Endless frustrations with VW

We were excited when we bought a Jetta TDI in June from Don Valley Volkswagen in Toronto, Ontario. We had to go with a brand new 2006 as they are not selling the 2007 diesels, but there were 52 km on the car when we drove it off the lot.

Our sales person had the knowledge of a nit. We almost ran out of gas on the first test drive and had to lend her $5 for diesel. Then, back in her office, she had us wait for 7 minutes as took a personal call of no relevance from her daughter.

Before we made our final decision this sales person assured us that our ipod would definitely work with the stereo. Not. We show up to pick up the car and when we asked about how the ipod connection works we’re told sorry, you have to pay extra to have your stereo modified for it to work.

What’s more, they don’t have owners manuals for the car, but promise to order them and have them in within the week.

Then our sales person smiled and spoke in a very careful, condescending voice. You know, the kind you use when you tell a 4 year old something very important. She very carefully explained that VW corporate might call and if they did we were to give her a rating of 10 on all the questions, even if they ask a tricky question like “”come on, she couldn’t really be *that* good, could she?”"

We were there for the car, which we were getting for a good price, not this idiot so we sat through this fuming. Then we get the car home and are shocked to see that there is a small ding in the passenger front door.

A week passes. A few weeks pass. No owners manuals yet. We call and get the run around. We call again. And again. Sales person blames the office manager. The office manager claims the manuals are on back order. Nothing gets done other than our time is wasted.

We aren’t sure if there are any special service or care considerations with a diesel. We keep driving the car. Then, at 9400 km (about 5800 miles) the car suddenly starts to lose power. A few seconds later it stalls on the road. This is a new car!!

Of course, since we were given NO information I don’t even know what the warning lights mean. I don’t have the roadside assistance numbers. I’m broken down in a new car and I can’t even tell if it’s safe to drive if a few hundred metres to a nearby gas station. I fumble around and with help from my husband at home finally get a roadside assistance number where my 45 minute wait in cold, miserable weather with no power in the car begins.

The car is towed to Pfaff Motors in Newmarket to get fixed. We call around 10 am to see what is going on and are told that is was dropped off with no instructions so they haven’t looked at it yet. It’s not a busy day, they say, so they should get back to us soon. No loner car unless it will be kept for more than 24 hours and they won’t know that until they look at it. We call back at 1:30 but the service rep, John, is still on lunch and sounds annoyed. He hasn’t looked at the car yet. Finally, around 3:30, we get a call. The car needs a part that has to be ordered, so we should come get a loaner. But they close at 6 so we have to get there before then.

This does get fixed, but now we are nervous. Can we trust our new car not to break down again, especially since the shop could not repeat the problem but fixed a part based on an error log report.

Up until the Jetta we’ve purchased Fords. I like the way the Jetta drives, but what a nightmare compared to dealing with the folks at 2 different Ford dealerships in the area. This has certainly soured any enjoyment I might have had from this new car.