Wow, never realized that the Routan is based on the Chrysler Town & Country. I'm ashamed at VW for stooping so low.

Yeah, that's news to me too.

I can only guess VW did it to gauge interest in wether or not people would purchase a VW minivan perhaps? It's certainly cheaper than spending billions to tool up their own, and then find out the minivan market is getting tromped to death by the "crossover". Wonder if VW offered the same warranty coverage that Chrysler offers.

Can't be any lower than Honda slapping badges on the Isuzu Rodeo. Or GM buying platforms from an overseas automaker that failed in the US (Daewoo).

Don't forget Mazda pickups are rebadged ford rangers and other examples too.

So, VW feels that the Chrysler Town and Country vans are of good enough quality for a VW vehicle. Might be, they are rated very well with good quality reports and design.

Quality might be there, but the Town & Country series are just opposite of what Volkswagen's image is trying to be. They drive like minivans, and are boring like minivans, although I like the look.

Apparently the substance isn't there, because despite all the horrid reliability from VW so far, they still sell like hotcakes at your local pancake house. I'm tempted to go drive one myself to see what is up.

"VW feels that the Chrysler Town and Country vans are of good enough quality for a VW vehicle"

Great Caesar's ghost....have you picked up a car magazine in the last 5 years? VW has been panned for major quality problems for years now. Badge engineering a Chrysler minivan is just the latest in a long string of really poor and ill-timed decisions made by VW.

Oh yeah, Chrysler minivans are the hallmark of quality!!!
LOL! Basically, swap out the tranny every 60k if not sooner.
Just shows how disconnected VW is from this market and why they will never be successful here again. They would have been better off rebadging a KIA.

I love VW but I can't wait for them to get rid of these ridiculous cars. They must have gotten them cheap in a deal to help Chrysler but as I think the actually have VW engines and have been tweaked in other ways - I just can't stand the idea. Especially in today's market where the Tiguan might fare far better.

Between my 1998 VW GTI and my wife 2006 Beetle we couldn't be happier owning VW's,

I look forward to what comes out of the Chatanooga plant, the Polo, Scirocco and anything else VW wants to send over. I'm looking for a car next year VW!

And what was wrong with Honda rebadging the Rodeo?

Besides it's not like Honda has ever made anything remotely "truck" like...

My wife has an 01 LS V6 and it seems like a fairly good SUV. I will say that with a grain of salt, since it is built off of a truck platform and not a car. It obviously doesn't have the ride of a car based suv.

"And what was wrong with Honda rebadging the Rodeo?"

Agreed that Honda had nothing like it at the time (and was just using it as filler material until they did), but their only re-badge vehicle i can think of was a quick slap on the ass and a boot out the door.

I'm not saying the Rodeo was a poor vehicle in the least Brian, it wasn't. That reservation is saved for the Trooper II. But neither Toyo or Honda has ever needed to use other manufacturers vehicles as filler material. It was simply one of the first examples (of MANY) that came to mind.

In general, i find cross-manufacturer re-badging to be a lowly trade.

@ Trooper Bri,

Well I think that depends...

The Pontiac Vibe (Toyota Matrix) I think is a good thing. It certainly wouldn't be any worse than anything GM could come out with. It would probably be one of the longer lasting 4 cyl's that Pontiac has put out in the last decade....

With all the cross development, and globalization, it's getting to a point where you'll start having an X engine (powertrain) in a Y car... I'm surprised car companies haven't started doing it more.

Yep, the Rodeo was a pile of steamin poo, that's why honda dumped as soon as it could.
My brand new Rodeo basically needed the ABS module and intake manifold gasket replaced every 30k.
No wonder they are all but gone.

@zippy,

Well don't know about those issues, but like most cars they certainly have their own.

"No wonder they are all but gone."

Well yeah Isuzu pulled out of the American market (for consumer vehicles at least), and I thought they were getting sparse...that is until I moved back to where I grew up. I bet I see 5 a day or more on the road. I guess it kind of makes sense, since where I moved from had a higher income/status/cost of living than where I moved to. (Note, both cities are in the same state, and it was moving from the 2nd largest city to the 4th, so it's not like I ended up in the middle of nowhere.)
Here people actually fix cars instead of just leasing them and getting a new one every 3 years....

Before I moved it wasn't unusual to see a handful of 740/745/750's on the way home on the highway (or pick your choice of higher end european luxury car). Now I see one, but not very often.

Other than keeping an eye on the oil usage, it runs pretty good. A can of seafoam every couple of oil changes helps too. Also changed the shocks, cause the factory ones blew ass... I hoping we get about a 100k out of it....so far we are half way there.

Well, there was a lot I liked about my Rodeo. I loved that little 3.2 liter motor except for the fact that it kept eating intake manifold gaskets. 4 in 70k miles is just BS.
The ABS module thing kinda sucked too, but it got decent mileage for the type of vehicle and otherwise I liked it. I forgot that it was starting to use a couple of quarts of oil every 3k miles too. You reminded me of that.
It was a smooth motor though.
I never tried the seafoam. I do use that in all my small engines.

I just won't tolerate constant nagging issues in my vehicles because there are too many others that don't give me grief.

The roads here used to be littered with Rodeo's but it's like someone collected them all up and shipped them off.

@Zippy

Yeah, that's much like 95-97 2.2L Cavaliers (which I owned a 96...). I have seen one of that vintage in the last 2 years, and it had 87k miles on it.

That engine was graced with a head gasket failure issue at around 100k (mine was 113k)... Well I guess that's what happens when you move to a new design...(an updated head gasket mid 97 seemed to give that issue somewhat.)

I usually dump a can of seafoam in the oil about every 3-4 oil changes, let it idle for 5 mins or so and change. The first time I did it, the EGR valve set a code. Cleaned that out and it hasn't been a problem since. (Got good at cleaning that EGR setup, as it was the same as the one on the 96 Cavalier...)

Never even heard of that.

Yeah if you ever see a Cavalier coupe check out the seats. If you see a hook type piece that the seatbelt passes through it is 98 and up. Apparently a lot of people didn't like to have to bend back that far to reach it... Odds are everyone you see will have it.

I own a 2005 Town and Country Touring with all the upgrades. Essentially, I did not want to pay for the tiny screen navi system, and the silly leather seats. Thank god, I was smart enough to get the extended warranty, too. Surprise, they had to replace the tranny at 35K. Now, the van is around 63K, I am already getting a knock from the new tranny.

I later leased a 2008 VW Jetta 2.5 SE. Fantastic little car, I am so happy, and driving it is a joy. Workmanship is fantastic. The paint gets scratches easy, though. Therefore, I wanted to check out the new Routan when it came out. Unfortunately, it too is suffering all the ailments of Town and Country; cheap plastic interior, does not look and feel classy at all. On top of that, now it has a Chrysler power train. Somebody needs to ask VW, "What were they thinking?"