Another nine hundred quid

When I decided on a T5 I was under the impression that I was buying an economical van. The cachet was a nice to have of course but principally I wanted reliability, economy and longevity. I prefer to keep cars and vans until they are scrap, it avoids the sickening depreciation when trading in anything that you have only had for a couple of years. Well, I am beginning to think that I have made a mistake. I took my bog standard 1.9 85ps in for a service and oil change and came away with a bill for £925 ! This was for two tyres, (fair enough) anti roll bar and bushes, (why replace the bar?) leaking pipes on the power steering (£108 +vat for one of the pipes) and £54 for the other plus £71 for a stabiliser. and then they rub it in by the usual £2.00 for screenwash, I deliberately filled up the screenwash before I took the van in. Now they have added an advisory to the bottom of the bill, "slight chattering from the gearbox, suspect flywheel, parts £391, labour £368.
This is the most expensive van I have ever owned, not yet four years old, low mileage, 34,000 only and never carries heavy loads as I use it for windsurfing equipment. and bits need replacing that, in my opinion, should last ten years. And coming up soon is the cambelt etc. I think I should have got a trannie. cheap and not so cheerful, a bit pikey, but cheap to run. or am I being naive ? I think I need a forum hug!

I feel really sorry for you, that's an awful bill. Like you I bought my van expecting a long and trouble free life, feeling the extra expense in moving up from  my previous Transits was worth it. After all, for the same money I could have bought a fairly upmarket car. Hearing tales like yours is rather worrying although I suppose nobody posts messages about not having to pay big bills so perhaps the forum sometimes feels excessively full of doom and gloom.That doesn't help you though, so heartfelt sympathies and all best wishes for Christmas and the New Year

Thanks OJ, I needed that !

Gutted for you, I too purchased for long term, I hope I don't get a bill like that. Many years back when I had a T4 I got a £600 bill for a brakes overhaul   I wasn't a happy bunny.

take it on the chin then look at your options, flog it, burn it, keep it.

Anyway, Glad Tidings. D4L

Dub4life wrote: Hey Orangina, have you sent this to John Darwin!!!

D4L,
Yes but pretending you've been canoeing for 5 years is...

Actually there is a little confusion about this whole 'canoeist' issue! The pictures I've seen relating to John Darwin show a wrecked KAYAK.

There is a popular misconception that the open 'boat' is a kayak and the 'boat' with a hole you sit in is a canoe - in fact it is visa versa (see below)


CANOE



KAYAK


SIT-ON-TOP KAYAK

To add to the confusion - I am a s-o-t kayaker (but Veedurb pinched the kayak logo).
And, strangely, it is alright to use the verb 'canoeing' to describe what kayakers do...






Edited by orangina

Thanks for the commiserations and sympathy guys, I have located a vag trained indie who is gaining a good rep for his work on transporters. He is off ski-ing at the moment, when he gets back I will check out his prices for the clutch and the timing belt. Like Fozzy says, £270 + vat for an oil change is taking the ptits. I don`t need chrome and acres of plate glass and posh coffee machines and receptionists and smart lads in corporate polo shirts whose only function seems to be to carry the keys from reception to the guy in the workshop (that you never get to see). I`ll keep you posted.

This is the first time I have ever had to replace a clutch in anything. Throughout my motoring career I have usually used pattern spares and can only remember two things going wrong, a steering rack for a mk. one cortina that was worse than the one that I took off, and a thermostat that was faulty. Other than these I have had no problems. As far as the Transporter goes, it`s primary function is as a workhorse and it should be essentially reliable and cheap and easy to repair. I am beginning to think that one of the last T4`s would have been the ideal van for me. The T5`s only saving grace is it`s handsome looks and pleasant to drive experience. I look forward to how The Transporter in the post above gets on in his exercise in retro fitting a T4 clutch. If it goes well we may see a retrofit movement to replace all the parts that are letting the T5 down.

All those faults at 34000 miles . Something has to be wrong somwhere . Iether the mileage isn't correct , or the parts were not really required , or the previouse owner gave the van a very very hard life .

Maybe Iam being a bit hard on you but if your van is 4 yrs old why pay dealer prices .

Ask for the worn parts they have removed

And if the screenwash was full ask for the screenwash as they couldn't of fitted it.

I think if you want a simple van to last forever and cost little in repairs then you need to go back about 10 yrs and put up with a noisy slow transit without a turbo.

kernow wrote: All those faults at 34000 miles . Something has to be wrong somwhere . Iether the mileage isn't correct , or the parts were not really required , or the previouse owner gave the van a very very hard life . Maybe Iam being a bit hard on you but if your van is 4 yrs old why pay dealer prices . Ask for the worn parts they have removed And if the screenwash was full ask for the screenwash as they couldn't of fitted it. I think if you want a simple van to last forever and cost little in repairs then you need to go back about 10 yrs and put up with a noisy slow transit without a turbo.

Well, I dunno. The van was a demo from Verve in Glasgow so I have no reason to believe that the mileage would be tampered with, surely a major franchise wouldn`t do that ? They probably gave it a hard life though.
As to the screenwash, well, er, I found the can with most of it still in had been left in the passenger door pocket . As for the bits that were replaced, I will have to take their word for it now, the only thing that puzzles me was that they said the tyres were down to three mil. , I thought the legal limit was one point five, but anyway, one of them had been plugged so I wasn`t too bothered. I`m not questioning the integrity of the garage here, more Volkswagen`s charges and vunerable parts. I will be taking the van to an indie next time, that`s for sure. And yes, Kernow, a non turbo transit? that will do nicely!

fozzy T5 wrote: I rang the volkswagon dealers yesterday for a 10,000 mile service (i looked whats involved on my autodata disk) and all thats involved is a oil change, the quoted me £270+vat. So im getting genuine parts now and getting it serviced elsewhere, as you still keep the van under warrenty, my friend who is a mechanic says that theve changed the law recently you can now take to any registered garage and have work done there aslong as you use geniune vw parts.

This fact is correct fozzy.

But is is worth bearing in mind that, if you have a major problem outside of warranty, VW will probably drastically reduce the amount of their " good will " contribution towards the repair if you havnt used their van center  network for your servicing .

Remember that a vehicles faults are not confined to the first 3 years !!, and VW Commercials do run a very good, " good will " contribution scheme .