my cabby has me on edge

[tinygiant]

anyone else constantly feel like they are on the brink of destruction?

every odd smell (usually not even from my car.. but cars around me)
every sound..new noise or sometimes from stuff outside of the car
every bump (yeah i'm lowered)

even afraid to think "man the car is driving nicely today"



we replaced the accessory belt the other day and i had it nice and tight and set. Told my wife (who is getting more and more sick of this car and its neediness) that the belt was fixed and the car should be fine. A mile down the road a minivan with very squeaky brakes got behind us and i thought it was the belt again. Turned the radio off and rolled down the window to luckily notice it was coming from behind us. lol.


seems we are always on edge in this car. anyone else share in this constant feeling of impending doom?

[s2kvondeutschland]

Yeah, I'm always afraid my g-lader is on the verge of destruction. It's a very real fear even with regular rebuilds, from what I understand.

But it's an old car. Every time my engine blows, I go to something new. Next in line is a VR6.

[kamzcab86]

anyone else share in this constant feeling of impending doom?

Not I. There are only two fears I have: 1) It'll fail its emissions test; 2) some a$$hole not paying attention will run into it.

[jenoper]

The only fear I have is the back window falling in or out and this is keeping me from replacing my own top. I shouldn't have this fear since an upholstery guy is who told me about it happening but yet, there it is.

I do notice every car noise while driving, whether it is mine or someone else's. You have to with old cars. If I wanted a car that I didn't have to worry about or work on more than usual then I wouldn't have a Cabriolet.

btw mine is named Katinka because that is the noise she makes every morning to back out of the driveway... Ka-tinka-tinka-tinka-tinka as long as I'm in reverse. It's like I'm backing her up on a racetrack.

[briano1234]

The rear window isn't the biggie that you think it is.
See my how to thread on installing a top, and you can see me removing it and installing it.

[mk3jetta-man]

yes lol always and i do the same thing window down and radio off, i do it so often that my girlfriend already knows what im doing when i do it lol and im lowering the cabby i have to so there is ganna be more of it

[jenoper]

The rear window isn't the biggie that you think it is.
See my how to thread on installing a top, and you can see me removing it and installing it.

You're only about 6 hours north of me. You should come down for a "vacation" to Destin and help me do this. I'm so full of good ideas. (Destin, FL is very pretty.)

[Booha1]

I never worried about the cabby (even when it had the failing auto transmission), she always worked. The scircco was a different story, though.....I never knew if it would start, shift, run for more than 5 seconds, you name it. Finally ditched that thing though (not scrapped).

[87Cabriolet]

Not I. There are only two fears I have: 1) It'll fail its emissions test; 2) some a$$hole not paying attention will run into it.

Same.

[slade1121k]

Just had that same heart stopping feeling today. Was driving on the freeway and I heard something like loud come under the car, I pulled over thinking it was the CV axles as I just replaced both and was wondering if I had tightened them enough. Well after crawling under front end of the car, "mind you on a busy 10 lane free way" wasn't the bolts or axles and after checking everything out I found that it was some cans rolling around under my seat that and along with the wind shear noise.

Yea I'm with you with the brink of destruction tid bit but I figured ive just about replaced every hard part there is with new ones, now I'm left with the feeling if I tightened em all really good.

[Sean A]

Making it 200 miles to ocean city and 200 back with no problem restored my faith in my cabby. Although on my way to Auto Zone the other day I smelled something burning and saw smoke and it scared the **** out of me. The smoke was just the guys exhaust in front of me lmao......No clue what the smell was.

[rabbitnothopper]

with 20-30-35 year old cars....you must give some attempt to pre-emptive maintenance

yes it is a never ending cycle of replacing parts

if i had my own garage i'd be in there every day
as it goes, i have to use someone else's garage on the weekends.

i agree with #2
i hate being nearly hit, I USE MY HORN and avoid damage. side swipes are all too common around here
IDK what it is about our cars but i have been nearly rear-ended more than i care to admit

[tinygiant]

Making it 200 miles to ocean city and 200 back with no problem restored my faith in my cabby. Although on my way to Auto Zone the other day I smelled something burning and saw smoke and it scared the **** out of me. The smoke was just the guys exhaust in front of me lmao......No clue what the smell was.

this happened to me today too. no big trucks in sight but it was smelling really bad like diesle exhaust.. when i stopped at the UPS store the smell was still there.. but i found it wasnt coming from the car.

[sprocket007]

Well my car is a bit of a hobby/project so, I understand what you are saying...
Always something to fix, improve, modify!
Never seems to end.
Of all the vw's I have owned the cabriolet seems to be the most needy for some reason...

[tinygiant]

its probably more noticeable to me since i sold my 08 yaris (to stop the financial drain of car payments) and bought this car to use as my daily driver.

the wife is getting more and more frustrated for my need to be fixing things all the time. but i really do enjoy learning about the car as i work on it. I've never really done anything other than my own oil changes until this car.

i've done a TON of stuff to it.. nearing 1400 in parts alone since april.. sad thing still saving about 1200 at the end of this month verses making payments. the cabby is way more fun to drive too

[slade1121k]

... the cabby is way more fun to drive too

That it is