[fuel_addict]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

Million dollar question, will I buy a German car in future? YES. They have spoiled me with the driving dynamics, build quality and performance. 1.6 TDi still puts a smile on the face.

Current generation Volkswagen products including Polo TDi, TSi, Vento MPi, TSi, TDi including DSG and Jetta TDi have all the issues ironed out. I don't see any reason why one shouldn't purchase them.

Now only if you could add "reliability" to that list, it would have been an altogether different ball game for the VAG group. The primary thought that comes to a prospective VW/Skoda buyer is always the high service costs and unreliable A-S-S. Has that changed over the years? I guess not.

Originally Posted by carwatcher

I see it as just another VW bashing thread as I didn't see anything which I haven't seen previously. No offense to anyone.

I can also say quite confidently that its not going to change even after 100 years as this is their main business model like all premium and luxury brands have, for e.g. Bose, Samsung, etc.

Its surprising that you say that after moralfibre has posted an elaborate evidence of all the failures. The sales numbers of VW are so dismal that one could hardly care to bash the brand any further.

[moralfibre]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Quick question - DO Skoda Rapid folks face same issues? Have not seen anything from them

I saw atleast one report from a Rapid TDI user having similar problems in the Vento official review thread.

[King_pin09]

Originally Posted by karuvally

you are spending 40k a year for maintaining your Indica? man... something is seriously wrong with your car! my brother owns an indica v2 and he hardly spends 10k per annum for maintenance.

Yes sir, Greenhorn is absolutely true.

Indica Vista is one car which needs heavy service and the costs are sky high. I have been through times when the annual service bills were north of 30k (when the warranty just got expired). Even during warranty period the car has undergone several replacements.

It could be one of the main reasons why the Vista was not accepted by private buyers.

[razor4077]

Eye opener for me. Thanks Kiran for bringing this up. I had actually started contemplating a second hand Vento TDI circa 2012 for family usage which I could drive myself from time to time. An ANHC would probably be a better bet, only downer being the higher petrol costs. I guess the moral of the story is that buying a German /Czech car without warranty cover is a big no no. That sadly rules out all the (pre owned) cars I would have loved to own.. Vento, Laura, Yeti etc.

[carwatcher]

Look it from other way too.
Isn't the sales numbers prove enough to a layman what we already know good enough.
Also the car in question is a five year old model.
As mentioned by moralfibre himself that he wants to warn other customers before buying a five year old VW. I would say that the horrible resale value of a five year old VW will be enough to raise a suspicion or two of a prospective buyer.

Also if a Senior citizen or a Lady gets enlightened by this thread then the same person can get enlightened by numerous other VW threads which are present since long time.

What I meant by bashing is that not being bashed by owners but by non-owners.

Originally Posted by fuel_addict

Its surprising that you say that after moralfibre has posted an elaborate evidence of all the failures. The sales numbers of VW are so dismal that one could hardly care to bash the brand any further.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

.......
See that's how they rip off by adding unnecessary stuff. Also that wind shield fluid is no way cheap stuff. It's designed to work under negative atmospheric temperature by dissolving ice on wind shield. Though we don't need such product but it does a great job and smells great.

I meant 'cheap' only w.r.t. to the size of the quote, not the fluid's pricing. If it's useless in a particular usage scenario, it could smell like heaven and I'd still skip it. YMMV, of course.

Originally Posted by vinit.merchant

.....
That cheap windshield fluid is not part of the total estimate. This is probably the discount the VW "customer care manager" was referring to, along with Lock cylinder & Brake fluid.

If throwing in freebies worth a couple of % of the quote is his idea of 'good discounts', I don't know what to say!

No offense meant and VW isn't alone in this, every single brand out there does it. I just resort to listing stuff I don't want on the job card and signing it (countersigned by SA) before handing over the car. When A.S.S. later tries shenanigans with billing, I just point to my notes and the SA's acknowledgment, no further argument needed.

[verma_rahul]

This is exactly what I always dreaded during my VW Vento ownership days.

After going through multiple threads on team-bhp and other related sites, I eventually decided to sell it off. Although, I had never faced any issue as such (except for a fuel pump failure on a trip to Vellore), I never wanted to get stuck with this car anywhere.

I remember reading a thread about a Vento being driven by a Team-Bhpian's father or himself (not sure) and the vehicle losing its breaking power.

Exactly after 2.5 years of ownership I made up my mind to part ways with it. The worst was the resale value as well - had paid 11.96L for a brand new Vento Highline TDI (Sep'12) and could manage to sell it off for a mere 7.05L with around 55000 on the ODO.

Do not want to discourage anyone though, just my 2 cents.

Cheers!

[VW2010]

As much as I love my Jetta this will be my last German car in garage. My next car will be a toyota.

Don't get me wrong. I love my Jetta and good part is spares are plenty outside showroom and much cheaper to maintain outside.

But a Toyota provides the peace of mind no other car can give including a Maruti


I think the number of issues these Vento are facing I am wondering if it's because of manufacturing itself. The other segment is not manufactured in India but assembled and those cars have the universal problem of DSG and max a flywheel.

But injectors and what not makes me feel inferior manufacturing process or materials to save cost.

[Waspune]

German cars are brilliantly engineered cars, period!!.But I guess a common man of India isnt ready for it, given its way higher maintenance cost. Whenever I explore the 2nd hand car market, more than often the Polos and Ventos top the list.

One year back I was on the lookout for a powerful hatch and was blown over by the Polo 1.5. But after a lot of research ended up buying Punto 90 HP. Fiat, again isnt known for a great ASS, but at least they are a lot cheaper to maintain and they also share the common European traits such as ride, handling, robust built quality (the interior quality of the Germans is in a different league).

[cruising_rapid]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Quick question - DO Skoda Rapid folks face same issues? Have not seen anything from them

I own a Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI and the experience has been a mixed bag. Let me give a few points:-

1. The very second day after taking delivery of the car, I started having problem in shifting to 5th gear, sometimes it just refused to get slotted. That was very irritating as I was driving it from Jamshedpur to Dharamshala and didn't had the option of going back to the dealer. I finally drove to Fahrenheit Skoda in Delhi and was told to leave the car there for around 30-45 days. Upon refusing, they removed a small part from the slotting mechanism and since then gearbox has not been a problem. I still have that part lying in my glovebox. I drove till Hyderabad; no gearbox related issues cropped up but service centers at Mandi, Chandigarh, Vadodara and Secunderabad asked me to drop the car for almost a month.

2. I returned back after my 15000 KMS service and from 15700 KMS onwards the infamous brake juddering came up with its ugly face. I was driving from Dharamshala to Dhanbad and first time I got a taste of it on the outskirts of Kanpur; I almost had a heart attack.

3. The car has an average performing air conditioner and the climatronic no longer cools as average as it was one year back.

4. Sometimes, under emergency braking, to my shock and dismay, the ABS stopped kicking in or kicks in after 1-2 seconds. In the meantime, the wheels lock thereby sending the car into a skid. I got JK Vectra as OEM tyres so don't know whom to hold accountable for this.

5. We own a Brio as well and from the reliability aspect, the experience has been as different as chalk and cheese.

[zenx]

My 15 year old OHC seems like a gem, all of a sudden. Was thinking of a used Vento, but will stick to the Japs and perhaps Tata/Mahindra - the Indigo/Safari at home seem to give less trouble than this and are a lot easier on the wallet to get fixed!

[ramb]

Just as a coincidence, I had given my polo Tdi( the older polo 3 cylinder) for service yesterday after the coil and some kind of pump indicator was blinking. Now the service advisor is asking me to replace the EGR which costs about Rs 48000/ and also the turbo pump at around Rs 4800. Is it Volkswagen at fault or I am at fault here for the EGR? Can I get it replaced free from the dealer free? The car has clocked 65000 kms and is 5.5 years old. Please advice.

[Samurai]

Last year I had posted my friend's Vento story. He eventually ended up replacing all the injectors.

But, story didn't end there. Every two three month it ends up in the garage for major repairs.

This was from September, he didn't give details:

Did not update u. Since Last Friday my car is back in service station:-(

This was from December:

My woes continued. Here is what happened. First there was a strong smell of Diesel when the AC was ON. I ignored it thinking must be after filling gas. But, I had some doubt, so I used the car for a week. When I came back one night I could see fumes from bonnet, stronger odor of diesel in the compartment. Lucky me, the flash point of diesel prevented my car from being completely gutted. The diesel from 1/3rd tank went into reserve after 40 kms. This happened exactly 1.5 months after all the parts were replaced, including the Injectors (after second time).

When I called the service person next morning, he promptly said "Rats sir". Rats have eaten away your tubes and pipes. He asked me where car was parked, I said basement, then he had already concluded it was rats. I said I wanted them to come home and take it. The technician who came clearly found out, it was definitely not damaged tubes or rats. After somehow getting it to service center, the service person, after repeated calls, finally said it was the newly replaced High Pressure Fuel pump. It was spewing Diesel all over the compartment.

This was 10 days ago:

More problems on the car now. While driving last week the Check Engine started blinking. The car was taken back to workshop and there it goes again. The Common Rail now needs to be replaced.

[razor4077]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

The intention of this thread is to create a general awareness for bhpians not limited to those that currently own a 2010-2012 Vento TDI but also to potential buyers from the used car market.

Kiran/ others in the know:
How about Ventos manufactured in late 2012 (month??) and later? Are they more reliable, and if so, what did VW change in these cars?

[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

[b]Sir, go in for it and you won't be disappointed. All the gremlins of 1st generation Polo have been fixed. I don't see any reason why you shouldn't go for the Best Hot Hatch in India.

Dear Ellobo6061 - hello to you. I do not tend to disagree with you, but I will be prudent to state that I will now stay away from a product which is controlled from inside conference rooms by "snooty suits", the local talent used only for implementation of not necessarily "customer-centric" decisions, however good the product may be. The red Polo with the alloys looks really damn cool even standing still, but I won't be able to buy it now!

Let me try and explain in Circuit Lingo (to Munnabhai): "woh kya hai na bhai, aapun ke waste toh apnawalla local company ka gaadi ekdum, boleto fultu perfect hai ----- kya"! Woh phirang logon ke saath kaun sar phodega! Kuch ho gaya to pehle kuch nahin karega, aapun bahut mach mach kiya to koi dealer ka chokra bhejega, woh aake aapunkuich sikhaayegaa! Aur woh chokra boletoh, postman hai bhai ----- postman! Idhar udhar haath maarega, koi uska sunega nahin, kyonki baakika log bada phirang logon ko shine maarne mein busy rehta hai naa! Phir bole toh, woh chokra naukri chhodke jaayegaa! Chhodo naa bhai, time nahin hai. Boleto ----- aapun ko bhi dhandhe pe jaaneka hai naa bhai ----- kya"! .

I really hope that this verbatim will be shown as it is as a slide, and hopefully there will be some "post-translated" () discussion on it, with customer-centric action! This is India, come down to earth guys, here the customer knows!

I have clocked 10000 kms in my car which will become 1 year old next month, (I don't name it for obvious reason, and it has black interiors) and I am extremely happy with it, not a single issue. Period!

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar