benson01 Posted September 14, 2004 Report Share Posted September 14, 2004 Hello all. I was wondering if anyone knows the extent of this gearbox/clutch failure problem that the Polo GTI has? My car has been in for the safety recall, but it seems from reading others posts that this alone is not solving the problem. My gearchange is very notchy, and having done 31K miles and seeing others with big problems at this sort of mileage I am concerned about the future reliability of my car. I am thinking that if it's a large enough problem can we not get together to try and do something collectively? Tackling it as individuals when the problem occurs on our own cars is making it easy for VW and their dealers to pick us off with their lame excuses and lack of interest . Rover owners are/were pursuing a class action against Rover in respect of the K-Series engine head gasket failures. Maybe we could do the same with VW and this Polo problem? My understanding of the law (which is not too good - hey i'm not a lawyer) is that goods sold have to be fit for the purpose they were intended. Well, if this is a major design flaw in the GTI then it obviously is not fit for the purpose of everyday driving. There may be some mileage in this if we can find out that VW have handled this problem with their German customers in a different way to how they are dealing with us Brits. It would almost be an admission that the problem is serious if this were found to be true. We may be able to get VW to honour us with the same goodwill that they have given German Polo GTI owners. This especially true if the threat of a BBC Watchdog investigation were on the cards Germany has superior consumer laws than the UK (rip-off Britain etc etc). I can't imagine that German buyers would put up with the same tratment we are getting...... I'm thinking out loud here folks, and I have never been involved with any 'consumer power' actions before, but the way I see it we have these three options: 1. Sell out beloved GTI's before the problem occurs on our 'watch', and pass the problem on to someone else so they take the hit. 2. Keep our GTI's and wait until the problem occurs and then watch as VW refuse to repair it for free (and then turn green when we get the £300 - £750 bill). 3. TAKE SOME ACTION NOW - before it happens to us (or try and get some compensation if it has happened already). Does anyone know any consumer lawyers who might be able to offer some initial professional advice? Interested in your thoughts all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riz Posted September 14, 2004 Report Share Posted September 14, 2004 Uh Riz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ritey Posted September 14, 2004 Report Share Posted September 14, 2004 Its good thinking benson, just curious, are you or have you read the threads from uk polos ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benson01 Posted September 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2004 No have not read them yet. It is on my 'To Do' list if we can get anything rolling here.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ritey Posted September 14, 2004 Report Share Posted September 14, 2004 Well they had a good go at the watchdog thing but unfortunatly nothing happend. VW UK is a huge entity to try and get to grips with, I'm not trying to dampen spirts I'll be the first to say there is a fundemental problem with it as mine drives me insane daily. However the amount of pressure needed for VW to do anything more (since they have already done the pedal box) is very unlikely on a car that is up to 4 years old now. Its worth getting feedback though, and I'm interested in your thoughts about the German owners / any other non british owners and their GTI's. There could be leverage there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoloBlue Posted October 9, 2004 Report Share Posted October 9, 2004 We have a Polo GTi Year 2000 X reg,28,000 miles on the clock. It had it's recall for the clutchbox in Aug04. About 2 weeks ago the gearbox started to play up, all sorts of noises, bangs and whines. A visit to the VW dealer resulted in being told we need a new gearbox (1900 pounds) or specialist repair to the old one(900 pounds) with no guarantee of success. VW UK are not interested, no goodwill gesture, more a two fingered gesture. How widespread is this problem ? Collective bargaining would seem the right way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benson01 Posted October 9, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2004 Have not gotten around to following up on my original post, but I have been dissappointed with the lack of response. VW will pick us all off so long as we are just individuals turning up at the dealerships. I still believe finding out how VW have handled this problem with their German customers is the key to getting any results here in UK. I will post a query on German VW forums and get let you know anything I hear back. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moschops Posted October 15, 2004 Report Share Posted October 15, 2004 You need a minimum of 7 owners to all individually complain to their respective dealers about the G/B problems before VW will look into it. So thats 4 so far. Anyone else...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FiveMagics Posted October 19, 2004 Report Share Posted October 19, 2004 Well, I've got a 1.4 SE, if that counts!!!! My gearbox, well, pedalbox more the the point, kept playing up, and I'm not happy with the gearbox too much either, so have my name on that listy thing too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troubles Posted October 22, 2004 Report Share Posted October 22, 2004 Hi I had my car recalled and have had hell ever since. The clutch has been playing up and I have taken it to vw many times who have said there isn't a problem. Some how i wish i never took it. My car is a W reg 2000 with only 30k miles....why should these problems be happening now?? I took it back to vw with complaints and they have just told me fater a whole day in their garage that there are problems with the throttle body.....another problem which is causing my car to jerk, rev and make noises I think im going to take the safe option and sell it as soon as its fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benson01 Posted October 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2004 Another sad tale..sorry for you. Why should you have to put up with this and have to sell the car? See my post about German owners and VW's response to this problem over there. Seems like they are not looking after there customers anywhere. What can we do except carry on with the fight... Hope you get things sorted with the car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simoncorrigan Posted October 25, 2004 Report Share Posted October 25, 2004 i'm in - was fine until it went in for the recall now having problems with gearbox and or clutch. colbournes suck. it is even under extended warranty - guess what not covered under the `fair wear and tear' clause. next car will not be a vw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delibird Posted November 5, 2004 Report Share Posted November 5, 2004 I got the call back, went to my local VW garage and they said they would contact me. That was 3 months ago and still no news Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moschops Posted November 5, 2004 Report Share Posted November 5, 2004 [ QUOTE ] I got the call back, went to my local VW garage and they said they would contact me. That was 3 months ago and still no news [/ QUOTE ] With regards to the Gearbox or the recall on the pedal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delibird Posted November 12, 2004 Report Share Posted November 12, 2004 the recall on the pedal....I called the garage and they said they had forgotten to ring me....it's booked in for next week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moschops Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 [ QUOTE ] I called the garage and they said they had forgotten to ring me [/ QUOTE ] Why does that not surprise me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acolonna Posted November 16, 2004 Report Share Posted November 16, 2004 People I have an Italian Polo 6N2 1.6 16V GTI and I'm having problems too. The clutch seems to be finished (but it's at least 15.000miles since...and I'm at 31.000 now). The ususal friction noise, that seems to be common to almost all Polo 6N and 6N2 got louder and louder. I sent the car in and I'm waiting for a response. My GTI is nearly 4 years old and VW told me I'm 99% not getting ANY refound anyway. I'm thinking about sending in the lawyers of a famous Italian consumer association. This issue has to be solved...we can not pay for the bastards' mistakes. Anyway the noise can be due to 3 things: > flywheel (I had a 6N 1.9SDI before, and I heard that they recalled them in Italy for it...unfortunatelly I had already had to replace it, along with the "pusher" and the clutch...at the time my dad was still paying for the reparis..hehe. > ball-beading in the gearbox...(my 1.9SDI had a gear fault, the whole thing became one solid block..or nearly, my mechanic told me it could have been caused by a bearing, and a lot of time); > the "differential", that thing that brings motion from the engine to the lateral axises; ...on top of all, I've discovered that my right axis is missing the weight (this is pretty weird...!) somehow, somewhen, at VW, someone has taken it out and didn't put it back! Anyway, the noises I heard were pretty much the same as those I heard before one of the break-down's of my 1.9SDI... At 20mph it feels like a steam-train. Actually the noise reminds me of the sound you here in DTM racing cars... frequency is relative to speed, intensity is relative to torque - acceleration (positive or negative it's the same, but with different sounds). I'd just buy a darn Porsche to be able to run at 120mph without worrying of wearing-out the car! But I dunna have da money, and Porsche is VW anyway...and you can feel it a lot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acolonna Posted November 24, 2004 Report Share Posted November 24, 2004 I just had a chat with the garage director and this is what we know at the moment: 1) VW Italy has REFUSED to send in an inspector to check on my car to see if it should be repaired under warranty... 2) The garage director told me I HAVE to replace my clutch, as the disk is totally finished...I had a very good discount on that operation (they counted only 3 hours of work), a total of 560.00 Euros for clutch disk, pressure plate and a few minor parts, including job. Usually you would pay about 720.00 Euors for that here in Italy. 3) When the gearbox will be down for the cluch replacement, my gear kit will be inspectioned. They said that it's probably the bearings and that the noise could be functional (just a noise that doesn't mean anything...), and that even if we do replace the bearings, the noise could stay. Anyway, I am waiting for them to tell me what exacly is wrong with the gears (hoping it is that)...they warned me that the price is going to pop towards 1000.00 Euros as soon as we include just about any repairment to the gears. They also told me that I could take action directly towards VW Italy to try and have my car inspected...they could only "invite" them to do it, and it didn't work! Cheers! I am also having them register the gears' guides, as in fourth gear, the stick felt very loose and jumped back and forth about 3 inches! Plus I'm having my injection be checked because my "Check" warning has been lit for a while and the engine doesn't push like before...I only can reach 220Kmh now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommyp Posted November 29, 2004 Report Share Posted November 29, 2004 I had both my clutch and gearbox replaced by VW after some major arguing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benson01 Posted November 29, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 29, 2004 Tell us more please. How did you manage that. Is the car under VW warranty? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benson01 Posted December 10, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 Have got VW to do a free diagnostic check on the gearbox/clutch 17/12. Depending on results I will then hassle them to do any repairs at free or reduced price (goodwill they call it!). I am at the beginning of this process, and will keep you updated. If things do not go well I intend to do the following: 1. Write to VW UK MD (have his name!) 2. Write to VW DM MD (have his name!) 3. Contact BBC Watchdog with details of the sorry state of all this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benson01 Posted December 18, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2004 Hello all. So it is done! VW have 'investigated' my gearbox/clutch under their customer care programme. They found nothing much wrong, but did find that the gear linkage was incorrect (doesn't mean much to me that!). They drained and changed the gearbox oil to check for schwarf/foreign bodies. They also checked the clutch cable. Nothing wrong with that they said, and denied reports that the clutch cable wears out early on Polo GTI. They told me the gear linkage problem could have been caused when the Pedal Box recall work was done. Something to dwell on if you have noticed a worsening gearchange after the safety recall. The proof of the pudding is in the eating they say, and so I eagerly drove home from my VW dealer (Crowson Motors in Spalding, Lincs - recommended dealer, V. Good). I have to say that the combination of the oil change, linkage alteration and gearbox rebuild has made a noticable difference. Ok, so it is still notchy, doesn't like going into reverse or down into 1st when you are coming to traffic lights etc. But it is smoother with less 'play'. This was all free of charge remember, and I am reasonably happy. I think I am going to leave things for the moment, and see how things go for a while. I can recommend everybody have this diagnostic inspection done. It should help you. Looking back at VWDriver Magazine's pre-release review of the GTI back in 2000, they commented then that the gearbox was notchy and not altogether great. Crowson VW told me that there was no entry in the VW dealers technical database for known problems with the gearbox/clutch. Unusually my dealer is always straight with me, and I am starting to believe that our gearbox is just the way it is. Maybe because of poor design or poor machining in the factory, it's something we have to live with (or not as the case maybe). Incidentally, they gave me a Lupo courtesy car and that gearbox wasn't totally great either. Another VW dealer told me recently that they have had problems with Lupo 5 speed gearbox too. So: 1. Phone up VW Customer Services (VWCS - 0800 333 666). They should put you through to a local dealer who will arrange a gearbox diagnostic FOC under VW Care Programme. 2. Wait on the results from the dealer. If no better get back to VWCS and report back any problems dealer found, or inform them that you are still unhappy. VWCS give better service when dealing with the customer the dealer told me. Apparently they don't like dealers talking with them on behalf of customers. So speak to them yourself! 3. Still no joy? Write to: Paul Willis MD Volkswagen UK Ltd Yeomans Drive Blakelands Milton Keynes MK14 5AN 4. Follow it up with another letter if you don't hear back. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ritey Posted December 18, 2004 Report Share Posted December 18, 2004 Nice one benson, good to hear that people do get some results, even if they are not as great as we would like Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delibird Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 Just picked my car up from the clutch recall and the gearbox feels a lot more positive. The service manager mentioned that they took the box out so I wonder if they are doing something to those as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoloBlue Posted December 26, 2004 Report Share Posted December 26, 2004 Glad to see that you've had a positive response. Our gearbox failed and cost 1300 quid to repair after just 28,000 miles. Customer 'care' don't want to know as it's 4 years old. Interestingly enough, the failure occurred about 2 weeks after the clutchbox recall. Solicitor's letter has now been ignored by VW as well as 2 letters from us. We'll write to the MD Willis advising him that a letter plus report from repairers on the way to Top Gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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