UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Took the car it for its first service, listed the following problems...

* Rattle from n/s door
* Rattle from instrument cluster
* Upper o/s seat creaking (after having the o/s base replaced 4,000 miles earlier )
* Washer pipe popped off (again!)
* Investigate whistling noise from heater fan

Was more than happy with the price for the service, £58.50. But I was pretty disgusted with the fact that they only attended to THREE of the Warranty problems!! The seat they didn't even bother with and the n/s door now has an even worse rattle (like the locking rod actually hitting the metal part of the door!) as well as rattle coming from speaker area!! Do the technicians not even bother to check they have CURED the problem!! I mean come on, I'm supposed to work for this company!!

Also, they found engine was leaking oil AGAIN near the crankshaft

I have been so pissed off by this as well as the other problems I had with the car. Now I know how dxg feels (and i've had less than half the problems hes had)!!

Anyway, point is I was offered an A2 1.4 tdi Sport today (the one with the 17" RS4 style wheels ) . I'm seriously tempted but the problem is i'd be looking around £14500 and its metallic black But this has gotten to the point where I no longer enjoy driving my own car

Anyway, I'm also seriously tempted by ANOTHER Polo 1.4 tdi (and I'll save three grand!!). But I don't really want to risk the problems I've had with this car, what should I do?

what should you do?
firstly ask josh to change your post title
secondly its your car and your money so if you like the polo then maybe get another cos it seems like your polo is one of the bad(der) egs among the vw basket or if vw has dissapointed you that much then try the A2 but remember what VAG means

Either way if you have any probs with any of the cars it will go back to the same bunch of clowns to mess around with it!

polo2k wrote:what should you do?
firstly ask josh to change your post title
secondly its your car and your money so if you like the polo then maybe get another cos it seems like your polo is one of the bad(der) egs among the vw basket or if vw has dissapointed you that much then try the A2 but remember what VAG means

Sorry about the post title, but emotions and all, didn't realise it would offend anyone. I do forget this is a family forum

I love the new Polo, compared to other people on here my car has been quite good but what the hell has happened with VW quality? A agree with what Sparkstack said on another forum. 'The reason people are annoyed is because VW has spent years telling us that there cars have superior quality'

I'd like a new car, but I know very little about VWs smaller engine range because I only ever drive A3s and A4s when I'm working. Also, I'm used to having my set on something then ten minutes later i'll fall for something else At the moment its engine problems, tarted up 1.2 65 or 1.4 tdi?

But what am I supposed to do, take it into the garage every 3000 miles to change a friggin oil seal or that bloody washer pipe! and whats to say I wont have these same problems if I buy another Polo? My Mums MK.5 Polo has only ever had 1 problem and that turned out to be two blown fuses, I have never heard a rattle in it!!

Yeah, that another problem with the A2, its still a supermini no matter what the badge is and i'd have to be very brave to spend nearly 15K on one. Oh why can't life be more easier

Nelson,

I'd think carefully before you do anything. As you'll know after two months of "deciding" to sell the Polo I still haven't actually gone through with it.

Every time I see a car that I can afford and aspire to I test drive it (oddly, they've all been Lupo GTi's ) yet despite being very convinced that they are a better car than the Polo I still haven't follow through.

Why? Well, for me the money's the main issue issue. My lack of trust for VW is secondary to this. When I sit down and work through the figures, sure I can afford it, but can I really justify it?

I won't make any pretenses to your financial situation, but anyone contemplating selling a car that's less than a year old should really sit down and ask themselves - is it really worth it??

This will chear you up though :scarismsmilienottobefound:
- last weekend I was offered 8k for my Polo. I recon I could have got it up to £8.5k
- Just after christmas I was offerred 10k.

The excuses I heard for this are the heavy discounting of new cars by VW. My car, speced up as I have it - which cost me £11.5k in August can now be bought for £10.6k - and the £600 there is a "bonus"(internal VW term??) that can be negiotated away before eating into the dealer's profit - or this could have been talk, but the dealer was adding up from a price book.

My conclusion - It's not a market to be selling an (almost) New Polo in. That's why I'm (porbably ) not going to. Depsite hating the car and being extremely unhappy with it. I hope everyone realises I'm not keeping the car out of love, nor repsect, not even regard even.

There's a very interesting poll in the mk5 golf section of vwvortex just not (may it was mkivs), anyway - asking if given a choice btwn buying a mk5 golf and a mk2 a3, 80% would go for the new a3. Tells you everything you need to know about the golf's quality problems. (I know Audi's just another VAG company and that the new a3 _is_ the new golf (notice the "just" in that sentence - wouldn't have been there seven months ago!!)).

So my current situation is this:
Saving up frantically to clear my finance (and foregoing quite a few plans I had made), with a view to sell possibly at the end of summer. Then I'll be going Japanese I think. Nothing goes wrong with a Toyota, or so I'm told. Shame they're such dull cars. Have you seen the new Avensis? Then again, there's always Vauxhall..... :getscoat:


What advice can I offer you?
Think very carefully. Better the devil you know and all that. Maybe try another dealer. If you're in the midlands I would actually recommend my local. They might not be competent, but at least they try to be.

What can I offer you other than advice?
Empathy. I know what you're going through. I'd suggest griting your teeth and bearing it in the short term. If I knew you better I'd give you a hug. Ah, shucks, I'll do it anyway - *hugs* *pats on shoulder and tries to offer reassurance*

Have you tried this, though:

1. Ask to sit down with their Service Manager and talk through the issues. Prepare a list and work through it one by one with him. Ask him to go for a run in the car with you if he shows any signs of disbelief or disowning of the problem.
(actually - are you putting it into the dealer where you work? - I don't know if this strategy would work, then - maybe you would have to find somewhere else)

2. Ask for the car to be taken in for a whole week - Monday am to Friday pm. Give them a list of defects and ask them to "work as far through it as they can, but not rushing to complete it - i.e. you'd prefer for a few things to be fixed right rather than for things to be rushed and not fully solved.

3. All of the above can be couched in terms of: it's for your - i.e. the dealer's - benefit as well - if you spend the time with me now to fix these problems I won't be coming back and you won't be spending more money on me -- mind you I was saying this six months ago!



Other thought (in this diatribe!):

- I agree that people don't seem to check the quality of the "repair". Mine is going in for another one of these week-long sessions to fix multiple rattles put into it when they were replaing the instument cluster (don't ask...)

- A friend had an A2 with the same engine as you describe. He loved it! His wife loved it more!! (something about the image it projected or something). ## edit to try to make this thing shorter ## His was black - looked fantastic, I thought. But then I would

### edit to shorten ###

He only sold it because he now has a kid and wanted something bigger. He was going to buy a Passat Estate but I had a "few words about VW" with him - he now has an X-Trail - job done, I think!!

Unless I do buy a Lupo - I will _never_ buy from VAG again - I've told VW UK this. But that's the marque I've always aspired to own - what else is there that's affordable and has some sort of pedigre (or, at least, is regarded highly by those that don't own them!!)??

Deek.

(Also, There's a technical bulletin about noise from the heating vents over on "the german site" if you can make sense of it after running it through babelfish, you're doing better than me - but it's late)

Also also - at least they told you about the oil leak - they coudl have oput the engine cover back on and you'd be none the wiser - so maybe they're not all that bad after all??

It didn't look that big in the editing window...

amen
remember though as much as you may love your polo its only a load of metal plastic and other composite marterials

I must admit, I was very tired last night when I wrote that. I stand by it though!

Hopefully Nelson will find some solace in it - maybe even the hugging part - I meant it in a truely manly way, of course

Deek.

Have managed to calm down a bit now

Thanks for all that advice deek, it was certainly worth you typing at 1am for me!!

As for the car, i'm still not decided, what I can say is it'll be gone by August, probably by another Polo (hopefully the build quality will be better).
I can't deny it looked great today though with the sunny weather, which also brought out that 'new' smell from the interior.

I checked the Pdi jobcard of my car today (I have quite easy access to it) and found that they also replaced the seal then, so thats three times its been replaced in 9000 miles

Thanks for the note on the heater, I think I still know some German. 'Bonjour' is 'Goodbye' isn't it

Oh, and thanks for the hug!! *flutters eyelids*

Hi.

This thread is a bit old but after reading all your comments (including other threads) I feel I have a few things to add myself.

I'm in Brazil and I own a Brazilian-built, 1.6-litre new Polo. It is just over a month old (purchased 10 april).

VW launched the Polo here six months after the German release. And my Polo still has some of the rattles described in old German service bulletins!

Well the story goes like this: I picked up my brand-new, 2003/2003 VW Polo April 11th. Just a few days later, I had to bring it back to the dealer to have the tracking fixed (the car was pulling to the right - remember that's the side we drive on in my country). The place where I'd bought it kinda refused to take the car for repair (said it was booked for the rest of the week etc. etc.). So I took it to another local VW dealership - there are 5 in my city - and they fixed it.

By that time, the centre console (the large chunk of dashboard without texture) started to rattle, especially around the top, in the air vents and that little shelf. Sounds familiar? There was another rattle in the passenger side vent, and the driver's seat was squeaking. So a week later I took my car to the first dealer, they kept it for 2 days and then told me the ratles were caused by my not 'locking' the vents in either open or closed position. That was a lie and I found out soon enough - it was plastic on plastic noise, and whenever I pushed the centre console foward the rattle diminished.

Oh well. I took the car to the second dealer, and this time they did remove the console and sealed the whole thing with silicone. It ain't 100% yet but I'll leave it that way until the first major service at 30,000 km (my car currently clocks up less than 2000km). As for the squeaky seat, VW Brasil released a service bulletin and dealers are waiting for some part to arrive, so they'll ring me up when they get it.

There was a whole series of service bulletins about dashboard, door panel and seatbelt assembly rattles. The mechanic who looked after my car told me they could compile an anthology of those - including some that came all the way from Germany, and others from VW Brasil (the Polo was developed part in Germany, part in Brazil to save a few Deutschmarks). Turns out the first few months' production was even worse, and that seems to have been the case too in the Spanish and Slovakian factories that supply Europe.

It's too soon to tell anything about the mechanics, but they seem to be OK from what I get in Brazilian and South African forums (this 1.6 is sold in Africa too). The engine came from the Golf and it was always very reliable. Brazilians are having trouble with their 2.0 Polos though. This engine (also found in Golf and Skoda Octavia) eats up an awful lot of oil. In some cases you have to top it up every other week, like a litre every 500km or so. VW says it's normal.

This story is just to illustrate that everywhere people are kinda frustrated with VW's newest cars. And they're more expensive than most cars- though there's some heavy discounting going on, and I did hear the 'bonus' talk some people mentioned in other threads, exactly the same!

I used to drive a 1997 Ford Fiesta 1.4 Zetec and in six years the only rattle I ever heard in it came from the trim covering the spot where the far-side mirror control should have been - my car had electric mirrors. In four weeks my Polo reminded me of my first car, a Fiat Uno.

However by the time you spec a Polo to my car's level, you can almost buy 2 base-model Fiat Palios! For that sort of money I think we should all deserve better!

Cheers,

The only long term thing I'm worried about is that the image of the VW brand becomes tarnished with these experiences (which are not isolated - I joked to the guy who sold my my car (when back, again, at the dealers recently) that they must be raking it with all the new polos on the road - his reply was - "yeah, it'd be great if they didn't all rattle" ), and the resale value of the cars is reduced.

However, despite writing all that stuff back in February, here I am three months later still driving my Polo (of course between then and now it spent seven weeks in the dealer having its dash removed to "fix" the rattles).

Of course, the financial implications of selling such a new car might have something to do with this situation, but I can still say that I'm reasonably happy with it. I do love driving it when everything's working right, and these days, I've just started turning the stereo up to mask the rattles.

I did see something worryng the other day, though - an 02 (that's between 6 and twelve months old in the UK - same age as mine) Polo sitting pride of place in the forecourt of the Ford dealer just up the road from my local VW dealer. Makes me wonder if someone else had had enough and "got shot".

Put it this way, I'm hanging on until some information about the Polo GTI is available. Then I'll be deciding about leaving the VW brand or not.

Nelson, I'd go for the Polo 1.4TDi, I have one and its so fast on the motorway and so cheap to run, very economical! You'll love it. when my car was in for the kit, i borrow a 1.2-I hated it, it was slow and too thirsty-get me my tdi any day to that!

Hang on in there for a while. With any manufacturer there are always the odd gremlins in the basket - but this is where you have to be forceful with the dealer. You could write to Autoexpress magazine - they have a section that does all the donkey work for you and generally gets a good result - otherwise it's bad press.

I know six people with the new polo - all TDi's - none of them have any problems - no rattles or squeeks.

I've just bought an X reg MkV 1.4 16v for the missus and that is perfect. Traded my (her) 96 P MKIV 1.4 cl with 54K in against it - in all the years with the MKIV did not have a single problem - it was actually sad to see it go - it was a sweet motor...and the dealer gave me £3200 for it.

Food for thought - two people where my wife works bought just recently the new Nissan Micra - both have been in the garage more often than they have had the chance to drive them.

Personally I drive a Freelander 2000 W, EXi petrol - that has been in the dealer more times than I care to remember for annoying things - but I'd still have another. I also drive a Volvo S60 03 reg D5 SE - had it 4 weeks and it's been to the dealer twice for niggles.

It happens to them all, so don't give up. I don't think VW image is on any chance of a downward slide...the only thing that comes close for value/quality is the new Fiesta and Focus against Polo and Golf. A3 A4 are in a different league altogether.

Mate of mine has an S4 - (jammy git) and that's been to dealer 3 times in 2 years.

I think what happens is that we have all raised our expectations about these little cars way too high.

It's not the consumer's fault, though. I think VAG must be having a marketing nightmare. People are confusing its brands in a very dangerous way: we're expecting 100% Audi quality in a VW that costs 70% of what an Audi does. If the cars sit on same platform (not the case with Polo/A2, but true in others), that price difference has to be justified elsewhere. Or an Audi would be a very hard sale indeed, never mind the brand image.

VAG's worst nightmare isn't what it expected to be: people are not confusing its cars or its brands - people are confusing their expectations about them.

The general motoring press has its share of responsibility too. I distinctly remember reading more than once in UK's CAR and Top Gear that in a Polo or Golf you got Audi-like materials and finish. While that may be true when it comes to the quality of assembly (VWs are -or were- very well put together) the materials employed are _very_ different. For the worse.

That said, there are many other rattly cars out there. Citroën C3 is bad in that department, as is the new Fiesta (in its de-contented South American version anyway). Honourable exceptions to the Chevrolet Corsa (Vauxhall Corsa) and Honda Fit (Jazz in EU). But I wouldn't buy a Chevrolet for all the silence in the world. And the Fit has just been launched, and who knows what lay in store for its owners?

That's my 2 cents.

Cheers,

I kinda wished this topic wouldn't come up again

Allot has changed since I posted this and litterally a week after I did post it I had quite a bad accident which kinda took the quality issues away for a while, lol!

Anyway, I still have the same Polo (dxg was right, there just isn't a used market for the 9n at the moment ) and I've tarted it up a bit now so its now allot nicer. Just fitted some aluminium boot struts today (very nice I must say )
Don't regret it now because I probably wouldn't have met most of you at Inters if I still didn't have my little 9n.

Aww bless!!