Funny, because the Beetle was very reliable and durable here in Europe, both in cold Scandinavian countries, and hot south European countries, and for driving the demanding roads in the alps. And here they were everywhere even more than a decade after production stopped. Very very durable and reliable cars. Also beating way more expensive cars in how old they got on average.

What they were not was well equipped with extras, or fast or powerful or particularly comfortable to drive, and they were also noisy.
But to say they weren't reliable?????

Did USA get some sort of second rate Beetle cars compared to Europe? Here we called it the asphalt bubble. I even have a neighbor who owns a late 70's beetle today, which still drives absolutely fine! Still with minimal maintenance!

I could understand if you were from Brazil, they had their own VW factory early on, and IDK if quality is the same on those? Maybe USA got VW from Brazil?

I understand your point, but have you driven a VW in the past decade? They are reliable, relatively easy to repair and have comfortable interiors that aren't with "hard plastic." Perhaps you've confused VW with Ford?

Turns out that when the tests are mandatory safety checks performed by an independent third party, a study shows VW is the clear winner.

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Here Tesla is claimed to be the cheapest to maintain, but they also have the worst failure rate of any brand here in Denmark at similar safety checks as in Germany. Although the failure rate is even higher here with 33% which used to be completely unheard of.

So cheap maintenance does not mean high reliability.

The thing about the early VWs, like the Beetle, was they couldn't pass the updated safety standards the US passed in the early '70s: safety glass, reinforced cabin, etc.

That’s completely okay with me. i get to buy these as used cars at extremely cut price.

I don't know if you saw I posted earlier, but I don't dislike Hyundai, I'm even considering a second hand Hyundai for exactly that reason.

The Skoda Enyaq which is also VW group and based on the VW MEB platform is very well equipped as standard. I'd say that's similar to Hyundai.
I cant think of anything that is extra on the Enyaq, that isn't also extra on the Hyundai.
Also the small 60 kW Enyaq is very similar in range to a 64 kW Kona, and that's despite it's 400 kg heavier.
I bet there are many ways to compare, but the VW drive train is very efficient, so it generally manages to match Hyundai despite being heavier.
But you need to compare similar cars, you can't compare Sport Sedan to SUV, and expect the SUV to be equally efficient at Autobahn speed.

Go test drive a VW id.3 from 2022, I did, it’s a 3 year old car and everything is creaking

That's anecdotal, but I agree it shouldn't do that. Maybe it has been driven frequently on bad roads?
Last place I lived, we had a 1km dirt road to our house, that takes a toll.

You dodged a bullet.

VW has gone down the drain.

Ford is even worse than VW, but VW is overpriced shit.

Funny, because the Beetle was very reliable and durable here in Europe, both in cold Scandinavian countries, and hot south European countries, and for driving the demanding roads in the alps. And here they were everywhere even more than a decade after production stopped. Very very durable and reliable cars. Also beating way more expensive cars in how old they got on average.

What they were not was well equipped with extras, or fast or powerful or particularly comfortable to drive, and they were also noisy.
But to say they weren't reliable?????

Did USA get some sort of second rate Beetle cars compared to Europe? Here we called it the asphalt bubble. I even have a neighbor who owns a late 70's beetle today, which still drives absolutely fine! Still with minimal maintenance!

I could understand if you were from Brazil, they had their own VW factory early on, and IDK if quality is the same on those? Maybe USA got VW from Brazil?

Yes, but that doesn't make the car unreliable.
Also funny story is that car safety is abhorrent in USA today compared to Europe. Especially with American pickup trucks.
USA was absolutely in the front on research on for instance seat belts, but Europe made them mandatory to have and wear first, because in USA it was delayed because they were afraid it would slow down car sales! (AFAIK)
Crash tests were expensive, so I bet that started in USA first too, because American car companies had way more money than in Europe.Still how did the Cybertruck pass? We've seen the crash test of that, and it's an absolute killer car for the driver in a crash. A broken neck is almost guaranteed!
There is no way Cyber Truck would pass car safety standards in Europe!

I understand your point, but have you driven a VW in the past decade? They are reliable, relatively easy to repair and have comfortable interiors that aren't with "hard plastic." Perhaps you've confused VW with Ford?

Had a 2023 VW ID4. They literally go out of their way to make your experience worse in many cases.

They have an app, they can read locked state, but can't lock the car.

Their app/website makes you completely re-sign in and re-accept cookies every month or so that breaks any API usage mildly like HomeAssistant.

The key unlocks the door if you walk to it, 50% chance to re-lock the door when you walk away without interacting with it.

Can detect tire pressure, but they don't tell you what it is, only if there is "pressure loss"

Backup camera was horrific quality, especially the field of view of a telephoto camera, especially compared to my 2015 Nissan altima

The entertainmrnt console was terible, extremely laggy, and Android auto was the worst experience. It would take between 2 and 15 minutes to connect to android auto with multiple different phones, and it would choose 1 app per phone to not display. My girlfriends' was her maps app which is insane. Sometimes I would be at my destination before it would connect.

Also putting a trailer hitch on it would have been like 1500-2000€...

For the tire pressure thing, that's because VW doesn't actually use sensors in the wheels. They calculate wheel circumference as you're driving and warn you if it changes, meaning you have a flat. On the one hand, you don't have to worry about sensors if you have winter tires, but on the other... having it show PSI would be nice.

Capped speed isn't enough. I want it to slam the brakes on the highway and go "Tired of the ads? Get the Volkswagen Battlepass and enjoy an uninterupted drive!"

Tell me more about the sensors & winter tyres. They arent a thing where I live.

If you buy a new set of wheels, the pressure sensors for the valve stems also cost extra, and I think have to be paired with the car using a scan tool, depending on the manufacturer. So if you've got separate winter and summer tires, the sensors have to get updated each time you change. (Maybe some manufacturers have figured out how to auto-pair based on proximity? but idk)

I understand your point, but have you driven a VW in the past decade? They are reliable, relatively easy to repair and have comfortable interiors that aren't with "hard plastic." Perhaps you've confused VW with Ford?

That schematic is basically worthless, first it's "per car", with no mention of average age or mileage.
Mercedes is no doubt among the absolute most reliable cars you can get, most Taxi drivers here use Mercedes for that reason.
But Mercedes also on average drive longer than most other cars, because people who drive a lot tend to prefer Mercedes more.
VW only ranking a couple places above Chrysler is laughable. There is no way that can be right.
Also Audi ranking below VW is ridiculous. Audi is to VW somewhat what Lexus is to Toyota.
Something is definitely off with that chart.

But I do not deny that Hyundai may have improved enough to be as good or maybe even better than VW, What I questioned was how they could have that reputation already few years after they clearly sucked on quality. Being reasonably good now, is exactly as expected though. Because when they were bad over a decade ago, they were so bad there are probably very few left on the roads. It was not just something that needed to be fixed bad, it was very much also end of life for the vehicle bad.

I skimmed the article to find the methodology behind the numbers, but couldn't find it.

The study, now in its 35th year,

That indicates my previous point, they don't account for age, it's easy to stay "average" if your cars are scrapped after a few years. It also explains the poor position of Mercedes.
Here for instance Volvo has a longer life span on average than Toyota. Toyota are good cars, but they are generally not built to last as long as Audi or Mercedes.
I bet you don't see as many 30+ year old Toyota as you do Mercedes.

Audi is full of shit. Don't chalk that pile of garbage up with Mercedes.

But, Toyota is easily better than any German brand. The reason why this just is garbage, is because Honda isn't on top of the list.