Long time viewer, rare poster. Sorry for the long post but I think the following tale is truly extraordinary.
Good luck... Took my 2003 V6 Touareg in for 160K service a month ago to find that VW Australia were going to cover the cost of 6 new ignition coil-packs as "they just weren't happy" with the service life on them. I'd never had any problems to date with my car, but with the age and high mileage on the car I was smiling on the inside as I know these are the sorts of nuisance failures that could start to crop up at any time.
Bad luck...One week later, car starts playing up. Driving along and all of a sudden car will start to coast as if foot taken off accelerator. Stab at the accelerator a few times and then will start to respond again. Orange engine warning light on dash comes on. Would also happen when driving in cruise control - cruise control would disengage by itself and car would start to coast. Happens at least once nearly every time I drive it over next week or so until convenient for me to drop car off to have it looked at. No funny noises or rough-running of engine at any time. I figured it was throttle position sensor for fly-by-wire accelerator. VW service centre apologetic that they are unable to diagnose fault so need to send computer data dump to VW Germany. Response comes back as "stretched timing chain"....oh, and by the way, engine will need to come out to replace said timing chain, and cost will be $4K plus (mostly labour as will take about 30hrs to complete). Not happy just one week after service from which there was no indication of impending doom.
Good luck...Dealer applies to VW Australia for "Good Will" contribution to service costs. I happened to mention that I was awaiting 2011 model release with interest and would probably reconsider that option now for the time being with high repair cost. I was certainly tempted to trade vehicle in as-is, but admit to myself that that wouldn't be fair or reasonable on unsuspecting buyer, so I discount that option. Response comes back that VW will cover 1/3 of cost which was of complete surprise as car is now a week closer to 9 years old and with tall mileage.
Takes 3 weeks in total to get job done as work not started until response back from VW on Good Will contribution, and then an additional part required unexpectedly as timing chain guide was badly scored and also needed to be replaced.
Even better luck...Picked up car two days ago, and to my complete surprise was told that now the local VW dealer will also cover 1/3 of cost as problem took such a long time to diagnose and repair! I'll admit I was getting a bit frustrated with the delay, but I wasn't too annoyed as I was able to use alternate means to get to work easily enough and I was still impressed that VW were covering part of the cost for me.
As this only leaves me with 1/3 of cost to pay, maybe it will be a new car soon afterall...
Good luck... Took my 2003 V6 Touareg in for 160K service a month ago to find that VW Australia were going to cover the cost of 6 new ignition coil-packs as "they just weren't happy" with the service life on them. I'd never had any problems to date with my car, but with the age and high mileage on the car I was smiling on the inside as I know these are the sorts of nuisance failures that could start to crop up at any time.
Bad luck...One week later, car starts playing up. Driving along and all of a sudden car will start to coast as if foot taken off accelerator. Stab at the accelerator a few times and then will start to respond again. Orange engine warning light on dash comes on. Would also happen when driving in cruise control - cruise control would disengage by itself and car would start to coast. Happens at least once nearly every time I drive it over next week or so until convenient for me to drop car off to have it looked at. No funny noises or rough-running of engine at any time. I figured it was throttle position sensor for fly-by-wire accelerator. VW service centre apologetic that they are unable to diagnose fault so need to send computer data dump to VW Germany. Response comes back as "stretched timing chain"....oh, and by the way, engine will need to come out to replace said timing chain, and cost will be $4K plus (mostly labour as will take about 30hrs to complete). Not happy just one week after service from which there was no indication of impending doom.
Good luck...Dealer applies to VW Australia for "Good Will" contribution to service costs. I happened to mention that I was awaiting 2011 model release with interest and would probably reconsider that option now for the time being with high repair cost. I was certainly tempted to trade vehicle in as-is, but admit to myself that that wouldn't be fair or reasonable on unsuspecting buyer, so I discount that option. Response comes back that VW will cover 1/3 of cost which was of complete surprise as car is now a week closer to 9 years old and with tall mileage.
Takes 3 weeks in total to get job done as work not started until response back from VW on Good Will contribution, and then an additional part required unexpectedly as timing chain guide was badly scored and also needed to be replaced.
Even better luck...Picked up car two days ago, and to my complete surprise was told that now the local VW dealer will also cover 1/3 of cost as problem took such a long time to diagnose and repair! I'll admit I was getting a bit frustrated with the delay, but I wasn't too annoyed as I was able to use alternate means to get to work easily enough and I was still impressed that VW were covering part of the cost for me.
As this only leaves me with 1/3 of cost to pay, maybe it will be a new car soon afterall...
