[VSD]

Originally Posted by androdev

1.25L km is a fair service from work-in-progress tech like DSG.

So we can count this as a wear and tear item instead of taking this as a design flaw of the DSG? After going through previous pages, I thought this shouldn't happen in well kept car, always serviced on time while following putting the car in Neutral for wait times over 20 seconds. I have already changed Clutch, Flywheel, all brakes and many other parts and have spent about 4Lacs over past 12 months & 10 km kms. Suddenly I feel getting a new one would have been better choice.

Originally Posted by Hayek

Am surprised Audi is not covering this under goodwill (though 125 k IS A LOT).....Though perhaps that applies only to the DQ200

When buying the car, the sales people tell you how these cars are meant to be driven daily and will last you long long time with regular upkeep. How these cars have been built with German precision and engineered to a level that it can keep going up to 300k kms easily. It's been just 1.25L kms and the car seems to be falling apart part by part. Either the Audi Service people didn't bother telling my to fix parts in time during regular services or these cars are meant to be sold before they cover 100k kms or 5 years.

Originally Posted by giri1.8

Would spend money on repairs after 1L KM, only if it was not from Germany! No offence, but judging from your post, you seem to be anxious about any possible failure after crossing 1L km mark.

Even if you bring the car back to stock condition, this will always be at the back of your mind, I would any day choose peace of mind over resale issues

Yes, this is my concern now. I spent on all the parts mentioned above thinking the car is working fine and it'll keep working for at least two more years. Now Mechatronics has failed, who knows what else might, and the workshop guys simply say, Sir, car has covered so many kilometers, we need to change everything possible and the cost for basic repairs goes into five figures.


I always sold my cars before 5 years and 100k kms, but this time I thought "How bad can it get", well it can get pretty bad after all.


VSD

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by VSD

So we can count this as a wear and tear item instead of taking this as a design flaw of the DSG? After going through previous pages, I thought this shouldn't happen in well kept car, always serviced on time while following putting the car in Neutral for wait times over 20 seconds. I have already changed Clutch, Flywheel, all brakes and many other parts and have spent about 4Lacs over past 12 months & 10 km kms. Suddenly I feel getting a new one would have been better choice.

............

I always sold my cars before 5 years and 100k kms, but this time I thought "How bad can it get", well it can get pretty bad after all.


VSD

This is one of the reasons to sell a car before major maintenance is due. That is about 60K km for a European Design and a bit more for others.

While doing a cost benefit analysis, I discovered that beyond 4 years/50,000km the replacement and repair costs mount - battery, tyres, clutch and brake shoes are just routine at this stage. In many European cars, you are due for injectors, brake rotors and other high value items just after 50K km.

So on the whole it is better to sell the car well before your tyres wear out or your battery gives up.

[asit.kulkarni93]

Originally Posted by VSD

When buying the car, the sales people tell you how these cars are meant to be driven daily and will last you long long time with regular upkeep. How these cars have been built with German precision and engineered to a level that it can keep going up to 300k kms easily. It's been just 1.25L kms and the car seems to be falling apart part by part. Either the Audi Service people didn't bother telling my to fix parts in time during regular services or these cars are meant to be sold before they cover 100k kms or 5 years.

VSD

Sorry to hear about the DSG failure. 125k Kms is too low for DSG failure with the wet clutch. I guess the Q5 gets the DQ380.
Audi should replace it under goodwill. This failure definitely hasn't happened because your car has crossed 100k Kms. If that were the case then People would stop buying Audi's in India. It's pretty common for these luxury SUV's to hit the 100k Kms mark in 3-5 years of usage. Time to start a new thread.

[VSD]

Thanks for your inputs everyone. I have now decided to retain the car and get the Mechatronic fixed from Audi, could only manage them to share 50% cost of part and labor under goodwill. Hope all goes well and the jerks in gearshifts is actually the Mechatronic problem and nothing else. Also getting other items replaced which may be showing signs of ageing like the T belt, V belt and many such other related parts. These were last swapped around 65-80k kms. Now the car should be good for at least another 25-30k kms with regular service as most major parts have been swapped for new ones.

Will come back with another update once the car is fixed and back on the roads.

Originally Posted by androdev

1.25L km is a fair service from work-in-progress tech like DSG. I would assume that DSG will have a 2nd inning similar to this after you get it repaired and should serve you well.

I really hope the second innings also goes as smooth as first 4.5 years of ownership, otherwise it's the end of VAG cars for me specially after having multiple failures with most of their offerings including Skoda, VW & Audi.

VSD

[Sam.k]

Hello Guys,my 09 Jetta's DQ250 Mechatronic gave away 10 days before .It had this judder and clunking while downshifting from 3rd to 2nd.And finally the PRNDS started blinking on 2 occasions.Both were on residential roads which are dug up and have to do crawling speeds on dusty environment.the car has done 1.4L kms and i bought it pre-owned.

I service the car at a FNG who is popular among German car owners in this belt.Apparently,the fault codes were of 2 control valves short circuits.

I got in touch with ECU testing,UK and they have agreed to fix it for a cost with lifetime warranty.The part is in transit to UK now.I shall keep this thread updated as and when things progress.

Fingers crossed.Wish me luck

[epicenter.rulez]

Hi Gaaij,
Have heard of and witnessed this on a couple of friends' cars. FNH, who has worked on a lot of these Germans simply sourced either a gearbox or a mechatronics unit from Kurla and replaced it. Not sure about the expenses though.

However, I have been lucky till now.
The 2009 Jetta that I had earlier was at 52k odo reading when I bought it and at around 190K odo reading when I sold it. No DSG issues. The car was remapped and had a K&N, but did not have any problems with the gearbox ever. Even the earlier history was clean and had only regular service records.

The mighty Passat which is a 2011 model that I acquired i n 2014 was at 83K odo reading and the owner, a very decent gentleman who never crossed the 80kph mark ever was kind enough to replace the flywheel at the ASS before handing over the car to me. The service guys had informed him that the flywheel needed replacing as it had started making funny sounds.

The car, parked at 222900 kilometers as I type this, is still running on the original clutch-pack/mechatronics. All I have done is replace the transmission oil and filter with OE stuff at around 125K kilometers and then again at 200K kilometers, except for the regular services at 15k kilometer intervals and a complete suspension overhaul during which I replaced the Sachs units with Bilstein B6 setup and the front sway-bar was replaced.

Has a Racedynamics dual channel tuning box and a k&N and is driven like it should be, mostly on the P1 or P2 setting depending on what roads the car is being used on.

I don't know what the tell tale signs of a gearbox failure are but touch wood, I have not seen the car behave in any indecent way than it usually does in the last four years of ownership.

Hope this helps.

Drive safe, always wear a seat-belt

[Pancham]

Originally Posted by epicenter.rulez

Hi Gaaij,
Have heard of and witnessed this on a couple of friends' cars. FNH, who has worked on a lot of these Germans simply sourced either a gearbox or a mechatronics unit from Kurla and replaced it. Not sure about the expenses though.

However, I have been lucky till now.
The 2009 Jetta that I had earlier was at 52k odo reading when I bought it and at around 190K odo reading when I sold it. No DSG issues. The car was remapped and had a K&N, but did not have any problems with the gearbox ever. Even the earlier history was clean and had only regular service records.

The mighty Passat which is a 2011 model that I acquired i n 2014 was at 83K odo reading and the owner, a very decent gentleman who never crossed the 80kph mark ever was kind enough to replace the flywheel at the ASS before handing over the car to me. The service guys had informed him that the flywheel needed replacing as it had started making funny sounds.

The car, parked at 222900 kilometers as I type this, is still running on the original clutch-pack/mechatronics.

Wow looks like you have aced the mechatronics game in many ways than one. Where people fear to touch DSG mated cars with more than 50k, you bought two of them.

Would love to read more about your Passat experience (costs of ownership, remap, mods and repairs done over the period) if you can put up a long term thread with some pictures.

[epicenter.rulez]

Hello,
Thanks for going through the post.

A combined thread for the Jetta and the Passat is in the making and parked at the assembly line since time infinite.

Both the cars are such a pleasure to drive.
I just need to get into the mood of writing for the threads to come up.

Haven't been able to get past the first two paragraphs. The language I want is simply not coming to me.

One of these days, I will do it when a plate of mutton keema suddenly puts some inspiration into me.

Till then I am gonna enjoy the Passat for more kilometers to come.

Originally Posted by Pancham

Wow looks like you have aced the mechatronics game in many ways than one. Where people fear to touch DSG mated cars with more than 50k, you bought two of them.

Would love to read more about your Passat experience (costs of ownership, remap, mods and repairs done over the period) if you can put up a long term thread with some pictures.

[ishlinea7260]

And finally I have encountered the dreaded ghost of mechatronics.
I thought that my car might be the exception but that was me just trying to be optimistic.
The mechatronic failure is not the worst part.
The worst part is the pathetic after sales of Škoda India.
Škoda India is not ready to acknowledge the faulty nature of mechatronic and is declining a replacement!
Which is so ironic because fellow members have gotten their mechatronic replaced once and sometimes twice!
Also the mere fact that USA and China made them offer a 10year/100,000 mile warranty enlightens that dodgy nature of the part.
I have been an avid fanboy of VAG amongst my family and friends have had three cars from their stable but after encountering their after sales I now truly understand why people dread it.
The dealer has requested Škoda for goodwill warranty which they have refused.
I e mailed Local area manager who refused as well.
Today I have emailed MD of Škoda India and have received a generic response.
My car has covered 63000 kms. Regularly serviced at authorised service station .
I even got the gearbox oil change done from synthetic to mineral done well before Škoda called me up for the same.
I remember my Toyota Fortuner had a steering issue and after sending an email,I got a call from the dealer who installed the new part without any fuss.
Hell my Fiat Linea enjoyed a much better after sales support !
My suggestion is to stay away from DSG , and if possible stay away from VAG.

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by ishlinea7260

And finally I have encountered the dreaded ghost of mechatronics.

Sorry to hear this news. What is the exact model of your car from Skoda? also how many years old is it?

[ishlinea7260]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Sorry to hear this news. What is the exact model of your car from Skoda? also how many years old is it?

2010 December, 63000 km done

[praveen789]

Originally Posted by ishlinea7260

2010 December, 63000 km done

If I am understanding it correctly, you are expecting a goodwill warranty for an almost 9 year old car? I believe that such requests can be made but it would be a bit unfair to expect car companies to start replacing parts for a car that is almost a decade old. Wouldn't there be any wear and tear expected after so many years (irrespective of the number of kms run)?

[ishlinea7260]

Originally Posted by praveen789

?

Yes it’s a nine year old car.
And I wouldn’t have lodged a request for goodwill warranty had it been some other part.
The failures of mechatronics are well documented, not to mention that the other countries offer a 10 year unconditional warranty.
Why should Skoda India chose to offer out of warranty free replacement to some customers and not to others is disconcerting.

[praveen789]

Originally Posted by ishlinea7260

Yes it’s a nine year old car.
And I wouldn’t have lodged a request for goodwill warranty had it been some other part.
The failures of mechatronics are well documented, not to mention that the other countries offer a 10 year unconditional warranty.
Why should Skoda India chose to offer out of warranty free replacement to some customers and not to others is disconcerting.

From what cases I have seen on the forum (such as post #149 on this thread), the goodwill warranty is usually for cars just out of the warranty period. The extended warranty in other countries could be attributed to 2 things - either the laws there are much more strict and enforce car companies to play by the rules or the actual running conditions for the cars are better than India thereby decreasing the probability of a break down and allowing companies to give a higher warranty period. Skoda seems to be getting there gradually in India with the 6 year warranty for new cars.

[ishlinea7260]

Originally Posted by praveen789

From what cases I have seen on the forum (such as post #149 on this thread), the goodwill warranty is usually for cars just out of the warranty period. The extended warranty in other countries could be attributed to 2 things - either the laws there are much more strict and enforce car companies to play by the rules or the actual running conditions for the cars are better than India thereby decreasing the probability of a break down and allowing companies to give a higher warranty period. Skoda seems to be getting there gradually in India with the 6 year warranty for new cars.

It’s not only post 149, the DSG woes are well documented throughout the forum.
Citing the year of manufacture as a probable loophole to evade warranty for mechatronic is not justified IMHO. If Škoda offers goodwill warranty on mechatronic that’s because they recognise the fault, otherwise why would they offer to replace the unit in almost all ill fated cars?