VW Reliability and Customer Service…

[Mote365]

How do you find your vehicle? Is the build quality and reliability what you thought you’d get from a VW?

I’ve had two now, a Scirocco (with DSG) and a T6. Both have been what I think are poor when considering reliability (and consider I’ve had LR series/defenders for years (1968 to 09 models) ! So I’m used to reliability issues )

Scirocco:
DSG gearbox exploded (bearing exploded) at 60K requiring new gearbox. Also rust under bonnet lip, and a range of minor issues. But loved the car overall.

T6
Injector fail (needed recovery), dashboard rattles, fuses blowing, leisure battery failure (factory), seatbelt covers and receiver plastics falling apart, mirrors that fold up if they feel like, warning light issues (Ad Blue freak out requiring reset), wheel bearing noise, constant sliding door lock issues and failures, and the big one… slave cylinder failed, fluid over clutch, and when charging clutch finding the dual mass flywheel worn beyond spec all at 21,000 miles!

A year out of warranty and VW want nothing to do with it, won’t even have a conversation, just emails to say tough in so many words…!

I’ve been quite shocked by it all to be honest, but many I know in the trade are saying, not unheard of…

So what about you guys? How are your vehicles and experience of VW aftercare dealer and beyond…

 

[Crazymind]

T5-T6-T6.1 I had them all and reliability is average. They should be better considering their tag price. However there is no other van I would drive. None of the alternatives have that car like feeling and none have all the options you can get on the Transporter.
All manufacturers can’t offer anymore the reliability of their late 80’s, middle 90’s cars. Too many restrictions to comply with, a lot of sensor and electronics. Definitely I see difficult to drive a modern Vw for 100k miles with no issues.

 

[Insert Coin]

Buy Korean or Japanese if you want reliability.

German brands are not what they used to be.

 

[Rfkdemon]

I bought a new Transporter and Golf R back in 2019, only new cars I have ever bought and never would again.

Customer service from VW is appalling, their attitude is disgusting. 3 years of solid warranty issues with involved endless fruitless trips to the dealership and eventually I had to tell them I wasn't having it back until it was fixed. I complained after not having my van for over 7 months, they didn't fix the issue and all Stratford VW did was ban me from the dealership rather than apologising or fixing it.

Apart from my classic cars I have only ever owned VW's for almost 20 years and after the experience from Stratford VW I won't buy another.

The new Transporter coming out is likely to ruin VW's reputation further with it being a Ford so not looking good.

Mat

 

[DXX]

The new Transporter coming out is likely to ruin VW's reputation further with it being a Ford so not looking good.

Not sure how VWs customer service can be ruined further but I must say that one of the most reliable cars I ever owned was a Ford.

 

[Captain Quick]

This is my second new VW and sadly I'm not too encouraged by what I read on the Forum in the way of customer experience. Having driven 100k miles in various Hondas (Accord, Civic and CR-V) over the years, I just wish Honda made commercial vehicles. Even with all the emissions control add-ons, they're remarkably well-engineered and reliable, and are supported by responsive dealers that actually seem to care about their customers.

Frankly, I just can't see how VW will be able to justify a premium for their medium van replacement which will after all, be a badge-engineered Ford. A pig wearing lipstick and make-up is still a pig.

 

[Insert Coin]

Not sure how VWs customer service can be ruined further but I must say that one of the most reliable cars I ever owned was a Ford.

My wife’s Smax was the most reliable and almost the least depreciating vehicle too.

 

[Mote365]

Not just me imagining things then it’s such a shame VW are where they are now. I don’t think I’ll by another to be honest, and it was the lack of customer care that’s pushed me to that really. The responses to my issues have been depressing, just ‘tough’ really in as many words. So that’s it for me I think. As a posted said above, try Japanese, shame there’s not a good looking van from them… maybe time to save up for a new Land Cruiser instead and jack the van thing in…

 

[Chrispyduck]

In my opinion the most unreliable vehicle I've ever owned. Can't get in it without the dread of seeing that EML coming on again.

 

[Rfkdemon]

In my opinion the most unreliable vehicle I've ever owned. Can't get in it without the dread of seeing that EML coming on again.

This is true but also ironic considering nothing much has changed on the transporter design since the T5 now so how hard is it to fix the leaky side window design?

Truth is VW are lazy because they know people keep buying them, me being one until my latest customer service fiasco.

Mat

 

[Mote365]

In my opinion the most unreliable vehicle I've ever owned. Can't get in it without the dread of seeing that EML coming on again.

Yeah, I’m thinking the same, and also as Rkfdemon says, they’re lazy. If people keep buying them telling themselves they’re great vans they’ll keep being lazy. I’ll be moving on, had my fill of VW…

Though I did manage to squeeze some cash out of them in the end but it took months and many emails and calls. It’s nowhere near making up for the issue but it was something…

I just now feel as if it’s fragile and I’m waiting for the next issue as I’m driving it.

Busy saving up for something better now… it’ll take a while.

I just hope some read these threads, checkout the appaling rating on Trustpilot for VW customer service, and think carefully before parting with their cash. VW are not what they once were…

 

[Crazymind]

Just dealing with my first issue with t6.1. Sos emergency: call Workshop!

I called the garage and the next available spot is January 25th, 2024.

Great service

 

[Mote365]

Just dealing with my first issue with t6.1. Sos emergency: call Workshop!

I called the garage and the next available spot is January 25th, 2024.

Great service

No way! Really?

 

[Garv]

Just dealing with my first issue with t6.1. Sos emergency: call Workshop!

I called the garage and the next available spot is January 25th, 2024.

Great service

Wow that’s shocking just had mine in for first service flagged up the SOS flashing so went back they blamed the aftermarket digi dash not being coded to the vehicle, something a main dealer can’t do… I think there is just a lack of training and a certain amount of can’t be arsedery…!
Seems to be a lack of after care service with everything you buy nowadays they take your hard earned cash and then don’t want to know when inevitably sometimes their are issues, to me 50 % of a purchase is the aftercare.
Persuades me to never give them my hard earned cash again,…. And try another supplier
Short sited sales policy IMO

 

[Rfkdemon]

Just dealing with my first issue with t6.1. Sos emergency: call Workshop!

I called the garage and the next available spot is January 25th, 2024.

Great service

I feel your pain here. I had a similar wait time when the heater resistor failed in the first winter of ownership.....they would only replace it under warranty if the van came into the workshop to 'diagnose' but they were booked up for 4 months. I explained I was quite happy to fit it myself but said I had to pay for it if that was the case.

Needless to say I wasn't driving the van in sub zero temps for 4 months so swapped it myself, then back again before their 'investigation'.

Mat

 

[Crazymind]

This fault will not stop me from using the van but For sure my Love for my transporter is on a descendent incline… T5 was my Love, T6 I liked it, T6.1 moves me around. You know something is broken when you park your van and do not look back nor you are bothered to wash it anymore…

 

[Vanderlust]

Absolutely agree with the above posts. The slogan “ If only everything in life was as reliable as a Volkswagen “. Ceased to apply a long time ago. The build/component quality is now driven down to a level set purely by the economics of profit. The poor build quality is evident by the numerous warranty issues, and plain to see when you access normally unseen parts of the van. I fitted Kiravans door storage units to both sliding doors and when I removed the original door cards, the sound deadening foam block clearly shaped to neatly fit in the middle space in the door frame looked like the assembler has stood 6 ft away and thrown it at the door. It was laughable wished I had taken a pic before I replaced it. ( both doors the same). Not a major issue but indicative of the level of care, I will get to the major issue.
Warranty faults with my van include leaking sliding door window, faulty near side door module, egr fault ,v belt tensioner, numerous spurious adblue warnings and the best the van left the factory with a heating system that couldn’t possibly work. Took delivery of my shiny new T6 Kombi lwb highline 204 ps dog 4motion in April and in the first week could see the heating system wasn’t working. When you turned up the fan speed it made the right noises but there was hardly any output from any vent. Also when driving could feel cold air coming into the front from around the bottom of the dash. At the second attempt my dealer found the fault , you will love this, my RHD t6 had been fitted with a LHD sound deadening panel across the engine bulkhead. Result no hole on the left to allow air into the heater unit and a hole on the right feeding raw air into the cab.
To fix this my two week old van had everything between the back of the engine and the front seats removed the correct panel fitted and reassembled. Kept my cool with the dealer they hadn’t built the thing but complained to VW commercial vehicle UK hq. The first person I spoke to made sympathetic noises and said they would investigate. The investigation went as far as their line manager who called back 2 days later saying ( I am parodying a bit) but as the defect had been caused by a big bad robot which had then run away it wasn’t really VW,s fault so here’s a few quid off your next service matter closed.
This excuse was total BS. I have done the Transporter factory tour at Hanover and the panel was fitted by an assembler who didn’t read the big display screen in front of them ( or the paper backup fixed to the front of the van). Bad enough but the absolute muppet who fitted the heater unit could not have failed to see the issue but fitted it anyway!!!
Clearly the factory is happy to churn out defective vehicles that the dealers will have to fix. From a discussion with a service manager VW know full well that the brand loyalty they enjoyed years ago is long gone, customers don’t come back once the warranty is finished and think the answer is to keep customers tied to them with extended warranty / servicing deals.
Instead of preying on the customers fear of a large bill why not build them better in the first place, or if you can’t do that at least stop treating us like muppets with pockets to empty of cash at every opportunity and provide some actual customer service. A shiny showroom with free coffee doesn’t cut it especially when you have wait weeks to use it.
I could go on.... I had previously owned a late 1990,s VW Passat estate, great car solid reliable drove well and I ( now realise naively) thought my shiny new T 6 would be the same.

 

[Mote365]

One of the posts above resonated, I used to look back at the van when walking away, proud to own one—not into the whole lifestyle of these things—but liked the van (apart from its insanely light steering) and it’s look, especially with the lowered suspension.

Now, I lock and walk away. The badge/brand has no value any more, and it’s just a vehicle, nothing more.

We really need to stop spending on these sub-par products and so called customer service. The issue is, what are the options? Customer service, as has been mentioned above, is poor pretty much across the board these days. It’s seen as a cost by brands, rather than an element of the brand experience and a marketing spend to keep customers on board and spending.

Nothing will change until we reject that model… but again, what are the options?

Main dealers are a shall we say difficult, products are built to a lower standard, and the brands just don’t seem to care about the customer.

What’s crazy is I had old cars for years and they had issues but they were more reliable than modern vehicles overall, and even when not running right would usually get me home. Yes they were far less complicated… I miss less complicated…

 

[t0mb0]

I'm probably dooming myself to some hideous issue by even saying this but.....our 2016 vintage T6 has been utterly reliable, no issues of any kind.

Having said that, I think modern ICE, and especially diesel, vehicles are just incredibly complex and inherently fragile technology. I think once electric vehicles are a totally mature technology, the inherent simplicity and vast reduction in parts should lead to hugely increased reliability. I say 'should' deliberately here, no doubt manufacturers will find a way of making them fragile to save a few manufacturing pennies...

 

[DXX]

I think once electric vehicles are a totally mature technology, the inherent simplicity and vast reduction in parts should lead to hugely increased reliability

If they are designed with redundancy and with the correct materials.
My experience in an industry that switched from ‘bulletproof’ hydraulic drives to electric drives was that the technology was so expensive there were many design flaws caused by the need (greed) to reduce manufacturing cost. This resulted in large maintenance costs / downtime after the initial ‘honeymoon’ period.