Am I the only one who is appalled by this? Not only does this undermine my perception of overall quality of the product, but it comes across as a blatant attempt to funnel more cash into carmakers. “Hey, we only have to worry about our cars making it 3 years instead of 4 now – ching!”

The fact that carmakers are now refusing to stand by their product is absurd and disturbing. If anything, warranties should be getting longer (tip of the cap to Hyundai). This will only go to further dilute the quality of cars as a whole.

The thing that really sucks? It’ll work out big time for business. The fact that most people can’t afford to pay cars off within three years will only lead to more leases and further dependence upon carmaker. Despite our best efforts we’ll be locked into a chain of 3 year leases that will keep us broke.

Hey VW, do you really want to impress me as a customer? Trash your crappy “Carefree Maintenance Program” and keep your four year warranty. Stand by your product and make me feel better about buying it.

UPDATE: VW has officially announced the Carefree Maintenance Program on their media site. The tagline is the best: “Program designed to improve owner loyalty and brand distinction”. Translation: “Everyone else is cutting corners so we will too. But we’re gonna throw in maintenance that costs us next to nothing to try to make you feel better about it.”

This combined with the thousands of dollars I’ve spent in the last few months to keep my 2004’s running has almost been enough to push me away from the brand completely – despite the lame use of David Hasselhoff in their commercials.

So imagine my disgust when I got in her car this morning and saw a big, fat, ugly Lincoln Mercury service sticker in the top left corner of the windshield. We take our cars to the dealer to make sure we get premium service. I want to have a consistent experience. I want to be treated well. There’s a reason that I don’t drive a Lincoln or a Mercury, and even though they may share mechanics at some of these dealerships, I don’t want it to be obvious.

But the bigger issue is minding the details. Don’t let small stuff like this slip. Don’t take anything for granted. If you’re a dealer, be fully aware that these things matter. Trust me, people notice.

But now the automated sales calls have started. I get to hear about “dealer loyalty” and “great leasing options” and the like. It isn’t enough that I can’t go through a commercial break on the TV or radio without hearing a car ad. Now I have the pleasure of having them call me on my cell phone. And it isn’t even a real person that I can tell off.

I’ve grown to associate telemarketing with shady, needy companies. Generally those that provide a product or service that I really want or need don’t have to use a crappy automated message to reach me. They have an accessible website where I can obtain all the info I need – or at the very least a phone number that I can call to ask a human a question. But when talking to someone about a new car purchase, I’ve never heard “man, I got this automated telemarketing call from (car company name here) and I just couldn’t believe my ears! The deals where so great I had to get to the dealer to pull the trigger on my new ride!”

Just ask yourself how many telemarketing scams deals you’ve agreed to that you’ve actually been happy with. Usually there’s a certain amount of guilt when you get that product or service that you agreed to. Do you really want that to be a car?!

So listen up dealers – ditch the automated telemarketing. You’re only hurting yourself.

After some digging (because the auto expo doesn’t seem to have an official site…..grrrrrrrrr) I was comforted by seeing VW among the listed presenters at the show. But I’m still weary.

Hear me VW – if you don’t come to Cincy I’ll be pissed. And when you come, you better have a decent showing. I wanna see a 2008 R32 in person. I want to see the fabled Tiguan. I wanna see the Passat coupe. And by god, I wanna have some taste of the Scirocco = whether it’s coming or not (I can’t keep track anymore).

I’ll see you sometime between February 21st and 24th VW. At least I’d better see you.

My normal dealer uses the Volkswagen scheduling service instead of directly taking calls in house. Each time I call for an oil change I have to wait on hold for a few minutes, then I have to wait longer for the person to verify all my information, and even longer for them to check the dealer’s service schedule to find out when I can be fit in. Then I tell them about any additional things I’d like to have checked. And then, foolishly, I ask how much my service will cost. I always get the same answer – “The customer service representative at the dealer will be able to tell you that when you arrive.”

Okay, that’s all well and good. I can sort of accept that, given that labor charges seem to vary from dealer to dealer. What I can’t accept is that fact that when I get there, the service person has very little idea why I’m there, let alone any of the additional comments I gave to the person at the scheduling service. I then have to waste more time rehashing everything to them, during which they verify my information and make sure that they can perform the service.

I’ve dealt with this for years, until I was forced to take my car to another dealer (Fairfield Volkswagen, which I hope to give full props to in another post) due to starting problems. I was blown away when I was actually able to speak to a person…at the dealer. I explained my issues, and they suggested that we start with the recommended 60k service that my car was due for. They even knew that the service required an engine scan, which would bring up any problems they would expect to find. Then I asked the kicker – how much the service would cost. I was blown away when the woman on the other end was actually able to tell me…to the penny.

The work Fairfield VW did was exceptional. They found a number of problems with the car (including a bad alternator – ouch) and I got a big repair bill. But the way they handled my initial call followed by constant communication from the service manager (in addition to a incredibly detailed work report) made me feel the best I’ve ever felt about spending money on car maintenance. My experience was light years ahead of what I was used to.

My advice? If your dealer uses the official VW scheduling service, find a new dealer. If you’ve been dealing with it, chances are you know what I’m talking about. Just know that things can be better.

Here’s what happened: my 2004 VW Passat broke down a few weeks ago. I have no idea what the problem was, but it had something to do with “coils.” I asked them to do my 50,000 mile service, as well. I was already pissed off by the time I went to pick up my vehicle from the dealership, because I was informed that — despite what I had been told by both my finance company and the dealership (not the same one I got this service at) — my warranty had just expired at 50,000 miles, about 500 miles ago. As such, I was going to have plunk down $400 for this coil issue, and my 50,000 mile service. But boy was I peeved that, on top of all this, I also had to pay $6 for WINDSHIELD WASHER FLUID.

As anyone who drives a newer VW knows, they’re sometimes a little TOO helpful. That dumbass seatbelt chime goes off, even when in park, and your “Top up washer fluid!” warning beeps after just three or four uses of your washer fluid after filling it up. As such, I never bother to actually refill the thing until it is actually empty, otherwise I’d be filling up on a weekly basis. So, when I go in for service and have to pay the absolutely foolish service fees, since I have a lease, and know full-well that I can be liable for warranty issues if the car isn’t serviced at the actual dealership, even though I could get it done for half the price anywhere else, it’s of small comfort that I normally don’t haveto pay anything for them to fill up my washer fluid tank. And, at my old dealership in North Little Rock, Arkansas, I didn’t have to pay. But at this new dealership, in Glendale, California, apparently free washer fluid is just TOO FAR TO GO.

My dealership called me to ask me how things went with my service (coaching me, Mrad!!), and I wasted no time telling them that I wasn’t happy to have to pay for washer fluid. I know it’s petty, but it seems like such a stick in the eye after dropping $400 on service, and what SHOULD be a warranty issue. I was transferred to my service adviser, who said that “all the dealerships charge for washer fluid.” I told him that my old dealership didn’t. He told me that next time I came in, I could ask him to credit the $6 for the fluid, and that from here-on-out, I would need to ask NOT to have my fluid filled if I drop off the car with the reminder light on.

The solution is fine, but does anyone else think that this is just a little over the line when it comes to service? I mean, we’re talking about, essentially, blue water. It costs me $1.50 to buy a jug of washer fluid at the gas station, so why is it that the dealership, who is probably buying washer fluid in bulk at a huge discount, charging me four-times the wholesale cost?

Picture of my bill is here.

It cost me $119 and some change to have the drains cleared and the carpet in my passenger side footwell cleaned up. Now, I know that one can clear a clogged drain by running a flexible rod or something similar down through the drain. Personally I didn’t want to deal with it. And making a mistake, like puncturing the drain line or accidentally disconnecting it, entails tearing apart the interior to fix. On the bright side, I had them do the brake light switch recall while I was there.

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Step 1: Locate Drains

Locate the drain holes and the nipples. (hehe) There are a total of four drains, two front, two rear. The front drains empty out inside of each front door jam as you can see in the photo below. The rear drains empty out inside of the rear bumper (on most MkIV models). To check the rears, you will need to reach up inside of the extreme lefthand and righthand sides of the bumper and feel your way around.

Drain Nipple

Drain holes

Step 2: Check Drains for Cloggage

You can clear most of the gunk and garbage out of each drain by squeezing, twisting, and performing any other questionable action on each drain nipple. I would not recommend biting it because as you squeeze it, dust, debris and/or water (if it was slightly clogged) will fall out of the drain. (Man, this How To is going downhill fast lol)

Step 3: Test Drainage Ability

Once you have sufficiently cleared each drain, grab a small glass of water (only a small amount of water is needed, like a 1/4 cup) and slowly… sloooowwwlllyy… pour the water down each drain to see if it flows freely out of the nipples.

Step 4: Do Your Happy Dance

If the drains worked in testing, you should be good to go. Doing this on a regular basis should help avoid any interior water leakage. If the front drains are clogged, typically they leak down the bottom sides of the dash and onto the footwells. If the rears clog, you’ll see water damage all over your C pillars and roof. Thankfully, the fronts clog more often than not.

If this is the first time you’re doing this, and your ride isn’t relatively new, I would recommend doing this How To and having it checked out at your local dealer or shop. The peace of mind is worth it.

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==============================
The history of my 2002 New Beetle purchased January 21 of 2002:
Warranty expired 1/21/05

*May 20, 2002: The MIL came on and though not blinking, stayed on. I called the VW dealership and took the car directly to them, as instructed. This was diagnosed in VW terms as follows:
49 WV 1.00
FC: 0129 CLAIM TYPE: W2

On the same work ticket:
GAS FLAP JUST REPLACED IF (EVAP LEAK CODE COMES UP)
___________________________________

*December 31, 2002: The headlights were not operating at all.
This cause was diagnosed as follows:
01300001 MECHANICAL, VISUAL AND OTHER NON-VAS
5051 ELECTRICAL
16 WV 0.20

A comment added:
Seats had a Protection Pack added but stained. Stain was removed.
______________________________________

*August 15, 2003: The car was dead.
This was diagnosed as follows:
27061950 REMOVE AND INSTALL BATTERY
27060040 RESTORING ELECTRICAL POWER PROCEDURE
Left front light was out:
REPLACED
The car was consistently leaking oil:
AN OIL FILTER AND WASHER WERE ADDED
________________________________________

*January 30, 2004: The MIL was on again and would not go off. The car was taken in immediately and diagnosed as follows:
19781900 REMOVE AND INSTALL TEMPERATURE SENDING UNIT
__________________________________________

*September 3, 2004: The EPC was on; the car would not come out of “park”; the clock stopped; the car was taken directly in and diagnosed as follows:
94361950 REMOVE AND INSTALL BRAKE LIGHT SWITCH
REMOVE AND INSTALL SHELF UNDER DASH PANEL
SPARK PLUGS REPLACED
____________________________________________

*December 3, 2004: Because the coolant level was consistently low, I purchased the VW coolant, according to the number written in the owner’s manuel.
____________________________________________

*April 20, 2006: The car was stuck in “park” and towed for service.
THE BRAKE LIGHT SWITCH WAS REPLACED
BRAKE LIGHT SWITCH HAS OPEN CIRCUIT REPLACE SWITCH.
_______________________________________________
The only malfunctions between April and October were an air bag light that stayed on; the loss of the A/C; and the click of the blinker which sounded randomly. When I checked, I was told that those situations would not make driving dangerous. I was getting frustrated with the car’s performance but wanted to hang on to the Beetle.
____________________________________________
*October 16: oil was leaking and I took the car in. It was diagnosed as follows:
REPLACE OIL PAN VOP 4 6 CVG 2. 00 $181.99
NA OIL SUMP $213.70
SEALANT $45.24
The air bag light had to be repaired for the car to pass its next inspection:
1Y1-858-471-C-FSN BUCKLE $229.88
REPLACE SEAT BELT LOCK ON DRIVERS SIDE $156.33
REPLACE REAR REVERSE BULB $24.99
(this total including every cost listed is $1641.63)- $950. in labor/$657. in parts
_______________________________________________

October 18, 2006: The car was leaking coolant. I took it in immediately and the diagnosis was as follows:
REPLACE COOLANT FLANGE $269.99
BRAKE MOC BRAKE CLEARNER
CLIP
HOSE CLAMP
SPRING
FLUSH/REFILLBRAKE HYDRAULIC SYSTEM $76.00
MOC DOT 4 BRAKE FLUID $65.90
COOL. ADDED
———————————————————————-
October 26, 2006: The MIL came on for the third or forth time since I bought the car. I took it directly in and it was diagnosed as follows:
77538 FOUND COOLANT LEAKING A LITTLE AT THE PLUG/ SEAL IN THE FLANGE THE MIL LIGHT WAS DUE TO LOW COOLANT THE TEMP SENSOR WAS NOT READING CORRECTLY
THE CLOCK IS INOP
RESET THE CLOCK
C NOT ELIGIBLE FOR FDCI
———————————————
*October 26, 2006: According to what was found, I had the following repaired:
REPLACE WATER PUMP $ 1100.00
c/s TRANS SLIPPING $83.00
NOT ELIGIBLE FOR FDCI
_____________________________________________

*November 3, 2006:
REPLACE WATERPUMP TIMING BELT TENSIONER $745.88
WATER PUMP
TOOTH BELT
ROLLER
THERMOSTAT
WASHER
REMOVE AND REPLACE TRANSMISSION $3373.48
(the total paid is $5604.94) labor-$1696.75/ parts- $3722.09
tax-$186.10/ car rental fee: $300.
____________________________________________

*November 14, 2006: The MIL was on again. I took the car and it was diagnosed as follows:
SECONDARY AIR SYSTEM INCORRECT FLOW DETECTED TUBE HAD COME OFF PUT TUBE BACK AND TUBE LOCK INTO PLACE

(no charge/ rental 1 day cost covered by VW)
_____________________________________________

*January 8, 2007: The MIL remained on . I took the car in. They expressed uncertainty as to what the cause is and said that perhaps the catalytic converter needed to be replaced (fee:$1,000.). I declined.
_____________________________________________

*May – the car alarm activated itself twice, shocking many people in a parking lot. Next, the blinkers started blinking for no apparent reason; the ignition chime sounded every now and then, and the driver’s side window was functional only half way down. It’s a manual window and could not be rolled down. The air bag light was back on. The MIL was on too. On May 11, while driving, the engine light came on and so did its chime. Within several minutes smoke billowed from under the hood and coolant poured onto the street. I opened the hood in case of a fire and called a towing service. The car was towed to the dealership. The following was found:

PASSENGER SIDE AIR BAG SWITCH NEEDS REPLACING- customer declined
FUSE MELTED INTO FUSE PANEL. MUST REPLACE FUSE PANEL. ONE WIRE MISSING POWER. REPLACE WIRE.
56 CVG 2. 00 $181.99
HOLDER $133.86
FLAT FUSE
COOL. ADD $22.00
(total check written: $430.)
___________________________________________________

The MIL still comes on about once a week, stays on for several days and goes off. Other than that, the car is running well!! As an owner, I did not realize how ongoing these problems were until about six months ago- that’s when the “REAL” trouble hit. we have spent in these more recent months, $7,000 on this car. Looking at its history, there appears to be a core problem- something that the repair shop might have seen before we reached this point.

Kathryn
Richmond, VA

“Volkswagen hopes to save significant development costs on the 2010 model by sharing a chassis, transmissions, and engines with the next-generation Audi A6. It’s not known if these savings will make the new Phaeton less expensive than its predecessor, but it’s certainly possible.”

I’m sorry, but this is stupid. The VW brass is really starting to make me scratch my head. The Phaeton was a dismal failure, and a contradiction to the core values of the brand. I keep asking, why would someone want a luxury VW? Why does it exist? They’re already looking at ways to separate the A8 from the Phaeton, which target the same market of course. Wouldn’t a successful Phaeton cannibalize A8 sales?

Volkswagen of America already axed the arrival of the Scirocco for fear of what it might do to GTI sales, which I must say might be the right choice. So they make a (relatively) smart move in there, and a flat out dumb ass move here. All this does is support my fear that VW is truly attempting to move the brand upscale. And if they do, I’m gone.

Thanks for rockin’ the news, Leftlane.

With absolutely no way to avoid it, we ran right through the mess running over what I believe to be about 1/3 of the hindquarters. And right down the middle of the car, thankfully because the carcass was so big that to run over it with the wheels would have spun us out of control.

It didn’t look like it did any damage (it’s dark, so I can’t really tell), but lying on your driveway at night spraying deer meat and other various pieces out from under your ride with a storm blowing in is not my idea of evening relaxation. Anywho, hopefully the car is ok. I think I need even more of a frontend alignment now than before. Fun fun.

And now my service guy calls today to make sure everything went smoothly, and all is working as expected. Initially, I’m pleasantly surprised. They are making more of an effort to take care of customers. They want to do things right. Then he informs me that I might be contacted to complete a survey about VW customer service, and any “yeses or tens would be greatly appreciated”.

This is one reason I left Toyota. Don’t tell me what to say. Don’t coach me on how to fill out your surveys to make it appear that you did your job. I’m not going to answer any better because you asked me to do so. And don’t try to casually sneak that in at the end of a call that appears to be a checkup on my experience.

Don’t get me wrong. I think VW’s heart is in the right place, that they want to take care of folks(they also just raised the labor rates at my dealership. it used to be $74 an hour, now it’s $79. I hope that means they gave their folks a raise). I mean, let’s face it – I can get my work done elsewhere. That money doesn’t HAVE to go into VW’s pocket. It’s in their best interest to kiss my ass and make sure that I keep coming back to them.

But please don’t coach me on how I can make your life easier. The burden is on you to provide the service I expect. The burden of explaining the survey is on the folks who run it. Give me a little credit. If I’m happy, I’ll tell the survey folks I am. Period.

But maybe I should just consider myself lucky that this is the biggest issue I’ve had with my car (aside from cosmetics), considering the poor reliability of the mark IV generation. And I have had the car for about two and a half years. What about you guys? Any frequent burn outs?

Anywho, I better settle down and see if they can hold uptime for at least three days straight. If you can read this, woohooo! Otherwise, please be patient and we apologize on behalf of our host.

Volksbloggin Staff

While I can hardly disagree with several of the points (I mean, they start out Phaeton bashing – how can I not agree with that?) I do think they fail to give enough credit where it’s due. The new GTI is an outstanding car (hence the Automobile of the year award), and returning to the original branding for the Rabbit appears to be a move in the right direction, as opposed to “creative distress”. The new marketing campaigns are strong. They are willing to sell a penetration car like the Rabbit. VW appears (for the moment anyway) to be moving in the right direction. They’ve started to return to their roots, cleaned up their quality issues and listened to what their customers want (except for the new MicroBus, which the write-up also mentions).

And I will say that I totally agree that VW needs to realize that the US market race IS a race. They have tended to move at their own pace, which has cost them market share. But most importantly, they need to stay focused on what the brand is. It’s NOT a luxury brand. People DON’T want a 70k VW. And don’t even THINK of looking down your nose at folks…it’ll cost ya. History has clearly shown that once they strayed from what the brand is, what it’s roots are, VW has suffered. Greatly.

So, be quick to point out VW’s failures. Shine the spotlight on every misstep. SHOUT IN BOLD IN YOUR BLOG POSTS.

But be just as quick to celebrate VW’s success. Cheer them when they move in right direction, and make attempts to rectify those mistakes.

Hopefully someone in power listens the consumers/bloggers out here, and keeps things moving in the right direction.

Well, after we washed her car, the keyfob is magically working perfectly again. Could it be true? Anyone else experience something similar?

But moving the brand upscale? That’s crazy. And stupid.

VW is a blue collar brand. I mean come on. It’s the people’s car. To move it away from that undermines the rich history VW enjoys. Not to mention the fact that many people have their mind made up about VW – good bad or indifferent. It’s going to be difficult to change that. Especially the folks that have suffered from poor quality issues. I can hear the groans now: “Ohhh, they couldn’t build a decent Jetta or Passat, so how in the hell are they gonna cater to the stuffy crowd?”

Personally I think this spells trouble for VW. They had already started moving in a great direction by honoring the history with the GTI and Rabbit (I mean, car of the year for the GTI ain’t too shabby) so why move away from that? I’ll say it now – if VW starts looking down their nose at people, I’m moving away from the brand.

You hear that Martin? Of course you don’t. I’m no longer your target market. You don’t care what a middle class 25 year old thinks any more. Maybe if I could afford a piece of crap Phaeton, then you’d care. For your sake (and VW’s) I hope this is just a rumor. Or better yet, one of those brand adjustments 95% of consumers don’t notice.

Here’s a shot of my driving buddy getting buried while sitting in the driveway. Look at his antenna stickin’ out of the snow like a tiny tail. Poor lil’ bugger.

Anybody else get hit by this snow system?

My GTI came stock with 17″ Longbeach wheels and low-profile tires, which combined with my 200hp/195lb-ft of torque VR6 makes for some fun winter driving, to say the least. I may be springing for a set soon so I can roll “winter mode” stylz. lol

This is Tirerack’s preferred package for my 2003 GTI VR6. Yours may vary, so head on over to their site and check it out.

This one and a half page “review” fails to mention the Phaeton until the second page. I’d drop you all some quotes to whet your appetite, but I honestly don’t know where to start. I personally feel that the car deserves negative press, but not as the spearhead of an anti speeding/reckless driving rant.

Jeremy Clarkson, I’m sure you’re a fine journalist. just separate the material a little bit huh?

via Volkswagen Photography.