2009 Volkswagen Tiguan Track & Field 2.0 TDI 4Motion
Summary:
Quality on this car was a joke
Faults:
First 3 years while under warranty there was nothing wrong. I noted flaking in the paint, but the dealer said chipping and flaking was due to external factors, so I had to pay for a paint detailing after 3 years, since there were some rust spots on the front and on the side of the car. The paint quality on this was very bad.
After the 4th year on the first inspection, I had to do a complete overhaul of the rear brakes. The dealer was completely uninterested in fixing it and I had to pay for it myself.
After less than 5 years and approx 90 thousand km, there were clunking noises in the front and it needed a suspension overhaul. Since the car was less than 5 years old, I have reclamation rights, since this car was sold new in Norway via an official importer. Still the dealer and importer were completely uninterested until I summoned them to consumer court and they finally covered the expenses.
After 6 years and 110-115 thousand km, I had various engine problems including DPF and problems with the recirculation valve.
Sold the car after 7 years and the DSG had error codes on it. Was just glad to see it gone.
General Comments:
Comfortable, fast and very good to drive, but the quality and dealer support are an utter joke.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 15th September, 2018
26th Mar 2020, 18:24
When you say "reputed dealer", I wonder where this "reputation" comes from? A brand in itself or the country of origin has no reputation, it's all just urban myths...
27th Mar 2020, 16:35
True, dealers are variable in quality worldwide and management changes as time changes; someone who may have gotten good service at a dealership 10 years ago maybe surprised on return to have a negative experience. Most likely it is because the staff have turned over entirely since their last visit. Best way to do research on dealers nowadays is to check recent reviews online before going.
25th Dec 2021, 18:02
I'd say that almost all dealers in major cities are bad. Big glass palaces, suit and tie "customer satisfaction" managers, but all is about revenue generation and only that. It voids a lot of the pleasure of car ownership. This business is ripe for change. They are generally a utter waste of space. They've been spending money on the wrong things.
26th Dec 2021, 19:00
Far better than shopping secondary used car lots, doing your paperwork in a shed. We finance our own. High credit fees and fast talking sellers.
28th Dec 2021, 10:42
New or CPO, and simply buy and leave. You are there to drive. Not to critique architecture. Maybe it’s part of the buying experience.
15th Sep 2018, 17:35
Final comment and a warning on how many car dealers are operating:
As stated in the review, the DSG transmission had error codes on it. Upon inspection they said they were sure there were metal shavings in the transmission, a common fault on early generation DSGs. Shifting between gears worked fine, but was somewhat rough and clunky compared to when the car was new. This meant a new transmission that was a solid 8-9000 Euro fitted since, according to the dealer; nobody locally overhauled DSG transmissions I had to get a new one from the VW network.
So I took a hit on trade-in value. "Since we are so nice" they only deducted half of the repair cost on trade-in value. About a year after selling this car I got a phone call from the "lucky" new owner of this car. He had experienced a complete transmission failure but was stonewalled by the dealer. The message was; you must expect these kind of failures after 150 thousand km on DSG transmissions, nothing to complain about.
I informed that the car was traded in with a defective transmission and that the dealer said that it needed to be replaced. An independent specialist said that the transmission was the original transmission and it was never changed as I was led to believe. According to the specialist they've probably just flushed, cleaned and replaced the oil and then cleared the error codes. This is a cheap quick fix that may work and prolong the life of the transmission by maybe a year or two if lucky, but it's not a permanent solution.
So the dealer first ripped me off, then ripped off the new owner. He phoned me after some months, the dealer said I had got it all wrong and there was never any problems with the transmission, it was just down to bad oil. Unfortunately the sales contract didn't state this or any other defects, since this was a sale to a so called professional party that assumes all risks of the transaction. The only "evidence" was the artificially low price on the trade-in, not in itself enough evidence to prove any wrongdoing on the part of the dealer.
And this was a reputed dealer that has been in the trade for decades! So be careful, trust nobody when it comes to second hand cars. Lesson learned is that even reputed dealers may rip you off.