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View Full Version : Once bitten... oh, oh, here we go again



bobwmac
28-10-2009, 09:34 PM
I bought my first B6 pre-production in 2005 (Hah! You fool, they all cried) and put every bell and whistle on it VW could provide. I spent 20 months dutifully attending at the dealer in response to the recall letters in between the odd clunk and rattle visits and trundling around in the courtesy Golf or my B5.

"The heated seats may catch fire" quoth one letter, so I hot footed it into the garage on receipt of that one after visions of a burning bum. The car was returned with a clean bill of health... until my daughter decided to move her seat back and I found myself retreating from the steering wheel - the dealership (now defunct) had manged to get the wires crossed.

Though each little niggle was sorted, one was chronic - the windows kept misting up though no obvious ingress of water could be found, and I was blissfully unaware that I was lugging around within the sills enough water to put out any seat fire. On a dry day, driving up a very steep hill just outside New Lanark, the water, gallons of it, burbled up into the rear footwells and on reaching level ground the tide surged around my feet.

When the drain plugs were pulled by the AA man, we watched in amazement as a torrent flowed down the gutter, astounded that a car could hide so much water.

Enough! I gave it back to the dealer who quickly re-sold it: "low mileage, one careful owner, might cause death by fire and/or drowning".

But I missed my wayward Passat, even though my Old Faithfull '03 B5 had taken on that smug "I've never let you down" air, I missed the excitement of not knowing if the headlamps were going to jam to the left or the right, I longed for a game of high speed Russian Roulette with the electronic handbrake, so today I bought another one.

No doubt, after the humans and the robots have finished for the day, evil gnomes will descend from the dark hills around Wolfsburg to coggle together a special Passat just for me, with cracked bells and out of tune whistles.

Delivery date is "late February" (- ish) so watch this space for more horror stories.

johnloaderuk
28-10-2009, 09:44 PM
At least you liked it enough to buy another one. I think in reality very few cars are totally trouble free, and it's human nature to remember the faults, and forget the enjoyment of owning and driving a car like the Passat B6.

Good luck with the new one.

daveyboy467
28-10-2009, 11:44 PM
bobwmac...that made good reading....almost amusing.... LOL

GOOD LUCK WITH THE NEW ONE...
:biglaugh:

VW Fletch
29-10-2009, 01:38 PM
bobwmac...that made good reading....almost amusing.... LOL

GOOD LUCK WITH THE NEW ONE...
:biglaugh:

Almost amusing??

I thought Bob has done an excellent write-up! It genuinely made me chuckle.

Fletch

the surfer
29-10-2009, 01:51 PM
Thanks, Bob!

I'll be sat here waiting in anticipation for chapter 2 :D

Details on the new Passat....?

tommyweaves
29-10-2009, 07:11 PM
Great post, thanks Bob.

Quatrelle
29-10-2009, 08:31 PM
Nice one :D

dunkley201
29-10-2009, 09:57 PM
Nice write up, Bob. In view of the c**p 2010 line up for new model Passats, what model have you gone for?
Just to remind you: Always disconnect/reconnect the battery whever you get ANY fault (just to keep Quatrelle happy) ; Don't forget to add the chrome grille (to keep JTW happy)

damo140
29-10-2009, 10:03 PM
Well done!

jonsey24
29-10-2009, 11:18 PM
Why not opt for the CC

shark_90
29-10-2009, 11:57 PM
Very amusing post!

daveyboy467
30-10-2009, 12:15 AM
sorry bob... i did think it was amusing but didn't want to laugh at your expense...

pls forgive me for been polite...iit was amusing:biglaugh:

ionic
30-10-2009, 05:30 PM
lol, great post.

Good luck with the new one!

Quatrelle
30-10-2009, 08:51 PM
Just to remind you: Always disconnect/reconnect the battery whever you get ANY fault (just to keep Quatrelle happy)
.
It'll be on my tombstone '...forgot to reconnect his battery'.

Bizarrely, never had to do it....yet (got my 10mm spanner ready in the boot).

bobwmac
30-10-2009, 10:59 PM
Jonsey, I did look at the CC from the outside and was mighty impressed, then I sat in both front and back seats and felt a little compressed. I had looked at the published dimensions and was surprised at how much smaller than the saloon it felt although the numbers said otherwise, but that was my perception. I suspect the wraparound feel is deliberate to enhance the "sportiness".

The CC is certainly a head turner, but I plumped for an anonymous Island Grey saloon more in keeping with my personality. I don't like leather seats so I had to go with the R Line.

It was then the fun began.

I had done some homework on the VW website (they really should have a kah-ching sound effect every time you add an extra... like a carpet) so I had an idea of what I wanted, OK, I KNEW what I wanted. I wanted the bells and whistles I had before.

After half an hour with the sales "specialist" and the sales "specialist manager" I felt I was playing "Go Fish" across the table with them:

"Sorry, you can't have this with that..."
"Can I still discard the leather and raise you a heated seat?"

They were tough negotiators, and told me I could hold my breath and drum my hells all I wanted but there was no such things any more as electrically operated seats and heated windscreens. The seats I can manually handle but I was miffed when refused the hot windscreen, but they let me win a hand by advising that all models had the self-propelled boot lid (they better not be lying).

The final result was a 2 litre TDi R line (140) with "common rail injection" which I later found to be a mind-bogglingly complicated fuel system, I think I'll have to buy the Haynes Manual to learn how to find and clean a dirty plug. Herr Obersalesbannführer allowed me to have swivelly headlights, fog lights, parking sensors, heated seats, 2 zone heater, convenience pack complete with rain sensor but I'm old enough to know when to come in out of the rain, DAB radio, anti-paint chip treatment; take the badges off it and wipe its nose.

Despite wheedling, wingeing, bursting into tears and extended the petted lip I was refused my heated windscreen "It's just not the done thing, old boy".

They're now building it one piece at a time over in Wolfsburg and "it should be delivered before February the 28th and don't call us, we'll call you", hopefully it will arrive without the glitches and gremlins built into its predecessor.

daveyboy467
31-10-2009, 10:54 AM
4 MONTH...that is stupidly long....i don't see ques of people buying new cars...they should try harder...not wait to bulk order for discount.:zx11:

clintyboy12
14-12-2009, 11:58 AM
Very funny posts Bob, brightened my day a tad! Shame you have to wait so long, how comes you didn't fancy a 'cheaper' nearly new model? I'm sure you'll still have the same fun and games!!

Agree with an earlier poster where most cars have their faults and I guess it's testament to the fact that there are just SO MANY VWs (and derivatives) that statistically someone is going to have a problem with pretty much every part of the car!

This is an awesome forum that helps massively with identifying possible (or should that be probable!) causes of niggles. Also it makes me paranoid about all the other little things that could go wrong! Today I'm mostly trying to figure out why the windows still mist up even with the aircon blowing on full! Hopefully it's not down to wet carpet :mad:

Looking forward to hearing the next chapter in this epic saga from you, Bob!

bobwmac
14-12-2009, 07:06 PM
Clintyboy,

I'm still confused... but now resigned to acknowledging the fact I am NOT an automotive engineer and thus cannot understand why (a) a heated windscreen cannot work unless the car seats are made of leather and (b) the leather seats fitted to a Highline are screwed in so tightly they cannot be removed and replaced with cloth ones.

My first B6 suffered from the same ailment as my trusty still beloved B5 did a couple of years ago: sneaky ingress of water which the car hides in the sills until a 1:4 hill liberates it into the rear footwells with a pleasant burbling sound. Here is the cause and cure which everybody (except VW dealerships) knows about:

http://www.weirdlittlebiscuit.com/passat/leak/

Would I buy a pre-owned low mileage Passat? Ya bet yer bahooky I would, but couldn't find one with the desired (but odd) mix of bells and whistles I wanted. If the new car ain't gonna appear until the end of February, then the dealership can keep it until the 1st of March and put a 2010 plate on it, so I can drive about for 24 hours with an insufferable, superior smirk across my chops.

redrolo
14-12-2009, 10:30 PM
Great thread Bob, particularly the Go Fish reference..... love that fish market... Good luck with the new machine

JSH
15-12-2009, 06:24 PM
Great thread Bob!
Good-on-You! for a tonge in cheek attitude to the exasperating task of dealing with car dealers.

John

bobwmac
12-02-2010, 01:23 PM
What a bloody week I’ve had. The Crazy American who starts every sentence with “In America…” decided that the Scottish house needed re-floored. Aye, right. All you have to do is set fire to the plastic, wave a magic wand and it’s done while you bugger off to London. There was I, humphing sofas when I suddenly smelt burning and the phone rang, “Hi, I’ve arrived, I’m in Selfridges…” I went back to my humphing.

It was Thursday 11 February and the car was supposed to have arrived at the dealership, so I phoned expecting to hear that unfortunately it had been rear ended by a runaway Toyota on the cross channel ferry so delivery was going to take longer than 107 days. But no, it was ready and they were busy so don’t appear before 4 o’clock. Just to be awkward, I turned up at half past three and the place was full of people who had yet to part with their cash; understandably, I was at the end of a very long queue. The Big Boss himself was on the shop floor directing his troops and I had an interesting half hour watching the hunters stalking a crust and no, I wasn’t in a hurry and yes, carry on, I can wait – I could smell the stress.

Wandering about, I had the strange feeling of being invisible when I heard the staff talking about me. Apparently, during the “handover”, I wasn’t a “full service” or even a “shortie” and honestly, I felt pleased with myself that I wasn’t a bother or source of anxiety. I wouldn’t be part of the car sales industry by choice.

In the middle of the floor, guarded by “Please Do Not Touch” notices, was my badgeless, dull, dark grey car and I heard it being described to a customer as, “… that’s a one-off, it’s a special build…” Oh boy, was I warmly smug or what? Touch it and you die on a steek, gringo!

The Big Boss (I envy his Phaeton but not his weight) directed one of the youngsters to start my handover, probably because I was making the place look untidy or was liable to make some smart-assed cynical remark at someone’s point of sale. But no, I wasn’t feeling jocular because I was having an attack of the grass is always greener on the other side syndrome. I had this overwhelming thought that I should have bought the CC. I quelled this by realising if I had bought the CC, I would be thinking I should have bought the saloon.

I told the youngster to tick all the boxes and I’d read the Book of Words when I got home, just throw me the keys, I’ll adjust the seat and mirrors and head back out to the sticks. I trundled home and was only overtaken once (by a builder’s pick-up) and was impressed by the quietness of the engine, has that something to do with the CR? It’s definitely a lot quieter than my last B6, even on a long straight stretch where I managed to accelerate to nearly 50 miles an hour in under 2 minutes before I ran out of road I was aware of the relative silence.

Oh boy! Oh yeah! I gotta new toy, I gotta a new toy! I gotta… get all this furniture moved back. Then I’ll read the Book of Words and find a reason to go somewhere. I glanced at volume 1 last night and learned that the car has 57 different warning or information lights (yes, OK, so I counted them…) so I’ll call it “Heinz”. There are some changes from my previous B6 but they’re of a minor nature, what will require considerable study is the DAB radio and does anyone know what MP3 is?

Criticisms? Yes. But ecologically unsound. I’m referring to the trim, which is of lighter plastic than my previous cars which had the heavy rubberised parts throughout; the interior mirror ain’t as big as it used to be and the sunglasses cubby-hole still isn’t big enough for my oversized specs.

OK, back to the humphing…