[Prabhu]

I love Volkswagen for quality workmanship. I think their build quality is commendable. I found the below link which hosts a video showing how they test their cars. I have felt the video a bit old, but an intriguing one.

http://www.wimp.com/volkswagencars

[tushky]

volkswagen is really a quality car maker and their cars are strong enough. i work in a volkswagen dealership. and our sales guys actually stand on the door while showing the car to the customers.

[swiftnfurious]

That's some crazy testing! Are they focused only on the build quality? Why can't they test the mechanical parts in such a hard way that they outlast the owners?

[Enigmatic]

Originally Posted by tushky

volkswagen is really a quality car maker and their cars are strong enough. i work in a volkswagen dealership. and our sales guys actually stand on the door while showing the car to the customers.

Wish they could stand on the heads of the sales and support staff in India till they learnt a thing or two about selling cars "respectfully". And not treating their customers as outcaste's when they return for servicing !!

[sajusherief]

Volkswagen is learning this the hard way! One year back when I got my polo I got no offers but the corporate discount. Last week my friend got a comfortline with all the added features, free insurance, accessories and discounts which brought down the total on road price exactly same as mine. Seems like they got no other go to maintain the sales.

[MetalBuff]

Whoa! That's some testing! As correctly mentioned by fellow mates, they should start concentrating on the A$$ and the mannerisms with which they treat their customers. Agreed, VW has that snob value, but, if you spurn your customers, you just can't retain your position in the market (Well, doesn't that show anyway )

Time to reiterate -

"Customer is King"

Originally Posted by sajusherief

Volkswagen is learning this the hard way! One year back when I got my polo I got no offers but the corporate discount. Last week my friend got a comfortline with all the added features, free insurance, accessories and discounts which brought down the total on road price exactly same as mine. Seems like they got no other go to maintain the sales.

Correct. But, I believe, this also had to do with manufacturers trying their best to stay afloat (by offering massive discounts) and selling as many cars as possible due to the slump in the automotive industry. I know, you would be feeling cheated now

-Shivang Gandotra

[Sommos]

Originally Posted by tushky

volkswagen is really a quality car maker and their cars are strong enough. i work in a volkswagen dealership. and our sales guys actually stand on the door while showing the car to the customers.

The sales guy must be standing on the door pocket.
But how does it show that the overall car is strong enough, and what about the reliability of the mechanical parts.

[a4anurag]

Whoa!!

Ask them to test their service centres and people who are appointed as SA and their boses.

Give them some decent knowledge of the cars that they are selling and think in customer satisfaction. Cars from their are great but Quality, reliability etc are some questions that don't get clear answers.

Anurag.

[san2]

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[Prabhu]

Originally Posted by Enigmatic

Wish they could stand on the heads of the sales and support staff in India till they learnt a thing or two about selling cars "respectfully". And not treating their customers as outcaste's when they return for servicing !!

I absolutely agree. VW's after sales support is not good as their products. I haven't experienced their ASS to a great extent as my Vento is still due for the first service, but I have one pathetic experience with them till date. I have approached VW Hyderabad A.S.S for top up of engine oil after my run-in period and asked for a service adviser to check on engine oil. Nobody bothered until I intervened again. But still none of them turned out, some customer come in from no where and shout at them, suddenly service advisers go and attend them. Finally after waiting half an hour one guy attended and told me a top-up of 500ml is needed. I have asked him whether Castrol Magnetic Professional is a fully synthetic oil, he replied sir, it is "Magnetic Professional" not "synthetic oil" as if it is entirely different type of oil. The SA don't even have knowledge of recommended engine oil in their cars. I gave up even though I want to show him the label of engine oil bottle where it was mentioned "fully synthetic oil". The billing for purchase of engine oil took me nearly 30 minutes for a single item, in total I have to spend more than an hour for just top-up of engine oil .

After a week VW customer care called me for feedback. I have clearly explained the problem based on the above experience. I didn't expect they would consider my feedback though, but later after another week I got a call from VW Hyderabad. They apologized for inconvenience caused and promised that they will improve and had sent me the below email with an attached free wash coupon for my car.

"This has reference to your concern regarding your Vento Vehicle. we regret and apologize for the inconvenience you faced at our dealership service. Thank you for the feedback you have mentioned, Please be informed that we have seriously been through your concern.

Meanwhile, we appreciate your Concern and the feedback about our services. We take such feedback positively to re-evaluate ourselves, improve accordingly and strengthen further to provide matchless services, as envisaged by all members of the Volkswagen fraternity, including you. Looking forward for your continued support and patronage.

As per our telephonic conversation we are offering you a free washing coupon, which you can avail at the time of your next visit to our workshop. These coupon are for ONE time use only. Assuring you our best services at all times"

I hope Volkswagen is improvising their customer service. I will be happy if they don't go the Skoda way. They have to enforce stringent norms on dealers, like Maruti and Hyundai who always believe A.S.S is also more important.

[vasanthn21]

That is some really brutal testing.
I believe all European cars can survive such testing, American cars would be next best and the worst would be Asian cars.

Unfortunately in India, the primary quality looked at is FE (nothing wrong with that) but to build a vehicle with high FE, weight has to be kept low and all kind of compromises in material quality can be seen.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by vasanthn21

Unfortunately in India, the primary quality looked at is FE (nothing wrong with that) but to build a vehicle with high FE, weight has to be kept low and all kind of compromises in material quality can be seen.

If I am not wrong, the video and the testing was done at Nurburgring?!

In India this kind of testing is done by our roads naturally and brakes etc are done by dogs, pedestrians.

India loves mileage and nothing else. Yes that is important but at the cost of safety is bad. Most manufactures mainly Maruti used to use thicker sheet metal i'm its car doors but I feel they have decreased the thickness as it would decrease the cost and increase the mileage. 165 section tires on almost all cars, same reason mileage. If such testing is started here then we commutes at safe.

Anurag.

[9thsphinx]

VW should put in a disclaimer on this video saying: "Indian built Volkswagens and their test results will vary"

VW has been known to built strong cars, but with the amount of complains pouring in VW better keep a check on quality of their cars built in India because it's always easier "showed" than done!

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by 9thsphinx

VW should put in a disclaimer on this video saying: "Indian built Volkswagens and their test results will vary"

VW has been known to built strong cars, but with the amount of complains pouring in VW better keep a check on quality of their cars built in India because it's always easier "showed" than done!

Only Polo and Vento gets into the category of Indian built Volkswagens, and are those cars really bad on quality? I don’t think so. There maybe incidents related incompetent dealers or service centres, but other than that I don’t think these cars hugely lack in quality compared to others. I actually rate Vento TDI Highline as one of the best packaged variant in its segment.

[Gannu_1]

Apologies for bumping an old thread! Here's a recent video from VW showing how they build and test their cars:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCKna6XEwc8