Considering my dislike of self shifting transmissions the past couple of weeks have seen me dealing with more than my fair share of them, from an unreliable Audi to a life saving Honda Jazz.
The past couple of weeks have seen me laid up on my sofa at home, leg raised and immobile after snapping the ligaments in my left foot. This has given me time however to deal with the first of my auto box problems, my mothers Audi TT 3.2 fitted with their DSG twin clutch semi auto transmission.
About three weeks ago I got a call from my mother who had broken down. She had pulled up with the dash board flashing gear box fault and the car not able to do much more than about 15mph. As she was close by, I headed to see her, armed with my trusty electronic diagnostic unit to see if it was a quick “reset” fix.
On plugging the unit in, I was greeted with a “Gearbox Solenoid” fault code, and despite a clear down and reset, the car was still not working. As our local Audi dealer was over twenty miles away, I decided to limp it down to our local independent garage whose superior diagnostic equipment may be able to re-enable to car. Sadly, they came up with the same diagnosis but because of the complexity of the gear box, they passed on the repair, but very kindly trailered it to the local Audi dealer.
A couple of days later I receive a phone call from the dealer with the bad news, £1800 plus the VAT, as the ECU has apparently failed. The ECU? Hang on, the car is only five years old, and this piece of equipment has failed? I could have accepted that if it had been a mechanical item that was subject to wear and tear, but an electronic module, that is both service free and abuse proof? Also, it was hardly as if the car was driven hard every day, this is my mother after all, a lady in her advancing years who rules of right and wrong won’t allow her exceed the speed limit, let alone abuse a DSG box! No, I wouldn’t accept it.
Very politely I suggested to the service guy, that he should get straight on to Audi UK customer services and request a good will claim. Being realistic about the situation and aware the car was out of Audi’s warranty, I would be happy to take a part settlement. I know how these things work; my every day real life sees me dealing with power tools, which despite the price disparity, share uncanny customer service issues.
After a couple of days, I finally receive a phone call from Audi UK, stating that under their company policy, the car is too old for a good will claim and we would be liable for the entire cost. Also, it didn’t reflect very well that we had purchased the car from an Audi franchised dealer!
Hmmm. Audi franchised dealers. These are the guy’s that when we went originally to purchase the car (all be it a second hand one), we were ignored and those that did speak to us never contacted us back. The dealer we did purchase the car from may have been a reputable independent, but their customer service was streets ahead of anything the main dealer offered! May be that’s something you should look at Audi?
The question I have to ask is, bearing in mind these gearboxes are now fitted to other VW group products, is do Audi (VAG) think that five years is an acceptable life span for this piece of equipment, and if they do is £1800 plus VAT an acceptable cost. Considering that this gearbox is now fitted to a SEAT Ibiza - On the road price £12,350 – what happens when this car has a similar failure in five years time? Do you scrap the car because it is uneconomical to repair? Considering the current environmental issues surrounding the motor industry and its products, this isn’t a great advert for them.
As it stands, I have not accepted their decision and intend to fight them further. Watch this space.
Now my two weeks of enforced rest is up however, I have to get off my back side and get back to work. Unfortunately to do that I need a car and as my ankle is still not repaired properly yet (the physio reckons another three weeks before I should try operating a clutch again!!), I need an automatic car. This means that I get lumbered with the company dodgem (sorry, pool car), a Honda Jazz.
Fitted with a paddle operated CVT box, with a pre-programmed seven speed option, it is actually quite good fun to pedal along in sport mode, even if it isn’t that fast. It takes some getting used to though, finding the optimal change up points, but once you’ve cracked it, it’s far quicker than the standard auto option. That said, I still don’t think it is a patch on the regular torque converter style box fitted to the Nissan Note I tested a couple of months ago.
Even so, I am still looking forward to getting back in to a standard manual boxed car. It has been an experience though, not one I wish to repeat too soon. If I had to recommend an auto car though, I certainly wouldn’t suggest anything from Audi or the VW group. That’s not because of sour grapes, it is down to the fact I don’t believe that they have the durability of some of their rivals.
No, if I had to recommend one, it would not be of German origin. It may sound like a cliché, but the old adage still stands, if you want a reliable car, buy Japanese.