I had a co-worker with a VW Passat W8. He let me drive it a few times. It was a pleasure to drive. However, he also had many maintenance issues and ended-up trading it in for that reason.
His car had several problems with the electronics, the most persistant one caused the right HID headlight to not light about half the time. The dealer could not fix it despite having it at least 4 times (the last time for about 3 weeks). Ironically, they came up with an obscure procedure of setting the parking brake a prescribed number of times, and operating several other controls in a defined sequence which turned on the errant headlight most of the time. He saw the same car around the area with the new owner; usually, with that same headlight out.
Since his experience I have noticed several of the "new beetle" style VWs in the area with the right front headlight intact, but unlit. It would appear, VW has something amiss in their electronics package.
That's sad because VW had a reputation of a simple, inexpensive, but reliable product for many years. I owned a 1980 VW Rabbit for about 4 years with a very satisfactory experience until I sold it to buy a 1969 Camaro SS I had to have.
I can't imagine spending that kind of money on an old car with that many miles. My first action would be to get rid of it, or else learn how to do the repairs myself. Any vehicle that is that complex to service would normally be passed by as fast as I could go. Thanks for the warning about the very expensive a difficult to maintain vehicle.
Using almost 200 light-emitting diodes in the front and back of the new 2014 CTS, Cadillac designers are showing how LEDs can change the character of a vehicle.
We looked at a number of sources to determine this year's greenest cars, from KBB to automotive trade magazines to environmental organizations. These 14 cars emerged as being great at either stretching fuel or reducing carbon footprint.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
4 
