Check this out...Straight from VW Technical
Information Update
24 July 2003
Subject Touran Quality Issue on Early Info 195/03 Reference Right Hand Drive Production 1 Pages
Contact
The early production of some right hand drive Tourans has highlighted a product quality issue where the cable to the ccelerator pedal is not correctly fitted. We will ommunicate the technical action required to rectify this issue as soon as ossible. In the meantime all Tourans must not be driven.
Product Technical
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Why does everyone assume VW's are such high quality? Just because they say so on the adverts, the doors shut with a nice noise, and the grab handles are damped, doesn't mean they are superb quality guaranteed never to go wrong. If that was the case, no VW dealer would have a parts department, and their service bays would only be filled with cars having their oil and filter changed.
If a fuel saving device is advertised as saving 20%, hardly anyone believes it, but just because VW (and others) tell you they're great, plenty of people believe them.
Motor manufacturers aren't in the business of making cars, they're in the business of making money. As with all manufacturers, they have to sell the lowest quality product they can get away with, for the highest price they can charge. That means there's a very fine line between failing early, and decent durability.
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I am VERY disappointed with my 2001 Passat. You don't mind paying a bit more for a car if it is deserving of it, but unless I am unlucky, I can't really see why you are paying any more for VW. I am the 2nd owner of my car. It is just over 2 years old and covered 34,000 miles. I have owned it for just over a year and so far I have had the following probs;
New back window (3 elements failed)
New dash fitted (couldn't resolve the "creaking" after 7 attempts)
Failed indicator switch.
Recently had an issue where the car "limped" home. (possible MFM problem.Still to be resolved)
Faulty alarm.
New boot struts.
Would I buy another VW?...Not likely
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Agreed, car manufacturers are after money - however that applies to any for profit business out there.
VW have earned a reputation for reliability - whether it is deserved or not is a matter of opinion.
My own opinion is that compared to other volume manufacturers, there are considerably more older Polo's Golf's and Passats around than other cars of the same age. When was the last time you saw a Renault 19 or a MKIII Cortina?
This could be because folks are prepared to spend a little more keeping them going because they are perceived as desirable because of their reliability - I don't know.
Cars are now becoming the ultimate dispoable item, recyclable in the extreme but nevertheless disposable - the complexity of most modern cars makes fault diagnosis and resolution prohibitively expensive as the cars value decreases.
Take a look at Japan where their stringent MOT equivalent renders
tens of thousands of relatively new cars unroadworthy every year - many of which end up in Australia and UK.
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Hello,folks. You're a free man, you know, not a number 544106.
What point are you making, my friend?
Someone on an assembly track has made a mistake with fitting a cable. Is that it?
The Touran costs £3150 to make, including labour costs in Germany.
The rest goes in R&D, Factory Rates, Marketing, Distributor profit, Dealer profit, advertising, warranty and insurance costs, taxes, social fund contributions, delivery, type-approval, press tooling investment, process development, shareholder profit, bank interest etc.
Now, what exactly did you expect for your £3150?
We work hard to bring you the best we can, for the money you pay.
This is exactly the same as BMW and Daimler-Chrysler.
Ask the oil companies about their product. About 6p out of the ground, from memory, and 80p at the pumps.
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Every car company will have some sort of quality/build issue.
My Merc had a new diesel pump fitted a few months ago as it was leaking, last week my dads Merc had the same problem so they are changing his pump as well. Both cars are only 8 months old.
The point is that even a company like Daimler-Chrysler can have problems with new products etc no matter how much money is spent on testing.
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DaveN, Sean, and Marcos are all correct.
The general public have got used to expecting virtually fault-free products and do not appreciate the Engineering design/development/production skills involved. Unfortunately, with the decline of manufacturing industry in the UK, many people are far removed from contact with any Manufacturing experience of any kind, and so do not appreciate the real-life problems of engineering.
The point that DaveN makes, regarding business& profit, is also in the general quite true. In business, as with jobs, you will be hard pressed to find anyone anywhere who does something because they "love" it. The people who work in VW, or whatever other Company you care to name, did not go through their childhood thinking "When I grow up I want to work for VW so that I can build faultless cars regardless of wages, cost, or profit considerations". When they grew up, their aim was to find a job in any Company that paid them the highest reward overall for their skills.
VW can, and do, relax in the knowledge that they are not the only ones who are subjected to this kind of verbal-bashing. It goes with the territory.
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I don't think the fundamental question is whether customers expect 'fault free' products or not; at least IMHO potential VW buyers are used to a 'premium product' at a 'premium price'. But it seems in recent years VW are still charging the 'premium price' for cars with no better reliability than the likes of Opel / Renualt et al.
Presumably VW experience no more and no less 'real-life problems of engineering' than the likes of Mazda or Toyota; but these manufacturers don't seem to have suffered the loss of buyer confidence that VW seem to be experiencing.
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The point is not whether a mistake has been made, but the delay in advising on how to repair. Also how did the vehicles get past in house quality checks? This is just a long line in VW issues that we have to put up with here in VW Dealerland. What about the coil farce, Golf window lifters still breaking, coolant sensor failures, Passat water ingress destroying looms and control units, oh, and the new Beetle Cabrio hoods that fail with no technical information available in English?
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Good news for 544106 and Sean: Technical have now issued us with a bulletin detailing repairs. Hope this car sells well, as it deserves to. I also hope that VW have got to grips with recent quality problems: might be doing myself out of a job if they have!
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>>The Touran costs £3150 to make, including labour costs in Germany.
Sean is that number correct? does that include all costs? labour, raw materials, supplied component and sub assembly costs, energy costs? I have to say I am suprised its that low
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My 1995 Passat is beautifully designed and put together. Has proved completely reliable thus far - touch wood.
I was at a VW presentation last year where the speaker said they made about $500 profit on each Golf.
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I had a 1990 1.6 TD Estate, nothing fell off appart from damage to a CV joint when driving through a ford (as in water!) at 175,000 miles. Seemed very well built, had metal boot floor hatches rather than the flimsy hardboard you get today. Had amazing rear legroom. Always did 45 mpg+, 700+ miles to a tank
,800+ whilst cruising in europe.
Why did I sell it!!
It seems the post 1997 model does not seem to be as well built as the old model.
I was once hoping to find a late old model (N/P reg) with air con, as at the time VW were selling them of with this a standard. I have never seen any on the market.
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"Ask the oil companies about their product. About 6p out of the ground, from memory, and 80p at the pumps."
Of which about 65p is tax!
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Sean,
If that £3150 figure is correct, I hope you have covered your tracks. The 'actual cost to assemble' figure is a very closely guarded secret in the motor industry and you have just posted it on the internet. I guess you don't work for VW anymore?
Anyway the figure seems about right, although as they are built in Germany (and not Poland/Spain/South Africa etc) it must be a very efficient production process...
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