Disappointed with VWs build quality.
Discussion
After my car was in an accident last week, the insurance company gave me a brand new VW Sharan with a DSG gearbox and although it is a very nice car, I'm slightly disappointed with it.
The ride is lovely and it has to be one of the most bump absorbing car I've ever been in, seriously, you hardly feel a thing. The interior is very well laid out too, all the buttons are very close by and they're all easy to find when driving. At first I thought the interior was really boring but after driving it for a while, you really begin to appreciate how well thought out it is.
However, I've started to notice a few places where VW have cut corners.
First the lower trim on the doors, really is cheap plastic and the door pocket could very easily be broken. In fact the lower trim is so bad that turning the stereo up, results in the whole thing just vibrating and rattling.
Then the paint in the gap, where the sliding doors slide into, looks like a bodge job. There are lumps of paint and run lines all inside it.
The plastic surrounding the steering wheel column is a horrible hard cheap plastic too.
For a car company that is renowned for it's build quality, it rather is disappointing, in fact, I'd argue that the Citroën C4 Grand Picasso, that is my normal car, has better quality trim parts inside of it.
The ride is lovely and it has to be one of the most bump absorbing car I've ever been in, seriously, you hardly feel a thing. The interior is very well laid out too, all the buttons are very close by and they're all easy to find when driving. At first I thought the interior was really boring but after driving it for a while, you really begin to appreciate how well thought out it is.
However, I've started to notice a few places where VW have cut corners.
First the lower trim on the doors, really is cheap plastic and the door pocket could very easily be broken. In fact the lower trim is so bad that turning the stereo up, results in the whole thing just vibrating and rattling.
Then the paint in the gap, where the sliding doors slide into, looks like a bodge job. There are lumps of paint and run lines all inside it.
The plastic surrounding the steering wheel column is a horrible hard cheap plastic too.
For a car company that is renowned for it's build quality, it rather is disappointing, in fact, I'd argue that the Citroën C4 Grand Picasso, that is my normal car, has better quality trim parts inside of it.
Dinoboy said:
It was the dealer service that stopped us from buying our 4th new VW. Appalling how low the standards were in the service dept.
Funny you should mention that. My Grandad has been a valued VW customer for 15 years and he also is disappointed with the current customer service. If he ever had a problem with one of his Golf's, they used to come and pick it up from his house. Recently though, when the power steering went on his 6 month old Golf, he called them up and they said don't worry we'll sort it out. He waited in all day expecting them to be coming to pick it up. Of course they didn't and when he called the next day, they said that they don't pick customers cars up anymore.
He had to call out the AA to get his car towed to them in the end.
Saw this recently from another forum:
I build Nissans for a living and the main problem with most manufacturers these days is buying their parts from low cost countries like China, India etc, as the price is lower, this is why VW , BMW, AUDI etc don't have the reliability they used to have, and are living on their old reputation which is slowly wearing thin, you will find all the parts in the new VW's are similar quality to the Kia and Hyundais etc - rubbish.
I build Nissans for a living and the main problem with most manufacturers these days is buying their parts from low cost countries like China, India etc, as the price is lower, this is why VW , BMW, AUDI etc don't have the reliability they used to have, and are living on their old reputation which is slowly wearing thin, you will find all the parts in the new VW's are similar quality to the Kia and Hyundais etc - rubbish.
Saw this recently from another forum:
I build Nissans for a living and the main problem with most manufacturers these days is buying their parts from low cost countries like China, India etc, as the price is lower, this is why VW , BMW, AUDI etc don't have the reliability they used to have, and are living on their old reputation which is slowly wearing thin, you will find all the parts in the new VW's are similar quality to the Kia and Hyundais etc - rubbish.
I build Nissans for a living and the main problem with most manufacturers these days is buying their parts from low cost countries like China, India etc, as the price is lower, this is why VW , BMW, AUDI etc don't have the reliability they used to have, and are living on their old reputation which is slowly wearing thin, you will find all the parts in the new VW's are similar quality to the Kia and Hyundais etc - rubbish.
okie592 said:
People want more toys and cars have to be cleaner And safer, but people don't want to pay more for them. What are the manufacturers supposed to do?
Dacia's business model is that people want less toys. Seems to work for them.
VW's used to be poverty spec - but solidly built.
okie592 said:
People want more toys and cars have to be cleaner And safer, but people don't want to pay more for them. What are the manufacturers supposed to do?
I suppose the problem is that all manufacturers now seem to be trying to cater for the bigest market segment. In the past, some manufacturers produced "competing" cars which appealed to one demographic, others manufacturers to others; these days everyone seems to have looked at the market and said "right, 51% of people want this so we'll do it" meaning that no manufacturer is catering for the 49% who don't.
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