Problems / Faults

[ACTR36Wagon]

My experiences in first 6,000km (R36 Wagon)

Rattles:

• Rain sensor on windscreen: the cover was not on properly and it rattled. When I found out it was source of rattle, mild pressure pushed it back on
• Still have a rattle at rear: will check that trim near brake light
• Rattle near glovebox on LHS: still not sorted this out

Factory quality control issues: only interior so far:

• See rattles above
• Burglar alarm button not fitted properly (half in, I pushed it in)

RNS-510:

• Crashes near Wyong (see reports from other RNS510 users about this)
• when it failed to eject the DVD I thought we had left in it the other day, I foolishly assumed that my wife had taken the DVD out - so I pushed a CD in and its all jammed up - and waiting for the VW dealer to tell me what they can do to fix it. Will the dealer say its my fault (remember the eject didnt)?
• reversing camera goes blank/black about one time in 4 after 3 or 4 seconds of use

Good news: damn fine car, more impressive than my prior car - Audi 1.8T S Line.
Cheers

[tryingavw]

glove box rattle - sorted.

[quote=ACTR36Wagon;339844]Rattles:

• Rattle near glovebox on LHS: still not sorted this out

we had this same rattle and mentioned it to dealer ( when they were replacing or "dead" RNS510 , 4 months from new) and it has been sorted first time.

the rns510 dying wasnt too impressive- would hate that to happen out of warranty

Also i reckon the wipers are p*ss-weak anyone else not impressed?

otherwise the tdi125 is great-imagine the r36 to be even better!

[passatpout]

[QUOTE=tryingavw;340536]

Rattles:

• Rattle near glovebox on LHS: still not sorted this out

we had this same rattle and mentioned it to dealer ( when they were replacing or "dead" RNS510 , 4 months from new) and it has been sorted first time.

the rns510 dying wasnt too impressive- would hate that to happen out of warranty

Also i reckon the wipers are p*ss-weak anyone else not impressed?

otherwise the tdi125 is great-imagine the r36 to be even better!

The 2 biggest gripes I have with functions are the low beam headlights - if the aim on them could be adjusted up slightly I'd be happy (yes, that's with the auto adjustment set to the highest), and the wipers. Driving in a fairly decent storm last week, the auto sensors seemed to take too long to go to high speed when needed, but not slow down when the rain eased up, and top speed of the blades was a smidge too slow - more what I thought "1" would be, not "2". If the speed on them could be wound up a bit, I'd be a happy camper. Reminds me of a comment I heard about Falcons years ago: wipers had 2 speeds, too slow and even slower. I might put some Rain-X on and see what that does. I'm also near 30,000km (service soon) and it needs new blades all round.

Third Melbourne-Newcastle trip coming up in a couple of weeks, first one through winter. My goal is to get 1100+km from the tank.. last night was 1088km..

[Rocket36]

I very rarely use wipers... Some decent application of products like Rain-X make it easier to see in the rain with the wipers off.

[evr]

[QUOTE=tryingavw;340536]

Rattles:

• Rattle near glovebox on LHS: still not sorted this out

we had this same rattle and mentioned it to dealer ( when they were replacing or "dead" RNS510 , 4 months from new) and it has been sorted first time.

the rns510 dying wasnt too impressive- would hate that to happen out of warranty

Also i reckon the wipers are p*ss-weak anyone else not impressed?

otherwise the tdi125 is great-imagine the r36 to be even better!

Mine has the same annoying rattles - especially the one near the glovbox. What did thet say it was & how did they fix it? Keen to get this sorted (as well as the rattles in the rear roof lining & in the dash near the headlight controls) as it's pretty pissweek for a car that retails at nearly $80k on the road!

Thanks.

[tryingavw]

[quote=evr;340804]

Mine has the same annoying rattles - especially the one near the glovbox. What did thet say it was & how did they fix it? Keen to get this sorted (as well as the rattles in the rear roof lining & in the dash near the headlight controls) as it's pretty pissweek for a car that retails at nearly $80k on the road!

Thanks.

not sure how they fixed it but i will ask when i get a chance.

i dont have any other rattles fortunately.

[GHW]

[QUOTE=GHW;333891]Hi Blacky.

Picked the car up Friday. Passenger side mirror faulty Saturday. It won't go into reverse down mode. Did it once, then got stuck permanently in down position and had to be adjusted back up to normal, worked once again now no go at all. Not bad for one days ownership !

As embarrassing as it is to admit this, the mirrors not faulty at all, I am for not working out it needs to stay in "L" for this feature to work so...2.5 weeks and 2000km's down and I'm ecstatic to report not one issue ! (bar the rear trims not put on properly from the tints, no big deal and not a VW "fault" just a slack tradie) I'm going to wait a month to see if anything arises and get anything that may require it fixed in one hit.
I think we need some milk, better go get some...via Mt Nebo

[Ads]

Smokin

Thanks for the info. I have had my 36 wagon for 12 months now and have really only just started noticing a fair bit of 'smoke' coming out of the rear pipes when pressed hard. Have not noticed the difference between petrol suppliers but will now take note...to be continued....

[Wolfman_36]

Smoke just soot?

Thanks for the info. I have had my 36 wagon for 12 months now and have really only just started noticing a fair bit of 'smoke' coming out of the rear pipes when pressed hard. Have not noticed the difference between petrol suppliers but will now take note...to be continued....

I've been wondering about this as I can leave a diesel-like cloud under hard acceleration. However, I suspect that it is just a case of blowing out soot 'cos most of the time driving around town uses relatively light throttle. So, the question is to someone like Rocket - if you spend a bit of time with a lot of throttle and revs, does the exhaust "clear up"? I have not had the opportunity to thoroughly test this, but with a few squirts it does seem to help. My engine does not use any measureable amount of oil.

More generally (back on original topic), after a year of ownership and 16000kms, I have had no quality or reliability issues to speak of. I have had a cold-start misfire on rare occasions, and as a result one ignition coil is going to be replaced - mainly because no other fault can be found that would cause this.

[Rocket36]

The basics of this is as follows...

The computer will re-map the AFR to a richer fuel mix in order to protect the engine under high revs/load. So the "smoke" out of the exhaust is unburnt fuel. If you're running higher revs for longer periods the engine warms up and the AFR is less fuel rich and therefore less unburnt fuel is exhausted. But you can almost guaruntee the first hard acceleration you do will richen up the fuel mix. It's nothing to worry about... I have found BP Ultimate is the best fuel in the R36 followed by Shell V-Power.

That's just a basic exlanation...

[Hypo]

When I am ready to sell I will tell everyone here. I have had no issues nor any rattles in the car. Guess it was built on Wednesday

[kiwiklogg]

I just picked up an IG R36 wagon on the weekend - very cool machine.

Only one potential issue...
When accelerating gently from standstill in first gear, I can notice a mild vibration. Once the car is coasting it is no longer a problem or at least is no longer noticeable. I previously had a Golf MkV with a DSG and it never had that vibration on take off. Is this normal in the R36 or perhaps in a brand new one?

Its possible that the dealers filled the car up with cheapo 91RON instead of the recommended 98RON - not sure if that might cause the issue.

[Leagle]

A very interesting thread. Some interesting observations:

1. What is it with ex Subaru owners defecting to VW? (Though I too did just that ) Maybe its an AWD performance thing.

2. To whoever commented that their R36 doesn't handle as well as their previous cars (A4, Lancer etc), all I can say is that you MUST have a defective AWD system in YOUR car. Take it from me, although my AWD CC (same engine/similar 4motion drivetrain as the R36 I believe) does NOT handle as well as my previous car (WRX), it is miles (make that countries) ahead of the previous A4 that I owned! And given that the WRX was a lot lighter, the VW is not that far off in the handling department (and a lot more comfie). However, I haven't taken (and will not take) my CC to the track.

3. Its very sad to read all those stories about quality issues afflicting VWS. I have to say, my previous car (WRX) was very reliable over the many years I owned it. My A4 was not so reliable. So far (fingers crossed), my VW has been faultless for the past (almost) six months that I have owned it (aside from some minor BT issues and some minor lag when selecting reverse for the rear camera).

4. Would love to see this thread extended to people having any issues with their CCs.

5. I suspect that early release cars are likely to be less reliable than later build cars. That is another good reason why its probably worth waiting for your car to be built (with the options that you like) rather than settle for the car on display which may (or may not) be an early build model.

[Rocket36]

Just an FYI Leagle, the (V6) CC drivetrain is the same as the R36.

[adrock]

1. What is it with ex Subaru owners defecting to VW? (Though I too did just that ) Maybe its an AWD performance thing.

I think it's exactly that. After having 3 new Subaru's over the last 9 years there's no way i could have ever considered going to a 2WD car. That being the case VW offer a good all road package when you consider the price. The 4motion is definitely something which was key to my purchase.