Defective New Scirocco R

[Nospheratu]

So I managed to snap up one of the last R's before the (confused) facelift arrives... but...



I took delivery of a brand new Scirocco R from Barons Woodmead in South Africa on the 17th of March.

From the second day of ownership the car exhibited a Check Engine Light error. Two months and two opportunities to repair the vehicle later the Check Engine Light is still coming on. Over 500km of testing mileage has been put on a new vehicle by the dealer and they still have no clue what the problem is. VWSA refuses to replace the vehicle since "this cases evidence does not warrant a replacement".

I have wasted time and money and am paying the bank monthly installments for my car to be parked at the dealership while VW thumbsuck and try to fix the vehicle through trial and error. Hope that you dont get a defective vehicle because its an uphill battle with VWSA if you do.

Read the quote below if you want more detail. I'm opening a case with the National Consumer Commission of South Africa and making my experience public where ever I can. Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.

On the second day of ownership (18th March 2014) the Check Engine Light illuminated and I returned the car on the morning of the 19th of March to Barons Woodmead so it could be investigated. I also informed them that I noticed the car was noticeably slower than the car I traded in, a 2010 Scirocco 2.0 TSI. They informed me that the engine needs to be run in and it may be because I haven’t owned a DSG car before. It was at the dealer from the morning until the afternoon and I was told that the fault that was picked up on their VAS machine was a cruise control fault. I was informed the fault was cleared after testing the cruise control and they assured me it was safe to drive.

The car drove fine from Tuesday to Thursday with no Engine Warning Light, apart from feeling underpowered compared to my old Scirocco 2.0 TSI. On Friday morning (21st March 2014) I drove to Durban and the Engine Warning Light came on during the journey. I drove the vehicle carefully for the remaining part of the journey and the following morning (22nd of March 2014) I took the car to McCarthy VW in Umhlanga. Sheryl, the Service manager, assisted me and Pravin, a technician, connected the VAS machine and discovered two intermittent faults. One pertaining to the Air intake system and the other stating Bank1 was running lean. Pravin proceeded to clear the errors and informed me since it was intermittent faults the car was safe to drive back up to Gauteng.

I then proceeded to drive around Durban for the remainder of the day and then back to Pretoria on Sunday (23rd March 2014). The Engine Warning Light did not return after this journey. I however drove the car back to Barons Woodmead on Monday (24th March 2014) to ensure the car was fine to drive as I did not want to damage the car or be accused of negligence. They could not find any faults and said the vehicle was fine. I also voiced my opinion about the vehicle being underpowered and they assured me that it was a placebo effect. The next day (25th March 2014) I drove the vehicle to work and the engine warning light came on the way home.

The following morning (26th March 2014) I went back to Barons Woodmead for them to diagnose the fault. After testing the vehicle from Wednesday to Friday they informed me that it was a fuel sensor fault which would be replaced and the vehicle will be tested afterwards. I picked up the vehicle on the 1st of April 2014 after being assured by Barons Woodmead that the problem has been rectified.

I assumed after the fix the vehicle would perform better and I would notice a difference in performance as opposed to my previous Scirocco 2.0 TSI. The performance remained lacklustre. To confirm this I borrowed my brother’s stock standard Scirocco 2.0 TSI and drove the vehicles in succession. This confirmed my suspicion that the Scirocco R that I purchased is slower than my previous car as there was a clear and obvious performance advantage with my brothers Scirocco 2.0 TSI, a car that is down 33KW in power and 70NM in torque with a manual gearbox.

The Engine Warning Light returned the next day, on the evening of the 2nd of April 2014. I returned the vehicle to the dealership on the 3rd of April. Diagnostics stated that it was “Bank1 running lean” again, which was most likely related to the oxygen sensor. A meeting was setup on the 13th of April with VWSA, the dealership and myself to discuss the way forward as I did not want the vehicle at this point and I requested a replacement vehicle. VWSA was unwilling to replace the vehicle, stating it was against their policies as this case did not have enough evidence to warrant a replacement. They then informed me I can go ahead and open a case with the National Consumer Commission or do the repair and I could think the decision over during the weekend. I informed them to go ahead with the repair on the 16th of April.

I was informed that vehicle's repair was in progress at this point and that Barons were checking and replacing possible problem areas such as the rubber seals as well as the injector seals on the 22nd of April 2014. On the 29th of April 2014 it was found that the oxygen sensor was running out of its parameters and would be replaced. Replacement of the oxygen sensor was completed on the 6th of May 2014. Barons service department informed me that the vehicle is running perfectly with no warning lights and the performance of the vehicles performance was restored. They would have to one more drive test on the 8th of May and then release the vehicle to me. On the 8th of May I was informed that the Engine Warning Light returned with the same "Bank1 Running Lean" error during the testing.

I then informed them for the second time that I want a replacement vehicle as I have afforded them two opportunities to repair the vehicle as well as provided them ample time to do so. I have been paying monthly finance instalments for a vehicle that has been in the dealership for most of its life. From the 58 days since I have taken delivery of the vehicle I have only had it in my possession for 11 days.

[carmanvw]

i'm no legal expert, but i certainly would not put up with that. here in R.O.I., there's the sale of goods act and consumer affairs people . i would certainly make a good note of every time and date the car has been dropped in. every one you spoke with at the dealership, etc and every piece of correspondence including emails and times of phone calls. this will show the effort you went to to have this successfully or unsuccessfully resolved. there's too many people on this and other forums basically being fobbed off by one person or another.

Ive been also reading the French magazine Auto Plus. while my car here has just two year warranty, they point out what sort of mileage should be expected of different parts of different cars. the car, and most parts, should reasonably be expected to last for 150,000km regardless of age. you don't pay twenty or thirty grand for a car for the pleasure of driving it for two or three years.

so, while VW or the dealership may say it's not a replacement issue, i believe that's their opinion, if even that, and reminds me of insurance companies featured on BBC's Watchdog, who have a default mode of rejecting most claims, until it is appealed or claimed in a more strenuous way.

personally, i'm disappointed with issues relating to my own car, but the problem with yours, especially so early on, is a disgrace. "Goods should be of merchantable quality"

best of luck with it.

[Nospheratu]

So some closure for anyone in the same situation who might stumble upon this thread, I did manage to get a amicable outcome in the end.

I took delivery of a new replacement car in June 2014 (3 three months after I took delivery of the defective car) with the same specs as the one I initially purchased. This was only because the dealership stepped in again and made arrangements for a replacement vehicle instead of waiting for VWSA to pull their finger out (The dealership stepped out of the fray once VWSA took over my case).

Moral of the story, a good dealership can make all the difference so research them before making the purchase. I got lucky as I chose them only on their price point. If it wasnt for the dealer I would have probably be fighting with VWSA for a much longer period before I had a reasonable result. Also, make as much noise as you possibly can on any and every social media network you can find.

On a side note, I have no idea if they managed to find the problem on the defective car. They still didnt know what was the cause after the car visited the factory and was extensively diagnosed and this was in October 2014.

[salsajoe]

Glad you got a satisfactory outcome in the end. Agree that main dealers are very variable in quality as many on this forum have found out. Hope mine delivers if I ever have a serious issue.