changed my mind. keeping the 8. rawr.

 

I don't think you'll regret choosing the VW. I'd like to point out VW's reliability issues but an RX8 owner can hardly do so without looking somewhat foolish; deep down inside we are all hoping and praying our engines don't explode. The best part about the VW is that it has everything you are looking for.

 

I have to agree. If you don't need a rotary and looks of a sportscar, the VW is probably the best choice for a more economical fun car. Make sure it has a good warranty like the rx8.

 

I hope you've done your homework and factored in how long you plan to keep the VW vs the RX-8 along with how much more it costs per mile on the RX-8 to see if you're really going to come out ahead or not.

There's nothing worse than selling your RX-8 and buying a replacement (losing $5000 in the process) only to keep it for 3 years, and saving $2000 in fuel.

 

I have a jetta 1.8t and though it's more powerful than the 8 (The jetta isnt stock) I would never buy another VW because of the issues that mine has had. Nothing has happened engine or transmission wise cause both are very strong, but the little things are driving me crazy. Ive had 3 coolant lines blow making me over heat the engine. Ive had a vacuum hose go and its a $70 hose cause aparently those break alot. My line to the Fuel pressure regulator (The vacuum line) was cracked up so I replaced that with a silicon hose. I just recently replaced the coil packs.

Like I said, little things. It's a strong car but I'm done with VW, im trying to get something else to replace my jetta.

 

My wife's '03 jetta 1.8t has had the exact same issues. There are too many hoses on that thing. About 8 months ago she was stranded 3 hrs. from home (and the nearest VW dealer) b/c of a damn coolant hose. She was in bumf**k and we had a couple good 'ol boys try to fix it and they had no clue, had to get it towed 3hrs up the road.

Seems to be a great car aside from these "little" things. I think they upped the hp by ~30 ponnies in '03. That thing will blast off from a stop with the decent amount of torque it has down low.

...back to the thread...I was strongly considering the R32 before I got my 8. I liked it quite a bit, but couldn't find one for anywhere near the price I got my 8 for. No regrets here.

 

mmm this is trueeee....but the cost of the car can be financed...but the price u pay at the pump...cant..

 

Have you driven one? Is it FWD? I can't remember off hand.

 

mmm yes i have driven one. its awd...the engine is very nice..has power and torque everywhere.

 

It doesn't have a real manual transmission. Remember that when only see two pedals.

 

mmm yea but the DSG it comes with is really nice....unlike other dsgs it uses 2 clutches..the 2nd clutch is used for the next gear...it actually shifts quicker then the ferrari enzo 150millaseconds the r32 8millaseconds....only bad thing about it...it wont let you bounce redline..it will automatically upshift to the next gear..however i hear there is software you can get to bypass this.

 

See, personally, I don't need computers to tell me when to shift. I really don't care for all this stuff, at least, theoretically. Perhaps a test drive would change that but I can't see myself liking this at all.

 

They upped the power from 150 to 180 mid 2001 on the 1.8t and I fixed all the coolant hoses and everything myself, wasnt hard, just annoying cause yo need to remove things in order to get access to those tight places.

 

I thought they had paddle shifters aswell, I couldve sword they did.

 

By the way I had a Jetta 1.8t before my RX-8 and I (err... Carmax) had a **** load of problems with them. Thank god for that warranty.

 

mm yeah forgot to mention the dsg uses paddle shiffters...err more like button shifters behind the steering wheeel. xD

 

I just can't imagine liking that. Has anyone actually driven a car with those yet? Are they that incredible?

 

ahh yeah all this reliability talk with the VWs is kinda scaring me. i have an 04 rx8....ive never had a single problem with it...but i hear a lot of mixed things with the 04s ..but there are some that do exist that never have any problems.

 

mmm well..its similar to the enzo...cept the dsg in a r32 wont be able to handle 500+hp. and all F1 cars use this style of shiffting...

 

Coming from someone that has tons of VW friends buy the extended warranty.

-Alot of them have had issues with a valve the breaks which happens to be directly under the intake manifold requiring the intake manifold to be removed to replace it.

-If modded, almost all of my friends happen to frequently go on a goose chase to find out why the CEL is on.

-Shouldnt be an issue for you but they have coils that go out frequently, about the same price as ours $30. Sounds bad *** though when it goes -bad, sounds like a Scooby.

-If you think the RX8 has cheap plastic interior, I wouldnt even look at a VW. If your referring to a new one, VW last year decided to make the dash of all their cars with a harder, cheaper plastic rather than a softer plastic due to its cheaper price.

-Again with modding, VW loves to use, non-reusable hose clamps forcing you to cut them off and buy new ones. Im cramped places cutting these things off can be a bitch.

-Cost of parts can be pricey, especially for the R32. OEM price on a R32 front bumper is $750-$830 unpainted from the dealer.

-No wheel studs, they use wheel bolts. Its always fun helping VW guys hold the wheel in place so they can thread the first 2 bolts on.

-If modding exepect something to go wrong. Bolts sheering off, something breaking, etc. I refuse to help my buddies work on their VWs for this reason, nothing ever goes as planned. No it is not us because when working on Hondas or Nissans we never have issues, its just the VWs.

Out of things right now. Other than that, they can be made very fast, but at a large cost. R32s sound great and are fun to drive. You might want to check out www.vwvortex.com, they have a huge online community probably 10-15 times larger than this one.

 

My coils went out on my 1.8T too before. It broke down on me 4 times in the 2 years I had it.

 

VW has had some reliability issues as of late. When I worked for a rental car company it seemed most of our clients were VW. I used to own a 85 Golf and I loved that car, 255K no problems! My friend has the Toreg and nothing but issues. If I went VW I'd go Golf. It's fast, fun and not many around these parts.

 

I'd wait a little bit to get some reliability on this gen of VW's but the last one stunk.

 

i want to wait too..but its difficult...the r32s are very limited in numbers..only 5000 being shipped to the US for the gen. HMMMM

 

I've had 2 VWs in the past, 02 Jetta 1.8T, and 05 GTI 1.8T Brand New. Both had crazy problems. You think the 05 would have the least amount of problems considering it was the last model year of that body style and everything. My 05 had radio headunit short out 2x, got a new headunit, rear hatch mechanism was rusted, everytime i used the wipers in the rain, water would drop into the driver side A pillar. Turns out there was dirt or whatever in the sunroof, have no idea how that happend since it was in Feb and i didnt even used the sunroof. Hoses by the intercooler was loose for 6 months and told them it was loose....cause it kept surging...but the dealer said it was fine, no codes... Didn't get a check engine light till 6 months...turns out to be a cracked and loose hose. Car finally performs as it should. 24K later, traded in for the RX-8.

02 Jetta has multiple random check engine lights, not to mention i had to re-visit the dealer 2x for a bad coolant sensor within the same week, plus the same thing with the radio headunit shorting out and them giving me a new headunit....it was gettin hilarious cause the valet guys used to always say weren't you here last week?? haha NOT I always used to say to my service advisor, hey this is like my 2nd home. and they responded, atleast we're not chargin you rent!

VWs are good cars but its the overly engineered + complexity that makes you go insane Not to mention that the dealer service is worse than Mazda IMO. I've had better service at Mazda by far compared to VW service.

Definitely know what you are getting yourself into when you get into a VW. I've never really given an auto maker 2 chances and turns out the 2nd time i tried them, turned out worse than the first time around. If you can put up with the electronic gremlins in a VW than you are okay, but if those things bug you, then a VW isn't right for you to be honest. Takes a hell lot more patience to own a VW than an RX-8