25th Jan 2008, 02:54
The original window clips are of very poor quality, as I guess were the other parts that have failed. If VW continue using poor quality parts they are sure to lose customers. I have seen too many faults on the MK5 that I m not sure I would buy one, look on here or other sites. If you have a MK4 and are not 100% happy with your dealer then a VAG-COM is worth it to check the faults. I am happy with my dealer which is why I bear the cost of their parts and servicing.
Why can't manufacturers at least get consistency. The MK3 if built at Wolfsburg was generally good, but Uitenhage (South African) built ones were generally rubbish. Then again my MK2 GTI used for trackdays only is still going strong on many original parts at 19 years old.
Are any manufacturers still engineering led or are most going down the accountancy path? Honda and Subaru? I wish VW would get there act together with the next line up.
11th Jun 2008, 10:50
I have a VW golf Gt TDI 130 which I bought on the 31st Jan 2008. It is a great car... very comfortably and quick through the gears. I have had two issues with the car, one with a dodgy coolant temp sensor and the other a faulty brake pedal sensor. I also had a loose ball joint which needed seeing to. Nothing major and all three costing under £60 to fix. The one thing I would say about VW, is there appalling dealer network, including the Inchcape group. Heavily over priced and focused on nothing else but profiteering. They are never helpful, and sometimes you have to wait three days for them to ring you back, if they do. This may be an isolated dealership, but it has shocked me. I would also state that the work that I had done was quoted by inchcape at over £140 each, and there are never any courtesy cars as the employees use them.
23rd Jan 2008, 03:26
VW do not make these sensors. They will be made by a third party supplier such as Bosch or Delphi and put into a "VW Genuine Parts" box on the production line. VW add a margin, and then the dealer adds a margin. The point is, there's every chance the sensor bought by the commenter is identical to the one you bought from the VW dealer.
One absolutely classic example of this was when I needed a new headlight for my old Series 1 Lotus Elise:
My Lotus dealer quoted £165 for a "Genuine item". When I looked at the old unit, I discovered a Valeo logo stencilled in the back, and a Valeo part number. I called an online Valeo distributor and was quoted £54.00 including delivery to my house. Same unit off the same production line, but in a different box and not a "genuine part" in the manufacturer's accepted sense. Even though once out of the box and mixed up with a "Lotus" unit, no person on earth would be able to identify which was which.
Apart from body panels which are usually pressed in-house by the manufacturer, there really is no such thing as a "genuine part". Car manufacturers assemble cars from parts largely bought from third parties (and usually the lowest bidders, hence sensor failures like this). The notion of a genuine part is simply marketing and branding at work.
Of course there are shoddy and counterfeit aftermarket parts available, but the vast majority are the same as those fitted at the factory, or in some cases with design improvements to make them better. It was a third party supplier who modified the crappy plastic clip in the mk4 Golf's electric window mechanism before VW would even admit there was a problem with them.