2000 Volkswagen Golf V6 4Motion from UK and Ireland - Comments

-Car Bought from VW dealer-

The car supposedily had a VW 200 somthing point check before being given to me.

In the first week the following happened.

Temp sensor packed up, going from 0-max every few seconds.

Car pulled hard to the left.

Rattle from the engine getting worse as each day went on.

Took it to the dealer asap (2nd week) and it was in for work for 1 1/2 days. came back with only the temp gauge fixed. Said about the others and service wanted to charge me £58 and hour to work out what was wrong. Explained that I had only had the car a week and I had a 12 month warranty. After 20 minutes of stressfull arguing they agreed to book it in the following week.

That is the last I've seen of it, now been two weeks with out it. The rattle in the engine has require a full strip down, last I heard the head was off and the cams where out. Parts are being ordered in from Germany, so that is more delay.

This car looks the part, sounds the part and even goes to match its looks.

But so far I'm am not happy with the reliablity of it and the total lack of caring from the dealer. The sales bloke who sold me the car has said I'm not to phone him any more and only deal with the managers. Nice, after one week of ownership.

To make matters worse I asked for a loan car, this was agreed. On "dumping" my car with them this offer was retracted. only to be reoffered once I had a fit and asked for my money back.

It really gets to me, the fact you have to threaten them with so much just to get the thing fixed.

I will not be buying a VW again, and to be honest I'm in two minds about keeping this one if I ever see it again.

Should've bought a Type-R.

Update:

Its now been with the dealer for 3 weeks. More parts are having to be ordered in. Can see it passing 4 weeks at this rate...

DO NOT BUY!

Yes, you should have bought a Type R...

Welcome to the world of VW customer service.

My experience started with front tyres that were replaced with the cheapest ones they could find (I bought the car with 14,000 miles on the clock) despite the promise that they would fit the standard Pirellis of the type that came off and finished with an argument about the rattling heater fan "that's not covered by the warranty, sir"...

I ended up threatening to park my Golf TDI across the gate of the dealership unless they fixed the fuel injection system that they had "recalibrated". This left me with no power under 2000rpm and an engine that banged and clattered - and then turned into a Ferrari at 2100rpm - totally undriveable. That was fun in town!

I also had 5 stand up rows at the service desk over the 2 year period that my car was under warranty.

Honda service is much better, as are most other peoples!

I'm trying to work out exactly what it is that makes VW dealers fail to treat their customers with any degree of sympathy or even basic courtesy.

My own 2000 Golf 1.8T GTI was a disappointing liability. Coil failures, squeaks, rattles, clutch and gearbox problems, electrical problems, engine ancillary problems etc etc. Disappointing enough, but when you have to battle the dealer every time to resolve the problems, it makes things ten times worse, especially when they not only fail to help you, but treat you like a moron. For example, one service manager tried to tell me the failed alternator on my car was not covered because it is classed as a consumable. My reply is not printable on a family website, suffice to say they didn't pursue the argument!

I got so sick of the car I threw it back at the finance company after 18 months (half period), accompanied by a four page detailed description to VW Customer Services of just what a chore owning this car was. They didn't even have the decency to acknowledge my letter.

I will never buy another VW product as long as I live. Overrated, overpriced junk.

Never had a problem with my V6 4motion!!!