VW 411
In the main, I did like the 411 very much. It was the first new car I ever owned. I was just out of college in 1972, and I wanted a Volkswagen but more than a Beetle. I planned to buy a Type 3 squareback, but when I drove it, it felt just like a Beetle. (front torsion bars were stiff, transmitted every pavement joint to the steering wheel) IIRC, Beetles cost under $2K, Type 3 was $2400, Porsche 914 was $4K, and the Type 4 was right around $3000. It was a reach, and it never got better over the car's lifetime. What ultimately made me sell it was that I could not afford to maintain it properly and it became unreliable. I lived in Michigan and Missouri when I owned this car. (cold country) It had a gasoline-burning heater which kept it quite warm, *when it worked*. Within a couple of years, it stopped functioning. It would trip out the circuit breaker in the engine compartment. Nobody wanted to work on it, not the dealers, nor the independent VW mechanics I contacted. Ultimately I was able to purchase the factory manual for the heater, and a EE friend of mine diagnosed the problem and we kludged up a fix for it. By the time I had owned it four years, the MacPherson strut front suspension was worn out, and it would eat front tires in 10K miles. (could not afford to replace struts) Eventually it would not start when the temperature was below about 40F. In the winter in St. Louis, this happened a lot. My boss was tolerant for a little while, but eventually I needed a more reliable car. I wound up buying a Ford Pinto, because at the dealership the salesman literally dug it out of a snowbank, stuck in the key, and it started right away. I owned the car from 1972 to 1976. I drove it 87000 miles in that time, literally from coast to coast. I remember it with fondness. Here is the only picture I could find this morning, showing it parked alongside the Mississippi in St. Louis, adjacent to the Gateway Arch.
In the main, I did like the 411 very much. It was the first new car I ever owned. I was just out of college in 1972, and I wanted a Volkswagen but more than a Beetle. I planned to buy a Type 3 squareback, but when I drove it, it felt just like a Beetle. (front torsion bars were stiff, transmitted every pavement joint to the steering wheel) IIRC, Beetles cost under $2K, Type 3 was $2400, Porsche 914 was $4K, and the Type 4 was right around $3000. It was a reach, and it never got better over the car's lifetime. What ultimately made me sell it was that I could not afford to maintain it properly and it became unreliable. I lived in Michigan and Missouri when I owned this car. (cold country) It had a gasoline-burning heater which kept it quite warm, *when it worked*. Within a couple of years, it stopped functioning. It would trip out the circuit breaker in the engine compartment. Nobody wanted to work on it, not the dealers, nor the independent VW mechanics I contacted. Ultimately I was able to purchase the factory manual for the heater, and a EE friend of mine diagnosed the problem and we kludged up a fix for it. By the time I had owned it four years, the MacPherson strut front suspension was worn out, and it would eat front tires in 10K miles. (could not afford to replace struts) Eventually it would not start when the temperature was below about 40F. In the winter in St. Louis, this happened a lot. My boss was tolerant for a little while, but eventually I needed a more reliable car. I wound up buying a Ford Pinto, because at the dealership the salesman literally dug it out of a snowbank, stuck in the key, and it started right away. I owned the car from 1972 to 1976. I drove it 87000 miles in that time, literally from coast to coast. I remember it with fondness. Here is the only picture I could find this morning, showing it parked alongside the Mississippi in St. Louis, adjacent to the Gateway Arch.
