FED UP WITH VW!!! - help Needed

Clawz · Post by **Clawz** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 3:40 pm

Hi all,

Quite frankly I am sick to high heaven of all of the different excuses for problems with my car that garages are giving me. They are trying to palm me off with soo many "Oh, I've never seen this before" crap that I am fed up.

I am now talking to VW head-office to a manager there asking why all of these common faults are not listed by their vendors and why we are all being told that this is a one off problem with our cars when they're obviously not!.

I have listed quite a few of the common problems to them and am awaiting a response from them in regards to the problems...

Would any of you be willing to back me up if I needed to get signitures of people having the same problems?

Also, I am trying to compile a list of all of the common problems with the Polos - e.g:

Wipers making a bang noise when on fast (hitting endge of window)
Oil Leaks
Seat Belts not Retracting
Suspension Being Creaky
Belts and Tensioners needing replacement
Squeeks and squeals behind the dashboard
Brakes warping...

If you know of any others then please please please let me know!

Babe RuthLess · Post by **Babe RuthLess** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 5:19 pm

Of the problems you've mentioned, I can point to at least four which are recurring, everywhere in the world from Germany to South Africa to Brasil:

- Seat Belts not Retracting (happening to my Polo right now)

- Suspension Being Creaky (had it fixed under warranty)

- Belts and Tensioners needing replacement (mentioned in German forums and Brazilian dicussion groups)

- Squeeks and squeals behind the dashboard (well, if you have a 9N I don't feel the need to comment any further)

jrw · Post by **jrw** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 6:57 pm

Definately mate - The sooner all this crap is sorted the better.

Wai_Mak · Post by **Wai_Mak** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 11:18 pm

A frequent problem on mine is..... the Engine warning lights come on and off now and again.

VW have no idea.....

KarlM · Post by **KarlM** » Sat Mar 13, 2004 8:35 pm

ffs i'm fed up of reading posts about how crap VW dealers are. can we just start a sticky at the top of the page and let everyone whos had a fault post there?

as with any new product there are going to be bugs. its unavoidable. I think a lot of the problems here are quite minor when you look at some other.

Fiat Punto - fuel and brake lines that will randomly spilt.

C2 Pluriel - Roof that doesnt keep water out

Polo GTi - w**k gearboxes

At the end of the day the cars arent going to be perfect as they are mass produced. And your also at the cheap end of VW, its not nice (or right in my opinion) but its a rule of retail - the more you pay the better service you get. Ask Pheaton or Toureg owners how they get treated, i'm sure it will be a great deal better than Polo owners.

I understand its fustrating getting bad customer service, and there is no excuse for it, but at the end of the day its not the dealers fault. If VW supply them with a s**t product then theres nothing the dealer can do.

Babe RuthLess · Post by **Babe RuthLess** » Sat Mar 13, 2004 9:18 pm

Karl, I agree with you on some points BUT:

1. Seatbelts and pre-tensioners not working properly is hardly a minor fault.

2. Bad suspensions can also have an adverse effect on safety.

3. I've seen some very furious Passat owners around VW dealers, and passats are not especially cheap, especially over here.

I have to admit though that I've never even met a Touareg or Phaeton owner, as their cars are sold and serviced at separate, "premium" VW stores in Brasil. Then again, I've never seen a Phaeton on the streets, and I've seen only a couple of Touaregs and they looked like grey imports (they had those US-spec sidelights).

As for the rattles, well, there's always silicone spray at Â£5 from VW.

dxg · Post by **dxg** » Sat Mar 13, 2004 9:43 pm

What worries me is the "never again" sentiment that seems to be emerging among the consumers of current generation VW products. We've seen evidence of it on this board. Personally, it would take something *very* special to bring me back to VW after the experiences I've had with my 9n. (GTI, maybe?).

Over the past year I've noticed VW's loss of reputation emerge among friends and across multiple bulletin boards on the web -- the message that VW's "aren't what they used to be" seems to be spreading outside of the current batch of owners. This really worries me as it will, eventually, have a knock-on affect on the residual values of our cars.

VW itself is in real trouble. It will be interesting to watch what happens to the brand in the future. Once a reputation's lost, it's so very hard to win it back. Remember Datsun, anyone?

I don't see how VW can dig itself out of this hole. A Skoda-esque turn around isn't feasible as there's no new production technologies to put into place. In fact, it's the production more than anything that's letting VW down, ATM. I'd class the majority of the known faults to be assembly, rather than component design or manufacture problems. Maybe VW moving its production to Eastern Europe (where the production line staff seem to care about how they put the cars together) would ease things off a bit. I don't know.

Whatever it is, VW's got to get it's focus back pretty damn quickly. I mean, who saw Clarkson's review of the Golf V in last Sunday's Times? Scary stuff. Some selected quotes:

And speaking of complacency, let's move now to Volkswagen and its new Golf.

However, it's nowhere near as much fun to drive as the Ford Focus and the styling is just catastrophically bland. They started with a blank piece of paper and ended up with a blank piece of paper. Where are the natty details, the pleasing little touches that make you proud to be an owner? Honestly, even the new Vauxhall Astra looks better.
But the worst thing is the quality of the interior trim. Get inside in a showroom, twiddle the heater knobs, and I guarantee you'll get straight out again. There are discarded toys in our playroom that feel more robust. And what's with the dashboard? It feels like it's been made out of a melted Sanilav.

This is the thing that annoys me most about the new Golf, the nasty sense that the only real difference between this version and the old one is to be found in VW's profit and loss account. I bet it's much, much cheaper to make.

But this new one doesn't feel like a quality product. I'll tell you how it feels. It feels like the engineers have spent the past few years making V16 engines for the new Bugatti and V10 diesels for the Touareg off-roader. It feels like they've been busy with that astonishing W12 Phaeton and its sister car, the Bentley Continental GT. It feels like they've been out there, at the fizzy and exciting edge of engineering, having a ball.

And then one day someone came into their offices and said: "Sorry, boys, but can you do us a new Golf?" So, with a lot of "Oh, sir" and Kevin-the-teenager shrugs, they put their satellite-guided superchargers down and spent no more than five minutes doing just that. A Golf, that was new.
Volkswagen, it seems, has moved on. With the Phaeton and the Bentley it is now making some of the best luxury cars money can buy. But it seems to have lost the plot with the bread and butter. As a result, the new Golf has no heart, no soul, no character at all. You don't want it to win. You don't want it at all.

The Punto I had before the Polo may have failed its MOT on corroded brake lines

, but it never broke down. It didn't rattle. It never left me stranded at the side of the road - twice - as my 9n has done.

Deek.

Nelson_Wilbury · Post by **Nelson_Wilbury** » Sat Mar 13, 2004 10:50 pm

I know I work with the VAG brand, so what I say here probably won't carry much weight, but what I think what I'm seeing in this thread is mainly rose tinted hindsight. VW's are just as reliable now as they were 10 years ago, its just 10 years ago there wasn't the communication avaliable to shout about it! Think about it, 10 years ago almost no one had the internet, now we have hundreds of VW dedicated messageboards and if someones got a problem/got problems, you can bet your bottom dollar they're gonna shout about it!

Could they have done that 10 years ago? Fair enough, someone could've written to VW Driver etc about there problems, but would you have done the same? It was then all about whether you could be bothered to put pen to paper and most people probably couldn't!

Now, I'm on my third Polo, and on my third VW. Will my next car be a VW? Definately. Now, you've seen the problems I had with my previous Polo and yes, there were times when I felt like pushing it over the Orwell Bridge, but it never broke down (even when it got pretty damn close!) and when it was all working 100%, it was a fantastic car. Which is why I bought another one

Which so far (bar a dodgy ecu light) is 100% reliable. Yes, I have a creaky seat and a split washer bottle, but I'm not that stupid that I let it get to me, I just enjoy what the rest of the car has to offer. Excellent fuel consumption, great seats, good looks, build quality (yes, mine does have it!), ride, handling etc etc. Allot of people moan about the 9n but if they were given a Daewoo for a day I bet they'd soon stop!

Now, I could go on, but I really am tired

But, in response to your dealer trying to 'palm you off' with excuses, bear in mind that there are around 300 VW dealers in the country, so theres always gonna be one that hasn't seen a particular problem, its the way the cookie crumbles i'm afraid, doesn't mean they're trying to cover up something.

Also, if VW have a common problem (e.g. suspension bushes) they first need to be 100% sure what is causing that problem, then they go about making new parts and eventually issuing a technical bulletin, that can take months. They won't issue one for seatbelts that won't retract, thats just a waste of paper, because you don't need to be Steven Hawking to work out whats causing it.

Babe RuthLess · Post by **Babe RuthLess** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 7:25 am

Hmmm... Ten years ago Volkswagens cost about the same as Fords and Chevrolets (re-badged Opels in fact).

Now they cost 20-25% more, on average. VW, after 50 years dominating the Brazilian market, has fallen to third place after GM and Fiat in 2003. Historically, VW has had 35 to 40% of the local car market (in the '60s and '70s it had more than 50%). Does that mean a Corsa or, god forbid, a Palio is better than a Polo? Not at all!

BUT, neither Fiat nor GM brand their small cars as "premium" products.

In VW's case, the quality to justify that just isn't there. I guess that's what all the rant's about - nobody can reasonably expect a car to be faultless, but we've paid more for a product that is, effectively, delivering less in terms of quality and sometimes reliability.

That does not mean I'll be buying a Toyota Corolla next time (couldn't afford one anyway). But I must admit I was disappointed with the Polo, and I for one won't be buying VW's "premium product" talk in the future.

I guess that's what's making VW's situation increasingly difficult: their move upmarket is just failing!

des_pd_ tdi · Post by **des_pd_ tdi** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 11:37 am

My main gripe with VW was the customer service. My Polo never let me down in the 1.5 years of ownership, yes it squeaked and creaked along the way but it was my frustration with lack of concern and interest when VW took the car in for inspections.

I was always palmed off with, "Not seen that before" "Can't find a problem" "they all make that noise" this really began to nark me off.

Hence my departure to Skoda. I now have a much faster, comfortable, quieter car with five doors and Xenons, all for Â£2000 less than my Polo cost me. The dealerships are reliable, phone you when they say they're going to phone you, they even contacted me post sales to ensure I was happy with the car and gave me a bunch of flowers for the wife.

Will I buy VW again, I have it's just that my car wears a Skoda badge

rooboy · Post by **rooboy** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 11:38 am

des_pd_ tdi wrote: Hence my departure to Skoda. I now have a much faster, comfortable, quieter car with five doors and Xenons, all for Â£2000 less than my Polo cost me. The dealerships are reliable, phone you when they say they're going to phone you, they even contacted me post sales to ensure I was happy with the car and gave me a bunch of flowers for the wife.

Will I buy VW again, I have it's just that my car wears a Skoda badge

The exact same reasons why I chose my first Fabia over the previous generation polo. The car had the same engine (100bhp 1.4) was cheaper, better equipped, larger and most importantly was about 4 insurance groups lower.