All the choices at $30,000 and I pick a VW

Bought my 2006 Passat 3.6 in June 2006. The car drove like a dream…For the first 2,000 miles. It stalled at 2k miles and wouldn’t start. At 3.5k miles my oil light came on. It spent a week at the dealer. They replaced the oil pump, which is major surgery. At 8k miles, the oil light came on again. It was in the shop for 8 days. They replaced the oil pump again. Since it was on a lift for a week, the springs and struts were damaged. It took them two weeks to get the parts in from Germany. At 9k miles, the struts and springs were replaced for a second time. At 9.3k miles guess what – new struts and springs. At 9.4k miles, strong fuel fumes started pumping through the ventilation system. I bring it to the dealer, they tell me I stepped in gasoline, the car spends 2 days in the shop before they find fuel leaks in rotten hoses (that’s right, rotten hoses on a car with 9k miles). At 14k, 3 cylinders go out. It spends 14 days at the shop while the dealer and VW try to figure it out. I am told they are going to replace the engine…But that doesn’t happen. They replaced the oil pump AGAIN and claim the problem is solved.

I finally call a VW customer care “”advocate”" (freakin joke) and explain that I want to be swapped out of the car, or want out of my lease. VW tells me they will give me credit for 1 monthly payment. I take it.

So now I am at 19k miles and my struts are bad again. I called VW and asked them to let me break my lease, swap me out a car, or just offer me something, anything. They tell me to call the BBB.

Antother thing to watch out for – VW doesn’t count weekends as ‘days out of service’. That’s funny, because I drive a car on the weekends. I called the State Lemon Law Helpline (I have never been so impressed with the state govt) and they tell me VW is lying to me…Just trying to stall me so I miss the Lemon Law time period.

Bottom line – I’m calling all the news channels in town, I’m filing for the Lemon Law, and I’m going to pay someone to stand across the street from the VW dealership with a sign that says – “”Don’t do it, keep going and take a left into the Honda dealership.”"

Edited by Rueben on 05/22/08 at 8:53 PM

Edited by Rueben on 05/22/08 at 8:55 PM

Edited by Rueben on 05/22/08 at 8:56 PM