[ferrarirules]

A friend shared his ordeal with me today. He bought a VW Virtus Topline 1.0 TSI AT in Ambala on 17-August. And the engine sounded rough from Day 1 of driving the car. The car has been with the dealership for last 15 days now and still there has been no resolution. My friend asked the dealership to replace the car but that has been out rightly denied.

Details of the issue

VW Virtus Topline 1.0 TSI AT from Ambala Dealership on 17-AUG-2023 with below details:

Vehicle Number : MEXG23XXXXXXXX839
Temporary Number : T0823HRXXXXXX

I am hereby sending you a written complaint with the timeline of events, since all my emails went unanswered.

17-AUG-2023 : Purchase of Vehicle.
17-AUG-2023 : First complaint to the Dealership right after 2-3 kms of drive out of the dealership.
18-AUG-2023 : Visited the dealership with the Vehicle and the mechanic took a test drive and acknowledged that there is an issue and recorded a few videos of the noise reported. And asked us to take the vehicle home and come back on Monday.
21-AUG-2023 : I drove the vehicle back to the dealership and the vehicle was test driven by dealership folks for around 40-50 kms, and asked us to leave the vehicle with them.

Rough sound of the engine while driving

http://youtube.com/watch?v=XzDpXnh2j...prBsplCuxSL3Ky

Rough sound of the engine at dealership with the car standing

http://youtube.com/watch?v=eYG2Tw9MpN4?feature=share

The issue was acknowledged by dealership. My friend drove the test drive vehicle and the same sound is not present.

After a few days, they dropped back an email saying that the car doesn't have any noise and they have escalated it to VW technical team.

Dear Sir,

Greetings from Volkswagen Ambala…!!!

Hope you’re doing good and safe…!!!

This bears reference to your below concern raised with Volkswagen Higher Authorities for your Virtus with VW Ambala Dealership.

With reference to your concern of noise issue in your vehicle engine we would like to apprise that VW Technical Team has thoroughly inspected your vehicle and couldn’t trace any noise in your vehicle. According to them your vehicle is in complete roadworthy condition and you can take delivery of your car. To apprise your vehicle is under warranty policy for 4 years & 100000km.

VW Technical team will conclude your case in 2 days with clarifications.

Please do not have any apprehension on your concern

Looking for your kind understanding on the same.

Assuring our best services.

After above email, my friend went to check the car, the same noise is still present. The dealership is saying that they are only responding to the case as per directives from VW and their technical people are analyzing the issue. It is not in their hands.

Any of the senior BHPians can suggest on what can be the cause of this issue? Also, can somebody guide on how to escalate this in VW?

[GTO]

Moving your post out to a new thread, ferrarirules.

Videos can be misleading - they can either suppress or amplify the sound. This 1.0L engine is known to be loud, raspy & rough at different rpm levels. The first thing to do is to check another VW Virtus 1.0L TSI (or two) in the dealership. Does it make the same sounds? Or is the problem unique to your friend's car?

[ferrarirules]

Originally Posted by GTO

Moving your post out to a new thread, ferrarirules.

Videos can be misleading - they can either suppress or amplify the sound. This 1.0L engine is known to be loud, raspy & rough at different rpm levels. The first thing to do is to check another VW Virtus 1.0L TSI (or two) in the dealership. Does it make the same sounds? Or is the problem unique to your friend's car?

GTO - Thanks for highlighting the thread. I agree with you, videos are not the best way of analyzing sound. That is why i asked my friend to do exactly as you told. He test drove dealership cars and the same sound is not there. Even the dealership technician acknowledged that the car is unusually loud when driving at slow speeds as well. That is why they asked a VW technician to analyze the issue.

[vattyboy]

The dealership will not replace the car unless your friend is a High-ranked Govt. Officer e.g. in the embassy etc. or have some good relations with the government of India.

I suggest you ask him to tweet on Twitter and tag Volkswagen India. Generally, Most big companies pay more attention to complaints made on Twitter.

From my personal experience, when I tweet on Twitter about some issues in my car, I always get a call from a senior official from the brand in 3- 4 hours, while they take ages to revert for the complaints made on their toll-free number. Also when they revert after a few days, no senior person gets involved in it.

[ferrarirules]

Update from my friend - VW technicians are saying that the noise from the engine bay is normal and according to them different cars can have different sound. I don't think that should be the case but they are not budging.

They are asking my friend to take the car back and they are throwing in free 2 year extended warranty.

I think that is the best route out. Please recommend if there is any merit is pursuing this further.

[07CR]

Originally Posted by GTO

Moving your post out to a new thread, ferrarirules.

Videos can be misleading - they can either suppress or amplify the sound. This 1.0L engine is known to be loud, raspy & rough at different rpm levels. The first thing to do is to check another VW Virtus 1.0L TSI (or two) in the dealership. Does it make the same sounds? Or is the problem unique to your friend's car?

I guess the OP already tried it with a Virtus TD vehicle.

Originally Posted by ferrarirules

The issue was acknowledged by dealership. My friend drove the test drive vehicle and the same sound is not present.

There indeed is a gruff sound audible to me. Where these cold starts i.e. starting after staying idle for lot of time? Does the noise subside say after 15-20 mins of driving. If that's the case, I believe this is because of new engine, once it opens up a bit, the noise should go.

[GTE]

VW would not "throw in an extra 2 years warranty" unless there is an issue with the car. It maybe that the noise is more than what is acceptable which is why this is given. There could be an internal bulletin about the same. I would suggest doing an Internet search for it.

[ferrarirules]

Originally Posted by 07CR

There indeed is a gruff sound audible to me. Where these cold starts i.e. starting after staying idle for lot of time? Does the noise subside say after 15-20 mins of driving. If that's the case, I believe this is because of new engine, once it opens up a bit, the noise should go.

That is what we are wishing that may happen.

Originally Posted by GTE

VW would not "throw in an extra 2 years warranty" unless there is an issue with the car. It maybe that the noise is more than what is acceptable which is why this is given. There could be an internal bulletin about the same. I would suggest doing an Internet search for it.

I agree with you. But there is no way to convince them that there is problem. It is their word against ours. I don't see any bulletins listed online for Virtus.

[true_sedan]

Originally Posted by ferrarirules

Any of the senior BHPians can suggest on what can be the cause of this issue? Also, can somebody guide on how to escalate this in VW?

I can understand your friend’s frustration. Nobody wants a problem in their brand new car. But as a few in this thread have pointed out the 1.0 TSI engine is raspy and the degree of raspiness varies from engine to engine because of the varying mechanical tolerances between different engines of the same type. Even my 1.5 TSI sounded a bit gruff initially but as time progressed and with regular usage it became creamy smooth. There is no way the showroom will replace your car. Forget that option.

My suggestion would be:
1) Take delivery of the car.
2) Get in writing from the showroom and service centre acknowledging that “this is normal but in case an issue occurs down the line even after warranty expires we’ll replace the entire engine at no cost.”
3) Drive the vehicle for 1500-2000 kilometers(the run in period) and check if the sound decreases.
4) Always take every assurance the showroom gives in writing. That’s the only way to hold them accountable.

Cheers!

[abaliga]

Do compare the sound with another new car at the dealership by having both vehicles side by side, comparing this with cars that have run over 1-2k kms may not be ideal considering they would have completed the run in period.

Having said that, 3 cylinder units sound industrial especially at idle and more so before warming up, may be wise to run the car a little and not have the dealer open up things unless you know there is a genuine issue, you may lose the factory fit and finish and the dealer personnel could add to problems instead of addressing the issue at hand.

[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by ferrarirules

I agree with you. But there is no way to convince them that there is problem. It is their word against ours. I don't see any bulletins listed online for Virtus.

One point - Is the fuel RON95 in your friends car? The 1.0TSI engines sound a lot refined with 95 fuel.

Please document the dealership and/or VW response in writing. This should help if there is any issue found in the future.

[ankitsharma]

Fellow owner of 1.0 TSI (Skoda Rapid) and I dot not feel anything abnormal in the first video. Second one, the car is running at approx 3K+ rpm where this roughness appears in most of the 1.0 TSI engines though I would not generalize it as I have not done 3k on my car when stationary.

I would suggest to look at the following:
1. Air Filter (I know it is a new car but still to rule out any possibility). As with dirty AF the sound increases.
2. Engine oil level.
3. As someone already mentioned, ask your friend to try switching to XP95 from a reputed dealer. The engine characteristics change a lot with the fuel.
In fact in my family my Rapid has been termed as fuel tester

If nothing works then I would even recommend to change the engine oil once and test.

[Neil Roy]

Don't know how much this helps, but I religiously allow my new Jimny to idle for 2 mins at least every morning at cold start for the engine to settle properly. Also, I changed oil for my car at 3000 kms when the company manual says 15000 kms. The engine seems to have opened up now but still it feels coarse. Maybe after 5000 kms I might see a difference. Once you buy a car, it's your perogative to ensure that the car runs as smoothly as possible.
The point I'm making is, you're not doing yourself any favours by fighting against a company who denies your allegations and as long as it is running, use it. Since they are giving an additional 2 year warranty, take it also. The key is in understanding the limits of your engine, new or used and trying to get the best out of it. The engine is a proven one so, dont sweat too much and then decide if it is really unlivable. In the meantime, if the engine fails, you always have your warranty to fall back on.
I also can hear an uneven grating noise in the second video, but usually sound gets amplified in a workshop. Are you getting any vibrations in your steering or ABC pedals when you hear the rough sound?

[dsr001]

Could the noise be due to some obstruction in exhaust?

Are there vibrations felt with the sound?
How loud is the noise for passengers?

Note to fellow members: since the dealership has taken note and offered some benefits, let us assume the noise is noticable and significant. It's a big purchase and let's think of ways to help the buyer.

[DrGambit]

Originally Posted by ferrarirules

A friend shared his ordeal with me today. He bought a VW Virtus Topline 1.0 TSI AT in Ambala on 17-August. And the engine sounded rough from Day 1 of driving the car. The car has been with the dealership for last 15 days now and still there has been no resolution. My friend asked the dealership to replace the car but that has been out rightly denied.

Details of the issue

Rough sound of the engine while driving

http://Youtube.com/watch?v=XzDpXnh2j...prBsplCuxSL3Ky

Rough sound of the engine at dealership with the car standing

http://Youtube.com/watch?v=eYG2Tw9MpN4?feature=share

The issue was acknowledged by dealership. My friend drove the test drive vehicle and the same sound is not present.

After a few days, they dropped back an email saying that the car doesn't have any noise and they have escalated it to VW technical team.

After above email, my friend went to check the car, the same noise is still present. The dealership is saying that they are only responding to the case as per directives from VW and their technical people are analyzing the issue. It is not in their hands.

Any of the senior BHPians can suggest on what can be the cause of this issue? Also, can somebody guide on how to escalate this in VW?

Hello! I own a Skoda Slavia 1.0 AT and on the day of my delivery on my way home I had this exact very noise and went back to showroom right away. The technician told me that it's normal and it's the sound due to Turbo and it will go away above 80kmph. He came with me for a test drive and everything happened like he said. I was not satisfied still and asked him to show me the same in other 1.0 cars. We went on a test drive in another car and the noise was there. Although I did not like the noise I was satisfied that there is no fault with my car. It's been two months now and I still have the same noise when ever I push the accelerator down. I read in forums of Team BHP that 1.0 engine is a noisy one.