So how does everyone use their cars? Drive wise?

[vwbill]

I use my car as my back-up to my 99 1.8T Passat Wagen and mostly as a weekly night hour/ hour-half cruizer for the cool night air ride at 60 mph with the dog in the back seat and both just zen-ing the Vw'n! Four lane road big median min. traffic to none! That's when I'm diggin the 412! I also Like it since that ride I can have my left foot flat on the floor with my knee at a 90deg. relax. I love that speed since I am barely touchin the throttle! bill,jr.

[wshawn]

My 412 Variant is my daily car. I use for the 20 mile round trip every day, whatever the weather,to and from work.

and the dog rides in the boot in his cage so he don't trash the interior

[Bill K.]

My '73 412, 2 door is a daily driver and road-trip car. Use if for everything, kids (3) and all.

[Lars S]

I drive my '73 412 neraly every day if the weather is fine. Short trips in the sunshine to the town centre is my favourite. But this is just during the summer, the winters here have to much salt on the roads to allow any kind of driving. Also the temperatures (down to -35C) are a bit tough...even for a 412...

/Lars S

[raygreenwood]

When mine gets back on the road...it will be for weekends and long trips. I spent 16 years with a 411 or 412 as a daily driver. Fabulous cars for it. I would love to do it again but its just not safe for a car that I like that much.... where I live. Too many chances to get it destroyed. Ray

[ubercrap]

Hey Bill K., how far do you drive every day? I'm considering getting some of my 412's going as daily drivers, as mine continue to languish in storage/ parked because all the money and focus goes to keeping various other vehicles in the "fleet" going. The way things are going, I don't think I'll ever have the money and energy to have these as extra weekend/pleasure cars , but I may be able to swing it if the daily driver time/money allotment goes into them. What do you think guys, should I go for it, even though they're just about guaranteed to get the crap beat out of them? My impression when working on these cars is that they are really robust (more so than the watercooled VW's I'm familiar with) and could actually hold up quite well over many miles, and I drive 60+ miles (~96km) per day. I also have spare parts out the wazoo, so that's no problem.

[raygreenwood]

With all the same suspension mods as Bills (bronze idler bushing, delrin bushings, rebuilt center link wit hspacers, urethane and rubber diagonal donuts, castor adjustment, grease fittings for ball joints, front end lowered level etc.)...except mine had Audi 4000 front cartridges....(KYB gas-a-justs, del;rin bushings, adjustable camber and twin sway bars....with 205/60-15's on 5.5" cheap chromies. I put about 55,000 miles on that complete suspension set-up before I blew the engine at 89k miles due to a loose oil pump nut.

That car averaged about 36-38 mpg with no winds at 75mph (I have a 4 speed). The reliability of these cars is awesome....espeically if you bother to take care of the few parts that will cause you issues with hard daily driving.
(1) The original center link is a weak point because of the packing material
(2) the original idler bushing causes problems. Put in a bronze one.
(3) The original ball joinst were fine but need a grease fitting
(4) the original control arm bushings are fine if you can get them...but bad when they are worn out. Since they are unavailable ,,,just replace them with delrin.
(5) if you have early 411/412 style bonded strut bushings get rid of them.

If you do these things....the reliabilty of the entire suspension just skyrockets and easily matches that of modern watercooled vehicles. If not....I can tell you that in all of my previous 411/412...and in the first 30K or so miles before I just stopped and properly redid the supsension...I went through numerous parts. After that...I went through nothing in 55k....and everything is still perfect at the moment. Ray

[ubercrap]

The suspension and steering mods are no problem- I've been reading your ideas, among others, for years and had already started rebuilding a complete front end setup for my wagon until I had to relocate and put everything in storage a few years ago.

[Bill K.]

I only go 20 miles/day now. It's probably better for the engine to go longer than 10 minutes at a time, but it's what I've got for now. I just drive it hard once it's warmed up

I've parted several junk cars to get enough spare parts to focus on 1 good car. If it breaks, I'll fix it - that's part of the fun. To me that's the difference between an enthusiast and a collector. I don't worry about the car getting damaged or stolen, because if it does, I get to start a new project! I'm an enthusiast. If you are a collector, then treat your car accordingly. For me, life is too short and VW's are not collectable, they are "peoples car".

My car had horrible shimmies, worn out tires, and a tired engine when I bought it 3 years ago. It that condition, I was at risk of break downs and sh!t did happen. However, I HAD to fix it, so I did. I had backup transpo, but didn't bench the 412 when it needed work. I focused on learning what was wrong and how to fix it. It's part of my life and I like it that way.

[albert]

i use my 412 for many short ride during the week in the city and sometime in the weekend for a long ride 200-300 mils ,,or during my 15 days vacation,,each year from 3-4 years,,this summer i do over of 3 k, mils,in my vacation time ,,and like ,,LARS ,,i d,t use during the winther,, he sleep outside during the winther and at each weekend i start the car for 10-15 minutes ,,he start all the time ,,like -30 dr.fr. he start,, i like my 412,,with my new électric heathing seat ,albert

[raykinsella]

I have three - two 412s and one 411 - and I drive them all, though pretty much just a 20-mile round trip commute to work each day. I try to keep each car happy so none feel either neglected or overworked. My 411 just got a complete brake job; she was off the road for a few weeks before that. I've taken road trips in each car in the summer, never a problem and lots of stares and comments.

[plumcrazee]

when mine was on the road 4 months ago me and the wife used it every day rain shine snow(the deeper the better)

ive had it 3 years now and done about 27,000 miles i use it to get parts and go on holidays with no major probs

and once its back on the road in the next 2/3 weeks then it will be again

[kps70]

Mine is under wraps whilst the winter rain comes down. As soon as it gets dry again, I'll be using it. I had used it every day to go to work before last week. About a 16 mile round trip.
Kieron

[vwbill]

Wow, you have to be impressed that you love your car so much and trust it to be a daily driver and most our cars are 35 years oldish!! That is the coolest thing to hear! After seeing how many posted it gets me to wondering again on how many running and non-running 411/412's are still out there! In America I think there are more 412's then 411's but it seems more 411's in europe to me??? What does everyone think the number are? America-40/50. Europe 50/60?? Bill,jr.

[albert]

BILL,i have a reeport ,,from europe ,, and they got .appx, in last décember 2008, ,400,, type4 in the total,,mix,,411-412--the most popular was the wagon for sure,, appx. 65% ,,albert