VW's and marques owned by VW........

[Jimble]

How does your EXEO compare to your GTI snoopy? In terms of actual quality and percieved quality?

[Exonian]

This really is a strange thread. I'm not going into the politics of whether a VW is better than a SEAT and all that pointless crap. Like Snoopy I have an engineering background (though that was many years ago curtailed by Mrs Thatcher - I had to blame someone!!!) and have owned SEATs since 1998. I still have a 13 year old SEAT now which is my daily driver, and it is still in remarkably good condition considering the life it leads. I've owned quite a lot of cars over the years, well over 20 and most have been performance VAG.

To answer the original strange question, VW have had a stake in SEAT since about 1984 I think so is it really any surprise that if they develop a chassis or engine, each of which costs hundreds of millions of EUROs to put into production, that they want to maximise return on it? So they will sell as many derivatives of any given chassis or engine as they can. A bit of group competition is good also, as it helps keep factory standards up throughout the world.
The 'I bought a VW because I wanted a German designed and built car' is a bit of a dodgy one really as many of the components are sourced from all over the globe and the designers and engineers likewise. All the other big groups of manufacturers do exactly the same, eg. GM, FIAT, PSA etc.
This certainly isn't a new thing. The only conclusion I can draw from this thread is that the marketing men/ladies have done a very very good job of hoodwinking everyone. So they've earned their pay.
All I can say is I'm glad we have the choice as not so long ago VW GTIs were a bit sh!te and Cupras/FRs weren't. Who knows what the situation will be in a few years(?)

So thanks VW group for giving us that choice - even though your quality and dealers can be a bit sh!te!

[Snoopy]

How does your EXEO compare to your GTI snoopy? In terms of actual quality and percieved quality?

They body colour paint to panel edges unlike modern VWs It does not rattle and its older than the golf. The bits i have had to bits they have not done silly things. The dash etc feels like an audi  (its basically an old A4 with an old audi cab dashboard). Its just a stop gap car anyway and is been passed to another family member in 7-10 months time. 

[The Doc]

I have paint to edges BTW :-)

And I'm rattle free :-)

[Snoopy]

Bet i could spot it     every golf and new polo i have seen has not got body coloured paint to the wing edge. Including the mk5s and i must have seen hundreds now as i wanted to see if its normal. It depends on what undercoat colour they have used on how easy it is to spot But thats just one of many things i noticed sadly. I dare not let my mate a Quality Manager at nissan who has to approve changes and give advice for changes to the engineers on new models look at the mk6 after seeing him pull to bits my last cars he would have a feild day with the mk6  Don't get me wrong i really like the car but as an engineer i see other engineers odd decisions then think why.

[am1w]

Sorry to burst your bubbles:

On the Golf, the paintwork and lack of it is shocking, the internal panels look good but tick away, the doors and the bonnet are mis-aligned, the instrument binnicle is not securely screwed down as it ticks when you touch it, the external panels especially the front wings are really thin and much thinner than on my Honda, the RNS510 in particular, sounds rubbish and needs subs and amps to make it decent, the door mirrors have a mind of their own, the carpets are really quite low rent, the centre arm rest is very badly made and rattles if it is not in the zero position, the door cards feel as if they could come-off their fixings (every modern car feels so anyway), the steering wheel is 2" too shy in it's movement, the ride is too hard even in comfort, the 'tyres' (?) are noisy, there is too much wind noise IMO, the Halogen lights are pants, the reverse light is worse than useless, the area around the number plate on the rear bumper has a distorted surface on many GTIs, etc, etc!

But I love the car to bits as it gives me great joy.

I suppose at the end of the day, that's what counts. Yes/No?

[Snoopy]

Its the only reason i have not sold mine yet.

[mac7]

Snoopy, you know engineering of a product is a compromise. As an engineer you should be able to look at other engineers decisions, analyse and understand why they made them. Not a criticism, just a comment.  

Quality is so much more than the methodology and empirical analysis of construction standards - it's also perception of value or sensation of texture and appearance amongst other things. I would debate that Nissan get the former correct but don't achieve the latter, even with the Infinity range.

[Snoopy]

Snoopy, you know engineering of a product is a compromise. As an engineer you should be able to look at other engineers decisions, analyse and understand why they made them. Not a criticism, just a comment. 

I know and I can, i do it daily at work as part of my job  , but i also see so many stupid decisions that make no sense and not on price level. Basically bad design and bad decisions.


A couple of the design decisions i wait and watch for the problems owners will have claiming from VW due to rust and all the posts on forums when the cars hit 5 years old or prob less due to new design decisions but 99.99% of you don't care as you will have moved onto something else by then.

[The Doc]

I've been driving land rover products for years so as you can imagine the golf paint and finish is miles better than what I'm used to - I'll always love. Land Rovers and Golfs though.

Years ago I came to terms with the fact that anything mass produced will never be to my expected standard, so these days I expect nothing and therefore I never get disappointed.

I dread to think of the monstrosity I'd build from scratch with a 30 grand budget.....