Project Vent Your VAG Hatred Here!

[dome]

I hate VAG too.

 

That's why I drive a B6 S4.

 

That'll teach 'em...

 

B5s like yours are great cars, although the suspension arrangement is a bit complicated-there's a lot going on there. Good luck with it.

[Vince70]

Early B5s are great cars but I found the later B5s are not as good to be honest as after the facelift the cars got more gadgets but the engineering isn’t as great and I still regret getting rid of my low mileage poverty spec one.

 

You really can’t get better than a late 80s tto mid 90s VAG in my book and I think the nearest thing to a car for life is an Audi 80 preferably for reliability and non rustiness but it has to be in metallic green as VAG must of had a job lot of paint in that colour during the early 90s as every VAG I’ve owned from that period is that Audi Classic green or VW dragon green.

[davehedgehog31]

I would love a Passat B or C3 100 Avant, though I fear they're long since unaffordable.

 

Sometime in the mid 80's my Grandad was driving home with his nice Passat which was only a couple of years old, he scudded a cow. The 1.5 tonnes of Deutsche Auto was deemed beyond economic repair and the walking steak was fine, if a little shaken. 

 

The moral of this story is if you want a solid, well built steer, buy a dairy coo. 

[Felly Magic]

Seeing how shit my neighbour's dirty diesel 10 plate Polo is, I wouldn't touch a modern VAG with a bargepole, paint so thin you can read through it, low miles but utterly fucked, springs, shocks, bushes, clutch, electrics all needed work/replacement, goes in to regen alarmingly regularly, it's done less than 45k, and it is getting to a point where it needs scrapping tbh

[richardthestag]

stick a rusty roof rack on it and sticker bomb the near side front wing and the mot tester wont notice the broken springs and naturally assume that it is supposed to be that way. then you could stretch tyres from a Raleigh Chopper onto the rimz and be done with it.

 

 

All of those ^ reasons are why this old fart doesnt like VAG products where that kind of offence has been committed

 

your motah however is a peach that gives me wood* especially at that price. good spannering and chodspeed

[Dick Cheeseburger]

I've owned a B5 Avant (same shape as yours) and several B6's as well. They've all been 1.9 dervs. They were all brilliant workhorses to be honest, and great cars to drive. Front suspension setup had at least a million joints and bushes that seemed to need attention at MOT time though - over engineered for comfort I guess.

I switched to a ten year old BM 3 series touring as my motorway stomper around 12 months back. I'll be honest - it's infinitely better than the Aldi. Much better put together, more comfortable on a longer journey, and, dare I say it, almost has character. Or is that just because mine is a rescue case - cat D repaired on the cheap, and bought from a twitchy Hungarian who lived in a shitty bedsit in Brizzle.

Buy one.

[Cavcraft]

1981 Audi 80 petrol. Truly, truly awful car that nearly broke my will to live.

 

1991 Audi 80TDi estate. Absolute dog shit on toast, broke down frequently then would start again as the RAC arrived, Absolute rubbish.

 

1999 VW Pisshat B5. Quite possibly the worst car I've ever owned (no mean feat) and everything that could go wrong did, usually several times. Got pissed off with the paddling pool in the back foot well, random electrics, random turbo and the general hatefulness of the entire thing. Every sodding one of them should be weighed in.

 

(More to come)

[drum]

Approved.

 

 

Probably the best car at being a car I've owned. Never let me down, smooth, quiet and comfy. 1.9 diesel so great on fuel. Bought for £600, had the timing belt changed then took family from Scotland to the south of France a fortnight later (and back) and a couple of caravan on tow holidays since. Sold two years later with over 200k on the clock to some Poles for £800.

 

Hard to beat for daily bangernomics.

 

Would buy again.

[RoadworkUK]

Ah, the 20v 1.8. That means that, at some point, you have this to look forward to:

 

 

Cambelt change. I've done it twice in the 100k miles I've had the car, and replaced most of the cooling system the last time I did it - there was a frightening build up of mayo in the coolant bottle, and I traced it to a porous oil cooler. Not sure if it's only the turbocharged machines that have that, though.

 

Otherwise, mine has been quite ridiculously reliable. Just passed its MOT again after another year of borderline neglect.

 

 

Not the most charismatic machines, but very good at being a car. Edit: Ha! As Drum says.

[omegod]

I believe K series headbolts inserted into the Aldo bumper mounts allow the front end to slide out a good 6 inches without needing to remove it all 

[dome]

I believe K series headbolts inserted into the Aldo bumper mounts allow the front end to slide out a good 6 inches without needing to remove it all

Cheers for that! I need to do my aux belt, I knew something fitted!

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

You have to be in the motor trade really to appreciate the true awfulness of VAG. The way they rust underneath, rounded off snapped bolts, the stupid design, cheap components but all wrapped up in  package that looks really, really nice when new. I had a Golf TDi 140 as a hire car in 2009, early Mark 6. Lovely car, did it all so well but by now it'll be a shed. Same with BMW and Mercedes. Lovely new cars but 10 years old? Forget it.

 

We had a 1994 Audi 80 2.0E and despite being dog slow, it was superbly built and did 100'000 miles in 2.5 years. It was a Lloyds lease machine from new and I bought it at 2.5 years old with mega miles. I suspect these and the original A4's were the last of the really solid ones. Mark 3 Golfs of that era were poor.

 

By rights, Toyota and the Koreans should have put VAG out of business but they know how to market a very average product very well.

[twosmoke300]

K series head bolts are the tool of choice for a vag front end slide out . Iirc I’ve cut and m8 thread on my pair so I can just slip a nut on the other side to stop them coming out on the cars with the bigger front end bolts .

Pair of small mole grips on the head bolts to hold the panel forward . Job jobbed

[Bren]

I own a petrol A6 and a pd passat.

The passat, for me, is the last of the good vw's. It's nippy, economical and nice to drive. PD vw's are still more sought after than their replacements.

 

The A6 - nice but not cheap to run. Mine is the 2.4 V6 30 v - smooth but needing another 50 hp. I would descrbe it's performance as modest - it reminded me of a rover SD1 2300. Various electrical issues have been the only issue - it is looking like a dodgy coolant temp sensor.

 

There seems to be a mystical aura around the quality of VW stuff but I don't think they are any better than a ford or vauxhall.

[Jazoli]

I like my VAG shite Bora, apart from occasionally going into limp mode it's great, torquey diesel engine, decent auto box, cold aircon and it's comfy enough for the miles I do, the cabin has more creaks and rattles than a geriatric convention and it handles like a boat but I'm not complaining for 600 quid.

[louiepj]

My ever reliable Sharavan

 

Sent from my F8331 using Tapatalk

[GrumpiusMaximus]

I know there’s dislike for MKIV Golfs but my PD 130 estate is just good at being a car. I’d change a few things but I don’t mind looking like a Geography teacher driving on the M20 every morning, cruising along at exactly the NSL.

 

Can’t argue with the price I paid either. Free.

[Dave_Q]

My name is Dave and I'm a former VAGfondler.

 

 

This was my A4, with the obligatory TDI (90bhp) obvs.

 

A decent drive really and good on fuel, I took it from 180-odd to 196k miles, I sold it on to a shiter who passed it onto a family member, it did crack 220k before eventually being retired.

 

Didn't give me too many issues really, fond of a front control arm which I understand is de rigeur.

[RichardM1]

My name is Dave and I'm a former VAGfondler.

 

IMG_20140102_133023_zps1ac1ad3c.JPG

 

This was my A4, with the obligatory TDI (90bhp) obvs.

 

A decent drive really and good on fuel, I took it from 180-odd to 196k miles, I sold it on to a shiter who passed it onto a family member, it did crack 220k before eventually being retired.

 

Didn't give me too many issues really, fond of a front control arm which I understand is de rigeur.

 

 

...unfortunately it's now slowly rotting in a field in Kent.

[Shirley Knott]

^ What a shame.

 

The crazy folks over on the TDI Club forum often get 500k+ out of the early 90/110 VE lumps, 220k is only just run in etc etc 

[SiC]

Indeed, I have a 170k example of modern common rail diesel VAG shit that's managed that without too much repair expenditure. Despite having more emission control than someone on their first date.

 

(Yes it's shit on fuel. Progress right?)

[Dave_Q]

Richard did tell me why it got retired but I can't remember, was it something engine/overheating related?

[RichardM1]

Richard did tell me why it got retired but I can't remember, was it something engine/overheating related?

 

The main reason was that it needed a new steering rack - it got topped up with the wrong fluid which buggered all of the seals. I think it also needed various other bits doing, which amounted to a newer car seeming like a good idea - this newer car being a '97 Escort which immediately needed work...

 

My own A4 Avant was purchased shortly after the red one for a family member. It was a 115bhp PD which I remapped using a tune from blacksmoke to roughly 140bhp which made things more interesting. It also had issues of its own and I got rid a few years ago - I think it's still on the road with around 193k on the clock.

 

[Shirley Knott]

^ The PD115's were thought to be prone to OMGHGF back in the day. Not to K-series levels but certainly more so than the VE engines or any of the other PD stuff.

[RichardM1]

^ The PD115's were thought to be prone to OMGHGF back in the day. Not to K-series levels but certainly more so than the VE engines or any of the other PD stuff.

 

Luckily, I had no head gasket issues with mine; just EGR, electrics, suspension, vacuum lines, clutch, smoke through the air vents etc...

[Shirley Knott]

Luckily, I had no head gasket issues with mine; just EGR, electrics, suspension, vacuum lines, clutch, smoke through the air vents etc...

 

Sounds like a dreamboat

 

Everyone raves about the PD engine and granted when they're good they're very good but when they're bad....

[abelw44]

Evening all,

 

This afternoon, oi aaaave bin mostly....

 

 

Messing about with the bonkers suspension system on the Audi... Those top arms are in just the right position to repeatedly smack your head on...

 

I also did a spot of de chavving...

 

 

 

Bang and the chav is gone!

 

In preparation for the new/old units that I bought, I have waterproofed* the openings:

 

 

 

 

Investigation of the cubby-hole behind one of the rear lamps revealed this:

 

 

 

A beautifully* bodged together box of tricks...not really sure what it is, but there's a device slightly lower (not visible in the photograph) that the box is connected to that feels like an alarm/loudspeaker type deal - so perhaps a delightful aftermarket immobiliser? As if anyone would try to steal this pile...

 

Anyway, I soon got bored of trying to work out what it was, and decided the best cause of action is to ignore it and hope it goes away!

 

Update 2.0 complete

 

Sent from my MIX_2 using Tapatalk

[SiC]

Isn't that the box of tricks for the towbar electrics?

[abelw44]

Isn't that the box of tricks for the towbar electrics?

Oooh interesting - you could be right! But nonetheless, somewhere along the line it's been interfered with...

 

Sent from my MIX_2 using Tapatalk

[abelw44]

Are aftermarket towbars a thing? Could this car have not been originally a towbar-spec vehicle and it's been added later?

 

Sent from my MIX_2 using Tapatalk