Practically Classics Forum

Technical World Magazine, March 1913, wrote:It combines all the dangers and excitement of a bullfight, a football game and a ride in an aeroplane

All sweet & dandy, but where are the medium sized VW hatchbacks with no clutch pedal?

JPB wrote: All sweet & dandy, but where are the medium sized VW hatchbacks with no clutch pedal?

Probably all scrapped after the diff bearings failed and wore away the gearbox casings...

Hmm, my eBay watching list has just shrunk by one item..

harvey wrote:

JPB wrote: All sweet & dandy, but where are the medium sized VW hatchbacks with no clutch pedal?

Probably all scrapped after the diff bearings failed and wore away the gearbox casings...

Ha! You've touched a sore point there. Got my son one of those a while back - a couple were emigrating and needed it right up to the last moment, so needed it gone within 24 hours. Rather than flog it to "WeBuyAnyCarAtHalfItsMarketValue" they agreed to sell it to us, for £200 - this is a car that's worth a grand easily. A bargain I thought! Well, after numerous vacuum-leak induced engine management lights, a new starter motor and a new headlamp, finally the gearbox gave up just as you describe, so that had to be replaced too. Ended up costing us well over a grand in the end......

VW build quality? Pah! I'm glad everything in life is NOT as reliable as a VW, otherwise there'd be chaos.

Next time he's having a K10 Micra and that's an end to it.

Luxobarge wrote:...Next time he's having a K10 Micra and that's an end to it.

Damn! I just read that post twice 'cos I thought that my eyes must have been getting really bad if I'd read "Volvo" as "Micra"!

I was a staunch VW enthusiast apologist before the MK7 Golf - DSG7 transmission, with dry clutches instead of the less unreliable wet clutch packs of DSG6 - became so naughty that I was finally able to reject it after two years of transmission related woes. And heater pipe failures, trim falling off, heavy Diesel consumption, Rain leaking in etc.

I really ought to try and find something older and less trustworthy than the Corolla as "374 days, 14,907 miles, two routine services, no oil or coolant consumed and absolutely nothing remotely close to a fault" doesn't provide much to write about.