Problems with the new VW Beetle?
pat455
Member Posts: 603
Let's discuss 'em here!
Pat
Community Leader/Maintenance & Repair Conference
Pat
Community Leader/Maintenance & Repair Conference
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Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? ;-)
Pat
Community Leader/Maintenance & Repair Conference
downhill in a parking deck when we noticed smoke in the engine compartment. At this point the transmission (5 speed)would not go into gear. The shop accused us of "riding the clutch" and reluctantly replaced the clutch.
After approx. 20 miles on the road the problem reoccurred and the clutch started to burn again. The car went back in the shop. They claim that it was caused by air in the master cylinder. We'll see?!
Anyone have similar experience with new beetle?
heard that the maintenance and repair costs would
be extremely high compared to other cars in its
class (like the Civic).
I realize that most Beetle owners are probably still covered by warranty and free factory maintenance – but does anyone have info on what the car will cost to maintain after the first two years (regular service, tune ups, oil change etc.)?
How about costs to repair? (This all started when I heard a vicious rumor that a new starter on a Beetle would run $900). Anyone have examples of a car repair and its cost for a New Beetle?
Thanks.
very fun. However, when I opened the sunroof,
there was a sort of whistling noise.
The salesperson said you had to crack
a side window to eliminate it. Is this true?
Can't you get some air without too much
noise? Thanks...
Pat
Community Leader/Maintenance & Repair Conference
VW will probably be slow to accept that a problem exists until it exists in Germany,
and then will be slow to fix it, based on past responses to pattern failures in Rabbits and Jettas.
I bought my beetle GLX in Feb. of last year by May my car had been in the shop at the dealers for over two months straight. It started with the airbag lights coming on over and over again. They "replaced" everything in that car but the vase. Now I am having terrible electrical problems. My speedometer goes, odometer, tac... Mile gauge, rear defroster... Basically you name it.
My dealing with VW is absolutely horrible. The service department sucks and don't even bother trying to get someone at VW credit.
I filed a lawsuit against VW in April of last year. IT is finally going to court next week. As far as I am concerned they can have their car. I have taken out an ad in my local paper warning people about VW and their crappy products.
The day I picked up the car in Beaverton OR at Herzog Meier VW, the Rear spoiler motor was broken. And to further impress a customer, the selling dealer refused to repair my car by borrowing a part off of one of their stock/inventory vehicles. They most likely knew the part was a back-order item. They told me I had to go to my "local" dealer in Salt Lake City for repairs. The dealers entire philosophy was "You bought it, now it's yours." After getting back home to Salt Lake City, it took the local dealer 2 weeks to get the part and repair it, good thing it was not a driveability problem.
Less than 60 days into owning my new GLX, the computer module locked up, the airbag light warning light stayed on continuously, and the car refused to start once. Back to the dealer for "warranty" trip #2. Supposedly the computer had to be reset?
Less than 2 weeks after getting the computer fixed, the AC went out, or should I say did not work. I had never tried it until then. I guess assuming a new car is fully functional is an unfair expectation of VW of America? Anyone out ther from VW of America care to take the time to respond, if your not too busy counting the revenue made by cutting corners on Quality Control at the time.
I love the car, but I am not going to keep it, as I feel VW of America has passed on QC in the name of profit, and is churning out bugged bugs as quick as they can. BUYER BEWARE.
I would side with many of you who have had elecrical problems galore, these cars are not what they are represented to be. I am going to trade mine off as soon as possible, as I am concerned about future breakdowns and VW of Americas total lack of QC and support for a "Premium" priced vehicle. Perhaps if enough of us contact VW of America, customer service line and let them know about our electrical ghosts, they will actually do something and recall the cars for CPU repairs?
Good luck with your new beetles.......
I would rather let the monkeys at Jiffy Lube do it, if this is the quality of service a "trained technician" at the VW dealer provides.
Will have to take the car in and wait for the dealer to re-install the part they removed to due the oil change. As an owner, should I have to "watch dog" the dealers service, or could I expect quality service?
A Frustrated New Beetle Owner, Tim
The Dealer made a mistake in writing up my lease (so they tell me). I leased my vehicle for 39 months for 15,000 miles a year. The total miles allowed was like 48,750 in the contract. After having the car a month the dealer contacts me and my husband and states that we have to come in and re-sign the contract (not telling us why). So, I told the dealer I was not signing anything until he explained to us what was wrong with our current contract. He stated that they allowed us too many miles that the 15,000 only applied to a 36 month lease and that a 39 month lease only extended and lessened the car payments and did not extend the mileage. I told him that that was his problem and that he should have not the mistake. But he still persisted to make it look like we had to re-sign or they would take the car back. So, I told him he could talk to my attorney. Then he became nice. After long negotiations, they gave us $1,000 for the mistake and we re-sign reluctantly (I didn't feel like making this into a lawsuit). Anyway, those of you who plan on leasing a NB for anything over 36 months make sure the dealer explains the mileage to you and know exactly what you are suppose to get before you sign. Let me know if anyone else has had these problems with VW. Thanks
Anyone with any ideas on this?
99 New Beetle TDI. The service included a timing
belt- and tensioner change.The bill was $ 928.90.
If you're thinking about buying a 99 New Beetle TDI,
be advised that VW calls for a timing belt- and
tensioner change every 40,000 miles on that engine.
This is probably true for the 00 models as well.
Given the $ 1,200 extra I paid for the Diesel
option when I bought the car, and diesel fuel in
the US costing about the same as gasoline, it made
absolutely no economic sense to buy a New Beetle
TDI.
I enjoyed driving the car very much. But I've
advertised it for sale. I never thought I'd say
this, but I can't afford to drive a Diesel.
On the 1.8T it is 90k according to my manual.
Because such a large percentage of the bill was labor, I suspect that it's very difficult to service any Beetle engine. There's simply no room for a mechanic's hands to do what they have to do.
Thanks
I had a transmission "glitch" on my 2000 Hyundai, and by test driving a new car with the same specs, I was able to determine that I either I did not have a problem, or that ALL Hyundai cars suffer the same glitch. Saved me from waiting on the service department, and Hyundai a lot of paperwork, time and money.
P.S. I've heard of "fuzzy logic" being used in a transmission in regards to the transmission/engine "adapting" to a driver's habits, but I don't think this would apply to this car, and especially to reverse gear.
Enter initial 5000 mile maintenance. One week later, trans is leaking oil.
After getting that "fixed", a week later it appears that there is again an oil leak. Dealership fixed the leak, but now the trans is shifting hard. Very hard into gear. This is an automatic, mind you. Supposedly this is normal for the VW trans?
Next, two weeks later, enter airbag light, whcih seems to be the most common problem appearing on this page. I too am a victim of this problem, which was quick and easy to repair.
Now we have a problem with the driver's side power window. Will it ever end?
All incidents, no more than two weeks apart begining only after one month of ownership and extending to current time, the beginning of the third month of ownership.
Is it no wonder that VW only puts a two year warranty on their cars? Look at Toyota people-better warranty, more reliable cars. Too bad they aren't as stylish as the bug. But isn't getting places because your transportation was reliable enough to get you there less stylish than not getting there at all because all your free time is spent at the dealership?
Hmmm....
http:///www.myvwlemon.com
good luck
Pat
Community Leader/Maintenance & Repair Conference
Actually, I think you'll find better information on purchasing this vehicle over in our Hatchbacks conference. Here are links to a couple of topics you'd probably like to take a look at:
New Beetle News (Topic #179)
New Beetle Prices Paid (Topic #225)
Good luck!
Pat
Community Leader/Maintenance & Repair Conference
I owned a '99 New Beetle GLS (2.0L gas w/auto transmission) and found that it also consumed oil at an alarming rate. Over 1 quart of oil between oil changes. I followed a 3,000 mile oil change schedule, not the long intervals recommended by VW.
When I first bought the car and read the part in the manual about checking the oil level at every fuel fill-up, it seemed like they were being overly cautious. Well, it appears as though they were subtley warning the owner that these cars eat oil.
Not quite sure what can be done if it is a common VW characteristic, which it appears it is.
We have 2000 Turbo Beetle. At 4500 miles the clutch fried. Cost to replace? $1500+. I have owned a 74 Super Beetle, 83 GTI, 85 Jetta Diesel, and a 87 Jetta GLI. Numerous other cars with a manual transmission. I believe I have about 250000 miles on cars with sticks. The only clutch trouble I've ever had was a 1967 Corvair with a broken Clutch Cross Shaft. The dealer couldn't find a replacement so the re-welded it incorrectly and the clutch could not be adjusted properly.
Other than that, I never had trouble with a clutch.
The Beetle. My son was learning to drive a stick on it when it happened. He was in the car for a total of 30 minutes under the supervision of an adult driver. He never misused the clutch and was driving in a parking lot or a industrial park access road.
Dealer and VW said it was abusive driving. I don't agree, but what can you do. I didn't buy the TDI I was looking at and after reading about the service I won't consider it.
I think it is time for VW to sell cars in another country. I won't buy them any more.
Just released
vw new beetle is #123 of the models listed. Industry average is at position #90.
So, worse than industry average in initial quality.
The dealer ran some diagnostic tests on the car and found out that the airbag CPU is fried, and needs to get replaced. The problem is that it costs over 600 bucks plus at least one hour of labor. Pretty steep!
I'll try to check with VW if they can replace my airbag CPU without charge, and this being a pretty common problem on the NBs involving driver's safety, I'll also check if it can't be the subject of yet another recall on this car.
Anyway folks, before your car goes outside warranty, try to see if you can't check on your costly aibag CPU's health. There's no telling when it will bail out on you.
We have a '98 beetle that is mysteriously using oil ... not burning, not leaking. We noticed it at about 15M miles(about 5M miles since the last service) when the oil light came on. Investigation showed it was down 2 quarts. Dealer questioned whether we had changed the oil every 5M miles (which incidentally isn't recommended in the manual, nor is it covered in their "2 years maintenance" warranty). We brought it in and paid for an extra oil change. They recommended bringing it back every 1000 miles for them to record the fact that it was down. Upon rechecking, the technician said they were having problems with many of the Beetles/ and the 4 cylinder Golf/Jetta. Initially indicated it was due to the fact that the engine was designed for a 100% synthetic oil that's available only in Germany. Also suggested that the oil might be evaporating :O). Again recommended we bring it in every 1000 miles to record how far down it was going. After 1000 miles, the oil's down about 1/2 quart. Today's dealer story is that VW probably won't do anything about it if it's burning less than a quart/1000 miles!!, but we need to have a third check before they'll make a call.