What is the story with all those broken down VWs?

jetsonx · 26-01-2019 6:39pm #1

In the last week, I've spotted three broken-down cars.

All of them new-ish (less than 6 years old) VWs.

Cars completely stalled in traffic. No lights on except hazards.

Two Passats and one Golf.

I know VW is a popular car brand in Ireland but I'm not seeing this happening to Fords, Toyotas or Hyundais. TBH, it does not inspire any confidence in the VW brand and would put me off buying a VW. This is a shame because I think models such as VW Golf are really nice motors (even those 15 year old Golfs still look classy)

Anybody care to guess the problem?

CalamariFritti · 26-01-2019 6:41pm

Coincidence.

madalig12 · 26-01-2019 6:51pm

Have a friend who is a mechanic. He said he wouldnt be in business if it werent for VWs

Toyotafanboi · 26-01-2019 7:00pm

Wait till you see all the BMW's going on fire!

porsche boy · 26-01-2019 7:23pm

To be honest the 1.6 diesel VW engine is not great and it's what everyone buying a new VW went for. Cheap tax, good fuel economy (allegidly).
The 1.6 PSA engine found in Peugeot/Citroen/Ford/Volvo etc is a dog and has my heart broken. Only good point seeing so damn many of them is I can diagnose them by ear.

I work in a Mitsubishi garage & honestly my opinion of them has gone through the roof. The Outlander's & ASX come in for regular service and that's it. My day is spent fixing the trade in Volkswagen/Audi stuff, and don't get me started on the Merc's... Jaysus I would have one if I was given it.

mickdw · 26-01-2019 7:23pm

Going back a number of years, it used to be puntos stuck on the side of the road.
I don't know if there are an undue number of vw cars breaking down.

nogoodnamesleft · 26-01-2019 8:33pm

jetsonx wrote: »

In the last week, I've spotted three broken-down cars.

All of them new-ish (less than 6 years old) VWs.

Cars completely stalled in traffic. No lights on except hazards.

Two Passats and one Golf.

I know VW is a popular car brand in Ireland but I'm not seeing this happening to Fords, Toyotas or Hyundais. TBH, it does not inspire any confidence in the VW brand and would put me off buying a VW. This is a shame because I think models such as VW Golf are really nice motors (even those 15 year old Golfs still look classy)

Anybody care to guess the problem?

I get to drive a range of cars through the office, I had a brand new Passat last year with less than 4k mls on the clock (it was one of the new Passat Estates with the new LCD dash), When I started it immediately the coolant low alarm warning, pulled the bonnet and the resistor was empty. It leaked the contents of it on the work car park. I do find with the more recent Passats the build quality seems to be declining

colm_mcm · 26-01-2019 9:45pm

You never see Fiats of a similar age broken down.
You’d see way more VWs for whatever reason......

Mad_maxx · 26-01-2019 10:33pm

porsche boy wrote: »

To be honest the 1.6 diesel VW engine is not great and it's what everyone buying a new VW went for. Cheap tax, good fuel economy (allegidly).
The 1.6 PSA engine found in Peugeot/Citroen/Ford/Volvo etc is a dog and has my heart broken. Only good point seeing so damn many of them is I can diagnose them by ear.

I work in a Mitsubishi garage & honestly my opinion of them has gone through the roof. The Outlander's & ASX come in for regular service and that's it. My day is spent fixing the trade in Volkswagen/Audi stuff, and don't get me started on the Merc's... Jaysus I would have one if I was given it.

Any truth in the rumours Toyota aren't what they used to be?

colm_mcm · 26-01-2019 10:35pm

Nothing’s what it used to be, things like safety, emissions, consumer demands etc mean that you can’t just build whatever you want.

joujoujou · 26-01-2019 10:39pm

No brand is reliable nowadays. Everything is made to die shortly after warranty period. Planned obsolescence they call it.

Mad_maxx · 26-01-2019 10:42pm

joujoujou wrote: »

No brand is reliable nowadays. Everything is made to die shortly after warranty period. Planned obsolescence they call it.

No wonder the dacia is such a hit

NIMAN · 26-01-2019 10:43pm

colm_mcm wrote: »

You never see Fiats of a similar age broken down.
You’d see way more VWs for whatever reason......

You don't see Fiat's broken down cos they didn't sell in any numbers.

Vw are big sellers, so there is more likelihood of seeing top selling cars broken down than a brand that has rubbish sales figures.

Count how many Fiats you see on the road the next time you're out.

Wishbone Ash · 26-01-2019 10:46pm

colm_mcm wrote: »

You never see Fiats of a similar age broken down.
You’d see way more VWs for whatever reason......

Well in fairness there seems to be very few Fiats on the road compared to VW's so naturally you're going to see more broken down VW's.

(It's usually BMW's or Renaults I see on recovery trucks).

Mad_maxx · 26-01-2019 10:49pm

NIMAN wrote: »

You don't see Fiat's broken down cos they didn't sell in any numbers.

Vw are big sellers, so there is more likelihood of seeing top selling cars broken down than a brand that has rubbish sales figures.

Count how many Fiats you see on the road the next time you're out.

I see a lot fiat vans, are they crap too?

NIMAN · 26-01-2019 10:51pm

No idea.

Let's be honest, Italian cars wouldn't have great reps over the years. It may have improved.

The overall chances of you buying a car that's a load of trouble is probably quite low, most modern cars would be relatively reliable I'd think.

Wishbone Ash · 26-01-2019 11:01pm

Mad_maxx wrote: »

I see a lot fiat vans, are they crap too?

I'm not sure about recent years but about 15 years ago my employer bought a fleet of them (accountants advice I suppose) to save money compared to the normal Ford Transits. The drivers protested but weren't listened to. The Fiats lasted about 6 months and they went back to the Transits again.

Mad_maxx · 26-01-2019 11:06pm

NIMAN wrote: »

No idea.

Let's be honest, Italian cars wouldn't have great reps over the years. It may have improved.

The overall chances of you buying a car that's a load of trouble is probably quite low, most modern cars would be relatively reliable I'd think.

Consensus here seems to be no auto maker is as good as they once were?

Mad_maxx · 26-01-2019 11:08pm

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

I'm not sure about recent years but about 15 years ago my employer bought a fleet of them (accountants advice I suppose) to save money compared to the normal Ford Transits. The drivers protested but weren't listened to. The Fiats lasted about 6 months and they went back to the Transits again.

Uncle has a bus business, fiat seems to make engines for quite a few trucks and buses

punisher5112 · 26-01-2019 11:10pm

Mad_maxx wrote: »

Uncle has a bus business, fiat seems to make engines for quite a few trucks and buses

Their diesel engines were great.

Mad_maxx · 26-01-2019 11:12pm

punisher5112 wrote: »

Their diesel engines were great.

"were"

?

punisher5112 · 26-01-2019 11:12pm

Mad_maxx wrote: »

"were"

?

Sorry are!!!!

26-01-2019 11:21pm

punisher5112 wrote: »

Their diesel engines were great.

Always thought that it was their electrics were shocking

PauloMN · 26-01-2019 11:37pm

porsche boy wrote: »

To be honest the 1.6 diesel VW engine is not great and it's what everyone buying a new VW went for. Cheap tax, good fuel economy (allegidly).
The 1.6 PSA engine found in Peugeot/Citroen/Ford/Volvo etc is a dog and has my heart broken. Only good point seeing so damn many of them is I can diagnose them by ear.

I work in a Mitsubishi garage & honestly my opinion of them has gone through the roof. The Outlander's & ASX come in for regular service and that's it. My day is spent fixing the trade in Volkswagen/Audi stuff, and don't get me started on the Merc's... Jaysus I would have one if I was given it.

If you work in a Mitsubishi dealer, would it be safe to assume that the majority of the Mitsubishis you see in for work are returning customers with relatively new cars wanting to keep their service history good? Is your garage an official VW dealer also? If not, you're obviously seeing older out-of-warranty VW etc., and you cannot compare their reliability with the Mitsubishis you are seeing.

The other point I'd make is that Mitsubishi are probably at the lower end of the average mileage range compared to mainstream brands like VW, Ford etc.. Take a look at all used Mitsubishis on Carzone, and check what %age have over 100k miles on them. Repeat for VW and see what you get.

Philb76 · 27-01-2019 12:44am

Surely there should be lots of audi Skoda and seat as well

colm_mcm · 27-01-2019 7:50am

madalig12 wrote: »

Have a friend who is a mechanic. He said he wouldnt be in business if it werent for VWs

mickdw wrote: »

Going back a number of years, it used to be puntos stuck on the side of the road.
I don't know if there are an undue number of vw cars breaking down.

colm_mcm wrote: »

You never see Fiats of a similar age broken down.
You’d see way more VWs for whatever reason......

NIMAN wrote: »

You don't see Fiat's broken down cos they didn't sell in any numbers.

Vw are big sellers, so there is more likelihood of seeing top selling cars broken down than a brand that has rubbish sales figures.

Count how many Fiats you see on the road the next time you're out.

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Well in fairness there seems to be very few Fiats on the road compared to VW's so naturally you're going to see more broken down VW's.

(It's usually BMW's or Renaults I see on recovery trucks).

Context ^

mikeecho · 27-01-2019 8:21am

joujoujou wrote: »

No brand is reliable nowadays. Everything is made to die shortly after warranty period. Planned obsolescence they call it.

Mad_maxx wrote: »

No wonder the dacia is such a hit

Dacia are ahead of the curve, they combatted planned obsolence, by selling already obsolete shyté..

koutoubia · 27-01-2019 8:42am

On the subject of Dacia's .....I am just back from Marrakech and the majority of the public taxi fleet is Dacia. The take some amount of abuse as the roads and traffic are abysmal. But there were thousands of them.

corsav6 · 27-01-2019 8:42am

Gonna have to stick up for the Fiat vans here lads. I have a little 1.3jtd and I fairness it get dogs abuse but still drives like new. I service every 10k miles however so that probably helps.
I will agree about the electrics, bulb warnings several times a week, but no blown bulbs. Electric windows that only work every second day and EML lights that come in for a few mins then disappear. But it starts and drives every time

I have a mate that runs a garage and VW seem to be the most common car coming in for little problems, nothing major in unless there's big mileage or obvious signs of abuse. Certainly wouldn't put me off buying a VW.

We have a 150bhp Vectra at the moment and apart from the usual tyres and brakes it's been solid, same 10k service as the van which is worth it in my opinion.

Lantus · 27-01-2019 10:58am

One of the problems with humans is that we see patterns everywhere. This leads to false conclusions all the time. 3 vw cars out of tens of thousands as measured over time is not indicitive of anything.

If I rolled a dice 3 times and got all 6's in a row I am not 'lucky'.

dr.fuzzenstein · 27-01-2019 11:34am

Mad_maxx wrote: »

No wonder the dacia is such a hit

Have a 2010 Duster 1.6 petrol, just gone over 100k km.
Absolutely nothing's gone wrong on it.
Drive and service, drive and service.
I am pissing myself laughing at drivers of "premium" German cars that will cost more than my car to fix once the next thingymabob goes "boing".

Toyotafanboi · 27-01-2019 11:41am

The thing is (and I like Dacias for the very same reason you do), they arent really as nice as most German vehicles, in fact, inside they aren't very nice at all. So you might be laughing at the German car driver encase something expensive breaks, but it's probably a nicer car and he's probably laughing at you driving a Dacia.

mloc123 · 27-01-2019 11:44am

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

The thing is (and I like Dacias for the very same reason you do), they arent really as nice as most German vehicles, in fact, inside they aren't very nice at all. So you might be laughing at the German car driver encase something expensive breaks, but it's probably a nicer car and he's probably laughing at you driving a Dacia.

Sit in a 2018 Dacia, then sit in a 1998 Clio... Try to spot the difference...

Muppet Man · 27-01-2019 11:45am

Agree with Lantus’ Previous post. This is a great example of ‘confirmation bias’

We all suffer from it though, to some extent or another.

Tuco88 · 27-01-2019 11:56am

Huh, we have a 07 1.6tdci focus van it was a year old when we got it. Serviced every 10k on the button, best value for money I ever spent. The only thing that went was the original battery 2 weeks ago ex the usual brakes/tyres.

OldMrBrennan83 · 27-01-2019 12:00pm

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Have a 2010 Duster 1.6 petrol, just gone over 100k km.
Absolutely nothing's gone wrong on it.
Drive and service, drive and service.
I am pissing myself laughing at drivers of "premium" German cars that will cost more than my car to fix once the next thingymabob goes "boing".

That's the bit you're doing right over most.

NIMAN · 27-01-2019 12:04pm

I wonder what the rate is for owners of 2nd hand cars getting them serviced?
How many would religiously get it done annually?

I have always done it, always considered it money well spent.
But I'm sure there are many out there who maybe own an older car and don't worry too much about servicing it.

I have a family member who bought a 2nd hand car 3 years ago from a dealer (think its a 2010 or 2011) and is only now booking it in for a service, after much prompting on my part.

Muckka · 27-01-2019 12:06pm

It's their clutch, a dual flywheel always goes tits up.

If I bought a vw second hand, I'd insist they put in a new clutch and timing belt.

Every thing else seems to work ok with the vw

Guy:Incognito · 27-01-2019 12:09pm

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

I'm not sure about recent years but about 15 years ago my employer bought a fleet of them (accountants advice I suppose) to save money compared to the normal Ford Transits. The drivers protested but weren't listened to. The Fiats lasted about 6 months and they went back to the Transits again.

15 years ago? So when transits had more warranty issues than the Laguna II?

Kitty6277 · 27-01-2019 12:11pm

While my VW isn’t as new as the ones mentioned in the OP, things seem to go wrong with it a fair bit, and, according to my mechanic, some of the things he can’t find a reason for. So perhaps it’s just because it’s an old car, or maybe it’s to do with the fact that it’s a VW, but all I know is that I’d be very hesitant to buy another one when I’m in the market for a new car.

beauf · 27-01-2019 12:15pm

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Have a 2010 Duster 1.6 petrol, just gone over 100k km.
Absolutely nothing's gone wrong on it.
Drive and service, drive and service.
I am pissing myself laughing at drivers of "premium" German cars that will cost more than my car to fix once the next thingymabob goes "boing".

When did 60k miles become significant?

For an 8 Year old car that's low mileage.

rob316 · 27-01-2019 12:23pm

I'm on my 2nd vw currently a cc. Never had problem with them, I bought used 4 or 5 years old with lowish mileage. I never hold onto any car long enough to start experiencing major repairs.

What someone else said 1.6 engine is rubbish, we have a caddy in work with one and it's troublesome. 2.0 tdi is generally very good.

Cars I would avoid like the plague are Renaults, so many electrical problems and expensive to fix.
BMW are money pits, lovely looking cars and drive well but they got really unreliable around 10 years ago.

Dacia owners good for you but you can't honestly be happy driving those. Interior wouldn't look out of place 15 to 20 years ago, no power and handle like a lawnmower. I got a sandero on rental a few months back, it was awful. My wife who knows nothing about cars was even laughing at it.

Eric Cartman · 27-01-2019 12:30pm

In general cars have gotten ‘less reliable’ because of emission systems which are still rather new. The people who used to drive fiats that broke down are now driving skodas dacias vws etc.. , theres always going to be those people who dont maintain cars , added to that the diesel cars not being driven enough and thats why youre seeing them

NIMAN · 27-01-2019 12:34pm

Just a thought:

80% of cars sold in the last decade have been diesel.
Vast majority of these probably don't do sufficient mileage to justify the diesel engine.
A lot are only driven home to school, home to shops etc and back again.

And we wonder why so many are breaking down?

i57dwun4yb1pt8 · 27-01-2019 12:36pm

NIMAN wrote: »

No idea.

Let's be honest, Italian cars wouldn't have great reps over the years. It may have improved.

The overall chances of you buying a car that's a load of trouble is probably quite low, most modern cars would be relatively reliable I'd think.

apart from skodas , which are ****e and getting ****er

rob316 · 27-01-2019 12:37pm

Eric Cartman wrote: »

In general cars have gotten ‘less reliable’ because of emission systems which are still rather new. The people who used to drive fiats that broke down are now driving skodas dacias vws etc.. , theres always going to be those people who dont maintain cars , added to that the diesel cars not being driven enough and thats why youre seeing them

DPF's are the devil in modern diesels. The roads are still full of pre-dpf passats, fairly rock solid motors.

I don't think people take as much care for their vehicles anymore either. New cars especially have gotten more accessible to people through low finance and PCP deals.