I mean Golf's built for the Italian market.
All Golfs for the European market are built in Belgium, Wolfsburg or East Germany. Quality wise those built in East Geman are supposed to be the best followed by Wolfsburg and then those built in Belgium.
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Not sure, but I think I read that the Wolfsburg plant is the most inefficient in Europe (of any manufacturer, not just VW). We had a test drive in a Daihatsu Sirion yesterday and one of the attractions is that it seems to be a Yaris engine and is built in Japan - I think Toyota quality control is second to none so reliability should be very good.
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Top selling manufacturer in Europe some must be correct.
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I bought a Golf 1.9 TDI in january. It has now done 4000 miles and has not had anything go wrong, or used any oil.
What am I doing wrong? I want to be like other people.
My 7 year old Passat is still going strong, the only fault was a new electic window cable.
VW are brilliant cars IMO!
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I bought a Golf 1.9 TDI in january. It has now done 4000 miles and has not had anything go wrong or used any oil. What am I doing wrong? I want to be like other people.
4000 miles and 6 months is not much, give it time.
My wife has had a couple of VW's. Golf was a bit problematic (trim problems and serpentine belt tensioner snapped, radiator sprung a leak - probably other things too if I could remember). 2003 Polo had a few faults, drop links worn out at 10,000 miles, ignition coil went, lambda sensor went (£250!! plus fitting). The two motors that control the heater airflow started playing up. I discovered that this affects about 80% of Polos and the dash has to come out to get at them (£500 job). The dealer was remarkably sanguine about this (car just out of warranty) - "they all do that sir" !!
To be fair they were solid enough cars, but not the 'premium' product that the dealers purport them to be. One of the best things about VW's is that you can cheapish OEM parts from ECP, GSF and so on. My experiences, reliability wise, with Japanese cars have been far better, but when (if) they need a non-service part then the parts prices give you a shock!
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Funnily enough with one of our sales guys on Thursday. He has had a elderly Mondeo for around 6 years with 110K up. He rolls up to the meeting in a brand new Audi A5 3.0 TDI. My colleague has to be dragged off the bonnet whilst he kisses it.
Said A5 is now 4000 miles old & has been back countless times, to have rattles fixed, some not completely fixed. The MMI system gives up the ghost, needing the car switching off & on again, at best it gives no CD or Radio at it's ultimate it disables everything. Various other issues have arisen. Throwaway line from sales guy, my Mondeo had less issues & less rattles! Vorsprung Durch Technik I don't think so!
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There's nothing wrong with the engines, consumes little to no oil and is very efficient fuel wise.
Cars are just built badly, misaligned doors, rattles ect. This is the fourth time its going back and I hope the last. Seriously thinking of selling it (and taking a loss) and getting something more reliable but yes, guess you have been lucky. Fromw hat I have readfrom the VW forums, VW seem to produce more duds than good cars.
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Buy a Skoda - same engines and better assembly.
The downside is that the Skoda dealers having migrated from tin sheds to glass palaces have adopted the corporate VAG disdain of their customers. Head office at Milton Keynes where all of the VAG labels are controlled from, have this fine tuned to an extraordinary degree.
659.
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How are they better assembled they use exactly the same robots with all the engines and gearboxes assembled in germany.
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Most VAG engines are assembled in Brazil. If you have ever had a serious look around a car plant two factors will be evident. The first is that rigorous and frequent manual checking is always carried out to ensure that "robotised" operations are carried out to within permitted tolerances. Paint is a particularly sensitive area as batches and climatic conditions differ.
Despite what the makers would have you believe, a lot of car assembly is carried out by hand. A sub assembly such as an engine can be almost entirely assembled "in the dark" and as such, these things give very little trouble indeed unless there is a design fault. I can't remember the last time I encountered an engine fault due to poor assembly from any manufacturer.
The niggles that one sees in a poorly assembled vehicle nearly always stem from manually executed processes - trim fitting, wiring positioned in clips etc. etc. I can assure you that the quality of assembly and the committment of the workforce makes a huge difference. A visit to Halewood a few years ago would have illustrated my point.
Next time you are in Marks & Spencer have a look at the detailing of the suits they have made in the Czech Republic. Impressive.
659.
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Two years, 35000 miles and no problems with mine, apart from a gear lever top that I pulled off myself through fiddling with it in boring traffic.
Maybe it's you that's unlucky rather than me who's lucky?
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VW are a victim of their own self promotion. If you go around saying you're ultra relable, you charge a premium price and your dealers place your products above so called mass produced manufacturers you can expect the fall to be greater when it all goes pear shaped.
As someone has already stated if you place VW in your own mind at Ford, Vauxhall et al level you'll put up with the odd problem and think the car is fine. If you believe you're buying into some notional top notch German quality (as I did and as you may well do bearing in mind the prices they charge) then you'll be disappointed.
If I ever go back to VW (and I've been sorely tempted by the Golf GTi (a gorgeous car) I'll go into it expecting the reliability to be crap then I won't be disappointed. I'll just try and enjoy what is undoubtedly a good car whilst it's working properly!!!!
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And to prove that I'm not completely anti-VW just take a look at this
www.autobild.de/artikel/vorstellung-vw-scirocco_72...l
It's the German version of Auto Express showing the new Scirocco. And it looks very, very nice.
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New problem started today. There is a high pitched squealing type of sound when coasting like a wheel turning that has not been greased. I recall this sound from my fathers cars and recall the cam belt having to be changed. Is this possible after just over 7000 KM on a new car ?? Any alternative suggestions ideas ?
I am now seriously thinking of rejecting the car but doubt Volkswagen are going to give in without a fight.
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In my experience the problem with VAG cars is not ther quality of assembly, but the quality of components. VW tend to make cars in expensive places, particularly Germany, and to keep the costs down they seem buying in components purely on price rather than quality.
The failure of heating systems has been a problem since the 1996 Passat (and the A4 from the same era) and to keep the reputation up even the latest A6 has a regular fault with the climate control where the regulator fails and you can't get cold air. MAF failures, others sensors, air blower failures, dodgy fuel pumps etc. are all common problems on VAG cars and are all down to cheap parts.
Other manufacturers also have their own problems so VAG are not exceptionally bad expect they put themselves on a pedestal they don't live up to (and I would include Audi in that as well).
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There has been heavy rain here in North Italy over the last couple of days, is it possible that water on the axyl is causing this noise ? I have left the car to idle & I would think if it was the cam belt the noise would continue but there is no noise.
Any ideas ?
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Just got back from having the Passat MOT'd. Passed with flying colours, as it has for the last 5 years. Still on the original exhaust and battery.
Not bad eh?
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Not bad, guess I am just unlucky & got the one and only pink fluffy dice box that VW have produced.
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 19/06/2008 at 19:40
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The trouble with VW, perhaps more so than with other makers is that there seems to be huge variability between both manufacturing plants and the dealers.
Multiply these two factors together (bad factory, dealer full of monkeys) and you have a real problem. This is shameful because the opposite can yield a good result and the money spent is the same in each case.
I still think VW offer both durable cars (galvanised) and cars with really useful engines (like the PD diesels). The dynamic qualities of the vehicles, particularly those with N-S power units are not the best (drunk with a hangover could describe the B5.5) but as a machine to do a job for a long time, they are usually worthy enough. The number of old ones on the road bears this out.
Lemon and monkey avoidance seems to be the policy here - Skoda + Independent??
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There is also variability between manufacturing plants because they are way behind allot of other makers with their production systems. The cars are not designed very well for manufacturing and it is this that is driving the price, the variability and subsequently the quality and reliability.
It's a shame really because other parts of VAG are getting it right, Skoda have a very good reputation, Audi are performing better and better if you read the consumer association reports (BTW they now sell the Which car guide in Sainsbury's from tomorrow) but the Wolfsburg plant and VW in general seem to lag behind.
The problem is compounded by VW UK who push image and 'excellence' or 'craftmanship' as part of their advertising campaigns when the product can't live up to it. I read an article on quality with the Passat recently on 4car and it was woeful, yet you get ads suggesting it's beautifully crafted or whatever. There is almost a snobishness they try and associate with the brand that people fall for.
They need to start listening to the voice of the customer and I think they are a bit to arrogant for that - mainly because sales continue to be good as people are fooled by the advertising. And I mean really listening to the customer like the japs do. Sony started this off in the 60's when they could not sell their little B&W TV's in the US. They sent their engineers into US homes and realised that because of the size, most families used them as 2nd tellies in the kitchen, so they subsequently designed them in white plastic with wipe clean surfaces etc and subsequently sold millions. Toyota do this allot as well. The 2 key examples I remember are when the LandCruiser was as unreliable in the Aussie outback as all the LR's so they sent engineers to work with the companies and people that bought them, they fixed the issues by listening to their customer and now 90 odd% of 4x4 sales in the region are Toyota. They even do it now, in Malaysia a couple of years agao they sent some of their engineers to work with taxi drivers for nearly 2 years and made design changes to their mini-bus style taxis to make them more user friendly and reliable. Guess what all the taxi drivers buy in Malaysia - it certainly ain't Mercs.
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My personal experience of Japanese products in the last year and a half lead me to believe they source their parts in the same places as VW.
QC is definately on the skids with two big name Japanese companies.
The SatNav system we bought had software faults from day one which took the manufacturer twelve months to issue a patch for, the system still does not recognise the new fangled Channel Tunnel. The (GBP2k) laptop we bought was three weeks out of warranty when the motherboard went. How much do you think the manufacturer offered as goodwill towards replacement ?
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>>>"New problem started today. There is a high pitched squealing type of sound when >>>coasting like a wheel turning that has not been greased.
Remembering the VW Golf advert from the 80's, you need to find the old guy at the petrol station and get him to oil your girlfriends earring. :)
Edited by gmac on 19/06/2008 at 19:26
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That was a work of art that ad - and at the time the cars were easily the best you could buy IMO.
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>>My personal experience of Japanese products in the last year and a half lead me to believe they source their parts in the same places as VW.<<
I don't think that is true gmac - the Japs source less parts from outside their companies than any other brand. I'm not saying it's a good thing and I too have just had the clutch master cylinder replaced in warranty on the Onda so they are not the last word in reliability and durability but all things considered I think most people would agree they are better than most. And my experience is that they treat you allot better. Or that is what all the global surveys would suggest.
The best brands according to the consumers associateion are all mainly jap, Panasonic, Mazda is number 1 in cars this year (Ford sharing ?), Lexus, Honda, but Audi and BMW are also highly rated.
Edited by Pendlebury on 19/06/2008 at 19:51
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Like I said Pendlebury, in my experience...not a scientific survey just me shelling out my own cash thinking I was buying reliability and being sadly let down.
Back on subject, I know there have been a few problems reported with VW's, my own experience was I could not fault them. Then again, that was a three year old Mk2 1990 Golf GTi. As you said back at a time when they did build very good cars.
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That was a work of art that ad - and at the time the cars were easily the best you could buy IMO.
I couldn't agree more.
My uncle, until very recently, owned a 1986 Golf GTI 8v. 194,000 miles on all original mechanicals (apart from clutch), and it still drove brilliantly. A couple of years ago, he replaced all four shocks and some of the suspension bushes, and it sharpened the thing up almost like new. Brilliantly reliable too.
Unfortunately, the local tea-leaves had it away one night, and it was never seen again.
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JD Power in the US recently released its long term realiability survey. Best was Toyota by a few point margin, there was a good group of middle of the road and then the worst by quite a margin was VW. They don't sell French or Italian cars in North America, so not 100% representative, but still informative and a reason for VWs poor sales over there.
Edited by carl_a on 19/06/2008 at 21:48
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Some people seem to cling to the VW quality/reliability thing in spite of evidence to the contrary.
A friend had to spend about £800 in unscheduled repairs on a four-year-old Polo.
So what does he do? Replace it with a Fox because 'the wife says VWs don't break down'.
He's now thinking of a Golf for his next co car, partly on SWMBO's insistence.
Must make the marketing people at Ford and Vauxhall weep.
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What you have to remember is that buying any VAG product requires you to ignore any issues anyone else may have had, pretend any that happen to yours are your imagination and sing from the trees that they are superbly reliable and impreccably built.
Thats why no VAG bashing is allowed here, theres no basis for it if you follow that guidance.
That said, I have a customer with a Golf Plus ( diesel auto ) and they love it. Its not a bad old thing really, just some of the plastics are not very durable and scratch very easily. Its only done 10k tho.
That £800 spent on the Polo - thats enhancement, not repairs - must get the terminology right!
Just so gotta laugh.
On the original point - a few rattles is hardly the end of the world is it? My Daihatsu doesnt rattle though :-)
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Can't comment on recent VW's, but I have a Skoda Fabia so was interested to learn Skoda HQ are based with VW HQ in the UK.
My car suffered a major breakdown just before christmas and Skoda point blank refused any goodwill payment and in hindsight Skoda behaved in an aloof manner when I subsequently complained, reminiscent of other posters experience of VAG.
My Skoda has full main dealer service history and always serviced according to Skoda guidelines.
Not a happy Skoda driver.
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