Disappointed and Discouraged in BMW

[Bud]

My older sister had a Renault something in 64, was a rear engine with a canvas sunroof. Seemed smaller than a VW.
We had to go with dad a few times to remove it from between the posts holding the walkways to the band building after band practice...still makes me laugh.
Also recall my dad working on it a lot, once as we were riding in the back and the fuel line leaked and we saw flames behind us...uh...dad

Of course you were in the back, kids make good expendable fire detectors. If one or two gets burned up in the process, you can always make another.

 

[classicvw]

Are we really bashing the VW Beetles, Fastbacks etc? I've owned quite a few. Heck, the ones from the 70s are still going strong. They're not anything by modern standards, but you can't kill them. Well, unless you drive it with the gas pedal floored for an hour or more on an interstate like my wife did. The engines don't like that. But, even so, just unbolt six bolts and change the engine all by yourself.

 

[classicvw]

View attachment 48783

He should get a parking ticket!

 

[classicvw]

A old friend bought a vw fast back from a guy with a u driveway ,he never drove the car in reverse from the get go, later after he brought the car home he had it in his driveway and tried to back out of the driveway to go to work and low and behold NO REVERSE GEAR! poor guy still gets that thrown in his face!

I bought a used Jeep Wrangler in the mid 80s and the previous owner must have never put it into 4WD. At first it wouldn't even go into 4WD until I worked on it a bit. I think I had to adjust and lube something. Memory is fuzzy.

 

[motodan]

Had a '68 (first year non tube bumper, State-of-the-Art in '69)...paid $1,500.00 for it with 5,000 miles on her. Great little car however, driving around (at low speeds) looking at Christmas lights, on very cold northern Illinois nights, could require scraping both outside and INSIDE of windows more than once. Those engine air heaters could be quite inefficient....even slowing down from highway speeds would require a control adjustment for more heat. I think my model had 42 horsepower, but I may be embellishing a bit...

 

[lee]

As it seems that the OP has long given up on this thread and it has become the "vehicles that have been a disappointment" thread......How did youse guys miss this-

OM

Looks like a Chevette, but the grille doesn't look right.
Is it a Canada model?

 

[PGlaves]

Looks like a Chevette, but the grille doesn't look right.
Is it a Canada model?

That was the special for Belgium - the Waffle model.

 

[lkchris]

It is a better thread this way. I offer for your consideration the Open Kadette Wagon. It was the only thing I could afford that would carry my drum set...

Opel of course.

Had two Mantas and owning them is where I learned the difference between Delco and Bosch. On my '72, the Delco starter failed within a year from new and I replaced it with a used Bosch, probably from an earlier Kadette. No more problems.

Bosch today is world's largest automotive supplier; Delphi has recently been through bankruptcy and employees are down from 40K+ to 5K. My Merc diesel does have Delphi injectors, however. And I'm very disappointed there are no Bosch sparkplugs for Camheads.

The Chevette discussed elsewhere was GM's "world car" designed initially by Opel. In the last years of Opel in the USA, this car--produced by Isuzu in Japan--was rebadged an Opel for the USA. I hit one once with my German Opel Manta and knocked its battery out. No damage to my car ... which I felt was correct karma.

 

[gfspencer]

An older clubmate got a 64 ( I think) last year, compared to the 74 super beetle I still had in 86...it is a bit tiny! Didn't seem that small in high school when we piled 4 people in them regularly.

I was looking at a 60's bus$$$$$$$$ crazy prices

That looks like my old VW . . . same color and everything.

 

[lee]

That was the special for Belgium - the Waffle model.

 

[omega man]

Looks like a Chevette, but the grille doesn't look right.
Is it a Canada model?

I believe that accurately described it would be a "delux shove-it". GM has always had a way to finely hone mediocrity.
OM

 

[Bud]

Are we really bashing the VW Beetles, Fastbacks etc? I've owned quite a few. Heck, the ones from the 70s are still going strong. They're not anything by modern standards, but you can't kill them. Well, unless you drive it with the gas pedal floored for an hour or more on an interstate like my wife did. The engines don't like that. But, even so, just unbolt six bolts and change the engine all by yourself.

I'm not bashing. I owned: 1 fastback, one square back, two vans, one Karman Ghia, 3 beetles. I'm a believer.

 

[jeffd]

Had a 59 Bug in high school. That little car would get around like nothing else in the winter. Did keep a scraper handy to use on the inside of the windshield though. Was on a double date in it and the back seat couple got a little "busy" and the bouncing shorted out the wires in the bottom of the seat on the battery. That was exciting! Also found out the car would float when the flood waters were a little to deep. Lucky it was standing water and not flowing.
Jeff

 

[omega man]

And they were easy to hot-wire with s bread tie.
OM

 

[PGlaves]

I'm not bashing. I owned: 1 fastback, one square back, two vans, one Karman Ghia, 3 beetles. I'm a believer.

I never had a Beetle - I wish I had - but I did have a late 1980s Golf once. The fourth time it left me stranded - 2 starters, 2 ignition modules - I had my son come get me. Then I got out the title, took my truck and cleaned all my possessions out of the Golf parked beside the road, drove to the nearest junk yard (auto parts recycler for the PC), plopped the signed title on the counter and told them to go get it, it was theirs. He almost didn't want to go the 2 miles to get it but finally agreed but he wouldn't pay me the normal $40.

Imagine my guffaws when I read the 2015 Golf was "Car of the Year". How times do change!

 

[rxcrider]

Paul - funny that you had such a bad experience. In the golf / Jetta realm, I've had an '86 GTI, '88 Jetta & '90 Golf. All three were pretty reliable. The GTI didn't like BP fuel and the fuel pump box split and started leaking, requiring replacement. The front wheel bearings never lasted more than 60k miles on any of them, but other than that, no real issues.

 

[PGlaves]

Paul - funny that you had such a bad experience. In the golf / Jetta realm, I've had an '86 GTI, '88 Jetta & '90 Golf. All three were pretty reliable. The GTI didn't like BP fuel and the fuel pump box split and started leaking, requiring replacement. The front wheel bearings never lasted more than 60k miles on any of them, but other than that, no real issues.

The starter issue was its placement sandwiched between the engine block and the exhaust manifold. It got very hot and would just bind up. Klunk! After a 20 to 30 minute wait it would usually start but sometimes it needed to be tapped with a hammer. So stop to get gas, or at a rest area, or even at the grocery store for a quick pickup or something and I was never sure it would start. I replaced it twice. The ignition module would just fail. Dead. Fail. It was the second ignition module failure that caused me to no longer wish to own this specific automobile. And I even had to argue just to give it away.

 

[henzilla]

I'm not bashing. I owned: 1 fastback, one square back, two vans, one Karman Ghia, 3 beetles. I'm a believer.

Me either...59 panel bus with a 1600 engine and weber two barrel wedged in,heater...what heater? went thru two transaxles and a lot of stories,gave it to my older brother , I think around a 67-68 bug, short lived for some reason...got into small block chebbys and let it go, and a 74 superbeetle sold around 88.
My brother had a Ghia forever, always felt like you were leaning outwards in either seat, ...before his crappy Fiat two seater( about when I gave him the bus) and his PACER...he rides a Vision now

 

[lee]

Me either...59 panel bus with a 1600 engine and weber two barrel wedged in,heater...what heater? went thru two transaxles and a lot of stories,gave it to my older brother , I think around a 67-68 bug, short lived for some reason...got into small block chebbys and let it go, and a 74 superbeetle sold around 88.

Steve, have you ever been to the VW Classic at the Fredericksburg park?

http://www.texasvwclassic.com/

 

[36654]

Opel of course.

Had two Mantas and owning them is where I learned the difference between Delco and Bosch. On my '72, the Delco starter failed within a year from new and I replaced it with a used Bosch, probably from an earlier Kadette. No more problems.

Bosch today is world's largest automotive supplier; Delphi has recently been through bankruptcy and employees are down from 40K+ to 5K. My Merc diesel does have Delphi injectors, however. And I'm very disappointed there are no Bosch sparkplugs for Camheads.

The Chevette discussed elsewhere was GM's "world car" designed initially by Opel. In the last years of Opel in the USA, this car--produced by Isuzu in Japan--was rebadged an Opel for the USA. I hit one once with my German Opel Manta and knocked its battery out. No damage to my car ... which I felt was correct karma.

IIRC, many of the last Saturn's were Opel designs and the last Saab's were basically Opels.

Dephi fabs OEM for everybody. The only distinguishing factor is the QC standards specified by the customer.