Polo rates worst in Drive return rate

[beefa]

Todays Drive section in the paper shows some stats on % of new cars without faults in the first 6 months.
In the small car category the Polo rates worst with only 49% of new cars sold not having faults.

[FL00DY]

Todays Drive section in the paper shows some stats on % of new cars without faults in the first 6 months.
In the small car category the Polo rates worst with only 49% of new cars sold not having faults.

Hands up as one of the 51% :D But that's terrible news, I feel for the guys that have had problems.

[Kai]

I have problems!

But i thrash mine!

[Wand Weaver]

I've got one of the flawless ones - although I really do feel for some of the guys here who've hit trouble with theirs.

I do have an issue with these surveys though - they don't define 'fault'. I mean, if the light that comes on as you slide the vanity mirror cover over stops working, that would be logged as a 'fault'. If your gearbox fails, that would also be logged as a 'fault. If your handbrake button makes a slight rattly noise, that would be a 'fault'.

Of the three - one is a lot more important than the other two. Yet they've all got equal weighting as 'faults'.

I'd like to see faults split up into 'drivetrain', 'essential electrics', 'non-essential electrics', 'interior trim' and 'bodywork' to see where the faults actually lie. The definition of 'essential electrics' would be electrical systems essential to the safe operation of the car.

Radio head unit problems or power windows/mirror problems aren't essential. Coilpacks and Headlamps, on the other hand, are.

[Timbo]

I'm also one of the happy campers, although I do (now) have the creaking door seals :( the unlocateable dash rattle in hot weather, and have blown the 12v accessory plug fuse.

Nothing I can't live with or which detracts from my overall enjoyment of the car :)

[natee]

Gone through 4 cupholders, bonnet was not aligned, and 12v accessory plug also wasn't working but nothing drastic...

a bit upset with the cupholders but hey at least it wasn't something important, just inconvenient, how hard is it to replace a cupholder properly

[phaeton]

I'd expect them all to be GTIs :(

Seems the Spanish have Siestas afterall :D

[REDMKVGTI]

The numbers dont mean a lot really. As has been said, you need to break down "faults" into stuff that matter, and stuff that doesn't. Also, people that buy a GTI tend to be a little bit fanatical, and so probably bring the car back for less significant foibles than say the average Hyundai driver.

Then maybe I'm wrong, and they are dodgy little beasts, not that it would make you love it any less.

[Eddy]

Hoyhoy.
I'm in the 49% .:)
& loving the little girl.
Haven't been back to VW as yet.

[beefa]

That 51% is people who HAVE had problems : ) Its worth noting the figures were for 2006... hope 2007 is better

[Golf Loon]

I have issues with "Drive" as a publication. These are the same fools who wax lyrical about the latest commodore and criticize any car that needs premium petrol, no matter if it makes you go further.

[shaneth]

I have issues with "Drive" as a publication. These are the same fools who wax lyrical about the latest commodore and criticize any car that needs premium petrol, no matter if it makes you go further.

Good call. As its been said before whats a fault consist of in there survey. Grain of salt. Thats all i will say.

[gpk_gti]

"drive" written by old codgers who wear cardigans and enjoy the smell of wee!! wouldnt even use "drive " as dunny paper..when are they going to do a write up about all the problems with the new commonwhore???

[Ben_GTI]

the unlocateable dash rattle in hot weather

If you hit the passenger side dash as hard as you can it stops for 2 weeks. I don't even want to explain how I found this one out.

[DaveMack]

Interview two people with identical cars. One says: "It's great!" other says: "It's crap .." and then proceeds to whinge for 15 minutes. Journo measures by time spent with each owner.

Anyway ... I had an odd fault today (that appears to have self-corrected) ... started the engine after sitting in car park (waiting for you know who) and the driver's window was down for air circulation. As we moved off ... went to raise the window. Nuttin'. Window didn't budge. So I tried the switch for the passenger window ... same nuttin. ??? WTF goes on here? Got home. Turned engine off. Re-started ... windows fine. :???: I'm at a loss.

Dave

[VEEDUB69]

I'd expect them all to be GTIs :(

Seems the Spanish have Siestas afterall :D

I owned a Spanish-built 2004 Holden Barina & it never missed a beat or had any faults whatsoever in 2 years...

Shopping trolley Polos are made in South Africa so dont reckon they would fair much better...

Rather have my car made in Europe than Africa any day...

[Rocket]

Well after 7 months and only 15000 km's i will be getting rid of my pogo in 3 weeks :( Its a sad time :( Am moving jobs and have the opportunity to termintae the lease, so after the cup holder being fixed 5 times, shockers being replaced but front end still knocking/clunking, door handle trim being replaced, instrument cluster lens being scratched (by service), door seals creaking, window regulator making loud noises, passenger dash rattling, air vents rattling, cup holder rattling, instrument cluster rattling, gti embossing on drivers seat starting to rip... i think i am going to give the car back... its a shame, i love the engine and handlings not too shabby, but i dunno, what crappy build quality.

[Wand Weaver]

I have issues with "Drive" as a publication. These are the same fools who wax lyrical about the latest commodore

You've got them mixed up with Wheels. Drive actually gave their 'Best Large Car' award to the Aurion, and the only silverware the Commodore picked up from Drive was the 'people's choice' award - voted on by the public.

The results are from the AC Nielson survey we all got after picking up our VWs. I certainly did mine and sent it back - but how many happy VW owners couldn't be arsed, skewing the results further?

[VEEDUB69]

Well after 7 months and only 15000 km's i will be getting rid of my pogo in 3 weeks :( Its a sad time :( Am moving jobs and have the opportunity to termintae the lease, so after the cup holder being fixed 5 times, shockers being replaced but front end still knocking/clunking, door handle trim being replaced, instrument cluster lens being scratched (by service), door seals creaking, window regulator making loud noises, passenger dash rattling, air vents rattling, cup holder rattling, instrument cluster rattling, gti embossing on drivers seat starting to rip... i think i am going to give the car back... its a shame, i love the engine and handlings not too shabby, but i dunno, what crappy build quality.

Thats a shame...when you say front end knocking/clunking I think that is normal due to the stiffer suspension etc you always get some clunking??? Rubber door seals often creak nothing that some vaseline wont fix...
Cupholder probably due to misuse...
Rattles who knows...
GTI embossing about to rip did you catch it on something???
Just sounds like some of these issues could be due to hard use/abuse???

[Rocket]

no, this is front end knocking that is not due to stiffer suspension, vw have admitted its not normal but can't diagnose the cause. Rubber door seals never creak everytime you go over a bump, thats not normal, sounds horrible, and i don't want to have to vaseline my doors once a week. They used some krytox oil or similar the first time, solved it short term.

Cup holders broke the first time it was opened! When service replaced the mechanism, they scratched the front facia! NO MISUSE INVOLVED and i slightly take offence to that, because i know people who don't care about their cars and treat them like crap and still have no faults. I wouldn't let people lean against my paintwork for fear of scratching. This car has not been misused or thrashed!!!

GTI embossing did not catch, the embossing is too deep and has hardening the material too much and with every day stretching (when you sit on the seat) it has just started to rip apart at the bottom of the I.

Rattles, who knows??? All i know is that working in the automotive industry for a tier one supplier, rattles can kill a cars quality and reputation. There are whole teams on quality, squeak and rattle etc. Not acceptable.

I wish some of these issues were due to misuse and abuse, but unfortunately, i have not even had a chance to have any fun with the car. I must have been back to the dealer nearly 10 times since i have had it.

[shaneth]

Thats a shame...when you say front end knocking/clunking I think that is normal due to the stiffer suspension etc you always get some clunking??? Rubber door seals often creak nothing that some vaseline wont fix...
Cupholder probably due to misuse...
Rattles who knows...
GTI embossing about to rip did you catch it on something???
Just sounds like some of these issues could be due to hard use/abuse???

Mate i dont know rocket but dam man you have some nerve accusing someone that they are abusing there car. (that is unless you know them) I dont think he was asking why these things happen just letting everyone know that they did. If my car did this in 7 months no matter how much use it gets its pretty slack.

[Timbo]

Cupholder probably due to misuse...
Rattles who knows...

Just sounds like some of these issues could be due to hard use/abuse???

Mate, a word to the wise: sometimes it's better to suspend quick judgements in these places; it tends to create the wrong impression ;)

[shaneth]

Mate, a word to the wise: sometimes it's better to suspend quick judgements in these places; it tends to create the wrong impression ;)

Should start calling you yoda with words as wise as that. :D

[natee]

Cup holders broke the first time it was opened! When service replaced the mechanism, they scratched the front facia! NO MISUSE INVOLVED and i slightly take offence to that, because i know people who don't care about their cars and treat them like crap and still have no faults. I wouldn't let people lean against my paintwork for fear of scratching. This car has not been misused or thrashed!!!

Its so true, cupholders are terrible and one of the times mine got replaced they also scratched the front facia, its not very impressive. IMHO they're badly designed.

[Rocket]

Oh and to top it all off, must have had a stone flick up into my front right foggy today, cos while washing the car tonight, noticed its now cracked to buggery. Damn.

[FL00DY]

I owned a Spanish-built 2004 Holden Barina & it never missed a beat or had any faults whatsoever in 2 years...

Shopping trolley Polos are made in South Africa so dont reckon they would fair much better...

Rather have my car made in Europe than Africa any day...

Polo GTI's are made in Spain, but the standard Polo's may be made in Seth effrica.

[brackie]

The days of Monday morning/Friday afternoon cars should be well and truly over. Quality control and computer management in modern car factories should negate the human factor to a near-nil rating so I'm at a loss to explain the differences in cars sitting side by side, made in the same factory (no matter where), but differing in their apparent build quality. Perhaps the tolerance limits of different owners are a factor? Before the Golf TDI I've only ever owned one car that was approaching being new (3yo at the time with 80,000km) so compared to what I usually drive the TDI is like a space ship and perhaps I don't notice rattles, squeaks, knocks because I'm used to them :???:

So next time I drive her (if my mrs will let me anywhere near :rolleyes:) I'll listen very carefully. Nothing's broken yet @ 11,000km :)

Oh and guys....This thread is getting a little personal in places so don't forget thet you're in a no-putdown zone.

[Wand Weaver]

Its so true, cupholders are terrible and one of the times mine got replaced they also scratched the front facia, its not very impressive. IMHO they're badly designed.

I agree that the front facia cupholder is terrible. So much so, I never use it and if I were to have a cup to put somewhere, I'd use the one of the two in the centre console.

Mate of mine was in the car, and absently opened the cupholder (cue hopefully hidden cringing from the driver's seat). The two outer "springs" that are meant to hold the cup in place kind of intermeshed (for want of a better word) and the cupholder jammed on the way in. Given that you can't get it back out when it's halfway in, it took a bit of fiddling to return the cupholder in place.

[Veee1.8t]

Shopping trolley Polos are made in South Africa so dont reckon they would fair much better...

Rather have my car made in Europe than Africa any day...[/QUOTE]


i think the standard of build in south africa are ok, since most bmw's and benz's are made in south africa.

[Ben_GTI]

No doubt I helped this survey a fair bit. lol.j:

[Babee J]

probably worth remembering that even the smallest of faults would be included in those statistics... therefore the number is probably a little lower than that.

I hope the Golf stats weren't so bad though... its not a nice thing to think about... :???:

[shaneth]

Given that you can't get it back out when it's halfway in, it took a bit of fiddling to return the cupholder in place.

Mate you are going to love me if this happens again.

To get the cupholder back out without having to push it all the way in and then release it again. If you look at the right hand side of the front face there is a little white button. Push that in and it will release it all the way to the fully open postion. Hope this helps.

[Wand Weaver]

Thanks mate - will look out for it :)

[VEEDUB69]

no, this is front end knocking that is not due to stiffer suspension, vw have admitted its not normal but can't diagnose the cause. Rubber door seals never creak everytime you go over a bump, thats not normal, sounds horrible, and i don't want to have to vaseline my doors once a week. They used some krytox oil or similar the first time, solved it short term.

Cup holders broke the first time it was opened! When service replaced the mechanism, they scratched the front facia! NO MISUSE INVOLVED and i slightly take offence to that, because i know people who don't care about their cars and treat them like crap and still have no faults. I wouldn't let people lean against my paintwork for fear of scratching. This car has not been misused or thrashed!!!

GTI embossing did not catch, the embossing is too deep and has hardening the material too much and with every day stretching (when you sit on the seat) it has just started to rip apart at the bottom of the I.

Rattles, who knows??? All i know is that working in the automotive industry for a tier one supplier, rattles can kill a cars quality and reputation. There are whole teams on quality, squeak and rattle etc. Not acceptable.

I wish some of these issues were due to misuse and abuse, but unfortunately, i have not even had a chance to have any fun with the car. I must have been back to the dealer nearly 10 times since i have had it.

Fair enough Rocket, just thought I'd pose the question thats all, but you've made your point, the run you've had really sucks & its not good enough :(