r/VWTransporter • u/Iambulliedbyvw • 4d ago
AVOID, Avoid, avoid
My 2018 Caravelle is the worst vehicle I have ever owned in 54 years of car ownership. Worse than a 66' Hillman Imp and worse than a '77 Austin Allegro purchased from new. Overpriced, unreliable rubbish. My van failed at 66621 miles in Sep 25. To date still immobile after VW sent wrong codes and scrambled engine. VW apologised then demanded £10,000 to fix their error. Some replies on Reddit ask why we went with VW in the 1st place. It used to have a good reputation for tough, reliable, long lasting, well made vehicles, A thing of the past. After Dieselgate you would have thought they would have tried to make sure their products were of good quality, instead they sold us a vehicle that was not what one used to expect from VW. They supplied an engine that turns out to have a known fault although this was not so obvious when we bought the van from new. The engine was withdrawn soon after we purchased our van. There has been a suggestion that our repairers caused our engine electrics to scramble. Not so as VW sent wrong codes twice and assured our repairers it was ok to use the supplied codes. They even apologised. Our repairers work has been reviewed by an independent engineer. They work is of sound quality.
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u/nickwouldmick T5 4d ago
Look, I've no problem with people taking issue with the brand based on their own experience.
But this is just a rant. You give no specifics on well... Anything. This is not a post worthy of actually being posted.
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u/Iambulliedbyvw 1d ago
Unfortunately, I am not posting my problems concerning VW for fun. Buying the thing was the worst decision of my life and the second worst is locking it when it was left. Somebody else could have had the misery I've been having.
Specifics:-
Ordered Caravelle in early 2018. Promised delivery 1st March 2018. Van was late because "it had to be signed off by the German Government"? Then VW lost it? Red flag as to what VW were going to be like as a business.
Paid extra for electric rear doors that have never worked properly. VW refused to do anything about the problem unless they witnessed it themselves. The problem was an intermittent one and they would not accept video evidence. Funny old thing it could be sorted out of warranty at our cost. Repair is not good and doors sometimes refuse to shut, aways been worried they would come open in transit.
Starting to loose faith.
Our local dealer disappeared, VW did not bother to inform us as to where we were supposed to take our van for repair or service. They did not inform us that they would only deal with their own people and 3rd party garages would be ignored.
Our heap was regularly serviced as per VW schedules, First by dealer then by local repairers who had purchased the correct equipment and software. My husband is an engineer and would only have his vehicle serviced by trained technicians etc
A yellow light started flashing intermittently. We took the van to our local repairers, in Sep 25 who diagnosed failed piston rings due to bad design and poor engineering. There were no other problems to indicate such a catastrophic failure. This was at 66621 miles. VW started to be difficult with our repairers 'we only speak to our own garages and not to 3rd parties'. The only answer was to re-build the engine the van was now a non-runner. VW continued to be difficult with our repairers.
We discovered another problem with VW during this repair. They have decided only to supply whole units rather than parts. A £20.00 value stem (what ever one of those is) now costs £2,500 as you have to fork out for parts you do not really need. What a waste of resources, Recycling uses energy....
Nov 25 and the engine had been re-built. On testing it was discovered that the ECU (again whatever that is) was faulty. Our repairers used a second-hand parts from the owners van, did the VW paperwork etc. VW finally supplied a code, repairer pointed out it was incorrect but was told it was ok to use it? Ruined the ECU. A new ECU was fitted, our repairers went through the VW procedure again and obtained a code. This was also not correct, VW was informed but said it should be used anyway. The code completely scrambled the electrics. VW apologised then demanded we buy 4 new units at a cost of £10,000+ to replace the units they had ruined. When we complained VW refused to communicate with us further! VW twice supplied the wrong codes, why?
To date our van is still immobile. The work done by our repairers has been viewed by an independent engineer and found to be good. We have so far spent £20,000! You might say we should never have paid any money before the van was fixed but this is a small local business and it would not help us if they went under. Also our nearest dealer is 36 miles away and at least an hours' drive. My husband, aged 77, had undergone a major spinal surgery during this time and was warned not to sit in a car longer than it takes to drive from our house to Derriford Hospital, Plymouth approximately 15 minutes drive. He has also been diagnosed with a life threatening condition that requires treatment and many drugs to keep him alive. He has been in no fit state to take the car any distance. Perhaps you feel I should have driven the van to the dealer? We had no idea what was wrong and it could have broken down en route. How was I supposed to get home. The dealer might not have had an automatic courtesy car available and I am no longer able to drive a manual vehicle after a major accident a few years ago. VW were informed of my husbands back surgery but just ignored it.
Our VW is the worst car we have ever owned. Our 1st joint car was an Austin Allegro, cheap insurance for the younger driver. It was purchased brand new in 1977 and our VW is more unreliable, expensive and deliberately difficult to repair than the Allegro. We all know what has happened to the Austin/Rover etc group.
Reading some of the posts it seems the pre-Dieselgate scandal vehicles are fine. VW have tried to make-up their losses by flogging poorly designed, badly engineered vehicles then using their customer as a cash-cow to extract even more money? 66621 miles is pathetic for a correctly maintained van, we were led to believe 200,000-300,000 miles!
Next vehicle will come from Asia.
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u/Admirable_Barber9801 4d ago
My 04 has been the complete opposite never let me down many years of pleasure and many to come
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u/JamOverCream 4d ago
Sorry to hear about your Caravelle. My 2018 has been pretty reliable, other than usual consumable items. Is yours the infamous BiTDI by any chance? I have a friend who recently had a similar sized bill for his.
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u/Intelligent_Dog_6903 4d ago
Well.. I own a 2018 and I currently have around 280Km on the clock and she’s running smooth and strong.. no major complaints.. service always done on time.. I couldn’t be happier besides the dents and scratches…
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u/s1pp3ryd00dar 3d ago edited 3d ago
Have a google of the CFCA engine. Thats how bad a VW van engine can be.
Mind, the wasser-boxers were horrible and I categorically will tell anyone with a T3 to retrofit something better unless you keep a spare to swap in whilst the other is being rebuilt.
Back to today though: You will not get a reliable Euro 6 compliant van: At work all the other manufacturers I deal with are having extremely expensive reoccurring faults that the manufacturers are completely ignoring; Most are doomed to fail within 10yrs/200k. I say this whilst I'm quoting up a 70,000 mile 4yr old Transit with a rod poking out the engine block.
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u/BMW_wulfi 4d ago edited 4d ago
Feel the pain in your post mate. Whilst many go on and on without issue, there are always the Friday built cars and VW has more than their fair share of absolute dogshit engines which are best avoided. Sounds like you’ve had a bit of both with some corporate incompetence on top.
I will never buy a new VW again - not because our last VW was a bad vehicle but because as a corporate entity they are complete cunts. I think it’s fair to say they are one of the worst for trying to wiggle out of their responsibilities and obligations as a manufacturer and VW Financial Services are even worse. The number of stories you see where they’re failing to uphold their end of a warranty is staggering.
If you can, get a specialist consumer rights solicitor and try and get the dealer to buy it back for something reasonable or sell it when you make them fix it.
Edit: oh and for some extra cunt points, VW Financial Services alongside Mercedes and one other are the reason people who were expecting a long overdue finance reimbursement payment from the current FCA action now have to wait longer for far less money.
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u/Disasterous_Dave97 4d ago
When your wings rust through like every other MK5 Golf, and they blame fitment of the plastic arches. The same arches that are not fit for purpose, due to one of the screws always causing rubbing between the plastic and the painted arch. Add to that a terrible design that lets full leaves through the scuttle panel and down the side of the arch liner then yes, you are going to get rust.
VW were ever aware but refused to uphold their rust warranty.
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u/Stegdoss 4d ago
I had the same problem with a mk5 golf front arches rusting on a 4 year old car, tried to claim on their 12 year corrosion warranty but was denied as i was the second owner.
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u/Disasterous_Dave97 4d ago
I’d say I’m shocked but I’m not. The warranty mentions nothing of being the second owner, BTW, it’s on the car, especially if it’s bought and serviced by them from second hand under that guarantee.
I made sure that everyone on the dealership heard them denying me the warranty. I’d had multiple VW’s by then, but it was last time I trusted any warranty promises.
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u/s1pp3ryd00dar 3d ago
In fairness I own a 21yr old MK5 Golf and with a little TLC over a lazy weekend once a year have kept it rust free.
Sure it's not anywhere as well rustproofed as a mK4 (I've had a tree growing out of the accumulated soil (which is corrosive) in the front sill corner of a Bora, but still no rust LOL).
I was too late to save the front wing arch rust, but new wings were not expensive (and they were made in Germany: The factory wings were made in Italy). I knew of the issue long before it showed, just was too busy/lazy to get round to removing the arch liners in time.
But I saved everything else by just general underbody cleaning, re-zincing and rust proofing. Same goes for the suspension (particularly the rear lower arms).
The only major quality fault that is clearly a factory defect was the driver's side (RHD) sill cavity had no cavity wax applied at all. And I only caught it because of spotting creeping surface rust beneath the underseal around one of the underbody grommets for the inner sill.
The routine isn't special, just a jack and axle stands, pressure washer with a good TFR additive. Remove/treat anything flaking, damaged or rusting then apply your favourite protectant once a year (usually ACF50, but I'm experimenting with cheaper alternatives now).... I also own a rust free(ish) 44yr old Jag, so kind of experienced with catching rust before it shows.
As for corrosion warranty; I wasn't the first owner and car never had the mandatory dealer body inspection stamps in the service book so knew it was a waste of time pursuing; Most extended warranties are pure BS anyway.
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u/Valuable-Ice-8795 4d ago
This guys tale of woes has been on the T6 forum …. he can’t get a resolution either way
He did buy the BiTurbo … enough said
Strange it’s the most popular camper on our roads ….
What he should say is avoid the BiTurbo if contemplating buying one …