After a four month wait I finally got my steering wheel replaced.
I can’t actually report on whether it’s totally bong free yet as the car has been silent for a good few weeks during this warm dry spell of weather. Time will tell.
Interestingly (to me at least), I’m now reminded of my initial thoughts from when I collected the car new two and a half years ago - the steering wheel feels more like rubber than leather in the dimpled sections and I’m not convinced it’s proper leather in the smooth sections either, but the steering wheel does feel more grippy when new than it does after 20 odd thousand miles. The steering wheel smooths off in use quite quickly.
I had a loan car VW Polo for the time my own car was in the dealership which was an interesting experience.
Firstly the steering wheel in it is more akin to a mk7 Golf and the wheel rim felt much better quality leather than my mk8 Golf. And it had proper buttons.
Aside from that it was sh!te.
I’m not actually sure it had an engine but it did manage some form of sluggish forward propulsion which was woefully inadequate for the hilly terrain where I live. I’m not talking huge hills, just hilly coastal road hills. Pulling out onto busy roundabouts was scary.
The interior plastics were nasty.
This is an example of a car sold on a marque’s heritage rather than any actual qualities of its own (steering wheel rim aside). Why anyone would buy a non GTI Polo over an Ibiza or Fabia is anyone’s guess. In fact why not save some more money and get a Hyundai which probably has a better warranty too.
Poor poor cynical effort VW, aimed at those who buy a car out of pure blinkered laziness.
Oh, as for the MMI thing, my lad had regular MMI crashes in his 2021 A3 S-Line which has recently gone in for a warranty job. I’ll ask him if it’s any better now.
Hopefully silence has been restored for good. As you say, time will tell.
Good to hear you enjoyed the Polo courtesy car
. In my experience, dealership courtesy cars are usually entry level models; in the case of the Polo, that would be a 1.0 litre 80ps Life model. My VW dealer has Audi and Seat franchises on the same site as VW and I did get an Audi TT once as a courtesy car though; it was a big disappointment - the worst car I’ve driven for unwanted interior creaks and rattles
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If by nasty plastics you’re referring to the hard plastic door cards, that tends to be the norm with many B segment Polo-sized cars these days. Ford Fiesta and Vauxhall Corsa has them and even the ‘premium’ brand Audi A1 and Q2. I’ve got them in my 2020 Polo GTI+ and can’t say they bother me; admittedly soft feel door cards are more tactile and of a higher perceived quality, but I’m not into fondling my car’s door cards
. IMHO, the rest of the plastics in the interior (e.g. soft feel dashboard) are pretty much on a par with the mk8 Golf. Oh, and the software has been problem-free - and I’d take that over soft feel, tactile door cards any day
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