Ok so we bought a VW Golf back in 2007 - a diesel with the 6 speed double clutch DSG.
We have driven it 52,000 kms in 7 years - urban commuting.
It has been reasonably reliable apart from a electric door lock which had to be replaced for about $800.
We paid $33,000 ish for it.
Anyway, at our last service, the guy said it had a leaking rear main oil seal plus another engine seal. $1500 to repair.
So we found a nice replacement car, thinking that we might exit the problem, and asked for a trade in price. $7,000. I nearly fell off my chair. That is around $4,000 depreciation per year. Is that typical, or does that tell me something about these cars?
So the quandary, throw good money ($1500) after it, or take the massive loss and run?
Oh, and by the way, the DSG was a beautiful smooth thing up until about 10,000 kms, but since then it has become clunkier and noisier with each passing km. The guy says its fine?
Your disappointment is justified. VW seems to be wrecking their reputation here and poor old Joe Consumer has to bear the pain with huge depreciation and repair costs.
Time to move on and get something Japanese. Leave the eurocars and their fragile engineering to those who can afford it.
Usually by 7 years you'd have done the 100,000km service which would have seen the rear main and cam seals replaced. Seals don't last for ever. If you like the car get the full service done early and it will be good for another 7 years.
Select to expand quoteSquid Lips said..
Usually by 7 years you'd have done the 100,000km service which would have seen the rear main and cam seals replaced. Seals don't last for ever. If you like the car get the full service done early and it will be good for another 7 years.
Like the others have said, ditch it and get an Asian one. As for doing rear main and cam seals as a "service item", only VW could dream up that one to extract yet more $ from you. Only ever had a to do a rear main seal once in my life - on a grey motor in my FC Holden. Many of my vehicles have done over 300,000kms and one of them saw a shade over 500,000kms. No rear main, nor any other engine seals in that lot.
Vee Dubs are an over-priced name badge!!
I'm thinking of a new car myself and was talking to a mechanic about what's available.
He advised me to steer clear of golfs, he said the twin clutches do a lot of work and wear out relatively fast. They have special shock absorbing features to take care of the loads induced by the fast changes. They are expensive to replace, and if you go for the cheap generic alternative without the shock absorbing stuff, you'll do an even more expensive transmission shortly thereafter. So I'd agree with selling it privately, hopefully more than the $7k
My VW mechanic told me that modern VWs are required to use biodegradable plastics. He doesn't advise buying newer ones. I took that information with a grain of salt, but the rumour is out there on the web.http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?doc_id=270507
But there are a lot of VWs running about now, you don't hear about the ones that are only moderately expensive to run. I mean if your Corolla had an expensive breakdown you'd be too embarrassed to tell anybody about it, you bought it for its reliability after all. Contrast that to the VW owner, he brags about it. I'm sure the average Golf is more expensive to run than a Corolla but I think the difference is not all that great. Take a chance get it fixed, you're going to have to spend a lot of money to change over to a Toyota.
If you bought it new, go warranty.
Doesn't matter if it has expired, under Aust consumer law it has not lasted as reasonably expected. People need to start using that more
Select to expand quotedinsdale said...Squid Lips said..
Usually by 7 years you'd have done the 100,000km service which would have seen the rear main and cam seals replaced. Seals don't last for ever. If you like the car get the full service done early and it will be good for another 7 years.
Like the others have said, ditch it and get an Asian one. As for doing rear main and cam seals as a "service item", only VW could dream up that one to extract yet more $ from you. Only ever had a to do a rear main seal once in my life - on a grey motor in my FC Holden. Many of my vehicles have done over 300,000kms and one of them saw a shade over 500,000kms. No rear main, nor any other engine seals in that lot.
Vee Dubs are an over-priced name badge!!
Think you'll find its a common thing with modern twin cam engines. They are much more highly tuned than the old briggs & stratton in the FC. I did the 100k service myself in my old 90's 300zx and it included the cam belt, cam belt tensioner pulley, cam seals, water pump, new springs for the variable cam timing, rear main seal and probably other things I'm forgetting. Lucky for me I didn't have to do the rear main as previously when I upgraded the clutch the mechanic suggested replacing it while the box was off.
^^ that's a cop-out by manufacturers. There has been 100kw/litre motors for a long time and you don't have a clutch or main seals crapping themselves in 52K.
Failures like that is a disgrace for a car with so few km on it.
If he did 52K in the first 18months they'd have been covered, but it took him 7yrs to do 52K.
Warranty.
Select to expand quoteSquid Lips said..
Usually by 7 years you'd have done the 100,000km service which would have seen the rear main and cam seals replaced. Seals don't last for ever. If you like the car get the full service done early and it will be good for another 7 years.
That is useful information, thanks.
I had read somewhere that the euro cars cost more to maintain - that would fit with it.
Select to expand quoteMark _australia said..
If you bought it new, go warranty.
Doesn't matter if it has expired, under Aust consumer law it has not lasted as reasonably expected. People need to start using that more
How would you go about that Mark? Contact the ombudsman, or something?
Select to expand quoteSaffer said..
Dump it and move on
At $7K, it feels like its already worthless. I was sort of thinking that we should just spend $1500, drive it, and then if the engine or gearbox goes, just crush it.
I could possible get more privately, but I couldn't come at selling it without fixing it first.
This UK data is produced every year and tells a story about what cars are cheapest after the warranty expires:
www.honestjohn.co.uk:443/news/miscellaneous/2013-07/big-surprises-in-uks-most-accurate-car-reliability-survey/
Honda, Suzuki, Hyundai, Subaru, Toyota filled the top 5 in 2013, in that order.
VW was 21.
Select to expand quoteMarvin said..Mark _australia said..
If you bought it new, go warranty.
Doesn't matter if it has expired, under Aust consumer law it has not lasted as reasonably expected. People need to start using that more
How would you go about that Mark? Contact the ombudsman, or something?
Consumer affairs will enforce it IF they believe it has not lasted etc etc, but you need to have contacted the manufacturer (well, car yard in this case) and have given them a chance to sort it out.
People are successfully getting household goods replaced well out of warranty, and I recently noticed an additonal leaflet included with a vacuum cleaner warranty saying Australian consumers have extra rights etc. I figure by the obvious additional bit of paper just for us in Oz, that company must have had a touch up from authorities for making sh!t product and refusing to fix it.
Select to expand quoteMarvin said..
Ok so we bought a VW Golf back in 2007 - a diesel with the 6 speed double clutch DSG.
We have driven it 52,000 kms in 7 years - urban commuting.
It has been reasonably reliable apart from a electric door lock which had to be replaced for about $800.
We paid $33,000 ish for it.
Anyway, at our last service, the guy said it had a leaking rear main oil seal plus another engine seal. $1500 to repair.
So we found a nice replacement car, thinking that we might exit the problem, and asked for a trade in price. $7,000. I nearly fell off my chair. That is around $4,000 depreciation per year. Is that typical, or does that tell me something about these cars?
So the quandary, throw good money ($1500) after it, or take the massive loss and run?
Oh, and by the way, the DSG was a beautiful smooth thing up until about 10,000 kms, but since then it has become clunkier and noisier with each passing km. The guy says its fine?
As for the trade-in value, that's pretty normal I would say. Low Kms so you should be able to talk them up a bit. Or get it fixed and try to sell it privately. But I would probably put that $7k towards a new (COTY) GTi.
I think you are stuck with this car, replacing it will be very expensive.
If you are going to continue to rack up such low miles on your vehicles you should look into leasing next time you are considering a new car.
Select to expand quoteMarvin said..
Honda, Suzuki, Hyundai, Subaru, Toyota
Japan, Japan, Korea, Japan, Japan. I think I see a pattern there...
Guy at work bought a new Toureg. They're quite pricey I imagine he paid 50k ish. Exactly 7 years later air con gives up, 3k fix (fairly outrageous parts pricing). Fixes that, few months later serious engine damage he described as 'cam wearing out & taking out a valve'. Not something that should happen, full stop. 7k to fix. Now he's spent 10k and due to ridiculous euro depreciation his car is only worth 10k. He's also stuck, either take the hit and sell or keep it forever...
My solution - Hiace.
Precious few problems in life can't be solved by buying a Hiace.
We've decided to keep it, fix it, and hope that it lasts at least 4 more years before the final solution.
Select to expand quoteMark _australia said..Marvin said..Mark _australia said..
If you bought it new, go warranty.
Doesn't matter if it has expired, under Aust consumer law it has not lasted as reasonably expected. People need to start using that more
How would you go about that Mark? Contact the ombudsman, or something?
Consumer affairs will enforce it IF they believe it has not lasted etc etc, but you need to have contacted the manufacturer (well, car yard in this case) and have given them a chance to sort it out.
People are successfully getting household goods replaced well out of warranty, and I recently noticed an additonal leaflet included with a vacuum cleaner warranty saying Australian consumers have extra rights etc. I figure by the obvious additional bit of paper just for us in Oz, that company must have had a touch up from authorities for making sh!t product and refusing to fix it.
My slant, would be challange to have it repaired. In real calculations, this engine hasnt even run a 1000 hours yet, actually around the 940 mark
and its now showing signs of cheep nasty parts inclusion in the orginal build
Gee who would have thought. Those ol Das Autos not so Das afterall
