Re: New VW slogan: "Are you ready to put up with it?"

[David Mathias <dmath@cis.ohio-state.edu>]

>> > BUT, I hate the fact that it breaks down and
>> > repairs cost a fortune.  Maybe not yours (yet), but on the
>> >average,  it does...
> 
> >Anecdotal evidence is not sufficient to support such a claim. 
> >What is your proof of this?
> 
> Are you serious?  What are you, a mathematician, an attorney? 
>
Computer scientist actually.  But my field is fairly mathematical.
Not that it matters.
 
> Come on, this is not a scientific forum, just a place to share
> experiences, opinions, and positive as well as *sometimes*
> negative aspects of GLX ownership.
> 
> BTW, if it's only "Anecdotal evidence" as you call it, how come I
> never hear "Anecdotal evidence" about VW (except for the old
> VW bug) being very reliable and cheap to repair?
>
This is easy.  What are we supposed to do, send a message once
a week that says "Didn't break down again this week." ?  No,
people complain when something goes wrong but express themselves
far less often otherwise.  

On the watercooled newsgroup this same thing comes up occasionally.
Someone says that VWs aren't reliable because we never see posts
saying that they are.  Then many people post saying that their
cars have <fill in large number here> miles on them and have
never given them a problem.  6 months later it starts again.
 
> Proof?  How 'bout that $1,800 bill I have to pay today?  Or maybe
> that $285 bill from about a month ago?  No scientific poll
> required there...   All on the vehicle that is two years old!   How
> about experience my friends Lynn (Jetta), Chris (Passat) and
> Linda (Golf) had with their VW's in the last 10 years?  
>
This shows that you and some of your friends have had bad luck. 
I've owned 3 Jettas with a combined 235K miles on them (one of
these accounted for 165K miles).  I can think of only 2 repairs
that weren't maintenance items.  Does this mean that VWs are
nearly perfect cars?  Of course not.  Neither of us can make
broader claims based on our very limited experience.


David