Oh what a great car, I thought German engineering, great engine, nice 'n speedy! up- up until 30k miles! Let's see- the linkage cable has broken,3 of the 4 windows have fallen and shattered inside the doors (completely normal according to a VA VW dealer), vaccuum hoses completly rotted, protective undercover is in the truck (but I blame that on hubby's attempt at off-roading), oil light comes on if you take a turn too fast (oil shifting due to perpetual motion, says the dealer), scariest noise you've ever heard when shifting from N to 1, light behind the defroster button hasn't worked since month 6 (can't be fixed says dealer), and burns 1 quart of oil for every 1k miles drive (again, completely normal according to the dealer). I've been to 4 dealerships now and I get different stories every time. Has anyone else had these problems? The only recall notice we have is for a child seatbelt thing. It all sounds like BS to me... TIA! ~c
windows are "normal" there was a supplier defect - we've all been thru it - those of us with older A4 VW's.
hoses are not normal - i've seen enough VW engine bays with more than 30K Miles to know that they shouldn't rot
oil light is not normal, how often do you change your oil (miles and months... if you have only had the car 30K miles but it's a 2001, you only NEEDED to change the oil 3 times going purely by mileage - when really it should have been done 2-3 times per year - especially when newer, maybe 3-4 times the first year)
oil burning - they did something to the 2,0L gas engine, for some reason it burns oil now, apparantly the rings need to seat properly in break in period.
Tranny noise - sounds like human abuse to me, not to insult you but some people who drive standard never quite get it.
Light for defroster - your dealer is lazy, or you have pesterd him far too much, it's good to be on good terms with the service technician, and not bitch to him (not trying to accuse you of this, these are generalizations gathered from people I know, who worked with auto mechanics)... I always like to ask how I would do it myself, my service tech will then usually come out to my car and show me (they don't like tiny jobs like light bulbs coming in the shop, it takes like 2 mins, but the car is in the shop a good 30+, wasting their time, while they could be doing a longer project)
If you bought a VW for years and years of trouble free service and thought that you'd never have to maintain it by the book or much preferably, better then the book (as opposed to going for service only when something goes wrong), then you may have bought the wrong car. It's always good to bring the car in when it's running just fine - so it stays that way, I wouldn't even know what the MIL light looks like on my car if it didn't come on when I put the key to accessory mode.
VW's love attention, but I don't find them to be too bad, if you maintain them as per your service technicians recommendations (they differ from the book occasionally, but my dealer tech hasn't steered me wrong yet) then they will last quite long. The only "problem" I can excpect you to have after the hoses and oil lights and bulbs are sorted out is that oil burning - they did SOMETHING to that 2.0 motor, my dad is equally worried about that (it's getting much better since it's been breaking in tho - only 8000kms so far).
Since the car should have still been under warranty for most of that stuff, why are complaining about it here, instead of having the dealer fix it? And that doesnt even sound a like a VW, it sounds like you run it low on oil, and have done 0 maintenance on it, and of course do absolutely nothing to take care of it.
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