Author Topic: 2014 Japanese Car of the Year is...  (Read 6430 times)

RichardA

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2014 Japanese Car of the Year is...
« on: December 01, 2013, 07:40:38 PM »
...not the new Jazz/Fit but the Mk7 VW Golf - the first non-Japanese winner of the title since its inception 33 years ago:

http://www.sgcarmart.com/news/article.php?AID=9243

Quote
The Japanese Car of the Year award has always been dominated by domestic car makers. This tradition is finally broken by Volkswagen Golf VII, which beats Honda Fit (Jazz) in this year's contest by 504 points to 373 points.

(You will need to scroll down to find it):
http://www.autozine.org/0_News/Archive/2013_11/News_frame.html

chrisc

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Re: 2014 Japanese Car of the Year is...
« Reply #1 on: December 04, 2013, 03:27:52 PM »
It is certainly a very desirable car.  The exterior finish is exceptional and oozes quality.  However, it is very expensive for a small to medium car, at least 30% more than a comparable Hyundai or the new Honda Ballade.  Also extremely quiet to drive, the sound deadening is as good as a Lexus or Mercedes, you cannot hear the engine when idling and road irregularities do not provoke any banging or crashing
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peteo48

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Re: 2014 Japanese Car of the Year is...
« Reply #2 on: December 05, 2013, 03:07:26 PM »
The Golf is a lovely car but German reliability is not what it was and, indeed, in a recent Warranty Direct survey 9 of the 10 most unreliable cars on the planet were German with Audi being grotesquely unreliable.

Shortly after reading the Warranty Direct findings, my brother told me that his wife's 5 year old Audi A3 required a new automatic gearbox at 16,500 miles and that Audi were totally unmoved when it was suggested that, at the very least, a goodwill payment should be made.

Added to my experience with a VW Golf TDI from 2008 to 2011 which cost me nearly £3000 in repairs, this makes me think that German cars are the new Italian cars - desirable but best left to people with deep pockets!

chrisc

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Re: 2014 Japanese Car of the Year is...
« Reply #3 on: December 05, 2013, 04:38:15 PM »
I second peteo's post and would also mention BMW.  Apart from niggling ongoing faults (oil leaks, internal fan blower control, dodgy alternator which kept blowing lamps) the agents are pretty useless and for the oil leak, had 4 goes at fixing it.

The design is very good, but the build quality is poor, hence these ongoing problems. One cannot fault the Japanese for attention to the smallest detail.  On the BMW, the boot lock solenoid had 4 screw holes to attach it to the body.  Only two bolts had been used, so the thing bent out of shape.

This was my wife's car and now she has a Honda CR-V.  Apart from being a little wide, it is chalk and cheese compared to the BMW and also 20% more economical.
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monkeydave

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Re: 2014 Japanese Car of the Year is...
« Reply #4 on: December 05, 2013, 04:51:24 PM »
never again will i buy another vw product, had two from new and they were full of faults and back to the dealers a lot

csp

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Re: 2014 Japanese Car of the Year is...
« Reply #5 on: December 05, 2013, 05:35:16 PM »
When ever I have considered buying VW or other German cars I have found them boring and bland. The shape of the VW Golf may have evolved but each new model looks much like the previous one, Audi designs are also similar. The only German cars that seem to have any real character in my mind are Mercs. At least the Jazz is fairly unique and very versatile and not made for badge snobs.

monkeydave

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Re: 2014 Japanese Car of the Year is...
« Reply #6 on: February 26, 2014, 05:27:40 PM »
i would never buy a vw product ever again i had two from new and were very problematic with high service charges too

culzean

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Re: 2014 Japanese Car of the Year is...
« Reply #7 on: February 27, 2014, 08:38:23 AM »
The Golf is a lovely car but German reliability is not what it was and, indeed, in a recent Warranty Direct survey 9 of the 10 most unreliable cars on the planet were German with Audi being grotesquely unreliable.

Shortly after reading the Warranty Direct findings, my brother told me that his wife's 5 year old Audi A3 required a new automatic gearbox at 16,500 miles and that Audi were totally unmoved when it was suggested that, at the very least, a goodwill payment should be made.

Added to my experience with a VW Golf TDI from 2008 to 2011 which cost me nearly £3000 in repairs, this makes me think that German cars are the new Italian cars - desirable but best left to people with deep pockets!

Audi-VW are so much into the badge-snob company car market that they probably can't be bothered with a mere private buyers problems.
Some people will only consider you an expert if they agree with your point of view or advice,  when you give them advice they don't like they consider you an idiot

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