I'm a mechanic by trade and my 98 S10 Blazer may be a little difficult to work on sometimes,ie evap core, R&R engine, etc. I just finished working on a New Beetle and the way germans put their cars together is completely unrealistic. You can't remove a front door panel without cutting and grinding so you have to replace it if you remove it. I had to rewire the complete data bus system for shorts in the factory twisted wires that apparently got to hot from an ignition interlock device. The unbelieveably ignorant way they put a car together and the wiring diagrams they use(track style) have got to be so unlogical and complex that I now know why it costs so much to have them worked on. My labor rate should have doubled just because they are complete idiots. The volkswagen dealership down here in Austin wouldn't even try to fix it without putting a complete wiring harness($1350 +labor) and a new ECM. I used a good ole American technique of hard wiring everything myself like I've done on my blazer and a bunch of other American cars and guess what, it runs just fine now. And they don't give out any specs on ALLDATA like most other manufacturers do.

Anywho, VOLKSWAGENS SUCK!!!!!!!!!

 

There was a new beetle in ccity today getting a set of speakers installed...you can get the panels off quite easy without replacing...still annoying to pry up the plastic clips though. One other thing....the front speakers are RIVETED into the door skin....how much sense does that make..


VW ftl.

 

yeah -i find that they[GERMANs] have to over-engineer everything- for example their WW2 tanks,the russian and american ones where simple but did the job-the german ones where complex and broke down too much,their motorcycles BMW,KTM,are first rate but most owners need to go to the shop even for the most simple of things [like oil changes]the KTM 950 superenduro takes two hours to change the oil -[you have to disassemble half the bike]the beemers cost so much to maintainits nuts but i guess the STATUS makes up for it..i like simple to work on and maintain vehicles that dont cost me a second mortgageto run...

 

Sorry to say fellas but a bug is my favorite vehicle ever made! Not those new things that is NOT a beetle its a jetta on flower power it could never compare to a bug.

but as a comparison my friend had a '97 achieva and its ignition messed up, but you cant just change the ignition he had to change the entire column down to the steering box and since the column had been unpluged the comp thought the car was stolen so he had to have a guy drive like 10 miles to his house to have him plug in his programmer and clear the code.

this is just an example that its not just the germans every car manufacturer seems to be desighning cars to where you have to take it to a specialist like they are trying to fase out us shade tree mechanics. for simplicity just go classic american muscle, or go baja

 

I just bought a Audi a4 1.8TQ to replace the 98 blazer. So Far I love it. 121K miles runs great. Had to change the thermostat which took like 20 mins. We'll see though.

 

old german engineering was great like the old beetles, they were cheap and well put together..... anywaymy story for german engineering is this
my dads boss at work got one of those new vw suv things, don't know the name of them, but he bought it new 12,000 miles the alternator blows, for some reason warrenty won't cover, ok $200 bucks for a new one, plus the $500 for labor cause you have to lift the engine up 8 inches to get it in there, on top of that he decided to change the spark plugs and had to lift the engine yet agian 2 inches to change 2 of the plugs ya german engineering realy paying off

 

The Toureg is teh sex though. I would love one. Or an XC90...id have to think a while to pick between the two..

Also we had a Porsche Cheyenne come into the install bay at ccity and I was checking it out....there was no way that engine was getting worked on in the vehicle. Also the belt drive and ACC system was at the back near the firewall....I cant imagine changing a belt! Oh also, from the looks of it, the engine drops out the bottom, not the top...

 

Well as beeing a german and an engineer,
Volkswagen (and Audi) is not very service friendly. On the gen V Rabbit you have to take off the whole bumper/grille assembly in order to change a bulb in the headlights.
They're just packing too much into these cars. And I think design comes before engineering at those companies.
One good thing is that they use the same platform for many cars (VW Touareg and Porsche Cayenne, VW and Audi on many models)
For the speakers, the ones in the doors of my Explorer were riveted too.
KTM is an austrian company, just for the record
Usually the're very service friendly.
But as brokenfish said, it's not just german companies who are not thinking of a good way to service their products
while designing them. Maybe they just want tomake their customers go to their dealerships for everything instead offree shops.
At least that's how it's going here at the moment.

 

Plug & play! If it breaks, they want you to buy another.

 

MY 2000 Audi is pretty easy to work on. I had to change a signal bulb so I had to take out 3 torx bolts and pull the headlight out. 10mins each max. One nice feature about these cars is the whole front end comes off with a few bolts to do the timing belt and w/e else. Just like a blazer but easier. Don't get me wrong I loved the blazer. I just missed how a car felt and now I average over 32mpg. Another thing is the parts are really expensive if you go to the dealer. Luckily theres rock auto . We are supposed to be getting some snow tonight and im stoked to try out the AWD.