Bought a 2011 jetta

[petrified.rabbit]

It's partly me too, I like egging him on, so I'll take some of the blame..

The luminas suck part. Sorry.

[NYChevoo]

I'll grant the fact that all cars break down at some point but I believe that you lessen the chance by proper maintenance. My mother drove a 1969 VW Beetle, and my father a 1971 Dodge B100 Tradesman Van with a slant 6-225 up until his death in 1978. My mother then purchased a 1978 Chevy Impala, then a 1980 Chevy Citation, then a 1982 Pontiac Phoenix, then a 1988 Chevy Celebrity, then a 1992 Saturn SL1, then her last car before her death was a 2001 Chevy Malibu. There were hardly ever any instances when her cars were broken down, granted early on she switched cars frequently then later on the there were more years between vehicles. I always thought the cars were pretty damn good, even for the 80's crap that was being produced. Some was good, some not. Do you beat the living daylights out of your cars, or take care of them? I dont know, all I know is that I feel if you take care of them then you lessen the chance of incident.

[Z34guy]

I'll grant the fact that all cars break down at some point but I believe that you lessen the chance by proper maintenance. My mother drove a 1969 VW Beetle, and my father a 1971 Dodge B100 Tradesman Van with a slant 6-225 up until his death in 1978. My mother then purchased a 1978 Chevy Impala, then a 1980 Chevy Citation, then a 1982 Pontiac Phoenix, then a 1988 Chevy Celebrity, then a 1992 Saturn SL1, then her last car before her death was a 2001 Chevy Malibu. There were hardly ever any instances when her cars were broken down, granted early on she switched cars frequently then later on the there were more years between vehicles. I always thought the cars were pretty damn good, even for the 80's crap that was being produced. Some was good, some not. Do you beat the living daylights out of your cars, or take care of them? I dont know, all I know is that I feel if you take care of them then you lessen the chance of incident.

Sounds like your mother was a stout GM lover. I'll agree that proper maintenance does lessen the chance of a break down, but it can't be helped sometimes.

My father once had a 1994 Ford Ranger XLT. Extended cab, 5 speed manual, 4x4, 3.0L Vulcan V6. That truck had more problems than the Chevy Blazer he had before it. The truck was good for almost.... well... he started having problems with it right away.. He owned the truck from 1994 to 2009, when he FINALLY got fed up and traded it in on a 2006 Nissan Maxima (He initially wanted a Pontiac G6 but the finance company forced him into the Datsun). Before you say anything, he took religious care of that truck. And the 2 problems the truck had that I recall him bitching about the most were the brake lines (which had different size couplings on each end, making just finding a replacement a hassle) and when it shot a rod through the oil pan (which he spent 2 grand having the engine rebuilt).
Some cars just fall apart from the get go.

[AveoSS]

I had a 98 Explorer, it used to eat the front suspension bushing like a hog, and the tranny(manual 5speed, made by mazda) was total junk, also had a late 90's Concord(first generation) it used to eat the steering rod bushings every few months. Those were design flaws and are very hard to fix, in the case of the bushings, polyurethane would have solved the problem, unfortunately no one made it, so, had to go with the OEM...The tranny leaked and did not shift properly, a issue with the shifting forks being to thin and bending with use.

[petrified.rabbit]

Based on mileage/maintenance cost, the worst cars i ever owned (top 5) in no order, 1997 hyundai accent (bought new), 2000 ford focus(bought new), 1998 Audi A4 (wife wanted it, bought used without much research long story, great car but $$), 2004 Audi A4 (bought new), and 2001 VW Jetta (bought used higher mileage).

[thehunterooo]

"wouldnt have a problem with a honda, they never break down" -Aveorob

[MetroMPG]

Doh! The car I spent the most money on for maintenance/repairs was probably my '89 Honda Accord 5-speed. Budgeted about $750 a year & had it for about 6 or 7 years. (And did most of my own work, so it would have been even higher if I had to pay labour.)

[NYChevoo]

I have to say the worst car I ever owned was a Porsche 944. Constanly in the repair shop. I finally wised up and my next car was a 1972 Pontiac Grand Safari wagon I purchased locally from a family that had only 55000 miles on it. That was bought in 1984. Oh yeah, it was documented by the P.O. I saw the maintenance bills on the car. Loved that 455 V8!

[AveoSS]

I can top that, the 01 Ford Focus I bought new broke down half way caming back from Vegas and leaft us stranded in the midle of Death Valley, fuel pump went out(first but not last time), next brakes, ignition, and some other stuff, thanks to that car now my wife hates Fords and I won't be getting that Mustang anytime soon...

[petrified.rabbit]

i had fuel pump issues in my focus as well,it only ran and primed if you didn't push in the clutch, which made it hard to start..
but i could get that started, its when you pushing in the clutch and it didn't do anything that it became a problem..
as well as the radio only coming on 3 out of 4 times you turned the car on.. the dealer "fixed" the fuel pump issue 5 times, i tried to turn it in for lemon law, but since it was written as "no start" and the "solution" was different every time, i didn't have a case.

It was still a better car than my hyundai though.