Oh yeh! I have a great one. Brought my wife's brand new VW Polo home from the dealer and the first time we wound down the drivers side electric window ...
Oh yeh! I have a great one. Brought my wife's brand new VW Polo home from the dealer and the first time we wound down the drivers side electric window it stuck open to the sound of strangling cable. It spent its first night on my drive with a plastic sheet accross the window.
I have a real problem with the perception of German automotive quality, they may have built better cars in the 70's and 80's but other manufacturers are now up with them (and I include Alfa/FIAT in that). German mass produced cars are heavy, overpriced and unimaginative.
Neighbour came home last night in a rented 308, usually has a Passat TDI on his drive.
"Where's the car?" I asked
"Left it's turbo somewhere on the M6 yesterday so it'll be in a VW garage somewhere" he replied
Neighbour came home last night in a rented 308, usually has a Passat TDI on his drive.
"Where's the car?" I asked
"Left it's turbo somewhere on the M6 yesterday so it'll be in a VW garage somewhere" he replied
Not German, I apologise , but one of the 3 yr-old Accord 2.2.d on our co fleet is now in dock for the 3rd ( yes, THIRD ) week having gone into limp home and wipers failed in heavy rain.
Turbo has gone and Honda is refusing to replace with a new turbo even though on a fully maintained lease through them! They say they are trying to find a used//recon part! And they say Alfa is cr@p!
We are paying rental on a hire car at about £50/day meantime and they won't pay for the rental!
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
Under the hood, you and me are the same (Lightning McQueen)
Ti experience: Weeks -10. Miles -3825. Minor Niggles -0. Major Problems -0. Enjoyment 10/10. MPG (best) -46 (overall) -39.8
When I got home tonight one of my neighbours was out so I went for a chat (as you do) ... anyway turns out that he's just spent £1000 on the service of his VW Passat because of various bits and bobs that were broken ... then one of my other neighbours walked past and it turns out that the water pump has just failed on her focus (although she's still driving it on short journeys!! ) ...
... and yet they still laughed at my Alfa's apparent lack of reliability
yesterday, Waitrose car park, Sunningdale. One VW Polo refusing to start. Dead as a dodo; some dash lights flashing, weird whirring and clicking from the facia/fusebox area. Whose car? My car.
Battery kaput. Sorted by the AA man. In ten years of AA membership, I've called them out to my mum's former Volvo 480 once, and three times to my Polo. Hmm.
yesterday, blackpool prom. under the illuminations and in the gaze of tens of thousands of people and right next to a convoy of 15 alfas - pop goes a bmw 3-series and spills the entire contents of its radiator all over the road amidst a great cloud of steam. what a shame
Me again. Less than 48hrs after the battery fiasco, the car refused to start at lunchtime. The symtoms were much like if you leave it in drive, and try and start it and the safety cut-off comes in. Suspected the inhibitor switch was playing up intermittantly, and the AA man confirmed it. He also taught me how to resolve it should it happen again. A repair that cost nothing - hurrah! :-)
that's the plan mate. And if Fiat ever pick up the phone and return the call that's been placed three times, I might just get it...
I'm not physically buying the car (it's going through a third party) and so it's totally out of my hands. I just wait, and wait and wait... :-( I doubt I'll see it this side of Christmas to be honest. :-(
Be warned though - I'll still be keeping the Polo :-)
The mothers mini rear lights are fogging up. The linkages to the gearbox have to be replaced it drinks oil for some reason and needs a bit of coolant.
And the manager in work TDi golf seems to be killing itself only a year old with 30k miles on it and it seems to be the coolant and oil are mixing for some reason.
Door card fell apart and ended up poking hole in fabric with elbow
Went through 6 litres of oil every 2000 miles
Would not go into 2nd gear easily when cold and sometimes not at all
Boss owned a Golf GTI Mk4 2.0:
Used about 2 litres of oil per 1000 miles which he was told is 'normal manufacturing tolerences'
Engine management light kept coming on for no reason and dealer could not fix - left on all the time in the end
Colleague owned a Golf GT TDI Mk4:
Silver paint kept turning a bluey green, resprayed twice and still happened a 3rd time
Did you hear that VW are making the Golf for even less now something like 4/5k per car depending on the engine and specs some quality in that
My uncle had to send back 5 MKV's before because the chassis's wheren't straight they where brand new needless to say the customers wheren't the happiest.
) week having gone into limp home and wipers failed in heavy rain.
They say they are trying to find a used//recon part! 
and they won't pay for the rental!
Ti experience: Weeks -10. Miles -3825. Minor Niggles -0. Major Problems -0. Enjoyment 10/10. MPG (best) -46 (overall) -39.8
