Reliability of MY2019 Polo

[Harrihealey02]

Throughout ownership of my car which may soon be coming to an end, I’ve thought about posting a list of all issues I’ve had dealt with through the warranty. I am assuming most people have a decent car and no problems apart from general wear and tear. Here is the list of problems in order from day 1.

-Front USB ports not working (not connected from factory)
-Air vent driver side not working (replaced)
-Wires exposed from rear USB trim (fixed)
-Hand brake rattle (button replaced)
-EGR cooler (replaced £1000 worth FOC)
-DPF filter (replaced £3000 worth FOC)
-Whole interior Carpet replacement (AC drainage hose not connected from factory)
-Battery died (didn’t get replaced under warranty due to needing to use car ASAP)
-Rear Window wiper motor (replaced)
-Rear interior light faulty (in garage now)

Anyone else had similar issues or this many problems with their Polo?

[Manclad]

Oh my word you really have been unlucky. We've all had a car like that in our time. Mine was a Honda Civic but not my Polo GTi. Fingers crossed, so far it's been faultless and not one rattle either.

[SRGTD]

@Harrihealey02; it sounds as if your car is one of those proverbial Friday afternoon cars and / or you’ve been very unlucky to have that many issues in 2-3 years of ownership (assuming you’ve owned your car from new).

Interesting that your Polo is a diesel - I can’t recall any other forum member with an AW model diesel Polo. I don’t think I’ve read on any VAG forum of a DPF needing to be replaced within the first 2-3 years of ownership. What was the reason for it needing to be replaced (was it clogged with soot to maximum capacity?). How many miles has your car covered and what short of journeys do you normally drive; mainly short journeys in a DPF equipped diesel car will probably mean very frequent DPF regens.

With my previous Polo GTI (a 2016 previous generation 6c model) I had zero issues in 4.5 years of ownership with the car only going back to the dealership for servicing / MOT work. With my current 2020 Polo GTI+, it’s also only been back to the dealership for its first service. I get an occasional slight vibration noise from the centre cubby storage area below the heating / ventilation controls, but it only does it on one particular short section of road so I can live with that , and I don’t want a VW dealership ripping out interior trim with the potential for them damaging the trim and also creating additional rattles!

[Harrihealey02]

If the rattle you are experiencing is mild it’s best to avoid dealer intervention like you suggested. When they replaced the air vent in mine they didn’t connect the front gloss trim back that goes around the MIB infotainment as it’s flimsy above the top of the screen. Not bothered though as no noise. The DPF filter I believe was always faulty from brand new day 1 as the first time they showed me around the car I could smell an acrid diesel smell which at the time I thought was unusual for a modern diesel. No warning Light came on until around a year and a half 25, 30,000 miles later when lockdown happened and I was only using the car for short journeys in the cold weather. As I was always running on empty (which I now know is bad for a DPF equipped car) due to the closure of most petrol stations at the time I was not allowing the car to perform a regen. Also with Volkswagen any warnings to do with the DPF getting close to being blocked do not show up if the car is running with the low fuel message showing. I found this out because a few times after I would fill up fully I would see a DPF warning message show up for a few minutes then disappear. Indicating it must have triggered at some point when the low fuel message was showing but that low fuel warning was more of a priority. Then the warning lights came on when it was extremely low on fuel and the technician performed a static regen which must have blown a hole through the DPF as then after that I used to gush smoke until finally Romford Volkswagen correctly identified it being a faulty DPF whereas The Chelmsford Volkswagen thought it was a software problem.

[Harrihealey02]

It’s been a while since I’ve had a problem - I took it in today for 2 issues, 1st was a grinding noise when making full lock turns - I thought this was caused by CV joint wear as they replaced the CV boot on it last month but not the joint itself, however they confirmed the noise to be the rubber CV boot compressing and causing a sound when it’s on full lock. They said it could also be the discs flexing as it’s on full lock. I still believe it’s a worn out CV joint but I’ll leave it as they think it’s normal. The 2nd issue I had them look at was a whirring noise coming from the auxiliary belt area and they’ve confirmed it’s a faulty idler tensioner pulley which they have ordered in a replacement for. They also identified an oil leak coming from the upper engine area - so that will be fixed out of goodwill as I’ve just run out of my warranty. They have been very kind and did not need to do that for free so I’m very pleased with their customer service.

[OomStu_ZA]

Is you car perhaps yellow? Sounds like a real lemon.
I call these problem cars "Monday" cars because the staff at the factory must have had a bender of weekend.
Hopefully next time round the dealer doesnt give another dud.

[Harrihealey02]

I think you’re right it could be a Monday car lol I just phoned the dealer and apparently the oil leak is coming from the upper cambelt area. Is it possible the leak is coming from the camshaft seal? No idea how it could leak from the cambelt as that is usually protected with a cover.

[Johntheo1]

It’s been a while since I’ve had a problem - I took it in today for 2 issues, 1st was a grinding noise when making full lock turns - I thought this was caused by CV joint wear as they replaced the CV boot on it last month but not the joint itself, however they confirmed the noise to be the rubber CV boot compressing and causing a sound when it’s on full lock. They said it could also be the discs flexing as it’s on full lock. I still believe it’s a worn out CV joint but I’ll leave it as they think it’s normal. The 2nd issue I had them look at was a whirring noise coming from the auxiliary belt area and they’ve confirmed it’s a faulty idler tensioner pulley which they have ordered in a replacement for. They also identified an oil leak coming from the upper engine area - so that will be fixed out of goodwill as I’ve just run out of my warranty. They have been very kind and did not need to do that for free so I’m very pleased with their customer service.

That CV joint certainly sounds like it requires replacing although I've never heard of one failing at a very low mileage unless the boot had failed and allowed grit it, the failures I've come across after > 150k miles made a clicking sound and all were the outer joint.

[steeve]

Other than the DSG giving up after 12 weeks the rest of the time was fault free. Not impressed with the paintwork though.