VW Caddy AGAIN FFS

[DP]

Today took the van to Audi repair Center. Guy shakes his head and says little hope of replacing front wings that have paint blistering despite VW saying van has 12 year anti perforations. They are going to write to VW but will see what comes out of it. Way I see it is, 12 year mean# 12 year ( guy thought it was 5 year)

And then today the ignition would not turn in the ignition

Am getting a little sick of this German built car. Have spent loads on it and it has only clocked 96k.

 

[Burnerman]

Hmmm bit of crap luck here - VW will now claim the wings aren't actually perforated, but they are surely close and they'll try to fob you off somehow.
Still, you know the saying 'shy bairns get nae chocolate' so the more you push, the better the chance.
I haven't done a Caddy lock but I have done an A3 which was bloody awful - airbag off, shrouds away and the lock is shear bolted into place.....I'd leave that one to someone who has done it before.
I'm sure you have had better days!
John

 

[DP]

Gem advice. Thank you

 

[securespark]

Bummer.

I remember a Citroen I bought not long before showing the famous (DAFUQ???) STOP light. I stopped literally immediately and rang the dealer.

"Don't worry, drive it home and bring it here first thing..."

Next morning about 20 miles later, they said "Oh, your pads are worn down to the metal and the discs are fubarred...it'll be ££££'s.

Cue a discussion about how I bought the car 2 months prior at around 7K miles (the mileage when the light came on was 12K).

They argued it was "fair wear and tear"!!

I argued with them that the warning system was completely pointless, as it warned me too late, AFTER the pads had worn down and f'd the discs.

Despite a massive argument in the showroom in front of other customers, they did not relent, so I rang Head Office and they agreed they would pay for the discs and labour, and I would pay for the pads.

 

[securespark]

Moral of the story, you have to stand your ground and argue your case. You have nothing to lose but maybe something to gain. And if you don't get what you want, do what my friend did with a Nissan pickup that had a duff gearbox. It was less than a year old but had 80K on the clock and they were arguing FWAT.
He left it parked outside the dealer for several days with an A board on the roof advertising the issue,
''Nissan Are Rubbish. 10 Month Old Truck, Gearbox Gone, Will Not Fix, DO NOT BUY!!''

The garage phoned the police who told them that as long as the vehicle was parked legally and was road legal, and the sign was not deemed to be offensive, there was nothing they could do.

Within a week, the pick up was fixed.

 

[chainsaw_masochist]

It was less than a year old but had 80K on the clock and they were arguing FWAT.

Fair dues to your mate for achieving a satisfactory outcome but 80,000 miles in one year sounds collossal...that's 1,600 miles per week. I would have thought that the gearbox should have been subject to at least one oil change as part of the warranty agreement. Was this ever discussed?

 

[securespark]

I guess so. The vehicle was main-dealer serviced every time, so they knew the miles it was covering. I'm sure the truck was covered by a 100K mile warranty, too.

 

[DP]

Does anyone have any advice on how I move forward with ignition barrel replacement. My mechanic says 5 week delay to get barrel from Germany. He is sourcing it from VW dealership.

German build quality my Rrrs

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

All cars have their problems, VW amongst them.

 

[Burnerman]

5 weeks seems one hell of a delay.....it could be possible to remove the clamped lock from the steering column (if that's the bit that's giving the problems) and use the key part to at least allow the van to start. The complete item is in three parts, I recall.....the ignition barrel, the lock itself and the electrical connection at the bottom. Getting the barrel out was the easy bit!
John

 

[mointainwalker]

All cars have their problems, VW amongst them.

If you consider the number of systemic problems suffered by VW Group cars over the last 20 years- starting with the massive coil-on-plug failures, passing through the dual-mass flywheel, diesel manipulation and their very weak 3 cylinder engines which wear out very quickly - I think that's a huge understatement, Freddy.

 

[securespark]

I think it is a high number of design faults considering how many miles prototypes spend in pre production testing. You're not telling me none of these issues come up?
I'm cynical, but after dieselgate, I reckon these designs get signed off for production and the chiefs know full well they're flawed.

 

[Burnerman]

You could almost be talking about the one litre Ford Eco boost motor here
John

 

[mointainwalker]

I think it is a high number of design faults considering how many miles prototypes spend in pre production testing. You're not telling me none of these issues come up?
I'm cynical, but after dieselgate, I reckon these designs get signed off for production and the chiefs know full well they're flawed.

Yes, this is something that has puzzled me for a long time. These problems must become evident, yet they still go into production . My only ( speculative ) answer is that the old phrase - après moi le déluge - has become true, and that now even the motor industry bosses are only concerned with what happens when they are in charge and when it's pension-time ..... Whay hay ( Is that how you spell it John, even though you are on the other side - geographically speaking - ? )

This may , however, be in the process of being disproved as the Americans have issued a warrant for the arrest of Martin Winterkorn, retired CEO of VW Group, who is now not spending much time outside his Munich villa, and certainly not outside Germany.

 

[securespark]

You could almost be talking about the one litre Ford Eco boost motor here

Is that equally flawed?
Or is it related to VAG's 1.0 TSI unit?