Volkswagen not so reliable?

Solus

Solus

Solus

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5 Oct 2006
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Location
Cardiff
Volkswagen have always been known for reliability, well, in my mind they have.

But reading latest statistics I'm having second thoughts about making my purchase of a 13 plate Vw touran a reality.

I'm slightly more tempted now, by the toyota verso, though this is not my car of choice. Purely due to the verso 12 plate still having 1 year 7 months warranty remaining and also the reliability of Japanese cars.

Anyone have any light to shed? The toyota dealer also stated that the warranty can then be extended by £230 per year, but I've had no information from Vw.
 
Love a good warranty, my Toyota has been in over 10 times within 18 months (brand new car) for warranty work, still have a few bits to be replaced (rust, unusual wear) but trying to get this sorted with a dealer is a nightmare.
 
VW being reliable is just a myth. Go have a look at any stats in the last decade and you'll see they're not really any better than Ford.
 
Steeps said:
Love a good warranty, my Toyota has been in over 10 times within 18 months (brand new car) for warranty work, still have a few bits to be replaced (rust, unusual wear) but trying to get this sorted with a dealer is a nightmare.
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Ha ha ha. That puts me right off a Toyota then. In the garage every 6 weeks, and rusty within a year and a half. Sounds utterly reliable then. So long as you don't actually need a car.

Mr_Sukebe said:
VW being reliable is just a myth. Go have a look at any stats in the last decade and you'll see they're not really any better than Ford.
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Yeah, they aren't really much better than any other car in all honesty. What is FAR more important now, with any new car, is the quality of your dealer and the warranty.

Things go wrong. Fact of life. How it's dealt with makes all the difference.
 
xs2man said:
Ha ha ha. That puts me right off a Toyota then. In the garage every 6 weeks, and rusty within a year and a half. Sounds utterly reliable then. So long as you don't actually need a car.



Yeah, they aren't really much better than any other car in all honesty. What is FAR more important now, with any new car, is the quality of your dealer and the warranty.

Things go wrong. Fact of life. How it's dealt with makes all the difference.
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Would it be silly of me to consider a Renault grand scenic 2012+ then? They have 4 year warranties.
 
So will only have one year warranty left? Why not get a Kia something or other? 7 year warranty on them? Or Vauxhall? Lifetime warranty.

Personally, I'd avoid anything French at all. Not that I've had bad experiences with french motors (had several Peugeot's in the past), but I no longer like anything they put out there.

Google your local VW dealership, see if they have any bad press. Touran is a nice enough motor to be considering. So I wouldn't rule them out. Ask about extending warranties. That's one of the best things about driving a BMW, the peace of mind of the comprehensive warranty, that you can apply to the car for your entire ownership.
 
Looking for a 7 seater mpv that has 3 full seats in the middle with all 3 isofix.

Not a lot that fits that category other than French cars.

There's the kia carens, but they're like gold dust used. The vauxhall Zafira tourer has 3 full seats, but out of my price range as the tourer is new, the original Zafira has a rubbish sized middle seat.

Edit: I just checked details of the lifetime vauxhall warranty and they stopped supplying cars with this January 2015.
 
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This comes back to the whole perceived quality thing vs actual quality. Joe Average doesn't really understand the mechanical and electronic engineering that goes into a car so they can only base their judgement of quality on what they see and touch. VW make completely average normal cars, which are no better engineered than other average normal cars - fords, vauxhalls, toyotas etc. But VW spend a bit more on nicer switchgear etc to make it feel like a premium product, then charge a lot more for the privilege. This leads the average buyer to believe they're owning a really premium product. In reality it's rare for any new car to go seriously wrong in the first few years, obviously there are some exceptions but buying a new one every 3 years on PCP and saying they never go wrong isn't exactly an accurate way of judging reliability.

Someone on here compared them to Apple, which is an analogy I quite like. A completely capable but average platform with some exterior bells and whistles to lead people to think the products are more premium than they are under the hood.

If the VW is a car you like and is a good deal compared to other cars then there's absolutely nothing wrong with them. But chances are you're looking at spending more than a comparable car from other brands so don't let the fact that the doors make a nice thunk lead you to spending more than you need to
 
Solus said:
Looking for a 7 seater mpv that has 3 full seats in the middle with all 3 isofix.

Not a lot that fits that category other than French cars.

There's the kia carens, but they're like gold dust used. The vauxhall Zafira tourer has 3 full seats, but out of my price range as the tourer is new, the original Zafira has a rubbish sized middle seat.

Edit: I just checked details of the lifetime vauxhall warranty and they stopped supplying cars with this January 2015.
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I have just bought a SEAT Alhambra (the older model admittedly, from 2007) which is basically the same as a VW Sharan or Ford Galaxy really.

As a 7 seater, it really is unbeatable. ISOFIX on all 5 rear seats, which are all the same full size. And all are easily removed, individually should you need to, so you can configure them however suits best.

The SEAT is better specced and a few grand less than the VW equivalent, and is essentially the same.

However, they are quite a bit bigger than a Touran. Which is exactly what I was looking for personally. But maybe your not.
 
Solus said:
Looking for a 7 seater mpv that has 3 full seats in the middle with all 3 isofix.
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Ford S-Max or Galaxy. Job done.


xs2man said:
Personally, I'd avoid anything French at all.
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So would I. Badly made and poor reliability (and before anyone asks, yes I've had first-hand experience of how shoddy fairly new Peugeots and Renaults are!). IMHO they're crap and there's no point in buying anything French unless you really can get a car so ridiculously cheap it'd be silly to pass up.
 
iaind said:
In reality it's rare for any new car to go seriously wrong in the first few years, obviously there are some exceptions but buying a new one every 3 years on PCP and saying they never go wrong isn't exactly an accurate way of judging reliability.
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Bathtub curve, a car is far from its most reliable when new.
 
adam cool dude said:
VW's 1.4 TFSI and 2.0 TFSI engines are enough to put anyone off the brand. I personally wouldn't buy one without a warranty.
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Be careful generalising the 1.4's as the majority of the issues are with the 1.4 twincharged (turbo and supercharged) engine, not the standard Turbo engines.

VW also largely call them all TSI rather than TFSI as well.
 
adam cool dude said:
VW's 1.4 TFSI and 2.0 TFSI engines are enough to put anyone off the brand. I personally wouldn't buy one without a warranty.
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I have no idea on reliability but I have owned both and did not have any issues with both of them. They are both quite nice engines to live with.
 
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The engine in the Vw I am looking at is the 1.6 tdi bluemotion.

I'm glad people have steered me away from the French again, it's so tempting given their price bracket though.

Trouble I'm having is moving from a 2008 astra to a similar aged and mileage S-max for £9000. It's seems a bit steep considering no warranty.

I guess I'm going to have to cough up to have something newer with warranty like the seat or S-max.

The Touran still doesn't tick all of the boxes, neither does the verso. They have what I want, just missing isofix in the middle seat.
 
adam cool dude said:
VW's 1.4 TFSI and 2.0 TFSI engines are enough to put anyone off the brand. I personally wouldn't buy one without a warranty.
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I have a 2.0 TSI engine and it has been fine (yes it's a slightly different engine to the TFSI). My clutch and other build quality, however, isn't. I have owned VW's for years and after the mk4 the build quality has fallen considerably. Yes they look and feel nice but the actual build quality isn't there. I doubt my Golf will last 21 years like my old skool VW in my sig. But I don't think they are any worse than other mainstream brands; they just aren't any better.

Most modern cars are packed with electronics and various systems to manage emissions and improve power or efficiency. They are all additional weak points. The rest of the car is built to a strict budget and only designed to last a few year so that you buy a new one.

This is partly why I prefer older, 90's and 2000 era cars if you can find a good one.
 
Usher said:
When you look at the list of the worlds most reliable cars you see a lot of the more upmarket brands such as BMW, Audi, Saab, Jaguar etc. are right at the bottom :p

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/c/breakdown-cover/most-reliable-cars/
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We have been through this before, the data used puts bias on certain thing, meaning a Bentley which goes wrong once but costs 8k to fix is less reliable than a Fiesta which is in the garage every week but costs 50p to put right.
 
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