It's not uncommon and not exclusive to VW to be fair. Years ago I bought a used (but good condition and full history) 2008 diesel Mazda 6 with only 45,000 miles on it and there was a nasty vibration when engaging the clutch. Dealer wanted over £1500 to replace the clutch and flywheel. When I asked why it was so expensive and why it failed so early, he said the previous owner must have abused the car, and the dual mass flywheel (DMF) is a heavy duty design to handle the torque from modern diesel engines.
Needless to say I got rid of that car and would never have a modern diesel again; I would advise anyone buying one to check the clutch thoroughly and the engine for any turbo or injector issues, as these can really cost a fortune to fix and defeat the purpose of any savings made in fuel economy from diesel, as you have to spend on repairs when they do go wrong. I'd advise a petrol car for shorter journeys if you do not do much mileage, but even modern petrol cars are getting very complicated and expensive to fix with high pressure injectors and so on.
5th Sep 2020, 13:52
It's not uncommon and not exclusive to VW to be fair. Years ago I bought a used (but good condition and full history) 2008 diesel Mazda 6 with only 45,000 miles on it and there was a nasty vibration when engaging the clutch. Dealer wanted over £1500 to replace the clutch and flywheel. When I asked why it was so expensive and why it failed so early, he said the previous owner must have abused the car, and the dual mass flywheel (DMF) is a heavy duty design to handle the torque from modern diesel engines.
Needless to say I got rid of that car and would never have a modern diesel again; I would advise anyone buying one to check the clutch thoroughly and the engine for any turbo or injector issues, as these can really cost a fortune to fix and defeat the purpose of any savings made in fuel economy from diesel, as you have to spend on repairs when they do go wrong. I'd advise a petrol car for shorter journeys if you do not do much mileage, but even modern petrol cars are getting very complicated and expensive to fix with high pressure injectors and so on.