Rep Power: 425

I always knew the paint was ****, but damn, you'd think it would stay on the car. Well, the car's at Honda right now... waiting to be looked at by the service manager then over to the body shop it goes. Guess they're gonna have to repaint it on warranty. Nothing like milking the warranty for all its worth (34053 miles).
Guess what.... the next car I buy will say one of 2 things on the sticker....
"Parts Content: 100% Japan"
or
"Parts Content: 100% Germany"

These US Hilljack-built cars are pure ****.

 
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Could be worse... could be Mexican built. At least our windows don't fall down into the doors on hot days cough mkIV vw cough. I hear ya on the paint though, my car had its bumpers replaced before I picked up from the dealer with 5 miles on it. Well, and each bumper has been replaced since then as well due to bad luck. It should have been a sign when the bumper got replaced and it wasn't even titled yet, but oh well, it's been alright since.

 
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Some former (and current) VW owners may advise you against that ... and yeah, windows that fall down into the door is just one of VW's "minor" nuisances.

 
Rep Power: 381

At one point a friend of mine, who works the service drive at VW, had over 40 Jettas in the service parking are with bad windows. The problem was due to plastic retaining clips to hold the windows in place. They were replaced with a metal version. I'd take a bad bumper over a window that randomly falls into the door anyday. While a peeling bumper won't invite theives into your car, a lack of windows sure will.

 
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Well, I think Boilermaker was making a point about cars that are designed once place, parts from another place, and built yet another place. The MKIV Jettas/Golfs are perfect examples of this, with parts from all over the place and final assembly in Mexico. VW quality has taken a major dump lately across the board, which makes me wonder about their recent high-line car efforts. My VW driving friend who's got an 02 Jetta GLS and a Touareg in the family loves his cars and has zero problems, but he seems to be in the severe minority.

All of that aside, do you have any pics of the peeling? Is it the commonplace peeling that many of us experienced a few years ago on this board?

 
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i want free paint

 
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I know that paint has changed somewhat in recent years due to environmental concerns.

My former car, an 02 WRX was built in Japan, though I don't know what the parts content was. That car had horribly thin paint. Seems that a lot of people are having the thin paint issue on those cars.

The Honda paint seems to be pretty thin too. My girlfriend's 02 Mustang GT seems to have paint that is quite good, as its seen the gravel strikes and only has 1 chip on it.

Of course, the headlight plastic is very pitted....

Her prior car, a leased 325i had terrific paint quality...

 
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I think they only sprayed one coat of paint on our cars

 
Rep Power: 425

My mom is an 01 Jetta owner. Its been in 4 times in 31K. Twice (once to diagnose it and order the part, and the other to put it in) for a Recalled ABS light in the dash (bad dash circuit tripped light). The drivers window fell, they replaced both at the same time, and the last thing was something stupid and minor... a loose trim piece or something. Other than that, the car is rock solid, as opposed to my POS Civic... which has been in 5 times for the clutch, countless times for funny noises, shift stiffness issues and other things that shouldn't be happening if Honda's supposed quality standards that everyone thinks of held true. Not to mention the body panels are like a soda can and the front profile of the car looks sandblasted cuz the paint's so thin. Honda's quality definately is falling, I don't doubt that one bit... and I think the American production has quite a bit to do with it.

Oh yeah... the VWs built in Mexico and Brazil...don't have stickers that say 100% Germany.
Just like the Benz C class... they build them in Alabama or something... they suck. Buy an E or S from Germany... and you get the Benz that you think a Benz should be.
BMW and the X5 is the same thing. They've got issues uncommon to other BMWs (despite considerable parts sharing) and they're made in South Carolina. You get the foreign made cars that are built on site.... they're much better built.

 
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BMW's main problem seems to be Chris Bangle.

Compared to other $15K cars, I don't think the Civic build quality is too bad. In 01 when I was comparing cars, you could barely acquire a Jetta for $15K, and that was one with absolutely no equipment on it. It's light years better than the domestics at that range: Sunfire/Cavalier, various Saturns, Neon, Escort, Focus, etc. This leaves the Corolla, which I wanted instead of the Civic, but it was way more money than I was looking to spend. As I look at the problems with my girlfriend's Corolla now, I realize that both cars have quirks and certain things were clearly done with cost cutting in mind. Your mom's Jetta has about $5K more quality under the skin than your car does.

Wow, I can't believe I'm standing up for the Civic! Someone smack me!

 
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I think you said it just right

 
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hahaha VW's are POOP, my friend has one, and every day something goes wrong...like me tryin to talk to this girly out his window, after we left i tried to put it back up, and a PLASTIC clip broke in the wondow...it wouldnt be that bad if it wasnt 15 degrees outside and 15 miles from his house

 
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I agree with the thin paint. As much driving I do, I shouldnt have nearly the chips in my hood that I have. Even though they are rock chips, there shouldnt be as many. I've seen only one or two that actually hit my car.

 
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i just got my car painted 3 years old and 100000 kms on it now it has 3 coats of paint than the ice peral with a clear and than 4 more coats of clear