118TSI - General Discussion

[Stelex]

I loved my Golf dearly. It was my first brand new car (at age 42) and I was in love with it from the moment it came out. I had number of VWs, mainly Golfs in my life and I had full faith in VWs reliability and quality. So I bought Golf VI 118 TSI, Comfortline in Nov 2009. Boy was a proud owner, like a peacock in all its glory.

Then ...

The car started giving up on me. First the engine blew up at 15,000 km. Then numerous issues with clunking noise under the car when accelerating.

Air conditioner was leaking and was refilled at each service (3 times) plus once in between. Finally fixed last month by replacing the whatever-its-called valve (fixed ... I hope, for now).

DSG started playing up at 30.000 and after a few bookings and trips to VW they finally decided to upgrade software, did help for 2 weeks, but then it got worse. They replaced the clutch pack. It looked fixed, until today.

Today, the DSG just gave up. Lost the drive and got stuck waiting on the tow truck for 4.5 hours on Sunday afternoon just before the round about when entering Bunnings at Oxley (Brisbane). Had my 10 year old daughter with me as well.

Unfortunately my car is leased so I have another 2 years of 'fun' to go. However, on the day the leas expires the car will be for sale, at any price.

Goodbye VW, you killed it for me big time. Never again.

And it continues ...

After my last post just before Christmas they have replaced the Mechatronics. I have received my car back on 31/12/2011.

Since then:

The air conditioner started hissing again and the air compressor is getting loud, clear signs of low gas pressure.

Something (most likely the DSG) is making a short (2 sec) grinding noise every so often when turning left and accelerating in 3rd or 4th gear at low revs.

I just collected my Golf after 60.000km service. Guess what, two things that really didn't surprise me:

1 - they had to re-gas the air-con system, this is about 5th time.
2 - they have to replace the clutch pack - YET AGAIN. Apparently the one they put in some 10k ago and before the mechatronics died, has been superseeded as it was discovered that it goes out of shape in about 10.000km. So there is a completely new clutch pack that they have ordered from Germany, no ETA but some 6 weeks should be reasonable time to expect.

What's next, another dead engine maybe?

Does anyone have a not too rotten Holden Camira for sale, I think I'd be better off.

[Mountainman]

I guess your next car won't be a VW and no-one could blame you. My Golf is the 2nd one I've owned (had a Mk1 in the late 70's) and they are the 2 most disappointing cars I've owned as far as service/reliability. The other 11 have all be basically trouble free Jap stuff but none of them have had the desirability when new of the Golfs - such a disappointment.

[Stelex]

I guess your next car won't be a VW and no-one could blame you.

Obviously. The thing is, I lived in Germany for about 5 years in early nineties and had several Golfs (MkI and II), a Passat and a Jetta MkII, all between 5-10 years old and loved every single one of them. Had some small wear and tear issues with a few of them, but those were things that you'd expect to have.

But this "World car of the year" has been nothing but a lemon of the decade.

[Syd118TSI]

Obviously. The thing is, I lived in Germany for about 5 years in early nineties and had several Golfs (MkI and II), a Passat and a Jetta MkII, all between 5-10 years old and loved every single one of them. Had some small wear and tear issues with a few of them, but those were things that you'd expect to have.

But this "World car of the year" has been nothing but a lemon of the decade.

That really sucks for you, there certainly does appear to be some real lemons out there, and yet plenty with no problems also.

[Cavill]

I have had a 118TSI with the 7sp DSG since 30th of October.From new it had shuddering issues in D1 and D2. On the 26th of April I took the car back to the delaer who advised that a software update to be done as part of a 'campaign' would fix up the issue. Late that day they called to say they would be replacing the clutch kit (car has only done 6,000klm in 6 months) and I would need to pick up the car on the 27th.

I did not drive the vehicle on the 28th or 29th - on 30th the car got stuck in D2 whilst overtaking a truck in Homebush (anyome remember the VW ad for the 118TSi). Had thed car towed to the dealer.

They advised that they had never seen anything like it and would be sending the VAG reading to VW technical. VW technical then sent the reading on to VW Germany who advised that the gearbox needed to be changed.

The dealer advises that I would have the car back on 2 weeks.

I got my car back on the 25th of June - it has been with the dealer for 2 months. On the 18th they advised me that the replacement gearbox was yet to be manufactured in Germany and Bang! it was here. They must have just pulled the gearbox out of another car and installed it.

Now, the maximum torque is only available at much high revs, the shifts up using DSG are not as smooth and there is a definite lag on acceleration right through the gears. The steering wheel is left of centre, there are tree sap stains all over the car and the paint protection has beed damaged whilst at the dealer. Already written to the dealer and waiting the mandatory days before contacting Fair Trading NSW

To top matters off the door lock failed this afternoon and I cannot close or lock the drivers door - and I have no garage.

The A3 I traded this car in for may have been 10 years old but drove and handled like a dream compared to this.

[RosscoMK3]

That's got to suck.
I'm still loving my 118TSI manual but have since driven a DSG version and it was a dog. The shuddering was apparent as soon as I drove it and the DSG just seemed the wrong match for the little 1.4 liter engine.
I was amazed at the difference between a GTI with DSG and the 118TSI. The GTI and DSG combo was so far ahead and made me glad I hated on auto during my purchase. The Manual gearbox makes the 118TSI a totally different car.

40k+ Kms and no problems so far (Touch wood). Although I did find out the previous owner had suffered a clutch fault from new, which was repaired by VW.
There's always a chance that the fault was driver related but I'll never know.

[verbalhologram]

Hi Stelex,
I have been reading the DSG stuttering thread as I have had this happening in my 118 TSI for the past month and the latest thing is a clunking sound under the car when I take of at low speeds,especially noticable say when you are appraoching a speed hump/intersection and you quickly slow down then take off again. I also get a high pitched "sqeak"each time I initially touch the accelaerator??
My car is booked in for warranty check up and I was just wondering if there is anything I should say to make sure the dealer checks out what they need to be looking at.
BTW ,I feel your pain mate,I am onto year two of my Golf which is under leaseplan through my comapny,so cant get rid of it even if I wanted to,so very dissapointing,my first real new car too.

[fillmore]

Hi Stelex,
I have been reading the DSG stuttering thread as I have had this happening in my 118 TSI for the past month and the latest thing is a clunking sound under the car when I take of at low speeds,especially noticable say when you are appraoching a speed hump/intersection and you quickly slow down then take off again. I also get a high pitched "sqeak"each time I initially touch the accelaerator??
My car is booked in for warranty check up and I was just wondering if there is anything I should say to make sure the dealer checks out what they need to be looking at.
BTW ,I feel your pain mate,I am onto year two of my Golf which is under leaseplan through my comapny,so cant get rid of it even if I wanted to,so very dissapointing,my first real new car too.

High pitched squeak will most likely be clutch for supercharger. An updated waterpump clutch is available to fix it.

[Stelex]

Hi Stelex,
I have been reading the DSG stuttering thread as I have had this happening in my 118 TSI for the past month and the latest thing is a clunking sound under the car when I take of at low speeds,especially noticable say when you are appraoching a speed hump/intersection and you quickly slow down then take off again. I also get a high pitched "sqeak"each time I initially touch the accelaerator??
My car is booked in for warranty check up and I was just wondering if there is anything I should say to make sure the dealer checks out what they need to be looking at.
BTW ,I feel your pain mate,I am onto year two of my Golf which is under leaseplan through my comapny,so cant get rid of it even if I wanted to,so very dissapointing,my first real new car too.

Make sure you explain them exactly what's happening. Initially I had a few knock-backs, like "we haven't found anything wrong" only for the problem to continue. Now I always ask for a mechanic to go for a drive with me so I can demonstrate the fault. I usually 'practice' before, so I know when exactly it would occur, so I can demonstrate it easily.

[rockDAhouse]

I just collected my Golf after 60.000km service. Guess what, two things that really didn't surprise me:

1 - they had to re-gas the air-con system, this is about 5th time.
2 - they have to replace the clutch pack - YET AGAIN. Apparently the one they put in some 10k ago and before the mechatronics died, has been superseeded as it was discovered that it goes out of shape in about 10.000km. So there is a completely new clutch pack that they have ordered from Germany, no ETA but some 6 weeks should be reasonable time to expect.

What's next, another dead engine maybe?

Does anyone have a not too rotten Holden Camira for sale, I think I'd be better off.

Feel your pain Stelex as the only problem I haven't had in my car is the air-con. At the moment car is with dealership and since the car was towed in last Monday, no one from the dealership has contacted me about the status of my car. Numerous phone calls have been made now and I am so tired of waiting for their call back, I don't even know who is the service advisor allocated and have they look at my car yet. First thing I'm going to do when the car is back from fix, trade in and get another car, NOT from VW anymore because of their bad customer service. And I am going to contact fair trading and Accc tomorrow, because of the bad customer service, oh actually not "bad", I should said "NO" customer service as no one has contacted me yet.