Lovin' That C.P.O. Warranty

[Cory Wolfe]

 

Let's start by saying that I love my GTI. Maybe I'm not as smitten with it as I was when I bought it, but I still genuinely like the car a lot. Generally, when I've had a car for nearly a year, the attraction has waned like the lover you forced yourself to marry because of the accidental child your loins produced. This isn't the case this go around likely due to the fact that it's not a Toyota Avalon.

 

Oh, the embarrassment of telling people you bought a Toyota Avalon at the age of 23... I can't wait to become the average age of the typical Avalon buyer just so I can forget about actually buying one. That car, however, did have one thing going for it: Guaranteed reliability. While I loathed every minute of it, I had nearly 60k worth of 99% trouble free miles after 3 years of ownership and two accidents (I hate deer and I hate bears). The only thing to ever actually break was the power rear sunshade one of the few times I used it. 

 

 

So, moving ahead, as I was buying the GTI, I didn't expect it to be trouble free like the Toyota. In fact, I expected it to be a reliability nightmare. If it wasn't CPO, I would have bought an extended warranty. I knew it wouldn't be a matter of if something would break, but a matter of when and how often. I've actually been pleasantly surprised it took this long for something to act up enough to warrant repair. The issues themselves could even be classified as minor annoyances, though their fixes are anything but. 

 

The first issue I've been having is a bit of rattle in the engine at cold starts and under minimal load up to about 3k RPMs where it will abruptly go away. This hasn't affected driveability at all and never set off the CEL. There are two common problems with VW's TSI engine and I figured it had to be one of the two. The first is the timing chain tensioner; the original design has a tendency to loosen up and inevitably fail causing catastrophic engine failure. The second the intake manifold; a common enough problem that there is actually a warranty extension to 10 years/120k. They've diagnosed the problem as the intake manifold and are replacing it under the aforementioned warranty extension.

 

The second is something that I wasn't originally going to bring up, but figured "since I'm here..." I might as well. Every now and then the DSG will jerk into gear from a stop. In addition, it will sometimes clank while disengaging a gear coming to a stop. Both issues only happen randomly enough that I've never really been that bothered by it. After diagnosis, they think its the differential. They way the tech described it to me is that it's located within the transmission and it's easier to just replace the entire thing. As in, the entire transmission. 

 

 

With that said, I love my GTI and I can't wait to have it back so I can continue enjoying its greatness. But in the words of Ricky Bobby... Thank you lord, sweet baby jesus (for warranties). 

[caddycruiser]

Warranties...YES.

 

Doesn't matter the car, but especially if it's German, etc. Complication doesn't mean added reliability, especially long term. Your phone, your laptop, or especially your car, cover it.

 

Especially on a VW or Audi. Keep it covered, buy more coverage when it ends, or switch cars.

 

It's interesting to see Doug, the writer for Jalopnik in Philly, and his real world reviews month to month of his various vehicles and their minimal or extreme warranty repairs...it happens.

[Frisky Dingo]

Yeah, having a warranty on German cars is a huge piece of mind. The warranty on my 335i paid for itself in one repair.