Faults:

1 year old and the accelerator pedal went. They repaired that no problem.

It was recalled around the same time, and they would not say what for?

Now I have had in the last few months problems with VW not recognising a manufacturing fault, which an independent engineer's report states that I have 3 cracked pistons and the bore is scored. There is no other cause for this; it's a manufacturing problem. We are nearly 4 months down the road and still fighting. We are extremely upset; we paid £25,000 for this car, only to be told after 18000 miles that the engine is no more. We feel possibly the 1.4 engine is not capable for such a heavy car. Has anyone else had a similar problem?

General Comments:

Love the look of the car.

Faults:

I owned this car from new, for just over 2 years of stressful ownership. It has had far too many quality issues:

Dealer service: Shocking!

VW customer service: Shocking!

Vehicle in general: The most expensive and most disappointing vehicle I have ever owned!

Water trapping in the door well, spilling out onto your shoes when the door was opened.

Numerous roof issues; rattles, failures to open correctly, squeaking sunroof.

“Key not found” issues. The vehicle intermittently does not recognise the key and will not start.

Clutch squeal after 15K miles.

Vehicle unexpectedly stopping whilst driving and refusing to start for over 10 minutes.

Revolving noise evident from the rear of the vehicle when driving.

Lights intermittently not working.

Just before I disposed of it, the air conditioning started making squeaking noises.

General Comments:

The design looks very appealing (retractable roof and large sunroof), but there are too many issues and the quality is poor. Don't do it!

If you want a car that is constant trouble and squeaks and rattles all the time, then this is the car for you; otherwise I suggest giving it a wide berth.

I am so dissatisfied with this vehicle that I have chosen to return it a year early and terminate my PCP contract.

Honestly, I wish I'd taken more time to research people's experiences of this car before buying one.

Faults:

DSG dual mass flywheel plate rattling on idle.

Front wheel bearing.

Cruise control will not stay at 70mph or above - it's all over the place. The garage replaced the ECU & throttle body, but still faulty.

DSG gearbox slow to respond and not as quick to change up as all the hype would lead you to believe. Also, when needing to do a quick 3 point turn, there's a 3-4 second delay from changing between reverse & drive (and vice versa). This means it can take an age to actually move off, so a quick maneuver is not possible - normal auto's have a delay sometimes, but not this much.

MPG is much worse than expected - about 25 MPG average if you are lucky. My old car was a Mazda 3 MPS Aero, which was a lot quicker and had a true average of 27.5 MPG, and was far, far more reliable. The figures quoted on the Mazda are actually worse than VW, so Mazda seem to be more 'honest', and therefore although they lack the refinement and clever features, they seem to make the better car.

General Comments:

The car as a design is fantastic - which other car has an electric glass sunroof built into the folding metal roof. The way it folds is a masterpiece in engineering. However although mine was OK for the time I had it, from looking over the internet, these are prone to going wrong and are costly when they do.

The sound of the V6 is lovely.

Refinement levels are great; minimal road noise, solid feel.

Nice finish inside.

The DSG gearbox offers a lovely gear change once you are on the move.

Unfortunately though, the true quality of the car is actually crap, even though it may not appear like it. My car had full VW service history and low mileage, but had the following 3 faults mentioned above. From only being used to Japanese makes (one BMW 330ci too) I'm used to problem free cars, and for the short time I had it, I have to say it was a constant headache, and there's no excuse given its age/mileage.

A real shame as it was only one of 24 3.2 Individuals.