To Whom It May Concern…
Name: Walt Roberts
State Purchased: Michigan
Model Year: 1997
Purchase/Lease Date: August 2001
Story:
Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.
19001 South Western Avenue
Department WC11
Torrence, California 90501
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing to beg Toyota’s forgiveness. I have committed a grievous error. In 1986, I bought a wonderful Toyota Camry, DLX model; my first brand new, off-the-dealer-floor automobile. I bought this car in part because of the rave reviews Consumer Reports had for the automobile, and more importantly, it seated five people in comfort, had four doors and a large trunk. The most important factor in my decision then as it is now, is that the car got 36 mpg fuel economy, and it was reliable. I still own and drive this car, which now has well over 300,000 miles on it.
I also own a 1983 Toyota Camry, which was my late wife’s. I drove it occasionally after she died, and even after sitting for months at a time, having to dig mouse nests out of the air intakes and yes, even the intake manifold and intake valves, it started, ran, and has been trouble free at nearly 180,000 miles. The sum total of non-scheduled maintenance on both of these cars was the replacement of an alternator and a water pump on the ‘86 somewhere around the 225,000-mile mark. That’s it. (Oh, and it does tend to chew exhaust systems, but that’s minor and relatively cheap to fix).
Then I read Consumer Reports’ review of the Volkswagen Passat TDI. I test drove it and it was a good road car. It also got 50 mpg on diesel. CR said it was a good car. So, I bought a two-year-old model at what I thought was a reasonable price, and set out to get my 50 mpg. It is this error that I ask for forgiveness. To date, I think I have spent more on maintenance and certainly more on aggravation than I have in all the years I’ve driven the two Camrys. It has experienced failures in every single non-drivetrain component on it. One week after I bought it, the alarm system failed. The next week the window regulator failed. The window regulator has been replaced now six times. I finally went to our machine shop and milled out a part for it since VW clearly thinks it’s proper to overcharge for underdesigned and poorly constructed parts made of substandard materials. Then I had problems with the main electrical bus relays and found VW had undersized every single power relay in the car. I replaced them all, not just the one that failed. Then the cabin electrical system failed. It had clearly been repaired before by bypassing a shorted wire caused by a poorly-designed cable routing. Then the CD changer failed again due to poor materials in the components. It also seems to eat lights for lunch. More than four times I got stopped by Colorado Highway Patrol for burned out bulbs in one winter alone. I now keep a complete set of spare lightbulbs in the car, which is somewhat difficult since they burn out so fast. The charging system voltage always measures 13.5 VDC, with no measureble ripple, but these lights are burning out for some reason. In contrast, the ‘83 Camry still has one of the original Kyoto headlights in it. And then there’s the door handles which have been replaced numerous times. Tonight I spent an hour in the snow trying to make the latest new door handle work, since the last one failed less than 80 days since I last replaced it. And this list goes on and on and on.
So, I hope you will forgive me for this mistake, and I promise you, in two years when I have completed my medical residency, the first move I will make is to take this piece of junk Volkswagen to the nearest Toyota dealer and trade it in for the best fuel economy Toyota you have on your lot. I will also never again believe a word Consumer Reports says about any VW. Could you please bring a high mpg Camry to the States? I really like the 50 or so mpg the VW gets and would certainly miss that mileage, so, perhaps a diesel electric that gets even better mileage than the gas-electrics (my driving is 110 miles/day 99% at 70 mph, so the regular gas-electrics don’t do as well as I’d like economy wise).
In closing, I ran into a man at the fuel pump who bought a brand new VW Toureg. It looked very pretty. As he was fueling his car, he looked at my Passat with its freshly broken door handle. He said, that he has had very similar experiences with his Toureg, and he’s only owned it for six months. His next car will be a Toyota, too.
You have my permission to publish any and all of this letter in any way you want so that others may not waste their money and stress on owning a good-for-nothing VW.
Now, if only I could afford a Camry today…
