Found this on another forum:
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comment by someone who doesnt know the history of aircolled VW's mate.
If they did they would know that for the time, air cooled VW's were very robust and durable. The reliability was legend. Thats why they sold so well.
Also why there are so many still in daily use today. How many other makes of cars from the 60's & 70's do you still see in daily use in traffic
today. Not too many. But on an average trip to work you would see any number of Beetles and Kombis from this era.
Today the levels of reliability you got in a VW in the 60's is a given for modern cars.
loads more kombi's on the road than golfs
mondays expert.... where was it from?....pfah!
[ Edited on 5-9-2006 by Scarlet ]
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Well the comment about 30s technology is largely correct.
Yeh.. but the way I see it, there must have been a bloody good reason for sticking to such ancient technology... reliability perhaps? 
If it aint broke don't fix it! 
VW started to go downhill after introducing watercooling IMO... altho I have a lot of respect for the Scirrocco and Mk 1 Golf and Passat. 
The bit about Kombis not being reknowned for reliability is bullshit... if maintained correctly they will run forever, and I have even seen my fair
share of grossly neglected VW's that just keep on going like the energizer bunny. If Kombi's were so unreliable people wouldnt drive them 4000 miles
across the desert and back! :duh
The reason you see less VW's on the road OS is nothing to do with mechanical failures and poor reliability... its becasue they rust away! In
Australia, we don't have to contend with road salt in the winter, so we have some of the cleanest most cancer free Kombis on the planet, however
plonk one of these in the middle of New Hampshire and drive it round for a couple of winters... then just see how long it takes for the floor to
disseappear from underneath you! :jesus
The wiper blades 100yrs old but no one has designed a better one yet?
Same with the wheel! 
Only thing that can replace it is an even rounder one! :P
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stupid is as stupid does? lol
nick
My dad bought abrand new Golf when they first appeared in 73-74 in London. Within a year pinholes started appearing in the doors near the windows where rust had formed inside. The whole body felt like thick tin foil compared to the 72 beetle I had. It went back and forwards to the local VW dealership for years due to this. So guess what he bought next? Believe it or not but another Golf and it got just as rusty as the first. Also there was a VW wreckers in East London that I had to go to called Stevens VW breakers and the guy had all sorts of aircooled vws all over the place but no water cooled ones. He told me there were in fact about a dozen but they had all rusted away and the component parts were kept aside. Later models I believe are galvanised.
Alloy heads, fuel injection, 4wd, disc brakes, DOHCs, 4 valves per cyl, turboes and superchargers, Nitrous oxide injection, front wheel drive, rotary
engines and a host of other bits and pieces are also 1930s techology. The only things they've really invented since are better machining techniques,
stronger materials and electronics.
Besides, Golfs are just larger Minis really and Minis were invented in the 40s.
As the saying goes, "people may think you look stupid, but don't open your mouth and confirm it." 
mini's were designed in the 1956 and launched in 59to combat the rising petrol prices brough on due to the suez oil crisis. The head of bmc was told
alex issigonis to build something to stop "these bloody german cars" coming into britain, the germans were importing bubble cars like the izetta and
messerchmitt.
the first car to ever have fwd was the citroen traction avant in the mid 30's they proved its fwdness by cutting it in half and driving it around!
All the last 40 years has brought about are bigger heavier, but more refined and safer cars.
Is anyone else out there noticing the amount of NEW (less than a 3 or 4 yrs old) broken down on the side of roads? I have a particular nose for sniffing out broken down commodores. Scary shit. Surprised that we can export so many of the shtheaps.
Yep.. i hear you amazer!
I always giggle when i dak dak past in my 35 year old dub!
All you have to do is Google VW and then other makes of cars-nuff said:thumb
The last few cars ive seen broken down on freeways were Bommadores... and a few of them were on fire under the hood! :duh