On Friday, September 25, 2015 at 3:01:38 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Fri, 25 Sep 2015 10:22:30 -0700 (PDT), Uncle Monster
wrote:

On Friday, September 25, 2015 at 12:06:49 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Fri, 25 Sep 2015 08:40:37 -0700 (PDT), Uncle Monster
wrote:

On Friday, September 25, 2015 at 9:23:41 AM UTC-5, Don Y wrote:
On 9/24/2015 9:48 AM, Muggles wrote:

As others point out, VW is in a heap of trouble and probably best avoided.

I've been wanting to buy a VB Beetle, but not a new one. Are the older
models (by a few years) a bad idea, too?

"older models (by a few years)" is still a "new" (redesigned, not "classic")
beetle, right?

The cars named in the recent disclosure are sure to take a hit -- in the
short term and possibly even longer. A lot will depend on the sort of
fix that VW puts forward and how it affects the perceived value of those
vehicles. My hunch is that any *cheap* fix (e.g., a software upgrade)
will result in a vehicle's performance falling below what their owners
(and prospective resale owners) would be happy with.

[If this is NOT the case, then why would VW have shot itself in the
foot so forcefully? Their actions suggest that strict compliance with
the letter of the law would have affected fuel efficiency or overall
performance in a way that would have caused potential buyers to "look
elsewhere"]

How much spillover to other models NOT named is up for debate. Note
BMW already took some heat over *suspicion* that they might be
similarly cheating (no evidence to suggest this!).

People who are fearful by nature will probably lump all VW products
into that category; perhaps even all diesel offerings there *and*
from other vendors.

If your question concerns your potential *exposure* if you opt to
purchase a used bug, I'd not be too concerned. OTOH, if you were
wondering how this would affect the purchase price of said bug,
it will depend on how much fear-mongering the media heaps on
others "competing" for that used vehicle that *you* want.

Craigslist reports that prices for used VW's are already down ~20%.
VW is expected to have a drop in sales for the month of Sept
while most other automakers are posting *record* sales figures.
How long that persists is anybody's guess...

The book,"Unsafe at Any Speed" killed the Chevrolet Corvair and even when GM redesigned the rear suspension, as I read in a car magazine, so it was more advance than that on the Corvette, it was too late and sales declined until the car was discontinued. It's a very interesting story about GM upper level management ignoring the safety concerns of suspension engineers.. ^_^

[8~{} Uncle Car Monster
The book "unsafe at any speed" did NOT kill the Corvair. It actually
prolonged it's life. What killed the Corvair was the Camaro. It was a
LOT cheaper to build, and could command a higher price, so more
profit. GM hung on with the corvair untill 1969 - 2 or 3 years after
bringing out the Camaro -

Unsafe at any speed was published in 1965, after the "problem" with
the corvair had already been solved in production.. (1964 was the last
year of "first generation" Corvairs with the same rear suspension
geometry as the VW and Porsche of the same time period.) The 1965 to
69 Corvairs shared the same rear suspension geometry as the Corvette.

Sales for the Corvair fell even after the suspension problem was addressed. I think they're pretty neat little cars but it's been generally accepted that Ralph Nader was instrumental in the demise of the little car. ^_^

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevro...#Legal_fallout

[8~{} Uncle Unsafe Monster
The sales of the Corvair dropped significantly just after September
1966, when the new Camaro came out. It was less expensive and was
available with the VERY healthy 302 Z28 option - which took a lot of
sales from the Turbocharged Monza..

I always thought the Corvair was a neat little car but I've never driven one and don't recall if I've even been a passenger in one. I find it hard to believe that a Camaro Z28 would cut into sales of a base Corvair. Everything I've ever seen or read seems to blame Ralph Nader's book for sullying the reputation of the Corvair but other sources I just read blame the Ford Mustang and GM's response to it by coming up with the Camaro. GM stopped promoting the Corvair which already had slow sales because of the bad reputation it had garnered and GM let it quietly die. So the Camaro did have a lot to do with the demise of the little rear engined car. From what I read, another problem was that the Corvair didn't share many parts with other GM cars. This made it more expensive to produce. The Camaro on the other hand could be easily modified with all kinds of parts from other GM vehicles. I wonder what would have happened if GM hadn't abandoned the little car? We'll never know. ^_^

[8~{} Uncle Car Monster