I'm starting to develop a real strong distaste for anything with a Volkswagen logo on it. If they were people they'd be the sort of charming barfly who promises much, delivers little and schmoozes their way into your life so they can "please baby please" you into pawning the family silver to support them.
If VW troubles only extended to the 20+ year old cars I and my friends actually own then I'd just chalk it up to them being old, well worn, and ripe with neglected maintenance.
But I've heard story after story of newer VW owners having problem after problem after problem, even with religious care, and yet every other garden variety brand can be relied upon with regular maintenance.
You could say much the same about many an Italian car, but at least there you can chalk it up to the natural tendencies of the Italian artiste to lost interest when it comes to the niggling little details.
But VWs are German. Germans are legendary for being anal retentive, so when a German car fails on you, you can only suspect that it failed with intent, so as to snare you with a charming car, then lure you into the dealership over and over and over with a series of suspiciously regular failures.
And to top it all off with more damning anecdotal evidence,
my folks own a New Beetle. I was told yesterday that it somehow gets the WORST mileage of all three of their cars, and one of those cars is a full size Nissan minivan with a big V6. The wheels on that van are huge; they must weigh at least half what the Beetle does all by themselves.
I could almost hear the Bavarians giggling at their own cleverness when I got told that. I'm sure that tiny Beetle was bought with the expectation of decent mileage, too. Talk about bait and switch.
If I had to choose between a Mk2 Golf and an Aztek right now, I'd probably take the Aztec. I've even met women who like the Aztec. Admittedly, they were very strange women.
If what mad_machine said about Aztec build quality is true, then I almost feel like buying one just because of all the Haterade that gets poured on them, except I don't need anything minivan sized right now.
People seem to love (and buy) Volkswagens on sight due to design and marketing, then end up defending that purchasing decision the same way others defend marrying a drunk.
I don't think VW really wants much of the US market, otherwise they'd engineer those charming little cars to the same standards that even us fat lazy Yankees have managed to obtain. I'm pretty sure they just sell cars here as revenge for WWII.