Who hasn't had ANY unusual problems with their Polo GTI?

[Ralfi]

A couple of things today had me questioning my plan of owning a new Polo GTI within the next couple of months.

1) Calling my mechanic & being told that Volkswagen's are a pr**k to work on & very problematic. He was working on one as I called & said that he was having a hell of a time repairing the turbo. His view wasn't just based on the car he was working on at the time either. He's had faulty Volkswagons brought in fairly regularly.


2) Reading through the "Polo Problems & Fix Register" thread, choc full of repeated & yet diverse problems on new & old models.


I'm hoping people can prove to me that a Polo GTI won't be the mistake i'm thinking it might be, following what i've read/heard today...

Has anyone had no unusual problems whatsoever with their GTI (& could you state the year of manufacturer please)?

[Grant]

MY08 august 2007 build and no problems at all to date.

[jasn78]

mate in regards to the problems and fix threads and this forum in general, you are going to get more complaints/finicky b*st*rds like me on a forum like this than in real life so the stats are always going to be skewed towards issues.

As for working on them if you find a vw specialist which ur mechanic doesnt sound like to be honest they rnt that hard to work on and specialist doesnt mean expensive i can name 2 jmac and mike weber both decently priced who do a good job.

in the end the decision is up to u just make an informed one first. and remember i doubt hyundai etc have such great forums/people as the vw community does

[tinto]

I'm kinda glad people don't post days of 'trouble-free motoring', or we'd all be bored to death.

EVERYTHING FUNCTIONING AS EXPECTED, PROCEEDING TO GEAR THREE.

My prediction is your mechanic isn't a VAG specialist.
If you are a general mechanic (used to ford, holden & most of Japan's offerings), when something well built lands in front of you, you may have some trouble with it.

[pixl]

+1 jasn78

A lot of us are very very picky. No matter how great the car, there is ALWAYS going to be someone who's going to complain about some little thing.

No car manufacturer is perfect.

Seriously though, take what you read on these and other forums with a grain of salt. Not saying it's all BS, but a lot of it can get in your head and then it'll make you paranoid into thinking there's something wrong when there isn't.

I was a victim of this in the beginning myself. Because I read those reports of gear boxes dying, I was hearing clunks and knocks from the gear box thinking mine was on it's way out too. Even though I've been assured by the dealer and other mechanics that it's a normal sound --

I've got almost 9000km on my 08 GTI and she's running great. In fact, I've only just started to feel her open up.

[poloplayer]

I've just booked my 30,000km service, and so far the car's been flawless bar a few squeaks/rattles, and a loose speaker mount (which was fixed last time I got it serviced).

[Chrisuk-polo]

At the end of the day all cars built today have the same kinda problems as all the parts come from common manufacturers , as long as its under warranty dont worry and nothin major has gone wrong on mine apart form the radiator! As a mechanic myself we are bias to certain models , it all depends what you work on etc etc! Go buy one! Best car i have owned, and i have had countless cars, vauxhalls , peugeot, renault, bmw, ford to name a few, and the vw is the best built by far!

[mikepologti]

i can only agree with these guys, most people on this forum are very passionate about there cars. hell if you get a 3mm scratch on the paintwork and just everyone on this forum will pick it up from 200 yards. as for working on them , it sounds to me like your mechanic sounds very biased. if they were dificult why is it , quite a few members have activly and succesfully carried out various mods on there cars. sure there basic mods , but id sooner stick my hands under the bonnet of a vw then i would a hyundai getz,which gives a completely new definition of cramped.

[PeterHBne]

I think it comes down to increasingly more complex cars being built more cheaply. Seriously, modern cars are dirt cheap compared to new cars of even 10 years ago.

However I do believe that ALL non-supercar (and probably even some of them) manufacturers now cut corners big time. You hear horror stories about Bimmers, Mercs, etc whereas once they were the pinnacle of reliability.

My Polo after 43,000km?

1) Gearbox selector shaft problem (fixed under warranty)
2) Lambda probe sensor problem (fixed under warranty)
3) Current mysterious clutch or similar problem (yet to be resolved)

These are all real annoying and the known gearbox problems I think are ridiculous.

I don't drive my car that hard, and apart from the annoyingness, I don't really complain.

However, you get a Corolla and guaranteed nothing will go wrong with it ever. But they are dull as s.h.i.t

I get some creaks and rattles (as do all cars) but realise I haven't paid $100,000 so sort of expect these.

I had a '93 Charade which was a simple car, GREAT fun to drive (with LOTS of suspension mods and some other tweaks) and totally unbreakbale no matter how hard I flogged it - and flog it I did for over 10 years. I don't believe the Pog would stand anything like the punishment the Charade copped.

But it was a simple car known for unshakeable reliability.

[seangti]

i too was in the same boat as you, looked at the problems and thought no way. No go look at renault sport forums and their relationship with the dealers... it's nothing to stress about. gearbox problems seem to be the most consistent, and yet all seem to occur within the warranty period...well all of them still are under warranty i guess. Meh, if you like it, buy it. You will rarely be disappointed unless you're expecting too much.