the North American market (which they were just about ready to pull out of altogether).

The Phaeton ad is good. The Jetta ad with the kid with the big foot is poor, IMO. The Touareg ads were walking a very thin tightrope, and I think they may have ended up damaging their overall brand by denigrating the capabilities of their other products in order to promote the Touareg. To avoid that, the ads probably would have needed to be more over-the-top than they were (like one of my favorites from several years ago, where the guys knock the car - GTI? - out of the tree, and close with saying "You need to go easier on the clutch").

I haven't looked at Consumer Reports and JD Power figures for a while, but VW have been wildly inconsistent in quality ratings, and never great. Models built in Mexico, like the Jetta and Beetle, consistently score pretty low. German-built models, like the Passat and the Golf do reasonably well.

By the way, if I remember correctly, VW's ad agency is Arnold.

06 Jan 2004 | TL said...

Check out page 7 of VW's End of Lease FAQs (~390KB pdf)...

-------------
7. All kinds of contact information
Obviously we've built up a fairly large bureaucracy over the years. Which means we've got very specific phone numbers and addresses for specific questions or issues. Just check below for the info that best suits your needs.
-------------

Now that's refreshing.

Hat tip to Jay Fienberg.

09 Jan 2004 | Chris Hale said...

Touareg Dead Battery Problem. Just got my Touareg back from the dealer after 8 days. They claim the dead battery resulted from the audio amplifier drawing a load on the battery even with the engine switched off. I hope this was the fix but I'm researching the lemon law rules just in case this is just the beginning of a painful journey. Otherwise I love my Touareg; I just don't trust it right now.

25 Jan 2004 | Jason said...

War auch interessant bei Dir

26 Jan 2004 | Brandon said...

Just for the record, VW constantly gets very high marks in quality and reliability.

However, like any german import, they are expensive to fix. But reliability and cost of maintenance are entirely different topics.

26 Jan 2004 | joeblow said...

"unlike the cars that Volkswagen makes, which are consistently rated as "average to poor" in reliability."

Yeah. Rated, that is, by idiots like yourself who pervade such nonsense. The [serious] coil pack issue aside, a properly maintained VW is not any more likely to strand you than a Japanese car. Ancillary component quality is another issue perhaps, but "poor reliability" is a rich misrepresentation.

26 Jan 2004 | joeblow said...

"unlike the cars that Volkswagen makes, which are consistently rated as "average to poor" in reliability."

Yeah. Rated, that is, by idiots like yourself who pervade such nonsense. The [serious] coil pack issue aside, VWs are quite reliable and very well-made cars. A properly maintained VW is not any more likely to strand you than a Japanese car. Ancillary component quality is another issue perhaps, but "poor reliability" is a rich misrepresentation.