Owner donating car with 500,000 miles back to VW for analysis

[jkm311]

http://blogs.menshealth.com/ha...04/06There's a couple of us that could do this. But... just where would such a Vibe be returned?

[keithvibe]

I almost bought a vw from gilboy. Then I looked at a ford at gilboy... but ended up buying neither from gilboy.

[vibenvy]

Great read ! I'll be watching for a follow up for sure!

[star_deceiver]

Nice run! Guess it's not too often that they get any model that lives that long.

[journeyforce]

I am more impressed that it was a 2001 Jetta that has that longevity. The 1999.5-2005 Jetta's were not known to be rock solid in the reliability dept. especially the once with the auto trans. Plus I was always amazed at how many were sold being that the Jetta was in the same class as the Corolla, Civic, Focus, Elantra, Mazda protege/Mazda3 etc and despite it being the most expensive of that class, the base model at 105 hp was the most underpowered. Of course the top of the line Jetta from 1999.5-2005 was nothing to write home about at 158hp. The Focus ST(with the Mazda 2.3) had more HP then it and it was cheaper and more reliable then the Jetta Now the 1980's Jetta was rock solid and that Diesel would outlast the car body (you could get 20 years out of it in the original body and perhaps 10 more in another Jetta.It seems the more tech stuff that they put in VW's, the more unreliable they were. The old beetle, Van, Vanagon(both water and air cooled) Rabbit and Golf(yes i am aware that these two cars were the same thing) and anything by VW from the mid 1990's to back when the first beetles rolled out over here were rock solid and easy to repair.

[tpollauf]

I read this article also the other day on MSN and wondered if this owner got any monetary compensation for "donating" his car back to VW. If nothing else they should have given him his choice of a NEW VW for forfeiting this 11 year old one!