Hi All,
Just putting a few (or many) words together about my experience with my current 2007 v10 tdi.
Just to give you a bit off history I lived in the USA between 2007 and 2008 where I owned a 2004 V8 touareg with all the options available. I loved it, however after about 8 months of ownership I started hearing a whining noise coming from the front diff.
Took it immediately to the VW dealer and was told that after an initial diff oil test the front drive train was destroying itself as metal shaving we're found in the diff oil. The warranty had just run out and I was looking at a $6000 repair bill to fix it. To cut a long story short I did not get it repaired as we moved back to Australia and sold a $24,0000 car from the dealer a year later to a private buyer for $8,000. And yes I did tell the new owner of the diff issue.
So August 2013 and against my wife's better judgement
I purchased a 2007 V10 with 80,0000km from a reputable dealer for $48,000 drive away, which included 3 years extended warranty. Before purchasing, I took it for the customary test drive, etc. looked it over very carefully and took delivery off the car a week later.
Within 1 week I lost the triptronic transmission. I.e. Could not shift down manually, I also noticed a vibration in the steering wheel at 110kmh and my delta radio had an issue.

Back to the dealer it went for 1 week in the service centre. They changed out the radio for an aftermarket unit which gave no where near the sound quality and also lost the cd changer so it was replaced a second time with another original delta unit. Radio issue solved. The steering wheel vibration was fixed by the dealer when I asked him to do a wheel balance. The car had new pirelli's on it and guess what , they were never balanced as I noticed the 19 inch wheels still had the original vw wheel weights present. So issue with the vibration fixed.
Now the triptronic, now your not going to believe this but the issue was found to be about $6 in change falling down into the lever mechanism. Whoever owned the car before must have been using the plate that covers the gear lever as a coin change tray. The dealer spent 1 full day with tweezers and magnets trying to fish out all the coinage. They mentioned if they could not get it all out they would have to order a new linkage system from Germany as they are a sealed unit. Don't know if that comment was correct but they got all the coin out anyway. So away I went at least happy that most off the issues had been fixed at no charge.
They also ordered a new second fob for me as I only got one with the car and coded it. Happy with that as they are worth over $600 to buy. So I got home thinking all was good. So I thought.
Last week I drive the car for a short trip into town and notice when I went to pass another driver that there was no power. The damn thing had gone into limp mode. Nooooooo, I'm telling myself without trying not let my wife know what was going on. Remember she mentioned to me not to buy this thing based on our experience in the US.
So the next day back to the dealer I go ( without telling the other half). I noticed as soon as I left the house the treg was back to full power. System must have reset itself however I wanted to go to the dealer to see if this was a one off or an error code had been recorded. I explained what happened, they put the car onto their computer and no errors were found. He mentioned that when you turn the car ignition off some fault codes can be lost. Anyway I left frustrated and thought this is going to happen again, I just know it. So went to go to work this morning, had the wife and kids in the car and you guessed it the car went into limp mode again. Couldn't hide it this time as I was going to drive the car straight to the dealer without switching the thing off.
After dropping everyone off I went to the dealer and this is where the car will stay for the next 2 weeks I guess. I was told that the was intermittent communication loss between the turbo controller and the turbos. They found a fault code but did not tell me what is was. So now the engine has to be dropped and they are going to fit 2 new turbos and the turbo controller.
I'm in two minds what to do. I feel like going back to the car dealer and tell him to take the car back and give me a replacement vehicle possibly a new Mitsubishi triton or Toyota landcruiser etc or do I stick with the treg? Like I said I love the Tregg's but my love affair with them is starting to wear thin. 2 out of 2 lemons. Put that together with that we do go away into the outback a bit and not being able to get decent ATR tyres because I have 19 inch wheels I'm really considering the option of trading out off it to something more reliable. As an FYI I see a lot of talk about whether to get extended warranty or not. We'll I've now been on both sides off the fence. The first time in the USA i had no extended warranty and was looking down the barrel of a $6000 fix. On this new one I took the option based on past experience and lucky I had because I would hate to hear what all the parts and labour would cost on the three weeks in total the car has been with the dealer.
I must say though the dealer has been great, they would not have know the issues existed on the car as they bought it in from the east coast and they have helped every way they can including giving me the next service at 90,000kms worth $1200 for free. That's if I keep the treg. Let you know how it goes moving forward.
Cheers
Just putting a few (or many) words together about my experience with my current 2007 v10 tdi.
Just to give you a bit off history I lived in the USA between 2007 and 2008 where I owned a 2004 V8 touareg with all the options available. I loved it, however after about 8 months of ownership I started hearing a whining noise coming from the front diff.
So August 2013 and against my wife's better judgement
Within 1 week I lost the triptronic transmission. I.e. Could not shift down manually, I also noticed a vibration in the steering wheel at 110kmh and my delta radio had an issue.
Now the triptronic, now your not going to believe this but the issue was found to be about $6 in change falling down into the lever mechanism. Whoever owned the car before must have been using the plate that covers the gear lever as a coin change tray. The dealer spent 1 full day with tweezers and magnets trying to fish out all the coinage. They mentioned if they could not get it all out they would have to order a new linkage system from Germany as they are a sealed unit. Don't know if that comment was correct but they got all the coin out anyway. So away I went at least happy that most off the issues had been fixed at no charge.
Last week I drive the car for a short trip into town and notice when I went to pass another driver that there was no power. The damn thing had gone into limp mode. Nooooooo, I'm telling myself without trying not let my wife know what was going on. Remember she mentioned to me not to buy this thing based on our experience in the US.
So the next day back to the dealer I go ( without telling the other half). I noticed as soon as I left the house the treg was back to full power. System must have reset itself however I wanted to go to the dealer to see if this was a one off or an error code had been recorded. I explained what happened, they put the car onto their computer and no errors were found. He mentioned that when you turn the car ignition off some fault codes can be lost. Anyway I left frustrated and thought this is going to happen again, I just know it. So went to go to work this morning, had the wife and kids in the car and you guessed it the car went into limp mode again. Couldn't hide it this time as I was going to drive the car straight to the dealer without switching the thing off.
After dropping everyone off I went to the dealer and this is where the car will stay for the next 2 weeks I guess. I was told that the was intermittent communication loss between the turbo controller and the turbos. They found a fault code but did not tell me what is was. So now the engine has to be dropped and they are going to fit 2 new turbos and the turbo controller.
I'm in two minds what to do. I feel like going back to the car dealer and tell him to take the car back and give me a replacement vehicle possibly a new Mitsubishi triton or Toyota landcruiser etc or do I stick with the treg? Like I said I love the Tregg's but my love affair with them is starting to wear thin. 2 out of 2 lemons. Put that together with that we do go away into the outback a bit and not being able to get decent ATR tyres because I have 19 inch wheels I'm really considering the option of trading out off it to something more reliable. As an FYI I see a lot of talk about whether to get extended warranty or not. We'll I've now been on both sides off the fence. The first time in the USA i had no extended warranty and was looking down the barrel of a $6000 fix. On this new one I took the option based on past experience and lucky I had because I would hate to hear what all the parts and labour would cost on the three weeks in total the car has been with the dealer.
I must say though the dealer has been great, they would not have know the issues existed on the car as they bought it in from the east coast and they have helped every way they can including giving me the next service at 90,000kms worth $1200 for free. That's if I keep the treg. Let you know how it goes moving forward.
Cheers