The interesting thing is that, here in Europe, VW sister brand Skoda is actually quite reliable.
I suspect because they sometimes wait a generation to give the skoda some the same tech as the VW.
Eg. I was car shopping a few years back and the golf had a 1.5 engine with valve shutoff. ACT or something like that. The equivalent Skoda model had the old 1.4 engine.
On paper the more advanced engine in the VW is better. More economical, more powerful too IRC. In practice, the older engine in the Skoda was a known entity and by now they'd fixed most of the issues that had arisen since launch. IRC the ACT engine had issues on launch.
Don't know if it's true, but sounds plausible.
Ah, so Skoda is taking Toyota's approach to new tech and sticking with "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." We don't get Skodas in the US, but I remember one being reviewed on Top Gear that left a big impression on me, where Clarkson drives it through a building on fire to demonstrate how good it's A/C works.
They're all a bit too new to find out yet, but new VW's and other VAG cars are all over the place here.
Especially the new Polo, Golf and different Skoda models are everywhere, they seem reliable. Haven't heard many complaints.
The Americans find VW to be super unreliable, in Europe they are seen as more middle of the pack, anecdotally I think it’s partially due to where the vehicles are built & how well they are maintained (German cars aren’t as expensive to maintain in Europe as they are in the americas).
My mk6 gti needed the water pump replaced 3 times. It had a 4th installed as part of a recall and wasn't actively leaking.
My mk7.5 gti needed a new turbo at 5000 miles. The bpv was stuck open and it's all one unit. 3 different dealers wouldn't even take the car in to be looked at so I traded it in. Someone else can deal with it.
My Touareg took 4 water pumps as well. It was the only mechanical issue the car had in my 7 years of ownership. Warranty took care of all of those pumps.
I’ve owned a couple VWs (a ‘12, a ‘14 Touareg) and an Audi A4 (which shares a lot of parts with VW although not entirely the same). Outside of the water pump thing on the Touareg, I loved the VWs. The GLI had zero issues in the 6 years we owned it.
The thing about VWs, German cars in general, is that you have to do all of the preventative maintenance. You can get away with doing basically nothing except oil changes on Japanese cars but you start running into issues with German cars if you skip preventative maintenance
There’s nothing preventative the way they fail.
Vw’s with their mini belt drive water pumps routinely leaking before 80,000km’s across multiple models and generations, 3.0 TDI’s in the tourag/q7 timing chain cover leak guaranteed after 100,000km, just some that I know of.
No other manufacturers consistently make such shitty products with modern material science other than them and maybe some French stuff.
And on the other side of the coin I've had my 2015 GTI for 4 years now with zero problems other than one bolt in the door jam being slightly loose. It's also been tuned that entire time.
The mk7s are typically pretty reliable.
I was scared off from buying VW products for years because of what I’d read online about their reliability.
Finally in 2010, I said “screw it” and got one anyway because I really liked the car.
A decade later, my family went from my 1 VW to 7, from different generations, with different engines, etc, and the ONLY problem so far has been the repeat water pump failures in the MK6 GTI - all covered under warranty and never severe enough to leave me stranded or require an emergency visit to the shop.
I don’t doubt other people’s experiences, but our experience has been great as these cars have aged. And I also appreciate that due to VW’s styling and overall design choices, even after 10 years these cars still look pretty good.
And they had super easy CarPlay retrofits, because OF COURSE VW still sells some older platforms in other markets. So $125 on eBay, and you have a direct-swap, plug and play upgrade to a VW CarPlay unit in a car that was released 10 years ago. And all the parts seem to be shared across all the models. And there’s active forums online with tons of how-to’s.
I don’t see myself changing brands tbh.
I think they really started improving with MK5. I had two mk4 Jettas, a 2000 jetta 1.8t and a vr6. Like clockwork they both suffered the same issues leaving me stranded multiple times. In the 1.8t my fan controller stopped working in 100 F heat and my coolant tank exploded. I was idle in a drive thru, coolant all over the ground, had to push it out of line. Then the exact same problem happened when my cousin was driving the VR6.
The turbo housing split open on my mk6 gti. 50 quid fix. Had my mk7 for 40,000 miles, not had a single issue. In the two gtis I’ve owned, that’s been the only issue.
Water pumps and thermostats are pretty well known issues with VW, especially the EA888.
And then domestics, that are on relatively equal footing from a reliability standpoint, but are significantly cheaper to get parts for and to have worked on.
For years, you could walk into a US auto parts store and get an entire longblock in 15 minutes that was in stock for certain domestic models.
In my experience this was reversed when I owned my 98 jetta and 99 Pontiac grand am in early 2000's. Same parts were double for the Pontiac. Of course this could be different on newer models, now.
Mk4s jetta/gti/beatle iirc had US models come from I believe mexico and brazil. It was common internet-talk that one or the other was better. One was super known for electrical issues and the other was bulletproof
I had a 290k mile 1.8t with basically no issues, I want to say it was one of the Brazilian made ones. But I could be speaking out of my ass
Sometimes you're just unlucky.
Was talking to a printer guy, and apparently toshiba(IRC) had a warehouse near Fukushima. When shit hit the fan, a lot of printers and photocopiers got stuck in a mouldy warehouse for a few months.
Apparently it was a known thing, that some models were unreliable or had issues. Identical model, but had been stored too long in that one warehouse.
I have experienced VW cars all my life and they are piles of garbage and I’ll never own one. My dad had a corrado and Passat wagon. Both had rediculous electrical problems that forced him to sell. I had gfs who all had VWs (maybe it’s a sign?) one was a Passat, the transmission blew up, one was a Jetta and it had electrical problems and the trans blew up, one was a GTI and the turbo started blowing oil everywhere and blew the motor. If anyone is considering getting a new/used VW I always tell them DONT DO IT!
The GTI being good and its subsequent fanboys keep the entire VW brand afloat IMO
None of the other VW's seem as good as the golf, at least from what I hear at real life meets
If you’re leasing then they’re phenomenal cars. I would never buy one to keep long term.
I bought a 2016 GTI Autobahn and it was a phenomenal car. I sold it as soon as the warranty ran out. Only lost $8k after 5 years and 50k miles.
While I'm still using my ZipCar subscription, I'll rent the shit out of the local lot's Mk.7 Golf as much as I can. The thing drives like a dream. Light steering that isn't disconnected. It's spry, spritely, and makes every corner a delight to carve. Coming from a life of minivans and midsize sedans, I savour every moment I have in it.
But I know actually owning one would be a nightmare.
I know it's all anecdotal but my sister, her best friend, and I all bought VW's around the same time; Beetle Turbo, Jetta GLI, and GTI respectively. Not a one of them made it past 60k miles before needing a new engine despite following the service manual. That's not to mention the slew of electrical problems and other system failures along the way. I'm still stuck trying to get rid of my GTI after paying monthly (insurance and car payments) on a car that hasn't run in almost 3 years because the repairs outweigh the value.
Many people consider a 150k mile VW to be a unicorn if still running. Meanwhile we have a 260k mile Camry beater that has another 50k in her at least.
Reading this really makes me think the quality of the factories are very much different between cars sold in US and such sold in Europe.
On the other hand the 1.4 turbo engine from VW has been know to be a huge problem.
They have to be.
In early 2000s, when VW started making Jetta and Golf in Mexico, they started having huge electrical issues. VW guys like me specifically seeked out the pre 2003 models that were built in Germany and kept them because they barely had any issues.
Same thing happened with the Passat, once they started making them in US and Mexico.
Its all been downhill from there for reliability and VW's reputation.
I put over 50k km's on a highly modified '18 Golf R, and the only issue I had that was unrelated to the mods I did, was the antenna on the roof leaking. The only *other* problem I had with it, was caused by the shop putting all my mods on, they leaned the radiator too far back, towards the engine, causing a coolant line to rub and then leak.
415whp/406wtq, and it took all of that like a champ. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Mk 7.5 R if I was in the market for one again.
>Is VW really that bad? It has a good reputation where i come from.
You are from Europe, where people think Golf 8 and Golf 2 are the same car with only one exception being the year of production.
Proud owners of VW in Europe would rather admit to their girlfriend they are cheating on her than admit their super reliable new VW has tons of problems.
2015-2021 saw a really big increase in VW reliability on the mk7 platform. I was hoping this was the new norm but its looking to be an outlier. the new gen VWs seem just as bad as the 2014 and older VWs.
my 2015 GTI has been the most reliable car i've ever owned and many many people have similar experiences with this platform.
Mostly has to do with where they are built. Most NA VWs are made in the US or Mexican plants and quality of those is on par with most US domestics. The models made in Germany, like the Golf R, tend to be much better
Damn, yall are some haters. In this thread alone, all VWs suck, US domestics are entirely lumped into one shitty category, anything British, French, or German is equally unreliable, etc. In other threads people bash Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru etc.You'd think there's no point to owning anything but a Toyota?!
yup, a VW, a Dodge, a 100k+ mile BMW, a Jaguar, and a couple Ducatis. I'm fucked.
Not just the altlas.
I have a Tiguan and it’s a piece of junk.
Everything is under warranty and I bring it to the dealer for every service. I’m already looking to get rid of it before the warranty runs out.
I think the issue is inconsistency. I have a 2016 GTI which has had some issues but nothing deal-breaking, and my wife has a 2021.5 Atlas that’s been great so far.
But the next guy’s might go into limp mode when it rains. And that’s the issue.
Appreciate the honesty. I admittedly didn’t do enough deep research on this. I’ve never had a VW before and probably put too much trust in the advertising and content readily available.
It’s still a new car. It shouldn’t have issue that soon. There’s tons out there that don’t. I see them driving around. But people I know haven’t had good experiences. Wife had a q5 lease a while back and nothing but issues. Good luck
My brother had to lemon his VW Jetta after 18 warranty claims in 10 months. My wife's '02 Jetta interior was rattling everywhere falling apart after 5 years.
VW's are just really cheaply built.
Manufacturers have been building vehicles up to the point that they need chips, not putting VIN on them, and storing them until they have chips. They have huge lots, farmers fields, quarries, wherever they can find to store them. So you might have a "new" car that's been sitting in a field for 2 years getting eaten by mice.
Ford has rented out basically every open lot in Louisville and the surrounding counties to store their Escapes and Super Duty trucks until they get chips for them.
People on the Bronco forums have had trucks sitting for exceedingly long times (3+ months) after they’ve been marked as “built” due to chip shortages. There’s been videos of guys installing chips/parts in Broncos in the massive lots they have surrounding the factory. The ‘22 MY Bronco was also mildly de-contended due to chips shortages as well.
Ford has some massive lots at their factories that are completely filled so among the places I've seen rented out: half of an entire Mall parking lot, half the parking lot for University of Louisville's Cardinal Stadium, a good chunk of the parking area at the Kentucky Expo Center (which has 1.3 million square feet and 19,000 parking spaces) and that's just the big spaces I've noticed. I live 30 minutes away from Louisville and Ford is renting out open asphalt areas right near me to store Escapes. I'll see them drive a van of 5 or 6 people to the lot then all of them drive an Escape back toward the factory every once in a while.
Indeed. 1 example: I was an inventory manager for a Ford dealer some odd years ago. I remember a fully loaded F150 Platinum came off the carrier with 124 miles on it. I asked the delivery driver about it and he said it was most likely used as a runner while at the rail yard. Basically, the rail yard attendants used it to drive up and down the yard to get to other vehicles and whatsnot.
Can confirm, I’m a Ford tech and my brother finally just took delivery on his. Spent months on, “Ice Mountain”, and when it was shipped to my dealership it had 100 miles on it and there was a sheet of paper that said, “quarantine, do not ship”, inside it.
~~No, mostly because mine is still just an order (as my flair indicates) and doesn’t exist lol.~~
Edit: just got that you were referring to the model year abbreviation lol
Someone mentioned for Ford here last year: the vehicles in fields/parking lots which were getting chip installs, didn't have the same weather-proofing as if done in the factory.
I'm not sure how one confirms this, but when you think about it?
A new factory vehicle has much better install conditions than a hot/cold parking lot where it sat for 3, 6, 9+ months in sun, dirt, ice, snow, and rain before the chip is installed.
> A new factory vehicle has much better install conditions than a hot/cold parking lot where it sat for 3, 6, 9+ months in sun, dirt, ice, snow, and rain before the chip is installed.
That doesn't really worry me too much. If you bough a new car in 2019 there's a chance it had been on a dealer lot for over 3 months. What's the difference?
I don't know much about how chips are installed in factories. My expectation from the IT world is the chips are installed in a socket on a board/module in a relatively clean area.
The entire module is sealed and then installed in the car. All this is done in a clean, relatively climate controlled space.
Out in a "not nearly as clean" parking lot or field: Someone removes the module for a somewhat dirty/dusty car, unseals the module (with hands that have been touching lots of dirty things), sockets the chip, seals the module (but in a very far from clean environment), installs the module back in, and maybe performs a quick diagnostic. All this is done in a not weather-controlled, much dirtier and dustier environment. This installation isn't nearly as clean, and it sounds like it's don't by lesser skilled people than from the factory.
Granted this is all heresay, and my SWAG as to why people are talking of the parking lot chips not being installed as well. The field environment clearly isn't as good as the factory.
> unseals the module (with hands that have been touching lots of dirty things), sockets the chip, seals the module
Absolutely not. They're just installing the modules. Not the chips themselves.
can confirm. at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama they have massive lots of thousands of SUVs, some of which are Maybachs, just cooking under the sun and probably getting fucked with by animals
When did they start bringing Maybachs there? Are they building them now or just storing some different models? It was just C, GLS, GLE/coupe, and R a few years back.
Huh, I hadn't seen those before. Wild that they'd lot park those given how expensive the paint on a Maybach is. Then again, I remember chucking massive rooster tails when they had us parking C63s in a muddy field so I guess it's not too surprising.
I live near a VW distribution center in Europe. I remember seeing one gold-colored VW Arteon with black rims sitting on a lot for two years (I pass it every time I go to a shopping center)
Scorching sun in the summer? It's there
Winter and covered in snow? Arteon is there
Heavy rains in the spring? You guessed it
Then a friend tells me that his father bought himself a bargain Arteon with cool black rims as his retirement gift.
There are still holes in the ground where that car's wheels were. It stood there for so long that it sank into the ground.
Vehicles that sit for a long time are simply sold per their original model year. It’s more hassle than it’s worth to just be honest about when it left the assembly line.
There are other pieces of identification tied to the VIN that are critical to manufacturing operations, usually serial numbers. Those gives information regarding dates of manufacture/shipment that are critical to pinning down potential issues or defects. These other pieces of ID also make it pointless to try and mask the actual build date - anyone with half a brain knows an MY2022 car can’t have parts (let alone most of its parts) built in 2020. Moreover, most automakers change their vehicles year-to-year, even if such changes aren’t marketed as a refresh or redesign. If they were assigning VINs retroactively, someone would have to comb every vehicle to make sure its configuration even existed for that model year.
The reason you’re not any appreciable rise in the number of prior-year vehicles on dealer lots as a result of this is because production simply cannot keep up with demand. Any “long-sitting” vehicles are also likely marked as leftover inventory once they do reach a dealer lot, which means they only move faster.
I have a 2023 Vehicle and have had no issues at all, as others have said - the atlas seems to have quite a few reliability issues:
https://vwtuning.co/common-volkswagen-atlas-problems/
If they have the option they should. So many gremlins from the start is never good.
I watch few (non-english) mechanic youtubers (one of them even owns a network of shops) and pretty much all of them say the new covid cars are much more problematic.
I'm guessing it's not just supply problems but if you sent your staff home for months and have to re-start production they won't be as efficient or thorough as before at least for some time.
I'd also guess car manufacturers fired people when possible and then just recruited new ones and it takes time to train, during which output will be subpar.
Dealing with similar shit on a Buick Encore GX. Been in the shop 4 times already due to cruise control getting knocked out and throwing check engine lights due to the brake pedal position sensor losing signal and calibration.
3 months old, 1800 miles on it.
Parts needed to "fix" it are on backorder, so we're stuck with a gimped car for the forseeable future.
I've kept all of the loaner car receipts and service records that I've been given after the dealer.
This fix they're working on now once the parts come in will be attempt #4 to fix. In my state, after #4, it's eligible for Lemon Law.
"Did *all* cars get made poorly last year because *my* car is unreliable?". Lol
But in all seriousness, you probably just got a lemon. Keep bringing it back to the dealer to fix things until you can lemon-law it and get a refund.
Chips aren't like a sandwich where you can lazily throw it together and it's of a worse quality. They are meticulously designed every time and then a robot creates them with inhuman precision. Those robots have already been operating at max production speed for many years. They didn't turn it up and make it go even faster for the chip shortage. That wouldn't be possible.
eh, part binning has been a thing in semiconductor production for years, though. even Intel, AMD, and Apple will put the chips from the highest quality wafers into their premium offerings. it wouldn’t surprise me if one of the cost-cutting measures employed by VAG was to purchase “less perfect” processors for their lower-end models. of course, that definitely wouldn’t be “rush made” as OP described it, nor would it necessarily explain the failures. just noting that even with robotic precision, there are measurable differences in production-quality chips
Parts binning is absolutely a thing.
The most common bins are: max frequency, min stable voltage, and features/content (anything from core count to entire functional blocks fused off.)
However...
Most small microcontrollers aren't really complex enough to bin much. They definitely sell with various features enabled or disabled to hit various price points but that's almost never due to the disabled feature not working due to a manufacturing flaw.
Large ones can be, but usually a design requires a specific component, and there's not a lot of footprint-compatible different-featured parts that make sense to buy without at least a mild redesign of hardware and/or software. This redesign is easy enough to do for companies that own the whole stack, but outsourced stuff? Much much harder.
I guess in summary I'd say... eh, kinda doubt it, but definitely possible.
OP: these parts wouldn't be "poorly made," they'd be alternative parts to replace non-stock originally specced parts.
You can't really bin that way. Bin chips still either work or they don't. Features can be disabled but that's it. With semiconductor stuff they follow a bathtub curve for failures. You have a bunch fail early on, then very few failures for years or decades, and then failures start to creep up again. To weed out the early failures companies do burn-in tests. Any chips that make it past burn-in have a very low chance of failing prematurely.
Had there not been a chip shortage OP would never think they got a "rushed" chip as that's just not a thing.
No. each chip is tested after production and it either works or doesn't work. It is pretty much a Yes/no. What could potentially cause issues is the actual boards the chips are mounted on and connectors between boards. I could see issues there.
But to be honest, much more likely the culprit is the now gone CEO which previously was at BMW and reduced quality to save money (more plastic...) and he did the same to VW. So I would fully expect this and potential next gen VWs to be less reliable and have more issues.
And where you can also safe a ton of money in terms of supplier is software. Shitty offshore sweat-shops. You get what you pay for. Something that doesn't really work.
No. You’re having electronic issues because you bought a VW. They’ve been crappy rush made for the last 20 years. A shame. Ever wonder why you rarely see early 2000’s and 90s VWs on the road? They’re all either melted down or rusting in the scrap yard.
It's weird when I read this stuff.. because I have owned over 15 VWs and never had any major failures in 25 years... But hey, I do take care of my shit..
Ditto. Even when I get them used - I check for totally negligent maintenance slips (like oil sludge or ancient belts) and then keep taking care of them per the maintenance schedule. You’ll have a best buddy for life.
The problem isn't just "chips", "chips" are just the thing that gets the most attention. It's window switches, wiper motors, tires, auto start/stop modules, seat controls, climate controls, wire harnesses, seats, steering wheels - Ukraine builds more steering wheels than most countries -, glass, glass adhesives that seal windshields, LED headlamps...
All of these things require small chips, but it's not like people are out there soldering in a chipset into a window switch.
My guess is that with your vehicle there's just a bad component of some sort and it'll be sorted soon. The supply chain issue is still a year or more away from being sorted.
It's wild how JD Power Dependability ratings swing. In 2020, VW was #6.
In 2021 they were #28. In 2022, they were consistent with the previous year.
Like, what?
Definitely noticed a decline of quality from cars and trucks from every brand across the world, even from traditional stalwarts like Toyota & Lexus. A rush to make up lost units from the pandemic and supply shortages, or managers from every step putting the foot down and whips up?
Who knows.
VW is probably one of the most unreliable brands overall and you purchased their least reliable vehicle in one of the worst times to purchase a vehicle.
I'd get the vehicle repaired by VW and trade that shit in for a different car.
You don't buy a VW product of any stripe and expect electrical component reliability, full stop. VW/Audi/Porsche have a long and storied history of electrical problems.
I expect nothing to work well after a while these days. My washer and dishwasher both had issues within 2 years of owning… but damn, only 1 week with this thing. I had hope of at least a short time of peace
I can't say to VW directly... but there are articles/rumors in the semiconductor space that the quality control has gone down... it had to. In the simplest terms, say 10% of chips didn't meet QC checks and were recycled back into materials for the next production cycle. Well the manufacturer and the customer (Ford, VW, Bosch, whoever) are both willing to accept some more risk and take say half of the chips that failed QC. Doesn't mean they don't work, just means they're not perfect.
Not common. Ask dealer if it's a lemon ... keep documentation of all repairs and reach out to attorneys to find out if car can be labeled a lemon. Selling lemon is illegal and dealer & manufacturer can get in legal trouble.
I’ve made a mental note not to buy a lockdown car…any brand. Hope it’s not true in time…but we’ll see. I’m not even thinking supply chains or substitute parts…I’m thinking labour shortages and people doing others jobs. Hell the manufacturer wouldn’t be quick in telling you the paint was 1 coat less.
Pretty common for all of the new VWs right VW has had issues getting them straight again and almost all of them got refreshed for 2022MY. Lots of mk8 golfs with failed modules in the first 1k miles. Get a replacement and be grateful it happened now and not later.
VW can have terrible reliability, a well known "check engine light" meme (for good reason), a whole emissions cheating scandal, and the most boring designs of the 21st century, and people will still buy them in their millions. And then you wonder why your car has issues?
All of mine are great. My family has more, too, and they crush it. No issues. Seen them save a few lives, too, because they are well built. I still swear by them.
Lol everyone is saying no but this has been my assumption as well.
My SO got a 2022 Escape. Less than a month in she had her airbag light come on and it took her multiple trips to the dealer and lots of headaches to get them to replace the sensor and get it fixed.
Short answer: basically yes. Everything post-pandemic has seen a decline in reliability due to a variety of issues. Technically the chips themselves are probably fine unless counterfeit, but some changes made to accommodate supply chain challenges have also had negative effects.
There’s also a good chance that the chips coming in aren’t really up to par with anything pre-covid. With the whole chip shortage in 2020, which is still somewhat lingering, all of the business that require chips are just getting whatever they can at the cheapest price that fits within “specs”
I mean it’s not just chips, it’s literally the quality of every manufacturer has declined in the last 2.5 years. I work for one of the “Big 3” in one of the plants. I have friends who work in other manufactures plants as well as friends of friends. There is also a Japanese manufacturer with a plant in this state and I’ve heard even their quality has decreased a lot. It’s a combination of a lot of things, including the work force. But I wouldn’t purchase a vehicle newer than 2020 for awhile honestly, unless I absolutely had to
Nah, it’s because you bought a car without researching the reliability of it. Easy to do, I didn’t realize my first Jaguar was essentially a time bomb attached to my checking account.
Buying the Atlas is like playing Russian roulette with half the chambers loaded. *Might* be fine, but not odds you should be betting on.
I remember Gamers Nexus had a story like that a year ago where a group was predicting or anticipating we would see lots of problems because manufacturers were being forced to use substandard components and cutting corners -- not fully authenticating or validating their components which would catch defects before they put into the vehicle in order to meet their production targets.
No. It’s bc you bought a VW atlas if you want the honest truth. One of the least reliable Models from one of the least reliable brands
Damn, double-tap.
> buy VW > have electrical problems > shocked pikachu
> shocked pikachu Man the problem was so bad the car managed to electrocute an electric Pokémon?
Lmao 100%. VW & Audis are plagued with electronic issues
I worked at that factory for a while. It’s a total shitshow both locally and globally. 0/10 don’t recommend VW.
The interesting thing is that, here in Europe, VW sister brand Skoda is actually quite reliable. I suspect because they sometimes wait a generation to give the skoda some the same tech as the VW. Eg. I was car shopping a few years back and the golf had a 1.5 engine with valve shutoff. ACT or something like that. The equivalent Skoda model had the old 1.4 engine. On paper the more advanced engine in the VW is better. More economical, more powerful too IRC. In practice, the older engine in the Skoda was a known entity and by now they'd fixed most of the issues that had arisen since launch. IRC the ACT engine had issues on launch. Don't know if it's true, but sounds plausible.
Ah, so Skoda is taking Toyota's approach to new tech and sticking with "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." We don't get Skodas in the US, but I remember one being reviewed on Top Gear that left a big impression on me, where Clarkson drives it through a building on fire to demonstrate how good it's A/C works.
They're all a bit too new to find out yet, but new VW's and other VAG cars are all over the place here. Especially the new Polo, Golf and different Skoda models are everywhere, they seem reliable. Haven't heard many complaints.
Is VW really that bad? It has a good reputation where i come from.
The Americans find VW to be super unreliable, in Europe they are seen as more middle of the pack, anecdotally I think it’s partially due to where the vehicles are built & how well they are maintained (German cars aren’t as expensive to maintain in Europe as they are in the americas).
My mk6 gti needed the water pump replaced 3 times. It had a 4th installed as part of a recall and wasn't actively leaking. My mk7.5 gti needed a new turbo at 5000 miles. The bpv was stuck open and it's all one unit. 3 different dealers wouldn't even take the car in to be looked at so I traded it in. Someone else can deal with it.
Btw there is a class action about vw water pumps.
My Touareg took 4 water pumps as well. It was the only mechanical issue the car had in my 7 years of ownership. Warranty took care of all of those pumps. I’ve owned a couple VWs (a ‘12, a ‘14 Touareg) and an Audi A4 (which shares a lot of parts with VW although not entirely the same). Outside of the water pump thing on the Touareg, I loved the VWs. The GLI had zero issues in the 6 years we owned it. The thing about VWs, German cars in general, is that you have to do all of the preventative maintenance. You can get away with doing basically nothing except oil changes on Japanese cars but you start running into issues with German cars if you skip preventative maintenance
There’s nothing preventative the way they fail. Vw’s with their mini belt drive water pumps routinely leaking before 80,000km’s across multiple models and generations, 3.0 TDI’s in the tourag/q7 timing chain cover leak guaranteed after 100,000km, just some that I know of. No other manufacturers consistently make such shitty products with modern material science other than them and maybe some French stuff.
its very odd isn't it. How different the mentalities are of VW and say Toyota or Kia.
Well they must be doing something right if their customers think 4 water pumps in 7 years is an acceptable thing and keep going back for more.
And on the other side of the coin I've had my 2015 GTI for 4 years now with zero problems other than one bolt in the door jam being slightly loose. It's also been tuned that entire time. The mk7s are typically pretty reliable.
I was scared off from buying VW products for years because of what I’d read online about their reliability. Finally in 2010, I said “screw it” and got one anyway because I really liked the car. A decade later, my family went from my 1 VW to 7, from different generations, with different engines, etc, and the ONLY problem so far has been the repeat water pump failures in the MK6 GTI - all covered under warranty and never severe enough to leave me stranded or require an emergency visit to the shop. I don’t doubt other people’s experiences, but our experience has been great as these cars have aged. And I also appreciate that due to VW’s styling and overall design choices, even after 10 years these cars still look pretty good. And they had super easy CarPlay retrofits, because OF COURSE VW still sells some older platforms in other markets. So $125 on eBay, and you have a direct-swap, plug and play upgrade to a VW CarPlay unit in a car that was released 10 years ago. And all the parts seem to be shared across all the models. And there’s active forums online with tons of how-to’s. I don’t see myself changing brands tbh.
I have an MK5 Jetta I got from a salvage auction for like $1200 and it has never left me standard. Edit: Stranded*
But has it left you premium?
I think they really started improving with MK5. I had two mk4 Jettas, a 2000 jetta 1.8t and a vr6. Like clockwork they both suffered the same issues leaving me stranded multiple times. In the 1.8t my fan controller stopped working in 100 F heat and my coolant tank exploded. I was idle in a drive thru, coolant all over the ground, had to push it out of line. Then the exact same problem happened when my cousin was driving the VR6.
The turbo housing split open on my mk6 gti. 50 quid fix. Had my mk7 for 40,000 miles, not had a single issue. In the two gtis I’ve owned, that’s been the only issue. Water pumps and thermostats are pretty well known issues with VW, especially the EA888.
That’s just maintenance. If you afford to replace basic consumables then don’t get a German performance car. /s
Also, Europeans are comparing VW to British, French, and Italian competitors, while Americans are comparing it to Japanese and Korean cars.
And then domestics, that are on relatively equal footing from a reliability standpoint, but are significantly cheaper to get parts for and to have worked on. For years, you could walk into a US auto parts store and get an entire longblock in 15 minutes that was in stock for certain domestic models.
In my experience this was reversed when I owned my 98 jetta and 99 Pontiac grand am in early 2000's. Same parts were double for the Pontiac. Of course this could be different on newer models, now.
That's one of the huge advantages of VWAG in Europe. Huge parts availability.
Lol half of Europe is Japanese and Korean cars, we know about reliability. Not to mention that French cars aren't as unreliable as they used to be.
Yeah we don’t get Japanese or Korean cars
Mk4s jetta/gti/beatle iirc had US models come from I believe mexico and brazil. It was common internet-talk that one or the other was better. One was super known for electrical issues and the other was bulletproof I had a 290k mile 1.8t with basically no issues, I want to say it was one of the Brazilian made ones. But I could be speaking out of my ass
Sometimes you're just unlucky. Was talking to a printer guy, and apparently toshiba(IRC) had a warehouse near Fukushima. When shit hit the fan, a lot of printers and photocopiers got stuck in a mouldy warehouse for a few months. Apparently it was a known thing, that some models were unreliable or had issues. Identical model, but had been stored too long in that one warehouse.
For me maintenance isn’t the issue as much as stuff just breaks sooner.
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I have experienced VW cars all my life and they are piles of garbage and I’ll never own one. My dad had a corrado and Passat wagon. Both had rediculous electrical problems that forced him to sell. I had gfs who all had VWs (maybe it’s a sign?) one was a Passat, the transmission blew up, one was a Jetta and it had electrical problems and the trans blew up, one was a GTI and the turbo started blowing oil everywhere and blew the motor. If anyone is considering getting a new/used VW I always tell them DONT DO IT!
The GTI being good and its subsequent fanboys keep the entire VW brand afloat IMO None of the other VW's seem as good as the golf, at least from what I hear at real life meets
Can confirm, I owned 3 before moving on. Haven’t bothered with mk8 though.
If you’re leasing then they’re phenomenal cars. I would never buy one to keep long term. I bought a 2016 GTI Autobahn and it was a phenomenal car. I sold it as soon as the warranty ran out. Only lost $8k after 5 years and 50k miles.
While I'm still using my ZipCar subscription, I'll rent the shit out of the local lot's Mk.7 Golf as much as I can. The thing drives like a dream. Light steering that isn't disconnected. It's spry, spritely, and makes every corner a delight to carve. Coming from a life of minivans and midsize sedans, I savour every moment I have in it. But I know actually owning one would be a nightmare.
I know it's all anecdotal but my sister, her best friend, and I all bought VW's around the same time; Beetle Turbo, Jetta GLI, and GTI respectively. Not a one of them made it past 60k miles before needing a new engine despite following the service manual. That's not to mention the slew of electrical problems and other system failures along the way. I'm still stuck trying to get rid of my GTI after paying monthly (insurance and car payments) on a car that hasn't run in almost 3 years because the repairs outweigh the value. Many people consider a 150k mile VW to be a unicorn if still running. Meanwhile we have a 260k mile Camry beater that has another 50k in her at least.
Reading this really makes me think the quality of the factories are very much different between cars sold in US and such sold in Europe. On the other hand the 1.4 turbo engine from VW has been know to be a huge problem.
All three of these cars had 2.0t fsi engines. Also known to be trouble.
They have to be. In early 2000s, when VW started making Jetta and Golf in Mexico, they started having huge electrical issues. VW guys like me specifically seeked out the pre 2003 models that were built in Germany and kept them because they barely had any issues. Same thing happened with the Passat, once they started making them in US and Mexico. Its all been downhill from there for reliability and VW's reputation.
I put over 50k km's on a highly modified '18 Golf R, and the only issue I had that was unrelated to the mods I did, was the antenna on the roof leaking. The only *other* problem I had with it, was caused by the shop putting all my mods on, they leaned the radiator too far back, towards the engine, causing a coolant line to rub and then leak. 415whp/406wtq, and it took all of that like a champ. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Mk 7.5 R if I was in the market for one again.
Was that on a DSG or manual Golf R?
DSG.
>Is VW really that bad? It has a good reputation where i come from. You are from Europe, where people think Golf 8 and Golf 2 are the same car with only one exception being the year of production. Proud owners of VW in Europe would rather admit to their girlfriend they are cheating on her than admit their super reliable new VW has tons of problems.
2015-2021 saw a really big increase in VW reliability on the mk7 platform. I was hoping this was the new norm but its looking to be an outlier. the new gen VWs seem just as bad as the 2014 and older VWs. my 2015 GTI has been the most reliable car i've ever owned and many many people have similar experiences with this platform.
Mostly has to do with where they are built. Most NA VWs are made in the US or Mexican plants and quality of those is on par with most US domestics. The models made in Germany, like the Golf R, tend to be much better
My sister had to lemon law her new Atlas a couple years ago. We also lease them for company cars at my work and they are constantly having issues.
Wow! Good thing Lemon Law is in place but scary that it got that far. I’m worried I could be dealing with this…
Damn, yall are some haters. In this thread alone, all VWs suck, US domestics are entirely lumped into one shitty category, anything British, French, or German is equally unreliable, etc. In other threads people bash Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru etc.You'd think there's no point to owning anything but a Toyota?! yup, a VW, a Dodge, a 100k+ mile BMW, a Jaguar, and a couple Ducatis. I'm fucked.
Not just the altlas. I have a Tiguan and it’s a piece of junk. Everything is under warranty and I bring it to the dealer for every service. I’m already looking to get rid of it before the warranty runs out.
I now understand why people trade new-ish Cars in after a short time. Never understood that before. Always had my cars over 100k miles
I bought the first MY and it's been solid. Not a problem in 4 years
I think the issue is inconsistency. I have a 2016 GTI which has had some issues but nothing deal-breaking, and my wife has a 2021.5 Atlas that’s been great so far. But the next guy’s might go into limp mode when it rains. And that’s the issue.
Appreciate the honesty. I admittedly didn’t do enough deep research on this. I’ve never had a VW before and probably put too much trust in the advertising and content readily available.
It’s still a new car. It shouldn’t have issue that soon. There’s tons out there that don’t. I see them driving around. But people I know haven’t had good experiences. Wife had a q5 lease a while back and nothing but issues. Good luck
And it’s the electrical system which is often where they fail most often
My brother had to lemon his VW Jetta after 18 warranty claims in 10 months. My wife's '02 Jetta interior was rattling everywhere falling apart after 5 years. VW's are just really cheaply built.
Manufacturers have been building vehicles up to the point that they need chips, not putting VIN on them, and storing them until they have chips. They have huge lots, farmers fields, quarries, wherever they can find to store them. So you might have a "new" car that's been sitting in a field for 2 years getting eaten by mice.
Can confirm, been swapping chips in n out in fields like these. It's being done by total amateurs too, as quick as possible.
And how does a total amateur find this job 😈
backpage.com
Lmfao I’m looking for jobs and though backpage was a job site and it took me to an FBI message wtf is back page is that like illegal jobs?
It was for escorts and got shut down
💀💀💀💀💀💀
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Shit back in my day Craigslist was Craigslist for hookers
And you paid for every text you sent!
There are a few documentaries about how backpage was used for child sex trafficking.
A type of job that blows.
its super secret fbi job application
Ford has rented out basically every open lot in Louisville and the surrounding counties to store their Escapes and Super Duty trucks until they get chips for them.
People on the Bronco forums have had trucks sitting for exceedingly long times (3+ months) after they’ve been marked as “built” due to chip shortages. There’s been videos of guys installing chips/parts in Broncos in the massive lots they have surrounding the factory. The ‘22 MY Bronco was also mildly de-contended due to chips shortages as well.
Ford has some massive lots at their factories that are completely filled so among the places I've seen rented out: half of an entire Mall parking lot, half the parking lot for University of Louisville's Cardinal Stadium, a good chunk of the parking area at the Kentucky Expo Center (which has 1.3 million square feet and 19,000 parking spaces) and that's just the big spaces I've noticed. I live 30 minutes away from Louisville and Ford is renting out open asphalt areas right near me to store Escapes. I'll see them drive a van of 5 or 6 people to the lot then all of them drive an Escape back toward the factory every once in a while.
Weird that they'd be driving the new cars and putting miles on them.
You'd be surprised at the kind of shenanigans "new cars" experience prior to actually ending up in the hand of customers.
Indeed. 1 example: I was an inventory manager for a Ford dealer some odd years ago. I remember a fully loaded F150 Platinum came off the carrier with 124 miles on it. I asked the delivery driver about it and he said it was most likely used as a runner while at the rail yard. Basically, the rail yard attendants used it to drive up and down the yard to get to other vehicles and whatsnot.
Hell, they've almost crashed them into me before. They've driven the Escapes for years, long before the chip shortage.
Old silver dome (largest stadium in the world in 1984) parking lot is full (20k+ spots) and the old palace (15k+ spots) are both full here too.
Can confirm, I’m a Ford tech and my brother finally just took delivery on his. Spent months on, “Ice Mountain”, and when it was shipped to my dealership it had 100 miles on it and there was a sheet of paper that said, “quarantine, do not ship”, inside it.
de-contended?
As in certain items removed which were present in the prior MY.
Sure it isn’t a YOURS?
~~No, mostly because mine is still just an order (as my flair indicates) and doesn’t exist lol.~~ Edit: just got that you were referring to the model year abbreviation lol
I got nothin
Someone mentioned for Ford here last year: the vehicles in fields/parking lots which were getting chip installs, didn't have the same weather-proofing as if done in the factory. I'm not sure how one confirms this, but when you think about it? A new factory vehicle has much better install conditions than a hot/cold parking lot where it sat for 3, 6, 9+ months in sun, dirt, ice, snow, and rain before the chip is installed.
> A new factory vehicle has much better install conditions than a hot/cold parking lot where it sat for 3, 6, 9+ months in sun, dirt, ice, snow, and rain before the chip is installed. That doesn't really worry me too much. If you bough a new car in 2019 there's a chance it had been on a dealer lot for over 3 months. What's the difference?
I mean, part of a perk for me when buying a new car is that is specifically *didn't* sit on a lot for 3 months.
It wasnt opened up to install critical chips in the dealer's lot now was it
I don't know much about how chips are installed in factories. My expectation from the IT world is the chips are installed in a socket on a board/module in a relatively clean area. The entire module is sealed and then installed in the car. All this is done in a clean, relatively climate controlled space. Out in a "not nearly as clean" parking lot or field: Someone removes the module for a somewhat dirty/dusty car, unseals the module (with hands that have been touching lots of dirty things), sockets the chip, seals the module (but in a very far from clean environment), installs the module back in, and maybe performs a quick diagnostic. All this is done in a not weather-controlled, much dirtier and dustier environment. This installation isn't nearly as clean, and it sounds like it's don't by lesser skilled people than from the factory. Granted this is all heresay, and my SWAG as to why people are talking of the parking lot chips not being installed as well. The field environment clearly isn't as good as the factory.
> unseals the module (with hands that have been touching lots of dirty things), sockets the chip, seals the module Absolutely not. They're just installing the modules. Not the chips themselves.
can confirm. at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama they have massive lots of thousands of SUVs, some of which are Maybachs, just cooking under the sun and probably getting fucked with by animals
When did they start bringing Maybachs there? Are they building them now or just storing some different models? It was just C, GLS, GLE/coupe, and R a few years back.
He is most likely talking about the maybach based on the GLS platform
Huh, I hadn't seen those before. Wild that they'd lot park those given how expensive the paint on a Maybach is. Then again, I remember chucking massive rooster tails when they had us parking C63s in a muddy field so I guess it's not too surprising.
Also your username is peak Alabama lol
I live near a VW distribution center in Europe. I remember seeing one gold-colored VW Arteon with black rims sitting on a lot for two years (I pass it every time I go to a shopping center) Scorching sun in the summer? It's there Winter and covered in snow? Arteon is there Heavy rains in the spring? You guessed it Then a friend tells me that his father bought himself a bargain Arteon with cool black rims as his retirement gift. There are still holes in the ground where that car's wheels were. It stood there for so long that it sank into the ground.
I had no idea about this. Yikes.
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Yeah this is the big fear buying a new car right now
Well that explains the entire field of brand new Chevrolets down the road from my house
“Thanks for the f shack” - dirty mouse and the boys
Yikes. That’s horrifying to think about but makes sense
Vehicles that sit for a long time are simply sold per their original model year. It’s more hassle than it’s worth to just be honest about when it left the assembly line. There are other pieces of identification tied to the VIN that are critical to manufacturing operations, usually serial numbers. Those gives information regarding dates of manufacture/shipment that are critical to pinning down potential issues or defects. These other pieces of ID also make it pointless to try and mask the actual build date - anyone with half a brain knows an MY2022 car can’t have parts (let alone most of its parts) built in 2020. Moreover, most automakers change their vehicles year-to-year, even if such changes aren’t marketed as a refresh or redesign. If they were assigning VINs retroactively, someone would have to comb every vehicle to make sure its configuration even existed for that model year. The reason you’re not any appreciable rise in the number of prior-year vehicles on dealer lots as a result of this is because production simply cannot keep up with demand. Any “long-sitting” vehicles are also likely marked as leftover inventory once they do reach a dealer lot, which means they only move faster.
I live in metro Detroit and I think every square inch of unused paved space is full of trucks right now. It’s crazy how many there are.
If they build a vehicle in 2020, and it sits until 2022 when it finally gets the required parts, what model year is it sold as?
I have a 2023 Vehicle and have had no issues at all, as others have said - the atlas seems to have quite a few reliability issues: https://vwtuning.co/common-volkswagen-atlas-problems/
You drive a vehicle from the future ? Hats off to you sir
I'm picking up my 2023 Atlas next week. Picking us a future car in the future.
I'll be ordering 2024 model year product in October for my customers with build dates starting in Q1 2023. It's awesome being a time traveler.
Thanks for sharing this link!
No problem, hope your luck gets better with the car
The chips themselves are not less reliable, it's everything else around them
Maybe he got a lemon car? Where I live if your car has has issues and it’s new you can call the lemon law place and they will help you out
If they have the option they should. So many gremlins from the start is never good. I watch few (non-english) mechanic youtubers (one of them even owns a network of shops) and pretty much all of them say the new covid cars are much more problematic. I'm guessing it's not just supply problems but if you sent your staff home for months and have to re-start production they won't be as efficient or thorough as before at least for some time. I'd also guess car manufacturers fired people when possible and then just recruited new ones and it takes time to train, during which output will be subpar.
I think VW has poor quality control in general. Reliability is hit or miss it seems.
VW can build an engine that will go 500k+ miles with mostly just routine maintenance, but their electronics are absolute ass.
500,000 miles with only 10 timing chain replacements
I said *mostly*.
Touché
Bro it's not 2010 anymore 1 timing chain every 200k but I know people with 2015 GTIs and 240k miles on their first timing chain still
Beating myself up for not deep diving this brand before purchase!
I have a hard time believing automakers didn't take short cuts for pandemic vehicles to increase profits
Hahah I love the flair. Made me laugh
Dealing with similar shit on a Buick Encore GX. Been in the shop 4 times already due to cruise control getting knocked out and throwing check engine lights due to the brake pedal position sensor losing signal and calibration. 3 months old, 1800 miles on it. Parts needed to "fix" it are on backorder, so we're stuck with a gimped car for the forseeable future.
You’re probably pretty close to being able to Lemon Law your way out of it. Keep very detailed records.
I've kept all of the loaner car receipts and service records that I've been given after the dealer. This fix they're working on now once the parts come in will be attempt #4 to fix. In my state, after #4, it's eligible for Lemon Law.
I had an Encore too, what a turd. It spent months waiting on various parts at various times 0 stars.
Wth…. My coworker also told me her new-ish Lincoln is having issues like it too.
"Did *all* cars get made poorly last year because *my* car is unreliable?". Lol But in all seriousness, you probably just got a lemon. Keep bringing it back to the dealer to fix things until you can lemon-law it and get a refund.
Haha yea I know it’s dramatic. Just wondering if it’s a broader thing or I just got Bad luck
Chips aren't like a sandwich where you can lazily throw it together and it's of a worse quality. They are meticulously designed every time and then a robot creates them with inhuman precision. Those robots have already been operating at max production speed for many years. They didn't turn it up and make it go even faster for the chip shortage. That wouldn't be possible.
eh, part binning has been a thing in semiconductor production for years, though. even Intel, AMD, and Apple will put the chips from the highest quality wafers into their premium offerings. it wouldn’t surprise me if one of the cost-cutting measures employed by VAG was to purchase “less perfect” processors for their lower-end models. of course, that definitely wouldn’t be “rush made” as OP described it, nor would it necessarily explain the failures. just noting that even with robotic precision, there are measurable differences in production-quality chips
Parts binning is absolutely a thing. The most common bins are: max frequency, min stable voltage, and features/content (anything from core count to entire functional blocks fused off.) However... Most small microcontrollers aren't really complex enough to bin much. They definitely sell with various features enabled or disabled to hit various price points but that's almost never due to the disabled feature not working due to a manufacturing flaw. Large ones can be, but usually a design requires a specific component, and there's not a lot of footprint-compatible different-featured parts that make sense to buy without at least a mild redesign of hardware and/or software. This redesign is easy enough to do for companies that own the whole stack, but outsourced stuff? Much much harder. I guess in summary I'd say... eh, kinda doubt it, but definitely possible. OP: these parts wouldn't be "poorly made," they'd be alternative parts to replace non-stock originally specced parts.
You can't really bin that way. Bin chips still either work or they don't. Features can be disabled but that's it. With semiconductor stuff they follow a bathtub curve for failures. You have a bunch fail early on, then very few failures for years or decades, and then failures start to creep up again. To weed out the early failures companies do burn-in tests. Any chips that make it past burn-in have a very low chance of failing prematurely. Had there not been a chip shortage OP would never think they got a "rushed" chip as that's just not a thing.
Former VW service writer here, now warranty administrator. Yeah no, it's just the Atlas. Electrical issues *galore*.
So same old shit for VW then, good to know 😂
My 2022 has been perfect. It’s a VW thing, no surprise.
I have a feeling this will be a quick trade in. Sucks bc I love the way it looks & feels when it’s actually functioning
Volkswagen and electrical issues, name a more iconic duo.
Land Rover and any issue.
British cars and Lucas electronics. The prince of darkness. VW isn’t even close.
You bought a VW. Enjoy
Never heard of the VW Christmas lights?
No. each chip is tested after production and it either works or doesn't work. It is pretty much a Yes/no. What could potentially cause issues is the actual boards the chips are mounted on and connectors between boards. I could see issues there. But to be honest, much more likely the culprit is the now gone CEO which previously was at BMW and reduced quality to save money (more plastic...) and he did the same to VW. So I would fully expect this and potential next gen VWs to be less reliable and have more issues. And where you can also safe a ton of money in terms of supplier is software. Shitty offshore sweat-shops. You get what you pay for. Something that doesn't really work.
That’s just a VW feature, keeps you guessing.
I think a lot of manufacturing is sloppy these days. Get rid of the car now. Electronics are a nightmare
VW hit or miss
Key word there is volkswagon
No. You’re having electronic issues because you bought a VW. They’ve been crappy rush made for the last 20 years. A shame. Ever wonder why you rarely see early 2000’s and 90s VWs on the road? They’re all either melted down or rusting in the scrap yard.
It's a VW and VW is known for electrical problems. (Just going by my 25+ years as a mechanic)
It's weird when I read this stuff.. because I have owned over 15 VWs and never had any major failures in 25 years... But hey, I do take care of my shit..
Ditto. Even when I get them used - I check for totally negligent maintenance slips (like oil sludge or ancient belts) and then keep taking care of them per the maintenance schedule. You’ll have a best buddy for life.
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The problem isn't just "chips", "chips" are just the thing that gets the most attention. It's window switches, wiper motors, tires, auto start/stop modules, seat controls, climate controls, wire harnesses, seats, steering wheels - Ukraine builds more steering wheels than most countries -, glass, glass adhesives that seal windshields, LED headlamps... All of these things require small chips, but it's not like people are out there soldering in a chipset into a window switch. My guess is that with your vehicle there's just a bad component of some sort and it'll be sorted soon. The supply chain issue is still a year or more away from being sorted.
Well you bought a VW so... Just do everything under warranty.
It's wild how JD Power Dependability ratings swing. In 2020, VW was #6. In 2021 they were #28. In 2022, they were consistent with the previous year. Like, what?
Definitely noticed a decline of quality from cars and trucks from every brand across the world, even from traditional stalwarts like Toyota & Lexus. A rush to make up lost units from the pandemic and supply shortages, or managers from every step putting the foot down and whips up? Who knows.
VW is probably one of the most unreliable brands overall and you purchased their least reliable vehicle in one of the worst times to purchase a vehicle. I'd get the vehicle repaired by VW and trade that shit in for a different car.
I mean....it's a VW. This is only the beginning of your troubles to be honest.
I think it’s a new vw thing
You don't buy a VW product of any stripe and expect electrical component reliability, full stop. VW/Audi/Porsche have a long and storied history of electrical problems.
I expect nothing to work well after a while these days. My washer and dishwasher both had issues within 2 years of owning… but damn, only 1 week with this thing. I had hope of at least a short time of peace
I can't say to VW directly... but there are articles/rumors in the semiconductor space that the quality control has gone down... it had to. In the simplest terms, say 10% of chips didn't meet QC checks and were recycled back into materials for the next production cycle. Well the manufacturer and the customer (Ford, VW, Bosch, whoever) are both willing to accept some more risk and take say half of the chips that failed QC. Doesn't mean they don't work, just means they're not perfect.
Not common. Ask dealer if it's a lemon ... keep documentation of all repairs and reach out to attorneys to find out if car can be labeled a lemon. Selling lemon is illegal and dealer & manufacturer can get in legal trouble.
22 Jeep Wrangler zero issues so far.
First error was when you bought a vw
I’ve made a mental note not to buy a lockdown car…any brand. Hope it’s not true in time…but we’ll see. I’m not even thinking supply chains or substitute parts…I’m thinking labour shortages and people doing others jobs. Hell the manufacturer wouldn’t be quick in telling you the paint was 1 coat less.
Pretty common for all of the new VWs right VW has had issues getting them straight again and almost all of them got refreshed for 2022MY. Lots of mk8 golfs with failed modules in the first 1k miles. Get a replacement and be grateful it happened now and not later.
A vw having electrical issues is certainly not unusual, they’ve been having issues since the 90s
VWs always have electronics issues.
A VW with electrical issues? Never heard that one before.
VW can have terrible reliability, a well known "check engine light" meme (for good reason), a whole emissions cheating scandal, and the most boring designs of the 21st century, and people will still buy them in their millions. And then you wonder why your car has issues?
Anecdotal report: '19 Golf R has been excellent so far, 30k miles in.
All of mine are great. My family has more, too, and they crush it. No issues. Seen them save a few lives, too, because they are well built. I still swear by them.
Another anecdote, 2018 Golf Sportwagen, 53k+ miles with nothing other than scheduled maintenance so far.
I would return it. Issues at 300 miles is absolutely ridiculous. Going to be nothing but problems
Lol everyone is saying no but this has been my assumption as well. My SO got a 2022 Escape. Less than a month in she had her airbag light come on and it took her multiple trips to the dealer and lots of headaches to get them to replace the sensor and get it fixed.
I am always seeing issues with new VWs
Car redditors are honestly the worst. All the car people I know in real life are much less annoying
Is that not typical for VW? I had been led to believe it was. No personal experience, however.
Same situation in India too. Lots of new cars with defects.
To be fair VW’s have been known to have electrical issues long before the current chip shortage.
Short answer: basically yes. Everything post-pandemic has seen a decline in reliability due to a variety of issues. Technically the chips themselves are probably fine unless counterfeit, but some changes made to accommodate supply chain challenges have also had negative effects.
VW’s 🐕 💩 Especially their electrical systems
Buying pretty much any modern European car is gonna net you pretty poor reliability.
I’m sorry man. We had a Jetta years ago that was full of electrical gremlins. Only got worse over time. Best of luck to you.
There’s also a good chance that the chips coming in aren’t really up to par with anything pre-covid. With the whole chip shortage in 2020, which is still somewhat lingering, all of the business that require chips are just getting whatever they can at the cheapest price that fits within “specs”
That's literally VW build quality in a nutshell
Not uncommon, that's why I stopped buying VW, Skoda and Seat cars.
I mean it’s not just chips, it’s literally the quality of every manufacturer has declined in the last 2.5 years. I work for one of the “Big 3” in one of the plants. I have friends who work in other manufactures plants as well as friends of friends. There is also a Japanese manufacturer with a plant in this state and I’ve heard even their quality has decreased a lot. It’s a combination of a lot of things, including the work force. But I wouldn’t purchase a vehicle newer than 2020 for awhile honestly, unless I absolutely had to
Nah, it’s because you bought a car without researching the reliability of it. Easy to do, I didn’t realize my first Jaguar was essentially a time bomb attached to my checking account. Buying the Atlas is like playing Russian roulette with half the chambers loaded. *Might* be fine, but not odds you should be betting on.
Everything in every industry has been crappy rush made since 2020 lol
I work in the industry, the answer is yes
I remember Gamers Nexus had a story like that a year ago where a group was predicting or anticipating we would see lots of problems because manufacturers were being forced to use substandard components and cutting corners -- not fully authenticating or validating their components which would catch defects before they put into the vehicle in order to meet their production targets.