Re: VW or Alfa? (long and minimal Alfa content)

["David R Johnson" <johnsnd@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Feb 18,  8:56pm, Kit Redwine wrote:

> two Alfa family.  On the other hand, we might look at early Passat
> wagons for ski, bike, and doggy hauling ability.  Any body have any
> suggestions or experience comparing the two?  I was actually leaning
> toward the Passat until I saw a hot-looking 164S on my commute this
> morning.  Che bella!  Please respond off-digest if that would be
> appropriate.

Kit, my wife has a '92 Passat wagon, which qualifies as early as long as you
are not referring to the rare and antique previous body style (that would be
three generations back).  The car is quite fun to drive and handles very well,
and is also very luxurious if the buyer sprung for all the options.  It is also
an efficiently designed small (by US standards) wagon in the German tradition.

Now the bad news.  The 4-cyl. is somewhat underpowered and rather noisy, and
cannot be forgiven since it does not make anything like the wonderful Alfa
sound.  To enjoy the car you need to use the revs and accept the noise.  It is
firmly sprung and therefore has a highish road noise level, although in this
respect it is probably no different from an Alfa (no personal experience of the
164 mind you).  Someone mentioned maintainence costs; our Passat is low mileage
(<80K) and in the years we have owned it it has not been reliable.  Examples:

Interior lights don't work when door opened (traced to open circuit in wiring
loom after weeks of troubleshooting :P), 1 P/W stuck (motor corroded due to
poor door sealing), alarm stopped working (hood switch problem), radio fuse
blew twice (no reason?), distributer died due to oil leak past worn shaft (two
rebuilt replacements do same thing?!), clutch judders due to oil from
distributer, parking brake mechanism seized on 1 rear caliper (WD40 eventually
freed it), ignition key switch failed (worn internal parts, I rebuilt it),
steering column electrical contacts noisy when wheel turned, sunvisor popped
out of mount (now loose), door locks getting tricky to operate.  Also broken
timing belt, my fault (left belt till 70K!) but dealer wanted >$3000 to repair
- - they won't rebuild heads, need factory new one (see below) - I towed it home
and fixed it for just $600.  I've heard of belts failing just after the 60K
service interval and VW refused to cover it.  Now sounds like it needs new
water pump.  (Sounds like an Alfa, huh :).

Add to that high parts costs ($400 for rear muffler, aftermarket!), quoted $80
for ignition switch, $180 for sun visor, and $1700 for cylinder head.  I'm sure
I've forgotten something here, but I'm already annoying people with no Alfa
content so I'll stop here.  Dealer told me VR6's were much more reliable, but
then of course they wanted me to buy one.  At least the VR6 is supposed to be a
nice motor, but I bet it can't hold a candle to the hallowed Alfa V6.  At least
at 7 years old there is no evidence of rust.

My advice?  The Passat is a nice car, but my experience with it has totally
soured my feelings about VW's.  I can't understand where the German reputation
for build quality came from.  We would have liked to replace it with a VR6, but
it will be a hard sell.  Buy a nice 164 and a small trailer or good roof rack.
 If only Alfa had imported a wagon to the US...

Dave J.
1982 GTV6
1994 Camaro Z28 (souped up)
1992 VW Passat (wife's unreliable transport)

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