Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

What the hell possessed me to buy a car that has zero room to do anything in the damn engine bay?

CTS needs replacing - took me two mins in my old car. TWO BLOODY HOURS with this damn thing.

Starting with removing the front bumper.. I guess it was fortunate a bulb had decided to blow as you have to take the bumper off to replace any of them.

Then you need to move the front bumper bar into the service position just to be able to get yer damn hand to the CTS and somehow lever the retaining clip off.. which promptly disappears into the engine somewhere. On a V6, 10 minutes hunting around for where a piece of black plastic had dropped into a dark engine bay.

Replacement notes "remove CTS and have replacement ready to swap in to minimise amount of coolant lost." Yeah right. Except you barely have enough room to fit one hand in, never mind have the replacement CTS ready.

Of course you rush the job and miss, and coolant is peeing out all over the drive and then you realise that you have no anti-freeze spare and you can't get to the Car Bar as your car is now off the road.

ABS sensor has gone - that really IS a two minute job (ish) except Euro Car Parts sent the nearside one not the offside like I asked....

and now the indicators have stopped working. That requires a new arm and THAT requires removing the steering wheel...

<sigh>

AllanB

Ah if only everything in life was as reliable as a Volkswagen..

On a serious note my ex had a number of Golfs as company cars and the cost of service was a total joke. Made my Scoob seem cheap. Labour rate of £120 per hour and car still drove like a tank cross with a jelly. Shge then got the next one MK5 I think which was better but still crazy servicing costs.

Both boriing as hell to drive so we used to mainly use her Punto Sporting to avoid falling asleep at the wheel.


My mates Audi has been a nightmare for him, he's used about half his holiday on it this year. He's had lots of sensors fail, sparkplug thread stripped on head, gearbox failure, loads of stuff.

Still waiting for my first failure on the Impreza after 8 years and the only problem was the MAF sensor which was an easy 20 mins £80 fix.


AllanB

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

I hate you. I just thought that needed saying.

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Could be worse, you could own a peugeot well actually they are quite easy to work on, and the parts are considerably cheaper

Tony

Dan W

I have to defend peugot - i got a 106 as a run around. I picked it up for 300 quid and so far got 27k miles out of it.

Cheap and cheerful - so simple there hardly anything on it that can go wrong.

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

Turns out my indicators were faulty due to the hazard relay which is built into the switch.

For God knows what reason, I had the sense to pick up a hazard switch just in case... It's half the price of an indicator arm (which can go back tomorrow) and took 2 mins to fit. (as opposed to taking the steering wheel off!)

So I hate it slightly less now.

hodgy0_2

banganomics -- love it, they way to go

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

Got to admit, now I use my bike for commuting I'm tempting to get a banger and use that when necessary

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

One thing I've learnt about modern VWs since owning one:

Electronically, they are stupendously over-complicated for no real reason.

I replaced the side lamps with LED ones, what does it do? Yup, Flash up bulb failure warning on the dash. Fine. But then, because it thinks the bulbs have blown, it turns off the power to the side lamps with the LEDs fitted! Just what is the point of that? I had to wire in a dummy load to make it think normal bulbs were fitted.

Then there is the electric steering. Some say its re-programmable, some say not. Some dealers say it can be done, but then their workshop guy looks at you like your mad, as he's never heard of such a thing.

I fit a new radio because the original is, well, pants. Get the adapters so its a straight swap. But oh hang on; there's two aerial connectors. TWO?!?! Something to do with the "diversity" system (errrm, okeyy). Find one that works, wire in booster, then find there is no switched live to turn the radio on/off with the ignition. Its done via CAN bus. Great, I'll have to tap off the ignition somewhere else. Obvious is the cigar lighter. Nope, thats switched by the BCM, and only turns off when the car is locked, and turns back on when unlocked. So no good using that.

To make matters more fun, when trying to find a suitable circuit to tap into, VW in their infinite wisdom don't bother to label half the fuses in the fuse-box (thats a trick Jaguar used to do in the 80's ).

I "could" buy a CAN bus interface, but thats £50. Maybe if I had remote control on the steering it would be worth it, however I don't (I guess the previous owner cheaped-out after paying the extra £1K for the bucket seats). But I could add the steering remote myself, but I can't just buy it and plug it in, noooo. I have to reprogram the ECU to enable it.

Then there is the windows, driver's window goes down on one press, and up on one press. Passenger goes down; won't go back up with one press, I have to hold the switch -oh come on! It already has torque sensing which winds the window back down should someone inadvertently jams a 3yr old's head in the window whilst closing it. So why remove the convenience of one touch closing on just the one window?

Then there is the automatic headlamps; which I can't turn off. No, I have to take it to the dealer to change the settings. Why?

I tell you something, the only pointless item this car is missing is a bright button.

(good car though )

mattbeef

with regards to the passenger you might just have to reset it like i have to in my Octavia it seams daily


Wind the window all the way down and then back up. When the window is up let go of the switch and then pull the window back up, you should now hear a little click from the swith and it should be reset if its the same as the MK4's

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

Matt - that might just help me so cheers (mine has stopped going all the way up on the drivers side in the last week)

Well, I changed the ABS sensor last night, it was a right mess so definitely needed doing and the light now goes out on startup.

That's the good news - it now comes on after about 10 miles so I suspect it is the wheel it uses as it did look to be in a state. Now I need to see if it easily replaceable or part of the hub. Knowing VW it'll be part of the hub

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

Further research shows it is the rotor, as it's meant to be a fixed 3mm gap all the way 'round and I swear there's a kink in the thing that looks just like someone used it as a lever to get the brake disc off!

IanW

K do you REALLY want me to remind you about your old car?

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

don't mention the Calibra. Just. Don't. Mention. The. Calibra.



3 engines.... 3 bloody engines.... and only one was my fault.

tanyatriangles

iTrader: (2)

Just to reiterate, then: "If only all things in life were as reliable as a Volkswagen"

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Reliable?

It seems my automatic wipers can't decide if its raining or not.

I'll try that trick with the windows though, Matt. Cheers

MooseRacer

That's my only gripe with my mk5 golf - the fecking automatic wipers. Unless the windscreen is spotless inside and out then they're sh1te.

Dont know why you cant turn off your automatic lights? Mine have off, auto, sidelights and mainbeam settings

webby v7 slipperwagon

iTrader: (2)

Aaagh the good old days of a MK2 16V on throttle bodies. Simple, un-complicated and still on the road. You really cant beat a MK2 especially with a 20VT or 16VT conversion

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

This is the weird thing: The Seat Altea has the same automatic wiper/lights system.

Yet the auto wipers work perfectly, plus the automatic light settings can be adjusted in the options menu on multi-function display. Can also adjust the darkness sensitivity.

The problem with the lights on my Golf is the "coming/leaving home" courtesy headlamps. Mine are turned on, and I have no way to turn it off without going to the dealer (which I've dne once and said they had, but it turns out they hadn't ).

The Altea's auto lights can be overridden by just simply turning the headlamp switch from "auto" to "off" where the lights wil remain permanently off. The Golf doesn't do this, doesn't matter how the switch is set the headlamps still turn on when locking/unlocking.

Its no big deal; just a useless feature; especially when I'm constantly going to and from the car most of the day to put stuff in/out (seems the sensor is a little oversensitive too as they turn on during a dismal day). Its just needless wear and tear on the Xenons (and I know how much new ballasts cost ) and also drain on the battery. Plus when its dark, I dazzle oncoming drivers as my car is usually parked outside the office opposing the traffic.

Its all silly things, but if a car manufacturer is going to implement a non-essential feature, at least give the driver full control over it...like a bright button

austinwrx

few years ago we bought a 6 mth old mark 4 golf.

from vw.

35 times that car went back to vw with problems in 18 mths. eventually traded it for a saab cab- lovely car.

I have been a massive vw nut in the past- beetles, campers, polos, golfs, passats etc.

would have a T4 or T5 transporter tomorrow though as I think as a comercial vehicle better built. did have a T4 for some years- no probs.

but have no desire to touch audis or vws again. or the dealerships.

my impreza has been faultless in 13 mths of ownership.

think next car will be a legacy.

BOB.T

All four of my Focus windows are one touch up and down plus if I want to have my 'see you home' headlights on I just flash the headlight switch and on they go for thirty seconds