Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
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Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)
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'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
Sounds like VW is giving you this good will repair, but not a warranty repair so they don’t have to cover it in the even it happens again.
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2025 Camry SE AWD
This whole fiasco makes me feel somewhat better about having two cheap-ish late model (but way out of warranty) vehicles that I like, because I know that if something breaks, it will be on me, and I bought them at a much lower than new price to account for that eventuality.
Then you will dump it and get something else 😁
This makes me wonder what warranty is in force for their DSG transmissions since they are automated manual transmissions.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
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Again, not saying this is root cause here, but I can absolutely see this causing additional unnecessary clutch wear.
GM does this right for the average driver. You get full control over the lights, until you cycle the ignition, then it goes back to automatic. There is no option to permanently turn the lights off which survives an ignition cycle.
The cars made in the last 15+ years which have permanently illuminated instrument clusters have only made this problem worse. People tend to think their lights are on because the instruments are fully lit, however, they’re lit regardless of whether the lights are on.
2021 VW Arteon SEL 4-motion, 2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech
Well, I have friend in Kentucky who I don't think falls into that category. Maybe we'll hear from him.
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2024 Kia Sportage Hybrid SX Prestige
https://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/60047/mercury/grand-marquis/mercury-grand-marquis-2004-ecu#latest
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2024 Kia Sportage Hybrid SX Prestige
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
Another reason I hate automatic nannies.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
As for auto lights.. yes they are great. I can only think of one car I've owned that didn't have them and it was the 2008 Elantra. Even my crank window 99 S10 had them (or was that a 98, I can't remember now)
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
For no other reason than to let your feelings known, I’d find out who the president of VW North America is, and write him/her a strongly worded message about your disappointment.
It’s no like VW hasn’t had enough customer service problems based on their diesel fiasco.
No consolation, but I was relaying your story to my son last night. He empathizes but isn’t surprised. While he hasn’t had anything major go wrong with his GTI, he’s not a fan of VW’s service depts at the two VW dealers he’s had service done. I guess same sort of arrogance, claiming owner error when getting warranty work done.
Must be a VWoA thing.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
The Audi A4 I leased had manual lights and semi-permanently lit gauges. If it got dark and you didn’t turn the lights on, the gauges would fade to dark and you couldn’t see anything other than the needles until you turned the lights on. I liked that setup, except, why go to all that trouble and not include an auto lamp function?
And yes @stickguy - at this point, we aren't doing a thing more until the repair is done and paid for (by them). Because...
Service department called this morning to update us that the repair has in fact not been formally approved yet because they need to take apart the car and take photos and video and send it to the VW rep to then formally cover the repair cost. He said there was a cost of the labor just to get to that point is something like $1,300 and that we had to authorize that to take the next step. Now...I thought they were asking us to front that money and then get reimbursed assuming the repair was approved under warranty (or goodwill or whatever). But it was a simple matter of hearing us say we authorize it.
Here's what I think happened - the rep who was there yesterday gave the informal go ahead that it would be covered. Then they got word that my wife and I have actually requested a buyback of the vehicle. So now he's feeling like they can't fast track it and need to go through the formal process of evaluation.
Truth is we never believed they would buy back the vehicle, but we thought it was worth asking - in good conscience, I can say that we truly will not be comfortable in that vehicle going forward. But it would seem perhaps our posturing has caused them to backtrack a little.
2024 Audi Q8 e-tron - 2017 911 C4S - 2025 BRZ - 2023 A6 Allroad - 2024 Genesis GV60 - 2019 Cayman
Maybe just because of the AWD system? I’ll assume a GTI is a bit simpler.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Clown show.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Wife and I were talking about it - if they're willing to cover the repair, there's nothing else to be afraid of. While we would like them to simply take the car back, we also recognize that the situation is this - there was a failure on the car, no one was injured and they cover the cost of the repair. Simple as that.
2024 Audi Q8 e-tron - 2017 911 C4S - 2025 BRZ - 2023 A6 Allroad - 2024 Genesis GV60 - 2019 Cayman
I’m of the mind that those who abuse their cars are far in the minority compared to honest folk who have a failure when a car leaves you stranded. Clearly, VW doesn’t see it that way, which is too bad. i thought they built pretty nice, well engineered vehicles. More and more evidence makes me wary of that belief.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
2025 Forester Limited, 2024 Subaru Legacy Sport
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
2024 Audi Q8 e-tron - 2017 911 C4S - 2025 BRZ - 2023 A6 Allroad - 2024 Genesis GV60 - 2019 Cayman
"Yesterday I accepted the factory offer to repair my car at no expense to me. Let me know when it's ready for delivery. Thank you."
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2025 Camry SE AWD
btw, Sometimes the secondary clutch cylinders will start making weird loud clicking noises before they fail (that one camaro clutch did so).
ps no way i would seriously go near coworker's Cayenne, whether the transfer case repair was $200 or $2000. I am fascinated by the stickshift aspect - we will probably see the vehicle in Hemmings Motor News or a TV car auction some day.