Car Buying Advice: VW Passat or Jeep Liberty?
I've been looking at and researching all sorts of cars for the last few months, and have pretty much narrowed my choices down to four vehicles to test drive. Two are the front-runners, and two are being considered.
Of these four -- and especially the Passat and Liberty -- which do you recommend or not, based on your own experience with any of them?
2003 VW Passat GLS
2003 Jeep Liberty Limited Edition
2003 Nissan Altima 2.5SL
2003 Chrysler Sebring LXi sedan
Please, none of the following:
1) Buy only American/German/etc. Everything else sucks!
2) Buy a car that I recommend, even though it's not on the list.
3) Why would you want a(n) ____________?
4) I've heard that _______ is pretty good, but I've never driven one or know anyone who has one.
Encouraged:
1) I drive a _______, and this is what I think of it.
2) ___________Company has not/has had a good reputation or build quality, and *this* is how I can back that up.
3) My friend has driven _______ and has had problems/only good times with it.
4) I was looking at _______, but didn't buy one because _________.
5) I'm a mechanic, and have had good/bad experiences with _______.
In other words, people, useful comments, please.
Of these four -- and especially the Passat and Liberty -- which do you recommend or not, based on your own experience with any of them?
2003 VW Passat GLS
2003 Jeep Liberty Limited Edition
2003 Nissan Altima 2.5SL
2003 Chrysler Sebring LXi sedan
Please, none of the following:
1) Buy only American/German/etc. Everything else sucks!
2) Buy a car that I recommend, even though it's not on the list.
3) Why would you want a(n) ____________?
4) I've heard that _______ is pretty good, but I've never driven one or know anyone who has one.
Encouraged:
1) I drive a _______, and this is what I think of it.
2) ___________Company has not/has had a good reputation or build quality, and *this* is how I can back that up.
3) My friend has driven _______ and has had problems/only good times with it.
4) I was looking at _______, but didn't buy one because _________.
5) I'm a mechanic, and have had good/bad experiences with _______.
In other words, people, useful comments, please.
Comments
My friend has a2001 or 2002 altima. Nice car but... I personally wouldn't buy it. Rather a sebring
I think the Liberty is okay, it just depends if you want an SUV or a large sedan. I think the Passat would be more fun to drive in most situations though.
Get the Passat, it's a much better 'car'
*fails*
Volkswagon Jetta TDI - 49 miles to the gallon.
(sorry)
Euro only, I'm afraid.
<strong>.....must resist urge to comment on a car not listed.......
*fails*
Volkswagon Jetta TDI - 49 miles to the gallon.
(sorry)</strong><hr></blockquote>
Tsk tsk, you broke the rules.
I wouldn't get the Jetta TDI for two reasons:
1) Although the TDI gets great mpg, the inconveniences it has don't make me want one.
2) I'd looked at a Jetta, and it's just too small for what I want.
Now folks, stick to the rules.
:cool:
(Since jettas and passats are so similar I'm going to tell you this. If my breaking the rules disqualifies my post, then you may want to move on...
1) All of the wheels have a security lug nut that requires a special attachment to get off. I knew this, but never bothered to look for the key, I assumed it was where it was supposed to be. When I got a flat tire, I found it wasn't. Apparently this happens with some frequency. If you get a passat, check that the little bitch is there before you leave.
2)The piece of plastic that covers the instrument panel tends to vibrate a bit when I am driving about 35mph and faster. It doesn't matter how smooth the road is. But I normally listen to the cd player a bit too loud anyway, so it doesn't really bother me.
3) (Assuming that the door handles are the same in jettas and passats,)The handle is plastic covered with some sort of plastic coating. That coating is starting to come off. This is starting to make me mad.
But over all, I love my Jetta.
I have another friend who drives a passat wagon and he loves it. When asked his opinion of the car, the only thing that he said he had a problem with is that the windows are too high for him to roll it down and rest his arm on when on road trips. I don't have that problem, and I'm pretty sure the window placement in both cars is the same. I have another friend who is looking to get a passat as well. I would definaltly recommend it.
BTW, are you looking to get a passat or passat wagon?
[ 09-03-2002: Message edited by: Stroszek ]</p>
I too had those exact two vehicles as in my target desired vehicles to decide between.
I wanted to only spend enough on the Passat that I would be limited to the four cylinder.
I love the Passat. I even looked at some used ones and I did notice one flaw with many of the 2 year old ones.
The handles on the interior you grab to close the doors have a rubber coating on a harder plastic. The rubber coating which feels nice new peels off and once it peels off you see the black plastic under it. It appeared on the used passats that rings on people etc started this peeling problem.
Other than that I LOVE the passat.
I also drove the Liberty with leather.
It had leather and the color coded wheel well covers and bumpers.
I thought if I got a Liberty it would have the color coded / painted bumpers and it would be silver with toupe leather interior.
I loved the gauges and the dash and the thing was sooo very nimble.
I loved both the Jeep and the VW
to me however I wanted a 5 speed Passat because the 4 cyl automatic was Way underpowered.
Good Luck..
I ended up with a 2002 Quad Cab Dodge Truck.
I love it btw.
it is on my homepage for viewing if you wish.
It has great gauges for a truck!
one thing that discouraged me about the VW was that VW had shortened its warranty from its 10 year 100,000 mile warranty. That concerned me.
Good Luck to you
Fellowship
[ 09-03-2002: Message edited by: FellowshipChurch iBook ]</p>
<strong>The handles on the interior you grab to close the doors have a rubber coating on a harder plastic. The rubber coating which feels nice new peels off and once it peels off you see the black plastic under it. It appeared on the used passats that rings on people etc started this peeling problem.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I assume that the passat and the jetta will be the same, the handles are no longer black underneath. They are now (almost) the same shade of grey, so the peeling isn't that evident. I do wear a ring on that hand, but for most of the time that I have had the car, that ring had been lost, I only recently found it and started wearing it again. The peeling started months before this, so it is something other than a ring rubbing against it. But it is definately tied to usage, as none of the other handles are doing this.
[OT: CosmoNut, are you Cosmo from page 3 of the AI Community page, or do you two just have similar names?]
[ 09-03-2002: Message edited by: Stroszek ]</p>
Back to the Passat: ya it's a pretty good car but you must get it with AT LEAST the V6. The W8 would be ideal though. Anyway, I'd go with the Liberty. The Limited Edition is equipped pretty well and you have one of the best off road vehicles available should you ever need to use it. Jeep has really harsh off road tests it puts its SUVs through to make sure they can live up to the Jeep name. I have only heard positive things about all Jeeps and Chrysler has an excellent warranty now. By the way we have never had any problems ever with our Chrysler 300M so go ahead and buy American; you won't be dissapointed.
One thing: Don't think you're buying a sports sedan when you buy a Passat. I found the ride somewhat "floaty" with a little more body roll than I expected going in. The stock suspension is definitely tuned more toward giving the family a nice comfortable ride, much more so than, say, a Jetta. Suspension mods are real popular on Passats.
I'm currently deciding whether to buy a Passat GLS wagon or an '03 Subaru Forester XS Premium. I plan to drive the Passat 1.8T again soon to see if I can live with the quirky acceleration.
Never driven a Liberty but I think they're ugly. Style-wise I preferred the boxy old Cherokee. Matsu, you're right, last fall Autoweek magazine rolled a Liberty, and then this spring DaimlerChrysler lowered the suspension by about an inch (to "improve the on-road ride quality," they said).
<strong>one thing that discouraged me about the VW was that VW had shortened its warranty from its 10 year 100,000 mile warranty. That concerned me.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yeah, they had a 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty, but the 2-year/24,000-mile basic warranty that it came with wasn't competitive. So starting with the 2002 model year they changed it to 4-year/50,000-mile basic, 5-year/60.000-mile powertrain.
<strong>TDI? Diesel? Here in bay area at least, it's easier to find a leprechaun than a diesel pump. I actually looked at the hybrid Civic last month. It gets similar mileage, with gasoline.</strong><hr></blockquote>
haha... that's true.
<strong>
haha... that's true.</strong><hr></blockquote>
How many of those little buggers did you catch?
1) I drive a Rx-7 , and I don't think you're interested in sucha car.
2) Chrysler/Daimler/Jeep has not had a good reputation or build quality.
Chryslers have always been chintsey. That's common knowledge, but I can go further. A friend of mine has a father who owns a Chrysler dealership. He would always tell me never to buy a Chrysler. He had a Dodge Stratus for a spell, and after 30k miles, it was unsellable: he had to take it to the junkyard for scrap.
As for Daimler, I live in a Mercedes-dense area, and everything since 1997 seems to have severe reliability problems. Not the engine or anything serious, but all the little annoyances. The electrical system, the cooling system, etc. Granted the repairs are under warranty, but it's a pain in the ass to have to run bac and forth from the dealership all the time.
4) I've poked around Jeep Liberties, and they indeed seem very chintsey. Certain areas of the body are weakly molded plastic, not firmly attached either. I don't know how much this factors in, but it didn't impress me.
5) I'm no mechanic, but I am an engineer, and I have worked on a lot of cars, here and there, and car-talk is common among us geeks. My verdict: If you're going to buy american, you're shooting yourself in the foot unless you go GM. Now, GM vehicles happen to be, in my opinion, the most reliable vehicles in the world, but I'm a bit intimidated by the service records of Fords and Chryslers. I don't know as much about German cars. For Japanese cars, the market is pretty uniform. Nissans tend to be fairly solid, and their 3.0 liter engine block is excellent in all respects. I don't know about the 2.5. I have little knowledge about VW's, but from what I've heard, the Passat V6 is a good machine.