Dear VW. Why do your new cars handle like a #@&% 1972 Buick??? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Dear VW. Why do your new cars handle like a #@&% 1972 Buick???

DJM

DJM

Well-known member
Site Supporter
Went north up the 401 to Toronto with the missus for a dirty weekend. Decided to avoid the 401 Cambridge/Guelph shitshow so I detoured at Woodstock to Hwy 403 towards the emerald city of Hamilton.

Had the cruise control on our new Jetta Highline set at 120 km/h which, according to standard German doctrine is actually about 114 km/h... Such a lovely, smooth, quiet ride so far, Sirius radio playing in the background, the sun shining through the sunroof, heated seats on medium for the old guy's back...

Ok, here we go, down the really big hill ™ into Hamilton, whoa, whoa, WTF? First sharp sweeper gives me major understeer, I cross over the white shoulder line, plowing and wallowing like a mattress on wheels. I recover with a frown, that wasn't good, is my tire pressure off, do I have a flat, did someone steal my 17" Pirelli's and replace them with 14" Lucky Dragons?

Second sharp sweeper requires a lane change to avoid a braking Cobalt. More understeer, the steering wheel is fighting back, just kept it inside my lane, OMG! AYFKM?! WHY WON'T YOU RESPOND TO MY STEERING REQUESTS? WHY IS THE FRONT END DIVING LIKE BRAD MARCHAND???

I refuse to back down, continuing my way through the rest of those great curves that I LOVE ON MY BIKE, fighting the steering wheel, listening to both tire scrub and my wife telling me to slow down. Yeah, I know the speed limit's 90 Luv but a #$%^@ Grand Am just passed me on the outside!

Checked the tire pressures next morning, bang on 36 psi and the OEM Pirelli's are still there.

So VW, what the hell happened to the European handling? My MKIV Jetta was a go cart compared to this. This MKVI has been lard-*** AMERICANIZED FFS!! Now I'm looking for suspension upgrades, I'm guessing there won't be a cheap solution?
 
Last edited:
I know that feeling. Cars today are tuned for the average driver who doesn't want to feel the road, what's happening around them, and makes the ride as smooth as possible....unfortunately that kills any agility in cornering and driving dynamic.
Could it be the tires were too cold for the corner? Tire pressure too high?
Suspension is probably tuned stupidly soft now so the dive may need new bits to work better.

My Si blows chunks in the power and kick in the chest acceleration but is beautiful in cornering ability and control.
 
Your Mark4 was ok and your Mark6 blows .

price point, gotta hit the value equation, something has to go. You got to keep the heated seats, sunroof, pirellis, sat radio. Guess where the cost cutting came in?
 
I had VW cars for years but went away when the diesels got too complex for their own good. I had a Beetle rental a while back and wasn't impressed. I have a Fiat 500 as a daily driver now, and it is like a go kart compared to the VW which felt like a barge. The average driver who wants something quiet and isolated but with V8 power wouldn't like it.
 
DJM said:
did someone steal my 17" Pirelli's and replace them with 14" Lucky Dragons
Click to expand...

Hmmmm. There's no street car tracks there. Leaves?
 
kwtoxman said:
A good start is not buying the cheapest most dumbed down VW model (Jetta). It's well known the newer jetta's starting a few years back were americanized and redesigned/slashed for a cheap price point.
Click to expand...

I thought the Golf was the cheapest VW...although typically I've heard positives on the the Golf model range and Jetta was always the more upscale no?
 
That's too bad I always liked the Jetta. But after reading more and more about it then it's not going to be on the list for updated cars...Golf Wagon TDI on the other hand...such a sweet ride.

Anyway OP sorry for small thread jack. I hate what's becoming of new cars and I am even more sad about the continual demise of the manual transmission in vehicles :(
 
mimico_polak said:
I thought the Golf was the cheapest VW...although typically I've heard positives on the the Golf model range and Jetta was always the more upscale no?
Click to expand...

The Golf uses VW's latest MQB vehicle platform.

The Jetta uses a dumbed-down version with bits and pieces of the last couple generations before MQB plus a few newly cheapened parts.

At least they've mostly gotten rid of the beam-axle rear suspension that was on the current Jetta when it was introduced (2011).

I think the problem has more to do with spring and shock calibration, front end geometry, and power steering calibration. VWs have traditionally needed the rear antiroll bar beefed up in order to get the turn-in response to feel better, that part is nothing new.

The Fiat is different, it doesn't even feel like a front-drive unless you are doing something you shouldn't be doing at a speed that you shouldn't be doing it at. It's pretty obvious if you park the Fiat with the steering turned to the side beside a VW with the steering turned to the side, that something is very different with the front suspension. Both MacPherson strut but different geometry.
 
I have the same concerns as what the OP'S mentioned except in my case I have a 2011 VW Golf Sport line. The last generation that was made in Germany for the Canadian market. In my opinion the cars handeling and ride are what I expected for a European car. Reasonable balance between Sport and comfort. Now all the Golf's are made in Mexico for the NA market and I wonder what cost cutting measures they took and if it's effecting the ride and handling when compared to the previous generation models. To answer the question regarding VW'S base model. I believe the Jetta had become their North American entry level car somewhere around 2009-2010. I was actually surprised at the cost difference in 2011 when I purchased my Golf. But as soon as I test drove both. You quickly can see and feel the difference both in the ride and interior.

For what it's worth. I believe the new base Jettas are still considered a better than average reliable model. Just my opinion.
 
Last edited:
Even though those are pirellis they're not as great as the one you'll buy off the shelves. For eg. my Elantra comes with Continued Contact, they're the worse sets of tires I've ever driven in. My winter tires had much more feedback & better bump absorption. They're only General tires
 
You're acting like just because they are Pirelli's and you've seen that name on a F1 car, that makes them great. They are still crappy OEM all-seasons. If you are going to drive above the speed limit in a family sedan, buy some decent tires. Or air the stockers down to like 30psi.
 
RockerGuy said:
Even though those are pirellis they're not as great as the one you'll buy off the shelves. For eg. my Elantra comes with Continued Contact, they're the worse sets of tires I've ever driven in. My winter tires had much more feedback & better bump absorption. They're only General tires
Click to expand...

Continental ContiProContact is a favorite OEM tire of European brands. I have yet to have a set of Continental tires that I didn't hate. I ditched the ones on my previous daily-driver with lots of tread depth left because they rode hard and had no grip or feedback. My van has Continental Vanco tires, and while no one expects a van to handle like a sports car, these are pretty awful - and they're starting to get noisy, with only 30,000 km on them and lots of tread depth left.
 
The Golf has long been praised for its handling, ride and drive. And the performance/enthusiast models are excellent.

250R-ICE said:
... in my case I have a 2011 VW Golf Sport line. The last generation that was made in Germany for the Canadian market... Now all the Golf's are made in Mexico for the NA market...
Click to expand...
Wrong. One can still get a german made Golf in Canada if you pick the correct model.

250R-ICE said:
Now all the Golf's are made in Mexico for the NA market and I wonder what cost cutting measures they took and if it's effecting the ride and handling when compared to the previous generation models.
Click to expand...
Really? The location of where the car was made has/had no effect on the design and materials.

For design/architecture savings, there was the huge MQB platform approach that was put into place across many models; it was a completely separate program.

Now, there are some people who say the vehicles just aren't assembled as well in Mexico as those from Europe. I don't know anything about this other than anecdotes and thus it doesn't really matter to me. However, I did find multiple specific instances of my Golf model (which was made in Germany) being delivered to people with the wrong or mismatched equipment in the car (usually interior, wrong headrests, wrong console armrest, wrong pedals, missing bellypan, etc). So the german-made cars were far from being immune to mistakes.
 
Last edited:
I don't know, I thought the 1972 Buick Skylark got around pretty good.
 
You may be referring to the Golf R but the base Golf's and GTI are now all made in Mexico.


kwtoxman said:
The Golf has long been praised for its handling, ride and drive. And the performance/enthusiast models are excellent.


Wrong. One can still get a german made Golf in Canada if you pick the correct model.
Click to expand...
 
who forced you to buy?!

cheap solution? depends..

upgrade or dump it ..& go another way
 
Last edited:
probably the ABS
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom