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Old 24th May 2012, 01:44   #76
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re: DSG packs up on my 2011 Skoda Laura CR 140 - EDIT now failed compressor & ECM bugs

Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO View Post
If Skoda still can't build reliable DSG boxes, after 7 YEARS of selling the Laura in India, sorry....but there is just no hope.

Leave the European for the city. I learnt it the hard way.
+1

Would anybody tolerate a similar reliability issue with,say, Airbags? What if there is a chronic issue of the Airbags opening up when the car is cruising normally at 120kmph?

OR

Would anyone travel in an aircraft that has a chronic issue of ,say,the vertical stabiliser shearing off in mid-air?

Certainly not , as both the above cases are life threatening.

We buy cars to take us from point A to point B in complete peace of mind.

Having a Euro for the city and a Jap for outstation duty is a privilege that multi car owners can enjoy.

Thank God I did not even think of a Skoda DSG.
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Old 24th May 2012, 08:20   #77
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re: DSG packs up on my 2011 Skoda Laura CR 140 - EDIT now failed compressor & ECM bugs

Quote:
Originally Posted by vigsom View Post
+1

Would anybody tolerate a similar reliability issue with,say, Airbags? What if there is a chronic issue of the Airbags opening up when the car is cruising normally at 120kmph?

OR

Would anyone travel in an aircraft that has a chronic issue of ,say,the vertical stabiliser shearing off in mid-air?

Certainly not , as both the above cases are life threatening.

We buy cars to take us from point A to point B in complete peace of mind.

Having a Euro for the city and a Jap for outstation duty is a privilege that multi car owners can enjoy.

Thank God I did not even think of a Skoda DSG.
Since you are giving unrelated comparisons, let me try this:

You are driving out of town in a Jap car, and assume you get a flat tire. You change your tire and proceed on the highway. Before you get to a tire fixing place, you get another flat. You are now stranded in the middle of nowhere with no help.

Would you post that it would have been better if you had been in a Run Flat equipped European car?

Cars break down. It's a fact of life. But generalization or stereotyping is not good for cars or people.

Cheers.
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Old 24th May 2012, 09:34   #78
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re: DSG packs up on my 2011 Skoda Laura CR 140 - EDIT now failed compressor & ECM bugs

Let's not forget that DSGs don't have a 30+ year history behind them. The technology is relatively new and there is no point in comparing the DSG boxs with the current auto boxs in Hondas and Toyotas.

The manual gearboxes on European cars are a joy to operate. I have driven manual gearbox Skodas (Octavia and Laura) and Hondas (City, Civic and Accord) extensively and the Skodas always make for a far more engaging drive. My Octy has done over 115k kms and the Accord 72k kms. The Octy still beats the Accord in every department and I have always picked it over the Accord or Civic for my highway drives.

Agreed that megaclutch should not have given so very early but there will be niggles in a technology that is still being developed. The attitude of the company and the dealer is what matters when these niggles crop up and that is where Skoda has been found wanting on more than one occasion.
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Old 24th May 2012, 11:52   #79
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re: DSG packs up on my 2011 Skoda Laura CR 140 - EDIT now failed compressor & ECM bugs

Quote:
Originally Posted by manson View Post
The cost of the megaclucth (40Kish) and labour charges were covered under warranty. As a special gesture, Skoda also had the gear oil (not usually covered under warranty and worth 13K I was told) covered under warranty. Thank God for that Skoda Shield!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cesc View Post
The attitude of the company and the dealer is what matters when these niggles crop up and that is where Skoda has been found wanting on more than one occasion.
I am starting to wonder, what would have been the case if Manson had not opted for SKODA SHEILD ? Would the work have been carried free of cost under standard warranty ?

If not, I think it is about time SKODA offered a standalone warranty on DSG valid for atleast 5 years, if they are really serious about using the latest technology in their cars,without burdening/looting the customer for the repairs after the expiry of skoda shield or the standard warranty.

If SKODA cannot give warranty on their DSG for 5 years, it indicates that the company itself doesn't believe that DSG gearboxes will work trouble free for 5 yrs.
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Old 24th May 2012, 15:02   #80
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re: DSG packs up on my 2011 Skoda Laura CR 140 - EDIT now failed compressor & ECM bugs

Quote:
Since you are giving unrelated comparisons, let me try this:

Cars break down. It's a fact of life. But generalization or stereotyping is not good for cars or people.
To say that cars breaking down being a fact of life is incorrect ; some technologies will never let you down if proper predictive and preventive maintenance is done.

A car owner being stranded in the middle of nowhere on account of a gearbox failure is unacceptable in a modern car (the only time I have seen an issue w.r.t gearbox was in an old AL Viking(not a car) in 1982 - and here it was not the GB but the differential)

The examples I made are just illustrative ; not directly related to DSG.

In this case , the DSG issue has plagued a majority of owners and so we're speaking of a burning issue in an otherwise competent car.
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Old 28th May 2012, 20:39   #81
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re: DSG packs up on my 2011 Skoda Laura CR 140 - EDIT now failed compressor & ECM bugs

Quote:
Originally Posted by gthang View Post
Did you/they figure out why the oil level was low/empty? Was it removed for multiclutch rebuild?

Cheers
Nope, the gear oil well was almost empty at their first inspection.

Quote:
Originally Posted by dipen View Post
@Manson

Since you are buying a new car and a mechanical fault appearing so soon which is being accepted by the manufacturer as a manufacturing defect; you should try and push for extending the transmission warranty.
Our Laura is covered under the Skoda Shield for another 3 years, will push Skoda to extend the warranty on the DSG if the assembly has any failures / malfunctions again.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Vid6639 View Post

Anyone who has a Skoda that has put on some kms is always apprehensive of taking it out on a long drive.
That is also applicable for people who haven't suffered any failure just yet on their Skodas. Such is their image. I was apprehensive about taking the Skoda to Goa even though we had zilch issued in the past 1 year of owning it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by smartcat View Post
Octavia is a simple car with no major electro-mechanical components. That way, even Merc E Class W124 is known for its legendary reliability among German taxi wallahs.
Exactly why the Japanese and Koreans have a lower failure rate than their European counterparts. Their plain vanilla technologies barely have anything that could go kaput.

Quote:
Originally Posted by vb-san View Post
^^IMHO, in the last decade European cars (especially Germans) have had massive the technological advancements in this field, and so are the complexities. These cars work well in the optimum conditions, and hence you see modern VWs and Mercs clocking 100-200K miles without any trouble in Europe. The trouble is how they adapt to the outside world.
Speaking from the other side of the fence, if they cannot adapt their products to Indian conditions (which is mostly an excuse than a genuine reason), they should not be marketing them here. The average customer presumes that a product has been through rigorous testing by the company and the concerned government authorities (ARAI) in order to deliver what is expected of it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by vigsom View Post
To say that cars breaking down being a fact of life is incorrect ; some technologies will never let you down if proper predictive and preventive maintenance is done.
I had a brake booster failure at 14,000 kms / 6 months on my first of three Scorpios. I still have gone on record multiple times to say that the Scorpio is one of the most mechanically tough and reliable vehicles we have owned. What gives?
Coming from a somewhat mechanical background, I have seen century old conventional technologies fail even in the current day due to a fall in manafacturing standard, example here being the megaclutch assembly which at this point seems to have suffered premature failure due to manafacturing defect.
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Old 28th May 2012, 22:57   #82
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re: DSG packs up on my 2011 Skoda Laura CR 140 - EDIT now failed compressor & ECM bugs

Please excuse me if this has been posted before.
http://www.indiancarsbikes.in/cars/v...n-india-59472/

Apologies and warranty increased to 10 years in China!

Last edited by iron.head : 28th May 2012 at 23:16.
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Old 7th January 2013, 19:51   #83
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Re: DSG packs up on my 2011 Skoda Laura CR 140 - EDIT now failed compressor & ECM bug

I thought the worst was over back then, but I was so wrong!
A couple of months back when I cranked the Laura to go work I was struck by a blinking DSG indicator and the now infamous spanner indicator:



Fortunately for me, JMD Skoda is just over 15 minutes from where I work, so I dropped by the same afternoon and the service personnel performed a quick scan and reswived the ecm or something like that. I was handed over a scan report and informed that it was only a bad cluster and everything is perfectly fine now. Fair enough.

A few weeks back, a motorcyclist damaged the rubber grill between the fog lamps and ar couple of days the software glitch showed up again. Damn!



I scheduled another appointment with JMD and had the below mentioned grouses:
  • The Aircon does not work perfectly
  • The Software glitch
  • Grill replacement
  • Non working (sliding) Aircon Vent

Here is how they were addressed:

1. Software was supposedly fixed, but it appreared no later than cranking the car before leaving. I was told that happened as the unit was scanned just a while ago and it will not happen again. It happened twice in the next three hours.

2. Aircon issue was directed to a kaput compressor which was to arrive within 6 working days and it would take 3 working days to complete work. I haven't heard from the dealer in two weeks now. What is even more pathetic is that you can only manage to get through the board line once in four days, its not like the lines are busy, they simple do not answer. And when the lady finally did answer after four days of trying, I was informed the part would take yet another week.
I was given the works manager's number without a second thought which made me thing they're used to such terrible treatment and delays. The works manager after 6 times of calling answered saying he was in a meeting and he would call back. That has not happened either. Needless to mention, I will have to drop by by JMD (left with no other choice) on my way to work tomorrow morning and check what their problem really is.

3. Grill replacement: Done to satisfaction. Cost: 1100 inclusive labour charges, reasonable I think for a Skoda.

4. Aircon vent: Executive insisted that it could brake even by using a bare first but what the gent did not clearly understand is that the car is used by a 32 year old occasionally over weekends and not hosting fisting competitions.

Isolating my Skoda CR 140 Laura from its rate of part failure and high handed after sales experience, it still is the best option we had whilst purchasing a car for my brother, but I just do not know what to think of basic and extremely vital components like a gearbox and AC compressor packing up this side of 18 months / 20,000 kms of ownership.

Last edited by manson : 7th January 2013 at 19:57.
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Old 8th January 2013, 13:36   #84
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Re: DSG packs up on my 2011 Skoda Laura CR 140 - EDIT now failed compressor & ECM bug

Manson, more often than not, they just "erase" errors popping up during software scans, claiming that errors were taken care of. To an uninformed, it may actually seem so, as no errors pop up for some time.
I'd suggest you take the car to a competant individual garage and have them check it for you. I know of a couple of such, here in Pune. Question is, would you want to drive it down to Pune ?

The parts taking time is a very common story. So is, they not answering calls. I've learnt to live with it. Ajit's Jetta issue has taught me a lot. No point ranting.

The vents do break on usage. How often have they been used, is a different story altogether. Ive seen the same problem in two Vento's. Both done slightly over a year of usage. Are they charging you for that? Or would Skoda Shield cover that?
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Old 8th January 2013, 14:29   #85
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Re: DSG packs up on my 2011 Skoda Laura CR 140 - EDIT now failed compressor & ECM bug

Let me add. From my days when I was telecom advisor, I found out that there was a command to remove minor faults, but what it did was just to reset the alarm. sounds like the equivalent here. In an Oki-Tata PABX the exact command was RMN. The service engineers managed to convince our old I/C that this fixed the fault, when I took over as advisor I put my foot down and they actually fixed the bugs.
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Old 8th January 2013, 15:00   #86
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Re: DSG packs up on my 2011 Skoda Laura CR 140 - EDIT now failed compressor & ECM bug

Feels very bad with the kind of issues you are facing.

Quote:
Originally Posted by manson View Post
now infamous spanner indicator:
.
Spanner indicator doesn't it mean service indicator as per the manual. If yes - what is so infamous about it?
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Old 8th January 2013, 16:39   #87
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Re: DSG packs up on my 2011 Skoda Laura CR 140 - EDIT now failed compressor & ECM bug

Update: Dropped by JMD's Nerul facility around noon and went straight into the senior works' manager's office. He wasn't the same person I had interacted with through the DSG failure back in May 2012, but he was extremely approachable, even in the midst of what looked like an important discussion.

I quick ran him through my above mentioned grouses and expplained to him that I would have probably not touched a Skoda if it wasn't back by the JMD facility since we have been associated with them since their DSA days. He immediately called for his subordinate Mr. Ramesh who I had tried reaching last evening.
Ramesh swiftly got around the work details and shortly confirmed the compressor would reach them by the weekend. I have scheduled an appointment with them for coming Monday and they said it would take about three working days for them to complete their job.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Swanand Inamdar View Post
I'd suggest you take the car to a competant individual garage and have them check it for you. I know of a couple of such, here in Pune. Question is, would you want to drive it down to Pune ?
I am just as novice with respect to electronics as one can be. Is there a way to tell if the service centre has just deleted the error and not really fixed it? We often use the Laura when heading to Pune, but that is mostly on Sundays. Will ping you whenever my brother or I are driving to Pune next.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Swanand Inamdar View Post
The vents do break on usage. How often have they been used, is a different story altogether. Ive seen the same problem in two Vento's. Both done slightly over a year of usage. Are they charging you for that? Or would Skoda Shield cover that?
The vent in my car isn't exactly broken. Only the top two or three sliders do not move. The works manager has said he will look it up on Monday when I drop the car and let me know what they can do about it. I would assume it would be covered under warranty if they realise it isn't 'broken' as such.

Quote:
Originally Posted by maheshramaling View Post
Spanner indicator doesn't it mean service indicator as per the manual. If yes - what is so infamous about it?
Infamous with respect to Skodas as shows up with way much more frequency that it really should. This is one Skoda part that isn't prone to failure
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Old 8th January 2013, 17:13   #88
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Re: DSG packs up on my 2011 Skoda Laura CR 140 - EDIT now failed compressor & ECM bug

Quote:
Originally Posted by manson View Post
I am just as novice with respect to electronics as one can be. Is there a way to tell if the service centre has just deleted the error and not really fixed it? We often use the Laura when heading to Pune, but that is mostly on Sundays. Will ping you whenever my brother or I are driving to Pune next.
I suppose, when one actually does plug in the next time, the scan report should be available. Thats why I recommended an independant mechanic.
Do drop me a PM the next time you are in town. We could get it checked, just for the heck of it. Problem or not.

Quote:
The vent in my car isn't exactly broken. Only the top two or three sliders do not move. The works manager has said he will look it up on Monday when I drop the car and let me know what they can do about it. I would assume it would be covered under warranty if they realise it isn't 'broken' as such.
Ah, now I know what you mean. Yes, this has happened in my Laura too, but just one slightly forceful nudge made them work as desired, again! So didnt look into it. But if it does need a replacement (which they will suggest, in all probability), it should be done FOC as there was no 'physical damage'.

Last edited by Swanand Inamdar : 8th January 2013 at 17:15. Reason: Formatting
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Old 8th January 2013, 17:23   #89
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Re: DSG packs up on my 2011 Skoda Laura CR 140 - EDIT now failed compressor & ECM bug

Manson better yet, I would suggest you get the VAG-com cable from abroad and scan it yourself. Go with the report to Skoda and get them to fix it. I remember Ajmat used to do this.
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Old 8th January 2013, 17:49   #90
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Re: DSG packs up on my 2011 Skoda Laura CR 140 - EDIT now failed compressor & ECM bug

Skoda should be thrown out of the country for its troublesome DSG units. MY Superb had another Mechatronic failure in the warranty period again for the second time. When that was okayed by Skoda, the dealer, AutoBahn said the clutch had packed up and the cost was approx 95k. Only after continuous calls and threats and influential persons calling them did they repair and replace all that (thats what they claim at least). Now the front suspension is making a noise and im petrified to take it to the dealership lest they say your engine has packed up.

Best advice, loose the auto box Skodas and if you are still a die hard Skoda-ite, get a manual.
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