My contract hired 2011 Polo GTI has had excessive oil consumption from new, it's currently on the second engine and today has gone back to the dealership to be set up for another round of oil consumption tests and then if they fail, another replacement engine.

We have tried to reject the car but VW finance have "rejected our rejection" on the grounds that they have upheld their side of the deal and repaired the car when necessary. We spent just over £400 on oil in the first year before we realised that the problem was serious and not just a running in issue.

The oil consumption test consists of the car being completely emptied of oil, then being filled with a weighed amount of oil. We then drive the car for 660 miles and report back to the dealership where the technicians empty and weigh the oil to establish an accurate consumption.

The first 2 times the car failed they did a modification to the crank case, fitting a breather pipe. This did nothing to the oil consumption and just served to make the engine noisier. Then after another 2 failed consumption tests they replaced the entire engine.

Just under a month after the replaced engine I got in the car and was greeted with the check oil light again - the first oil consumption test showed only a 3rd of a litre of oil used in the 660 miles but that particular week I had only driven on motorways and not done the normal mixed commute I usually do. So they filled the car full of oil and sent me on my way again - advising that it must have just been a running in issue. That was only 2 and a half weeks ago (about 1000 miles of driving) and now the oil light has come on again so the car is back at the dealers being set up for yet another test, having swallowed a whole 4 litres in that time.

VW advise that they expect the engine to use a litre of oil every 600 miles. I think 600 miles per litre is still pretty poor and constitutes to a hidden cost that should be made clear to customers on purchasing the car. A litre of the fully synthetic oil that VW stipulates we use can cost anywhere from £12-£20, depending on what retailer you purchase from. I get roughly 300 miles to a full tank of fuel so in normal running the car should cost an extra £6-£10 every time I fill up with fuel. This does not make the car economical to drive at all - it makes it almost as expensive to run as the BMW 335i estate we have.

VW customer services were apologetic but they said because the car us outside of the first year there is nothing they can do to help us regarding rejection with VW finance. VW finance said we could terminate the contract early if we find a VW retailer to buy the car at CAP clean (which the dealership that supplied the car won't), pay nearly £400 in fee's and then take on another 3 year contract on a new VW!

The car has never been right. The 7 Speed, dry clutch DSG system is not fit for purpose. It judders like driving over cattle grids, stinks like blue clutch in traffic and has the grace of a club footed teenager on disengaging and engaging. The VW techs say on this matter, "that's just how they ALL are".

In short - we're done with the car and want to walk away but we're not sure where to go from here. It's been nothing but an inconvenience from start to finish and VW don't seem to realise that it's actually costing them money to keep me in the car - the dealership has advised the cost of a new engine is nearly £5000. To me, they're cutting their nose off to spite their face. I've been on various VAG enthusiast forums and they're all chocked full of folk complaining about DSG7 and TSI engines not being fit for purpose.

Hope you can point us in the right direction - we just don't know what to do or where to go from here?

Many thanks!