[motorworks]

With Volkswagen the issues seem to be with some key parts like injectors, Turbos and DSG gearboxes, all quite expensive to replace.

I have a 2011 Skoda Rapid TDI and went thru this too. First up the turbo fails one day, fortunately for me it was within the warranty period so got it replaced free of cost. Within a year of this incident, the EGR failed, and my car was out of warranty! I wrote emails to Skoda and the dealer asking them to replace the EGR free of cost since it was just out of warranty and they agreed to do so. While Skoda and the dealer handled these issues quite well and did not argue about replacements free of cost, the prices of these spare parts shocked the daylights of me. The Turbo costs a whopping 1.5 L while the EGR is in the range of 40K. What if one had to shell out this kind of money from our own wallet?
And in spite of heavy localisation of the Vento, Rapid and Polo I wonder why the Turbo costs nearly 3 times that of Maruti. Im told the Turbo of Swift diesels cost anywhere between 40-45K, not sure of this.

But like most VW and Skoda owners here, apart from the above issues I think the car is brilliant in terms of sheer quality and the way its put together. My car is nearly 5.5 years old (although less than 50k on the ODO) it doesnt feel the age and doesnt produce rattles or minor any other minor issues at all. I wish VW sort out the issues with such expensive and important parts. The next time I buy a VW or Skoda I want to ensure that they have 4-5 years of warranty minimum.

[msd63]

My Vento 1.6tdi bought in September 2010 has so far done only 43.5k Kms. Touch wood! I have had no major issues apart from glow plugs replacement at about 37k Kms. Even then the car was fine apart from the engine warning light coming on following a body shop repair. My Vento is one of the first batch and seems to be handling well. I intend not to get the emission software update done.

[airbender]

German cars are not purchased for reliability. They are purchased for the tough body shell and drivability. I have a 2011 Audi q7 and recently ABS warning lighted up. Costed me $1100 to fix. On the other hand I have a 2011 Honda accord and only paid for oil changes($30). Recently had an minor accident where a Honda Accord scarped the rear of my Audi. The rear light plastic was gone. Apart from that, not much visible damage to Audi. But the accord had its front bumper and the bonnet out.

So we need to ask our selves? What we need in our Cars?

[sprocket]

Here is the update. Please have a look at the pictures before and after the strut mount weld at VW Bangalore/Elite Motors.

I have to admit that while the service guys there were very understanding of my irritation, the sales guy has completely disappeared.

Have already written to VW requesting for a confirmation that the issue will not result in safety being comprised during highway drives and that there will be no long term collateral issues. They have forwarded the email to the service center once again. On insisting that VW send a written email, they have gone into hibernation.

Originally Posted by sprocket

Reporting in one more incident - new Polo weld issue. My 6 month old Polo 1.2 started making squeaking sounds (around 3 months back) behind the dashboard area. The service center guys asked me to come back during the 6 month checkup since they were upgrading their system to be GST complaint. VW has diagnosed it as a suspension mount welding defect (right side). Same thing was reported by aashish_84 a couple of months ago in this thread.

The solution proposed was to take out the entire suspension assembly, re-weld the suspension mount, paint it and put things back. Expected downtime is 1 week. Have also requested them to provide me with a written reason why this happened. Will keep you all posted on how that goes.

Do you think there would be any safety issues at highway speeds because of this service center welding? Thanks

So much for VW welding quality..

[AYP]

Guys, quoting my post from the official review thread-

Originally Posted by AYP

Guys, while driving today on the Mumbai-Pune expressway, the clutch of my Jetta MT sank inside completely. I was trying to go from the 4th to the 5th gear when this happened. Thankfully, with some effort, it came back up and I was able to change gears. However, throughout the rest of my journey, I had to literally lift the clutch from below by using my feet to do any gear change. Thankfully, it did not go down all the way but there was some gap between the floor and the clutch which I could use to engage the clutch. The rest of the journey was quite a painful one with the clutch refusing to engage and then disengage until manual foot intervention from my side.

Has this happened to someone before? I had encountered a similar situation a couple of weeks back when the clutch refused to come back up, but I dismissed it as a one off incident. I suspect that it has got something to do with the slave cylinder or perhaps there is a puncture in the cylinder hose through which the fluid might be leaking? Any thoughts?

My father dropped the car at the service centre yesterday and was initially told that it is indeed the master cylinder problem. However, we later received a call at the end of the day and were informed by the SA that the clutch and the flywheel(which costs 39k) needs to changed as well. This is for a car which has run 28k in a little over 3 years, and is out of warranty. The SA says this may have happened due to riding/slipping the clutch. My father has been driving for about 20 years and not once have we had to undergo a clutch replacement. My question is, why is this happening with the VW only? As is mentioned in the opening post, the VAG cars are great to drive but it is experiences like these which create a doubt and negativity about the brand in people's mind.

What do you suggest folks? Should I just cough up the money which is being demanded(close to 1L for the whole thing) and should I approach the higher ups? Can someone provide me with a medium to connect with the higher management of VW?

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by AYP

My father dropped the car at the service centre yesterday and was initially told that it is indeed the master cylinder problem. However, we later received a call at the end of the day and were informed by the SA that the clutch and the flywheel(which costs 39k) needs to changed as well. This is for a car which has run 28k in a little over 3 years, and is out of warranty. The SA says this may have happened due to riding/slipping the clutch. My father has been driving for about 20 years and not once have we had to undergo a clutch replacement. My question is, why is this happening with the VW only? As is mentioned in the opening post, the VAG cars are great to drive but it is experiences like these which create a doubt and negativity about the brand in people's mind.

What do you suggest folks? Should I just cough up the money which is being demanded(close to 1L for the whole thing) and should I approach the higher ups? Can someone provide me with a medium to connect with the higher management of VW?

Take a second opinion.

Since you are based out of Mumbai, I would suggest you to visit either of the workshops
1. VW Downtown Lalbaug, Mumbai
2. VW Autobahn Turbhe, Navi Mumbai

Both of them are trusted workshop and do not scam the customers.

In my experience, clutch shouldn't go bad in 28,000 kms. My car is 7.5 yrs 36,000 kms and no such issue.

[AYP]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

Take a second opinion.

Since you are based out of Mumbai, I would suggest you to visit either of the workshops
1. VW Downtown Lalbaug, Mumbai
2. VW Autobahn Turbhe, Navi Mumbai

Both of them are trusted workshop and do not scam the customers.

In my experience, clutch shouldn't go bad in 28,000 kms. My car is 7.5 yrs 36,000 kms and no such issue.

Yup, this was at Autobahn Turbhe.

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by AYP

Yup, this was at Autobahn Turbhe.

Have a word with following SA Mr. Tausif 7506388603 and if that doesn't help, speak with workshop manager Mrs. Nandini Rangnekar 8879993532 to have the vehicle reinspected to find what is exactly wrong since clutch wouldn't go bad so early.

If all else fails, write to VW India at customer.care@volkswagen.co.in.

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

If all else fails, write to VW India at customer.care@volkswagen.co.in.

Do they actually respond to complaints on this? I have never received a reply - both for complaints and for other enquiries.

[humyum]

Originally Posted by motorworks

Im told the Turbo of Swift diesels cost anywhere between 40-45K, not sure of this.

Turbo of a Swift Diesel costs 12-13 thousand rupees and if you buy it online, even cheaper!

[androdev]

Originally Posted by AYP

What do you suggest folks? Should I just cough up the money which is being demanded(close to 1L for the whole thing) and should I approach the higher ups? Can someone provide me with a medium to connect with the higher management of VW?

Just ask the dealer to put forward your case to VW to replace it on goodwill considering that it ran just 28K km. See what they offer. If their offer is not substantial, just get it done outside. In a place like Mumbai, there must be tons of places which do proper OEM clutch replacements for VW group cars. It is not a complex job that must be done at the A.S.S

Early clutch wear and the high price of the clutch used to be big topic during the early Skoda Octavia days. Before the word DSG took the VW unreliability throne, it was occupied by something called DMF (dual mass flywheel).

All the best.

[greenoval]

If the car is out of warranty and VW is not replacing it on goodwill then get it done outside. I had the same issue with my Laura MT. Only the master cylinder had gone kaput. Got the work done at N1 racing, Lower Parel.

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

Do they actually respond to complaints on this? I have never received a reply - both for complaints and for other enquiries.

Usually they reroute the complaint to Dealer/Workshop and follow up with them. If it doesn't work, then they step in.

VW Autobahn Navi Mumbai has been able to resolve all the issues with my Vento especially during injector issues. So didn't need VW getting into picture.

Originally Posted by androdev

Just ask the dealer to put forward your case to VW to replace it on goodwill considering that it ran just 28K km. See what they offer.

+1 to that.

Also purchase Extended warranty for your car. German cars better to have as much extended warranty as possible.

[AYP]

Hey guys, back with an update. I had written a mail to VW on the 4th of December at customer.care@volkswagen.in . I had also marked the mail to Mr. Steffen Knapp, the director of VW India. I received a reply on the next day from a person in their customer care team acknowledging the receipt of my mail. The mail was also marked to the guys at Autobahn and also the Navi Mumbai customer care at- ccare.nm@vw-autobahn.com . The director had been excluded.

At around 5 P.M. in the evening on the 5th itself I got a call from VW Autobahn regarding the acknowledgement of the mail. He said that he would come back to me with the diagnosis very soon. The number looked familiar to me and it was indeed Mr. Tausif who had called. The same number was shared by el lobo 6061. I received a mail on the 6th with a proper explanation of why and how the clutch and the flywheel got worn out. They also shared the pics of the old flywheel with me.

They agreed to bear 50% of the cost of the flywheel translating to roughly 20k. The total damage to the pocket is now 60k with the flywheel costing 20k, clutch set another 20k, master cylinder being 4k and the rest for labour and other consumables.

Even though spending 60k for a clutch related issue this early in an ownership hurts, overall, I'd say that this was a positive experience with VW. Have given them a go ahead.

Thanks to those who chipped in.

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

Have a word with following SA Mr. Tausif 7506388603 and if that doesn't help, speak with workshop manager Mrs. Nandini Rangnekar 8879993532 to have the vehicle reinspected to find what is exactly wrong since clutch wouldn't go bad so early.

Both of them were marked in the subsequent mails and I got a call from Mr. Tausif as well.

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

If all else fails, write to VW India at customer.care@volkswagen.co.in.

For next time I guess.

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

Do they actually respond to complaints on this? I have never received a reply - both for complaints and for other enquiries.

They did reply to this- customer.care@volkswagen.in . Keeping the director in cc might have helped.

Originally Posted by androdev

Just ask the dealer to put forward your case to VW to replace it on goodwill considering that it ran just 28K km. See what they offer. If their offer is not substantial, just get it done outside. In a place like Mumbai, there must be tons of places which do proper OEM clutch replacements for VW group cars. It is not a complex job that must be done at the A.S.S

All the best.

I guess I got a decent deal, didn't I?

Originally Posted by greenoval

If the car is out of warranty and VW is not replacing it on goodwill then get it done outside. I had the same issue with my Laura MT. Only the master cylinder had gone kaput. Got the work done at N1 racing, Lower Parel.

Decided to take the offer and stuck to the OEM workshop.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by AYP

GAs is mentioned in the opening post, the VAG cars are great to drive but it is experiences like these which create a doubt and negativity about the brand in people's mind.

Just go for the 50% offer. Consider this to be a hidden cost for all those pleasurable kilometers of blissful premium motoring!

Trust me, you will never be fully satisfied with any Jap/Korean (KIA excluded as of now) after driving a VAG++ vehicle.