GTI Rejected - Will the next one be the same?!

[GTI7me]

As some of you may be aware i picked up my GTI early September. I have not said anything about the issues i have been having on here so far but now i feel like i should.

When i picked up the car i noticed small chips on the rear of the car, i mentioned these would have to be sorted otherwise i wouldn't be happy. The dealer obliged and all seemed well. Once i got the car home for a full detail i noticed the passenger side rear light cluster was cracked and that the rear bumper didn't match the rest of the white bodywork.

Clearly this unsettled me rather a lot. I was immediately on the phone to the dealer and they accepted full responsibility and said that this would be resolved within 6 weeks due to parts having to arrive from Germany (rear light cluster).

I said that this was fine as long as once it had been in the car was immaculate afterwards. We left it at that and the time passed.

I also noticed there was a severe amount of fallout present on the bodywork, i did mention this but they didn't seem fussed at all.

As the six weeks passed i seem to have issue after issue. The suspension squeaked and rattled, the wipers are rubbish, rattles behind the dash etc etc.

I had the suspension dealt with and the others issues are still ongoing now.

After the six weeks passed the car went in for the repair work, it was away a week and i couldn't wait to get it back. I eventually got the call and picked it up. Upon inspection it was clear the bumper hadn't been fixed and the majority of the chips in the paint were still present. I was told it would have to come in again or this to be rectified. I once again obliged and said that it's fine as long as it is put right.

HERE'S THE BAD BIT:

Once i had got the car home (after an great county lane blast) i suddenly realised they had repainted the rear passenger side door handle a different colour. It was more of an egg shell white. Then my attention turned to where they had fixed the chips. To my horror this was also egg shell white. I couldn't believe it. I now have 3 different shades of white on my brand new car!

So i jumped straight in the car and drove back to the dealers. I told them i am rejecting this car and i expect a replacement. After some to-ing and fro-ing i eventually got them to agree they have done an awful job and made this issue MUCH worse. To which they finally conceded, and now i've got another on order whilst keeping my existing GTI until the new GTI arrives. All good i thought...

It has now been around 3 weeks since then. Over the last couple of weeks the suspension squeaks and rattles are back and there is a severe buzzing behind the dash when in sport mode. I suspect it is something to do with the soundaktor. My wipers still don't work after 3500 miles and the MPG is well below stated.

I am now in a position where i am questioning whether the next GTI is going to be like my existing one. Am i going to have all these issues again (minus the paint)? I don't know if i can deal with spending £26k on a car to have this many issues.

I will keep the dealer private for now.

So basically my question is to all: How is your GTI? Are you still enjoying it after a few miles? And do you have as many issues as i've had?

(can add a couple of pictures if required)

J

[2014GTi]

Could your car be one of the cars which was damaged in the hail storms? 
In all fairness your dealership has failed to look after you, they should have spotted the paint defects and rejected the car at PDI.

[GTI7me]

You are correct 2013GTi. The dealer should have picked up on all these defects at PDI.

What makes it harder is that i absolutely love the GTI, but i don't think i can love it if i have to put up with all these little issues.

J

[2014GTi]

You are correct 2013GTi. The dealer should have picked up on all these defects at PDI.

What makes it harder is that i absolutely love the GTI, but i don't think i can love it if i have to put up with all these little issues.

J

Well just waiting for the new GTi to arrive and tell the dealer to do a proper PDI this time around  I'm sure the next one will be fine. Every car manufacturer produces a lemon sometimes.
I think hail storm damaged cars which have been repaired will have the worst issues. 

[Sootchucker]

Whilst it's horrendous that these problems should exist, It's a fact of life on any mass built piece of equipment I'm afraid - there will always be that "Friday afternoon" car slipping through. No manufacturer is perfect (not even Bentley as my friend will attest to). What makes the whole of this much worse, is the ineptitude of the supplying dealer to get these issues sorted correctly and first time.

Problem with forums like these is that you only really ever get to hear about the problems that people are having their their cars, very rarely is there a thread entitled "my car is perfect - how's yours ?". Even taking this forum into account (from those that have received their cars), the amount of issues is relatively small, and then realising that this forum probably only accounts for a fraction of MK7 GTD / GTi owners in the UK, it's impossible to get a true reflection on how many people have issues and how many are totally satisfied. Maybe I was one of the lucky ones as my GTD is perfect in every way - from paint finish to mechanics, to lack of squeaks and rattles - but then that's what I'd only expect from a £30k car from a German manufacturer.

The chances are quite high that the next replacement car you receive will be perfect, and after all, you did say you loved that car, but ultimately only you can decide bud, and good luck with the decision.

[Jimble]

Sounds familiar mate:

http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=261664.0

My biggest worry is that the paint that is being supplied to the body shops is the wrong shade! As Norbreck says there will always be little problems with mass produced products but it is quite scary some the stories that are surfacing.

[monkeyhanger]

There are some shockingly bad bodyshops that are VW approved - "VW approved" is not a sign of assured quality. A lot can happen in 6 years, but 6 years ago Benfield VW bodyshop on Railway Street, Newcastle absolutely ruined my MK5 Golf GT Sport TDI 170 PD. A bus had given it a minor clatter at 2 weeks old. It needed 2 new bumpers, front grille, a new rear quarter panel on the drivers side, 2 new wheels and the rear drivers side suspension needed replacing as it was bent by the impact to the rear drivers side wheel.

They sat on my car for 5 weeks before they made a start, despite having all the parts after 10 days.

I picked it up in the dark in the pissing rain (not advised). Most of what was wrong with the car was not apparent until the morning. The top colour coat of paintwork was about 40% of the thickness it should have been and the wheel arch of the rear quarter panel rusted up every 3 months, they'd left metal swarf in the car form cutting in the new panel, the headlining was covered in oily handprints, the rear drivers side brakes didn't work properly (the car was dangerous to drive), and to top it all, some stuff that had been in the boot (a waterproof jacket, a tyre compressor and the top up oil that came with the car) were never seen again. Went back for lots of remedial work and there were plenty of other disgruntled customers with bodge-jobs.

The short of it is - i'd always rely on word of mouth/reputation for a good bodyshop over "VW approved" (although i'm not sure if GTI7me had much of a choice in their circumstance). Sounds like GTI7me's dealership is associated with a similarly bad paint shop.

[corgi]

Sounds familiar mate:

http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=261664.0

My biggest worry is that the paint that is being supplied to the body shops is the wrong shade! As Norbreck says there will always be little problems with mass produced products but it is quite scary some the stories that are surfacing.

This should not be an issue, paint should be ordered by the body shop using the colour code not the colour name. If they are and the wrong shade is being delivered then there is a more fundamental issue with the supplier.

That being said, if the bodyshop were any good, they should have spotted the error and rectified it. I have to agree with the comments around manufacturer approved bodyshops.

[monkeyhanger]

Wondering whether the “different colour white was down to not enough top coat to get a decent opacity so that the undercoats don’t influence the colour seen, or the fact that they door handles are a plastic part. In certain light, some plastic components that are painted are seen to be a different shade to the bodywork. On my Tornado Red GTD, the bumpers look a slightly darker shade of red than the rest of the car – it is very subtle, one of those things are “acceptable” to the manufacturer. These plastic part colour differences are less apparent on the metallic/pearlescent shades – they seem to be more opaque or perhaps the metallic/mica particles break up the tiny differences.

[Neil_MK]

I think, as someone else has said, rightly or wrongly there will always be the odd bad one that slips through the net because of the sheer volume of cars being produced. 

For what it's worth my car has been spot on over all 600 miles so far and the car is absolutely unblemished, as you would expect (well, apart from the oxidising iron fall out all over the car and sticker residue - nothing a bottle of Iron-X and a bit of elbow grease didn't sort). 

Incidentally, my original GTI order - which was officially hailstorm damaged and I rejected before it arrived in the country - is now sitting in the car showroom of my dealer. It looks fine on the face of it but glad I made the decision to reject and re-order.