My wife has a 2002 Passat Estate Sport 2.0 owned from new, full service history from supplying dealer, 22,000miles.
I recently discovered the carpets on the driver's side were saturated, the heating system worked ineffectively and the engine temperature gauge fluctuated wildly from normal to the red zone. (The coolant level was normal & the fan working). Further rainfall caused there to be 1cm of water in the F&R footwells. The VW dealer immediately said the problem was likely to be due to a blocked pollen filter which caused rainwater to be diverted straight into the car. I dropped the car off at the garage & received a call saying I needed a new water pump, cam belt, thermostat, set of carpets plus a check of various electrical control units beneath the carpets. Total cost, a staggering £2014 (£1200 of which relates to the carpets)
This sounded like a design fault.. VW customer services were initially quite helpful saying they were aware of the problem and had written to dealers confirming they would meet the cost of rectification work. Subsequently this has become an offer to pay only 42% of my bill "because the car is out of warranty and they are not obliged to pay anything". I find it irritating that VW were aware of the problem yet did nothing to mitigate the risk. At the same time it wrote to dealers a letter to its customers would have been in order to flag the problem, the consequences of which were avoidable with a bit of preventative maintenance.
Has anyone had a similiar experience or greater sucess with VW picking up their bill? If that is their final word then I am appalled at their lack of customer care and will not buy another VW.
Many thanks
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Spot the newbie! :^D
It's a common subject here!
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My VAG Passat clone has in the sevice instructions "Plenum chamber inspected for dirt, if necessary cleaned" ('04 build). My car has a full VAG history and this has clearly not been done, as the battery and tray have to be removed to inspect and clear the drain holes properly. I know the battery has never been removed as there is still an unbroken film of the blue anti-corrosion coating which VAG had applied to the battery posts and connectors when the vehicle was built.
I find the VAG servicing schedule documents incomprehensible and the dealers incompetent - it's a real shame as I think the basic machinary and especially the diesel engines are quite good. Putting fairly sophisticated machinery in the hands of a servicing and documentation regime like this spells disaster. I will be doing all future work when the vehicle is clear of its warranty.
659.
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"I will be doing all future work when the vehicle is clear of its warranty"
You'll get plenty of practice........... It's when you start poking around under the soft-touch materials when you realise that the basic machinery underneath is pretty poor.
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I have to agree, I have a 2002 Passat, and think it's poor quality compared to Vauxhall.
If you take interior parts off, there are just nasty clips that break and snap holding things together that should be screwed. It's one of those cars that is hard to put together as it came apart as things usually don't align or have broken. Some parts are OK, like the door hinges. It just seems to be cheaply made and not enough testing was done prior to release, they are like beta models, and don't even bother to sort the problems out on later builds, they just deny there is a problem. The dealers are terrible too, they simply don't have staff who can decipher their equipment and technical information. They also do things like have a glass display shelf of brochures all showing the fronts, but hey, someone just wrote "DO NOT TAKE! PLEASE ASK!" on every single one's cover in messy thick pen over the car! Like hello!
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Galvanised body and plenty of VAG diesel engines out there with starship mileages, so I'm not too worried. Some of the peripheral bits are rather flaky, I'd agree but as I bought it as a utility tow vehicle, it will do the job.
There are some real "idiot" features on this car though - putting the CCM electronics unit on the floor is not the only one.
659.
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My brother in law had it with his 2001 Passat and a few days afterwards the alarm started going off at random. Water had got in to the alarm ECU and fried it.
VW would not contribute a penny to the repair costs. In the end, he had the work done at a local indie (VAG specialist) who reckon they see at least one a week with the same problem. They reckon it seems to be 50/50 as to whether you get away without damage to the alarm ECU or not. He didn't.
It's a beautifully finished car this Passat, but his experiences have been enough to put me off buying one. It's cost him over £2,000 in unscheduled repairs and faults in the two years he's had it (this problem + clutch + DMF + front suspension rebuild + central locking fault), and the car hasn't yet done 70,000 miles. I have a Mondeo which looks like it cost half as much to put together, but soldiers on at 130k and costs me next to nothing to keep running.
Cheers
DP
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