Officially fed up with my 4x4!

[justdoit]

After 23 months and 44k miles I am fed up with my 4x4!! The car has proven to be unreliable and at times death trap waiting to happen. Do you ever think you have a Friday afternoon/Monday morning car? Well I do!
So far my Octy has Chewed ALL it's original factory tyres up in 15k miles, had it's DMF replaced (after nearly 20k miles worth of fault finding until it just about went bang!), its Engine cooling ECU (left me stranded twice by draining the battery through running the fan till the battery was flat), it's Airbag ECU (no airbags for nearly two weeks till the dealer had stock) and this week decided to cut out on me when it felt like it and refuse to start until the main relay to the engine has been removed and replaced which is under the bonnet (not exactly handy should you be doing 'ahem' 70mph in the outside lane of a motorway!) Fault traced to a 'broken wire', myself not convinced!
Why doesn't my car like me? Sure I rarely wash it (that what dealer service's are for) It gets Vac'ed even less and is expected to perform whenever I want it to do so (G/F refuses to do this, so something has to). But the bottom line is in 20 years of motoring, including Fiats, Vauxhalls and Renaults I have never owned a car so unreliable, it's a joke - I had a 14 year old mk1 MR2 with 115k on the clock that got it's life thrashed out of it every time I drove it (inc Yorkshire - Kilmarnock 2 hours 20 - do the maths!!) that never let me down. My P reg Astra Diesel Van 157k on the clock, never missed a beat. The only thing that ever came close to being slightly unreliable was my Omega (head Gasket at 80k but then the 2.0 was known for it, should have stuck with the V6 but thought I might save a bit on fuel - Aye Rite!!).

Bottom line is, I am stuck with this car for the next 2 years as it's on contract hire, I have 15k's miles worth of warranty left and I'm convinced the car will shaft me at some point after they run out! I love what it does, it's a world apart from the god forsaken Roomster 1 loan car I have just handed back and fills that comfy, smooth and most importantly 'I'm self employed and have just arrived in a low status car so therefore not overcharging you' roll I wanted it to play but I no longer trust it, its a working vehicle, if it doesn't work then nor do I!
So next time round (or earlier if it carries on) what do I buy next? I want 4wd, diesel, low street cred and would love automatic!
Over to you Guy's n gals!

[VRStu]

Is it on a VW Finance PCP? Or is it a commercial contract hire agreement?

[justdoit]

Company contract hire with VW finance (nearly 5k over mileage too lol)

[jonny boy]

That's shocking news. Just a couple of weeks ago I was in a new Octavia 4x4 scout estate and I thought to myself, Hmmmm , wouldn't mind one of these. That's how impressed I was. It looked great in red as well.
Hope you sort things out. (or the car sorts itself out !)

[vRSLen]

Sorry to hear about you problems mate

Nice looking car too.

[VRStu]

The reason I ask is that generally the personal type plans can be ended early as if it were a hire purchase agreement.

Do you have rights to termination?

[justdoit]

Originally Posted by vRSLen

Sorry to hear about you problems mate

Nice looking car too.

You can tell that EVEN under all the muck len? Or is it you wished you had a filthy car too
Don't get me wrong, I really love what the car does, just wish it didn't do all the ALL the things it does!

oh and forgot to mention the screwed MFD2 unit too but hopefully a new disc is the solution, let you know when it arrives

[Nud748]

How about 4 motion passat, great bit of kit

[vRSLen]

Originally Posted by justdoit

You can tell that EVEN under all the muck len? Or is it you wished you had a filthy car too
Don't get me wrong, I really love what the car does, just wish it didn't do all the ALL the things it does!

oh and forgot to mention the screwed MFD2 unit too but hopefully a new disc is the solution, let you know when it arrives

I could see past the dirt

See it quite often in the usual place

Just love the colour, as my ZZR1100 was the same

[justdoit]

Originally Posted by VRStu

The reason I ask is that generally the personal type plans can be ended early as if it were a hire purchase agreement.

Do you have rights to termination?

Dunno Stu,

Think the only way out is pay it off and let em collect it, no 1/2's & 1/3'rd's on contract hire to my knowledge as CH isn't HP I am merely hiring it not purchasing it.

[phiL&K]

As I think I understand it, if you are paying for a vehicle which falls short of your expectations in terms of reliability and it is hampering your work, surely you have a right to reject the car as not fit for the purpose.

If you were getting dirty water through the tap from your water company, would you keep drinking and paying for it!!

Just a thought.

[justdoit]

Possibly Phil, but I technically not buying anything, I am borrowing. will look into it and contact VeeDub finance next week if I have time.

Found things get even better, noticed the rear O/S light lens had been changed today as it was very new and shiny not to mention a scratch on it had disappeared and then I saw touch up paint below it and a bloody great rawk down the O/S rear bumper, somebody at the dealer has only stuffed my car!!

They had the cheek to deny anything and then the service manager admitted that the light had been changed because the mechanic clipped it with the ramp 'but it only damaged the light nothing else' until I pointed out the damage and the fact someone had touched up the paint where it had completely rubbed off! They wanted to do a smart repair until I told em don't think so! So waiting now for it to be booked into the bodyshop! I AM NOT A HAPPY BUNNY! Why can't people come clean and say sorry but we will sort it?

Does anybody have a gun I can borrow, I want to put this car out of its misery!

[dstev2000]

Sounds like a can of petrol and a lighter would be more efficient.

Sorry to hear of your problems. You must have a Friday evening car, everyone went home and the cleaner had a crack at building one - yours!

I had a Friday Nissan Primera and it was trouble after about 3 months until the day I chucked the keys back.

No such troubles with the 3 Octavias I've had since so I think you must be seriously unlucky with the lemony car you have

As for the incompetant - nay - deceptive dealer.......