Volkwagen Asks What Do Das Volk Vant?

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

VOLKSWAGEN LAUNCHES MULTI-PLATFORM POLLING INITIATIVE TO FIND OUT “WHAT THE PEOPLE WANT." We could start with upper and lower case typography, proceed to cheap, reliable transportation, detour to a dealership that isn't a stealership and call it good. Of course, VW's not really asking for your (or anyone else's) opinion. At best, they're looking to confirm their expensive research data. But the real point of this campaign, like the Chrysler Listens marketing mishegas: pretend to be web 2.0 to spread your pre-established marketing message. But don't make my word for it. "Utilizing media, technology and user-generated content like never before, the campaign allows consumers to engage in live online and mobile polling. A real-time mouthpiece of the people’s collective voice, user-generated live polling begins at the hub site, vw.com/whatthepeoplewant, and then spreads across the web and in-market. The initiative is part of Volkswagen’s new global brand platform, Das Auto, and underscores its fundamental message of It’s what the people want." Their emphasis– which sounds a bit, uh, forceful. Oh, and VW claims that it already "knows" that "65% of the people want boxers not briefs." Yeah, that info will help re-build your brand…

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

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  • David C. Holzman David C. Holzman on Apr 28, 2008

    what is this nonsense??? bring back farvegnugen.

  • Gregzilla Gregzilla on Apr 28, 2008

    Unbelievably lame...hey, if I'm going to slip into the corporate time-stealing weasel mode here don't waste my time with the e-version of a high school slam-book......they're hopeless.

  • Jeff Jungblut Jeff Jungblut on Apr 29, 2008

    I want a 250HP GTI that gets 70 MPG, thanks. In every VW thread on every car blog I read about VW's inherent unreliability. I have an '07 GTI purchased 20 months ago with 20K miles on it. I've had no problems other than a weird fuel pump issue when I was driving through the mountains to Vegas in 115º heat, but that problem hasn't happened since that one trip. This is my first VW. When can I expect the engine to blow up or the wheels to fall off?

  • Joeaverage Joeaverage on Apr 29, 2008

    Beware the dealer network. They are expensive at best and dishonest at worst. I have have had 4 daily drivers VWs that were good reliable cars. My '97 Cabrio has had a couple issues come up that were obviously the result of VW cutting corners when I'm sure the consumer would have gladly ponied up the cash to improve the engineering. One was a plastic "water neck". Well, both of the water necks on my '97 started leaking. The plastic gets brittle and cracks and starts leaking. If you are a turn the key and go driver never checking the fluids, a person could ruin an engine with that cheap POS part. I'll take aluminum please... Every late model VW I have worked on has had this problem eventually. Part is not expensive (still plastic) but I suppose if you had to rely on a dealer they could really stick it to you. They could also lie to you and make it seem worse than it is (head gasket, water pump, cracked head). $15 I think for the part at any FLAPS. Another were the cracked coils. Mine cracked eventually and required 15 mins and $35 to replace. The dealer would not be so kind. Car eventually got to a point where it would not start in wet weather. Honestly - who signed off on a whole generation of coils that cracked like that. Was there no testing of these parts? VW is like any other car manufacturer. They like to cut corners by using a plastic when they should be using aluminum. For example my car has a transmission shifter relay shaft that enables the shifter to put the transmission into reverse (5 speed). Plastic. That will break someday. There are very cheap plastic shaft repair kits. There are also aluminum upgrades for slightly more. Then there is the plastic clutch pedal. Seriously! That saved how much? Please - I want some steel or aliminum here too okay? No word of these breaking in the forums that I have seen. My Hondas generally have not shown evidence of this kind of corner cutting. FWIW my VW has been very cheap to maintain and that is it's single saving grace concerning it's quality. I like the way it drives, I like the way it sounds, I like the way it rides and the way it looks. I'll put up with those few cheesy details because they are cheap to fix and easy to spot before they strand me. However, I won't recommend VWs to anyone b/c the average person that relys on the dealer or a semi-dishonest mechanic would be in trouble. The car might cost me $20 a month to maintain but an average person might be dropping $150+ a month into it. $100 oil changes? Seriously? I can do it with Mobil 1 synthetic oil and a Mahle oil filter for less than $30. Dino-oil and a cheap filter would cost $15? Frankly I don't know how the average person can afford to not do their own maintenance and repairs.

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