VW Polo 1.4 petrol - New VW Polo, new engine after only 4000 miles | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

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Thu 2 Sep 2010 09:26

VW Polo 1.4 petrol - New VW Polo, new engine after only 4000 miles - nt555

Hello, I am new here and I am after some advice.

After finding a few spots of oil on my drive and some oil spray in the engine bay I booked in my new model VW Polo 1.4 petrol into the dealer last Friday with what I thought was a small oil leak. Yesterday they told me the news that it requires a new engine. The car is only 4 months old and had up till then covered just over 4000 trouble free miles. The engine will be replaced under the cars warranty (at the time of writing this I do not yet know why the engine change is required).

The garage have been helpful so far but I now can't help but have concerns over the long term reliably and value of this car (the very reasons I bought a new VW) am I right to feel this way? If you were in my shoes what would you do?

Can an engine change this early in a cars life affect its resale value? I think I would feel uneasy buying a nearly new car if I was aware it had received a new engine.

Any opinions or thoughts on what I should do next would be warmly welcomed.

Edited by Avant on 02/09/2010 at 20:36

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Thu 2 Sep 2010 10:05

VW Polo 1.4 petrol - New VW Polo, new engine after only 4000 miles - Paul G1pdc

hi.

i can't think why you would want to tell anyone that its had a new engine. the new engine number will have to be changed on the car registration documents and thats the end of it...

its only really cars with 250,000 miles on the clock where the owner says new engine at 150k and there trying to imply that theres life left in there secondhand car.

on a car thats still pretty much new i wouldn't feel the need to inform anyone. A chap at work was reading up on kia cee'd as he plans on getting one next week, 7 year warrenty and all that....he found a load of good reviews,,,apart from one review who said that the gearbox had failed at 138miles......

i guess your car was just a friday afternoon car, and the replacement will lead to years of hassle free motoring.

paul.

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Thu 2 Sep 2010 16:11

VW Polo 1.4 petrol - New VW Polo, new engine after only 4000 miles - Pat L

Sorry to hear about your engine trouble. If it's any consolation I have had TWO new engines fitted under warranty to my VW Passat 2.0tdi. (a search will probably bring up the theads).

I had the very concerns you have about resale etc, but I intend keeping the car until it's at least 6 years old (now 4) so I don't really think it will be a problem. And in both cases the new engines were given the number of the original engine so no need for document changes etc.

Current engine has now done 26k miles (car has done 49k) and it's a superb combination of power and economy, but I still have this niggle in the back of my mind about how long it'll last ...........

I hope you get it sorted out. My local dealer was brilliant and I didn't even buy it from them!

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Thu 2 Sep 2010 16:42

VW Polo 1.4 petrol - New VW Polo, new engine after only 4000 miles - nt555

Thanks for your replies,

Went to the dealer this morning to collect a courtesy car only to find mine ready, washed waiting and waiting for me.

A manufacturing defect in the short block caused a hole and so it seems to have had a slow oil leak from new, I feel kind of lucky not to have been left stuck at the side of the road somewhere as I had my doubts that it was really leaking as oil level was still ok and thought I might be wasting the dealers time. So the end result was a short block change rather than the whole unit, still sounds like a lot of work to me.

I take your point about not telling anyone if I was to sell but was unsure if a record of the change would appear as the engine numbers would differ.

Still feel unhappy that I am now going to have to drive it with one eye on the dash warning lights and that nagging doubt. I have had bad experiences with company cars in the past that were run way to long and left me stranded on many occasions, the one thing I hoped to avoid with a new car, I guess only time will tell now.

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Thu 2 Sep 2010 20:38

VW Polo 1.4 petrol - New VW Polo, new engine after only 4000 miles - Avant

I wouldn't worry too much: it sounds like a one-off manufacturing defect and there's no reason why it should happen again. It won't affect the resale value.

Welcome to the forum!

Edited by Avant on 02/09/2010 at 20:39

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Fri 3 Sep 2010 18:17

VW Polo 1.4 petrol - New VW Polo, new engine after only 4000 miles - chewer1

I was enjoying driving my new polo - now at 5000 miles - until I read this !

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Sun 12 Sep 2010 20:33

VW Polo 1.4 petrol - New VW Polo, new engine after only 4000 miles - SteveLee

Suggesting VWs, or any German cars really, can be duffers or unreliable is usually punishable by death on most forums...

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