EPC fault

[kmpowell]

The low washer warning used to only be on the top end models or even part of the winter pack. Not necessarily penny pinching just model being too low down the range?

Perhaps it's my misaligned expectations then. I thought a £15-20k car would have had something as basic as that? 

[SRGTD]

The low washer warning used to only be on the top end models or even part of the winter pack. Not necessarily penny pinching just model being too low down the range?

Perhaps it's my misaligned expectations then. I thought a £15-20k car would have had something as basic as that? 

You don’t get a low washer fluid warning light in the Golf range below the performance models, and the cheapest Golf has a list price in excess of £19k. So anyone buying a Golf R-Line with a list price well in excess of £15-20k (R-Line costs £25,945 - £28,800, depending on engine and whether 3 or 5 door) doesn’t get this warning light, unless they spec the optional Winter Pack which is standard on performance models.

[fredgroves]

To be fair, a Mk7 performance Golf has a LOT of tech and bells and whistles. Its easy to forget just how loaded these are until you drive something else, particularly if that thing isn't a high end model.

Within the VAG range too you will find that they deliberately don't let you even option some things. If you look at some of the options on the Arteon or the Toureg or even the A3 - those aren't available on the Golf either.

[Exonian]

Picked up the GTI yesterday, and it's good to have it back. Wimbledon VW confirmed that West London Volkswagen hadn't replaced anything or completed the proper testing plan that would have seen all the issues identified. Not only had the Oil switch failed, but another item had failed which would have also been picked up if done properly. All done under warranty, thoroughly tested and back to being as it should.

As for the Polo, I did 500 miles in it, and not once did I get the judders gearbox described above. I put that down to me being used to DSG. If you drive a DSG like you think, then you'll struggle (I know I did when I first drove one a few years ago), but if you drive a DSG as a DSG needs to be driven then it's a great box. Gaming the DSG is very rewarding, especially in such a small engine. It was a little gutless, but nippy enough to get around town. Gripes for me were the manual handbrake, it felt like going back in time and with the DSG box throws the sequence you expect right out of kilter.

Size wise, again I disagree with the comments above. It's smaller, much smaller on all levels, to the golf. The door cards are much thinner and the days is shallower, making it feel bigger inside, but it's a bit of an illusion when you actually come to put stuff in it.

A [very] small thing that made me glad I went for the 7.5 rather than wait for the 8... with the new generations of infotainment up on the dash high, the 2x vents are moved down, and no matter what position I put the vents in, when driving along the cold air simply made my hand/arm cold as it blows directly across/up/down where your hand is for the gearstick and handbrake, especially as there was no arm rest.

VW penny-pinching at it's worst however was when I was driving along and tried to use my washer jets, only for nothing to come out... I got home, checked and saw the reservoir was empty, but I didn't;'t get a warning. I checked the manual, and low & behold there's no low washer warning. 

All in all, great to have the Golf back.

Good to see it properly sorted this time round. Goes to show the vast differences in dealership experiences from franchise to franchise at times. A shame you had to go through the wringer first.

************************

I’ve been put in charge of my son’s Ibiza today as he has a puncture and it needs a new tyre so I dropped it in for him this morning.
I’ll get the tape measure out when I get it back and compare it with my Golf internally. The quality is obviously a step down to Polo level but space wise there feels little in it. Let’s find out!

Funnily enough with a manual gearbox I prefer a proper old fashioned handbrake too, much as I admire how well the electric one works.
However on DSG a manual handbrake must seem a bit unbalanced if you’re used to an electronic handbrake.

I don’t think my £32k (list) Clubsport has a low washer fluid warning light! Maybe it does? It doesn’t have winter pack.

[Exonian]

Public service information update:

The Golf is approx 155cm from base of radio to middle (of the middle) of back seat and the Ibiza (and therefore I’ll assume Polo will be near identical) is 150 dead.
The Golf is approx 150cm from near the middle of the door cards across ways and the Ibiza 145cm in more or less the same place with the proviso that the Golf’s door cards are politically hollowed out more to give slightly more elbow room, yet in other places the door cards are fairly evenly matched in cabin width.
All done very hastily as it’s throwing it down.
So 5cm x 5cm. 
I don’t feel so short changed for my extra £10k now. 

Cabin fit and finish is admittedly loads better in the Golf as you’d rightfully expect. I’ve yet to sample an MQB Polo. Actual interior trim panel construction doesn’t feel massively different though, just the outer faces are much plusher and a bit more solid feeling unless you really press them.

[SRGTD]

Public service information update:

The Golf is approx 155cm from base of radio to middle (of the middle) of back seat and the Ibiza (and therefore I’ll assume Polo will be near identical) is 150 dead.
The Golf is approx 150cm from near the middle of the door cards across ways and the Ibiza 145cm in more or less the same place with the proviso that the Golf’s door cards are politically hollowed out more to give slightly more elbow room, yet in other places the door cards are fairly evenly matched in cabin width.
All done very hastily as it’s throwing it down.
So 5cm x 5cm. 
I don’t feel so short changed for my extra £10k now. 

Cabin fit and finish is admittedly loads better in the Golf as you’d rightfully expect. I’ve yet to sample an MQB Polo. Actual interior trim panel construction doesn’t feel massively different though, just the outer faces are much plusher and a bit more solid feeling unless you really press them.

That’s interesting Mr Ex. My curiosity got the better of me, so I checked out the ‘official’ figures from the VW brochures. The figures below relate to the GTI / GTD models of the Golf and the GTI / GTI+ models of the Polo as apparently, there are some differences between the performance and non-performance models. The Polo GTI/GTI+ does have a smaller max luggage capacity than other Polo models as it loses the lower boot floor position (like the Golf R does) as the battery is stored under the space saver in the spare wheel well in the Polo GTI/GTI+. Luggage capacity figures below are with the boot floor in the upper position to compare the Golf and Polo on a like for like basis;

Wheelbase
Golf; 2,631 mm
Polo; 2,549 mm
Difference; +82 mm

Headroom; front / rear (VW only quote figures with sunroof)
Golf; 1,018 mm / 967 mm
Polo; 1,019 mm / 964 mm
Difference; -1 mm / +3 mm

Interior width; front / rear
Golf; 1,469 mm / 1,440 mm
Polo; 1,446 mm / 1,425 mm
Difference; +23 mm / +15mm

Maximum Luggage capacity; seats up / seats down. Boot floor in upper position.
Golf; 343 litres / 1,233 litres
Polo; 305 litres / 1,079 litres
Difference; +38 litres / +154 litres

So the Polo is smaller than the Golf as you’d expect, but the differences are quite small in most areas. The current Polo has ‘grown’ to be pretty much the same size as a mk4 Golf.

[kmpowell]

The EPC fault came back yesterday evening when I took the car out for its first long run since picking it up. I pulled out to overtake, the engine suddenly felt sluggish and ‘ping’ the warning came on and the engine went into limp mode.

It goes back in on Tuesday to be looked at for a 3rd time, but I’m worried there’s something intrinsically wrong somewhere.

I cannot afford to have an unreliable car due to the types of journeys I do so if it happens again I’ll be rejecting the car back to VW permanently.

The irony in all this is I sold my Range Rover Sport to get the Golf, primarily because it had fallen outside of the 3year warranty I hit from new and I was worried about reliability and big bills.

As you can probably imagine, I’m not at all happy.

[Watts]

^^^ Sorry to hear that, fingers crossed all is okay after the next visit. The second garage sounded good and mistakes can happen, it's how they deal with it that counts

[Yusee]

The EPC fault came back yesterday evening when I took the car out for its first long run since picking it up. I pulled out to overtake, the engine suddenly felt sluggish and ‘ping’ the warning came on and the engine went into limp mode.

It goes back in on Tuesday to be looked at for a 3rd time, but I’m worried there’s something intrinsically wrong somewhere.

I cannot afford to have an unreliable car due to the types of journeys I do so if it happens again I’ll be rejecting the car back to VW permanently.

The irony in all this is I sold my Range Rover Sport to get the Golf, primarily because it had fallen outside of the 3year warranty I hit from new and I was worried about reliability and big bills.

As you can probably imagine, I’m not at all happy.

Seems pretty clear that the second dealer has not identified the cause of the problem. Either that or they replaced faulty sensors with faulty sensors.
There’s no reason why the problem shouldn’t be curable.
If you get no success this time, i’d take it back to the supplying dealer and say that you’ll reject the car if not rectified, if only to get them to try a little harder.
Sorry to hear about your experience- hope it’s sorted quickly.

[monkeyhanger]

The EPC fault came back yesterday evening when I took the car out for its first long run since picking it up. I pulled out to overtake, the engine suddenly felt sluggish and ‘ping’ the warning came on and the engine went into limp mode.

It goes back in on Tuesday to be looked at for a 3rd time, but I’m worried there’s something intrinsically wrong somewhere.

I cannot afford to have an unreliable car due to the types of journeys I do so if it happens again I’ll be rejecting the car back to VW permanently.

The irony in all this is I sold my Range Rover Sport to get the Golf, primarily because it had fallen outside of the 3year warranty I hit from new and I was worried about reliability and big bills.

As you can probably imagine, I’m not at all happy.

Seems pretty clear that the second dealer has not identified the cause of the problem. Either that or they replaced faulty sensors with faulty sensors.
There’s no reason why the problem shouldn’t be curable.
If you get no success this time, i’d take it back to the supplying dealer and say that you’ll reject the car if not rectified, if only to get them to try a little harder.
Sorry to hear about your experience- hope it’s sorted quickly.

I'd be looking to reject if you are even thinking about keeping this car beyond warranty. It's starting to sound like it's a bit of a lemon, or the issue is so complex, VW dealerships seem incapable of the knowledge to fix.

You've given 2 dealerships the opportunity to fix, have encountered other issues and dealership inflicted damage. You should be able to get a replacement fairly sharpish.