2006 Polo GTI

[MART GTI]

Hiya guys 'n gals,

A bit new to this so bear with me. Got me a new Polo GTI last October, had shed loads of issues with it, mainly niggles made worse by dealer incompetence, but most recently had knocking coming from steering column when turning and hitting small bumps in the road. This noise varied depending on the rake/reach adjustement.

Took several trips to the dealer, two sets of anti-roll bar drop down links (apparently known issue on Polo's) new steering rack, new wishbones and finally a new steering column with universal joint to resolve. The latter really did resolve it and I believe was the only problem in the first place as noise was only ever present inside the car, never felt through pedal box and slight vibration through steering column.

Thought I'd alert anybody else to this if they are having similar issues - i.e press the dealer to look into this as it left me without my car, on and off, for about 3 weeks whilst this was resolved.

[shooey88]

what do u think of the polo gti? still good car? or you have any other problems with it?

[shooey88]

what do u think of the polo gti? glad you bought it or still good car? or you have any other problems with it?

[MART GTI]

Essentially, when it works, it does everything I want and ask of it. It's relatively quick, quiet, comfortable, returns a decent MPG (34 ish), engine has plenty of flexibility and the cabin is a nice place to be. I love the styling of the car aswell.

It's just a little unfortunate that it's suffered more than just teething problems:

New steering rack,
New wishbones,
New anti-roll bar drop down links,
New rear speakers,
New seatbelt tensioners,
New Spoiler and Third Brake light (kept filling with water)
New Steering column
New Gearbox (kept crunching between first and second - synchro)

and a few other things aswell.

As if this wans't enough the dealer compounds the problem by not being proactive enough. I'd been without the car for 7 weeks nearly in speels of two or three days at a time and on each occassion the car comes back not quite right - despite their "best efforts". I've heard similar people complains about the dealer in question however so the next visit will be to a different local dealer!

I think I'd still buy another as I believe that the car will be, essentially, reliable once these works, outstanding for 3 or 4 months now, have been resolved. Get the car back tomorrow - will confirm then!

[MART GTI]

Well I have the car back, gearbox appears to be resolved, the spoiler has been properly replaced to a high enough standard but (there's always a but) the steering column is still making a knocking when going over bumps and specifically when turning corners.

Also, whilst the car was with VW they performed some work the the heated seats (re-call) and they knackered the seat coverings and also the tilt mechanism cover. Needless to say, the car is going back today - and I won't be polite about it!