Well, I'm not convinced it was somehow masquerading as a Golf....perhaps all Mk V Golfs are like that as far as I know.
Perhaps it epitomises the Emperor's Clothes story. I read many reviews about it being so solid, as if 'hewn from granite'. But ours felt as if it was a list of components chucked together rather than a piece of precision engineering.
Got a 330d coupe instead and kept the 7 year-old Avant (so not all VAG products are that bad!)
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Maybe It was a ?Friday afternoon? car
In all seriousness I sympathise with the OP we spend a small fortune in purchasing a car, and while all Machines will go wrong, if we pay a little more than other alternatives we rightly so expect a certain degree of quality.
I bought a Renault a little oblivious to what they where like as I loved the way it drove, I just wish I had checked this forum out 1st, enfact I feel for it twice before I got rid of a expensive mistake, and I had to put it down to bad experience
Good luck with your current car, - lets hope you don?t look back
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The first items:
"he paintwork was truly appallingly fragile, prone to the types of vsible scratches that cannot be polished out but are too minor to warrant a respray.
- The interior was full of cheapo plastic, with rough edges in places (e.g. door pockets).
- The doors 'clanged' rather than 'clunked
Seem normal to most cars..
As for plastics "quality"... if they fit and don't squeak.
After all the quality was there when you paid for the car.. so afterwards you complain?
(The door sounds and plastic do not change )
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[Fragile paint] Seem normal to most cars..
OK, I'm not an expert on car paint but without doubt the paint scratched much more easily than all pervious cars I've had. So on that basis, I don't think it's normal at all.
As for plastics "quality"... if they fit and don't squeak [they can't be low quality].
We had a MK IV Golf for 4 years and that had an interior that was up to Audi standards (in terms of the finish & soft-feel plastics). It's not for no reason that Audi is much praised in this respect and that's the type of quality I'm referring to.
After all the quality was there when you paid for the car.. so afterwards you complain?
We bought it new and, no, the quality wasn't there when we bought it. And, believe me, if I had the consumer rights to reject the vehicle based on rubbish paint and low-rent interior then I would have. But I don't think that's enshrined in consumer law at the moment.
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Was the lack of perceived interior quality evident in the showroom model which you must have sat in/test driven before you ordered one?
Glad you think the Mk IV superior, I might just be about to buy one......
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Was the lack of perceived interior quality evident in the showroom model which you must have sat in/test driven before you ordered one?
Well, as I say, I blame myself because I got taken in by the hype and made too many assumptions. Having owned 2 Mk II's, a Mk III, a Mk IV as well as 2 Audi A4's before I didn't bother test driving the Mk V.
Yes, it was an elementary mistake to make the assumptions I did, but I really didn't come across any negative reviews of it and **EVEN** HJ's review talks about it being 'hewn from granite' or some such.
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Well I imagine the interior of Tourans is made from the same material. We have bought two brand new, and I must say the interior trim quality is worse in the latest one (a Nov 2008 58 plater). Bits of trim have fallen off in the footwells for one thing. The first one we had ( an 04 plate) didn't suffer any bits falling off, but yes, the quality of the interior materials was never quite as good as I had expected.
Still love the cars overall though.
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I have an '05 2.0 GT-TDI and agree with your comments re; the quality diminishing Alanovich
Mine is a first generation GT, without the bee-sting aerial and with digital climate control etc. I think they went on a cost saving mission shortly afterwards (55 plate>), which saw a minor facelift of the interior (silver radio surround etc) and a slight downgrading of the spec.
I had one of the aforementioned later cars for a week as a courtesy car and it felt like a different car from mine, squeaks and rattles galore, cheaper plastics etc.
Didnt VW bring out the Mk6 as a cost saving measure as the MkV was too expensive to produce? Seems like the cost cutting started a long time before the replacement model.
The MkV is not a patch on the quality of the Mk4 V6 4motion it replaced.
Edited by NickS on 10/02/2010 at 14:28
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VW try to claim the Mk6 is cheaper to build (simpler rear suspension, for example) but not a compromise on "quality".
Hmmm.
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I have a customer who has had Golfs from the late 70's until last year, but after the last 5 years and 4 different examples, plus many thousands in repairs, she finally gave in and by chance got a Jimny, 9 years old with mega mileage - its been great and on the strength of that, they recently bought a low mileage 4 year old example to compliment the old smoker.
It cannot be said she didnt give VW a chance but she said that each generation was worse than the one before and her 02 TDi 110 finally broke her - she said today that she would never buy another VW, ever.
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I thought that my '54 plate 1.6FSI MK5 Golf was terrific. It was bought as new in Dec 54 and I thought that it was a revelation compared with two previously owned new Rovers i.e a 214SLI and 414.
I kept it until late last year when I p/x it for the new MK6 1.4 TSI which is so much quieter and classier than its predecessor.
Maybe soon after buying mine in 2004, the later models, with their allegedly upgraded/tarted up interiors, were not so good.
A friend of mine bought a new Jetta about 2 years ago, now and when I sat in that I was amazed how tacky some aspects of the interior looked compared with my then Mk5 Golf - admittedly the interior of my MK5 was a bit grey but I liked it but the interior of the Mk6 is a world of difference apart.
However, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess. It's a matter of expectations, isn't it? I sat in the MK5 many times before ordering mine and so was familiar with the interior and the quality of the materials used and I thought that, bar some plastics, the interior felt very solid but I did get some annoying buzzes and rattles which I painstakingly sorted out myself.
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admittedly the interior of my MK5 was a bit grey but I liked it but the interior of the Mk6 is a world of difference apart.
Apart from the trim on the inside of the B-trim which is identical on both, and having been designed for the Mk5 doesn't line up with the trim on the Mk6. How VW could skimp on such a simple piece of trim when they heavily facelifted the shell of the Mk5 to make the Mk 6 is beyond me. I know they wanted to save money, but really ...
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>>..... I think they went on a cost saving mission shortly afterwards (55 plate>)
>> >> Didnt VW bring out the Mk6 as a cost saving measure as the MkVwas >> too expensive to produce? Seems like the cost cutting started a long time before the replacement model.
Yes, my new Golf MK6 was quite a bit more expensive when I ordered it almost a year ago now (how time flies by). Little did I realise last Feb. that I wouldn't actually take delivery until August last year.
When I visited the VW website a few weeks ago and configured my MK6 again, after two price rises plus the VAT increase, it worked out to be £30 short of £20k and this for a medium sized hatchback with a few optional extras. You even have to pay over £400 pounds to have a steering wheel with controls that include those for the car's audio system!!!
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Have you priced up a decent spec. Focus lately?
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Have you priced up a decent spec. Focus lately?
No but they've gone up a lot in price lately I believe. I have to hire a lot of Focus Zetecs for work and can't believe how tacky and low rent the interiors on them are compared with Golf (Mk VI or V) or my Octy. Truly horrible IMHO.
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My wife has a 57 reg Golf TDI 105. Not one single thing has gone wrong with it in the 2 years we have had it.
Her previous cars were a Focus, Citroen ZX, Escort(rot box special D reg) and a Golf 2. All these cars had small problems, except the Focus which had many problems.
I've also got a 9 year old Passat, the only repair was to the drivers electric window. It's even on it's original battery.
VWs have been the most reliable cars I have owned in 44 years driving.
PS. If you want a low rent interior get a Hyundai I10, my mate has bought one on scrappage, horrible.
PPS. I don't like Lidl much either.
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I too have heard that the newer Golf's are not up to the usual standard.
I wouldnt touch one with a bargepole now. The recent tv advert makes me laugh. If my car sounded like a Golf, it'd be straight in the Auto Trader!!! lol
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Maybe the Mk 4 was the pinnacle of VW quality interiors. My Bora 130 TDI Highline is coming up for 6 years old and is in superb condition. The interior, apart from a slightly "baggy" leather drivers seat is like new. No rattles or squeaks, the doors have that solid feeling and the controls operate with a quality feel.
I noticed this when comparing the electric window switches with my daughters Suzuki Swift. I know that there is a difference in price but you can see and feel the better quality of the VW.
I had cause once to hire a Golf MK 5 and I much preferred the interior on mine.
It also the little things like the boot carpet quality with bound edges, the chrome metal interior door levers, the gas strut self supporting bonnet.
I could go on but then you might get bored.
Goes like stink and does 56 mpg on a run with no trouble.
Great car.
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We've had a Golf MK4, a few intervening cars and now a MK6. We test drove the MK5 in 2005 then again in 2007 and bought a Focus then a Civic respectively, mainly down to the perceived quality of the car for the asking price. Then 2 months ago we bought a MK6, the interior is much improved IMHO (so hopefully no rattles) - much more like the MK4. The price (in Dec '09) also appeared reasonable to me when compared to a Focus (who's list prices have reached preposterous levels I'd suggest).
If you want to experience rattles, get an FK3 Civic, the harsh ride quality will loosen the cheaper plastic fittings in a few thousand miles, and don't expect the dealers to fix it either.
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I agree that they really dropped the ball with the mk5. We also had a Mk4 which was a level above all of its rivals at the time. A drive in the Mk5 almost put us off VAG products (but I also have an A6 which has been excellent). I borrowed a Mk6 GTI last year and they have really improved it, but it was far too expensive. The handling was also excellent - close to the Mk2 GTI I had in the early 1990s.
Steven Quas
Hamburg
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