# Desprately want to keep my W8...



## Finegan281 (Apr 8, 2009)

In 2007 my wife and I purchased the W8 she's always wanted. A 2003 sedan, Silverstone ex with gray int. Triptronic Trans, and only 21K miles. The purchase price was 20K and it was deemed Certified pre-owned. Right out of the gate we began having problems with it, and the problems never stopped. All told I believe the check engine light has spent a total of a month unlit, and at one point VW had the car for a month and a half straight. Getting state inspections is a challenge every year because we can rarely keep the engine light off long enough to pass.
This year is proving to be no better, and we're now past warranty (63K miles). VW hooked it up and quoted us about 10K worth of work that needs to be done(this after giving them $1300 last month keeping the CE light off for four days), including CV joints (two VW service shops including this one last month told me the outer boots were cracked, only to tell me the boots were intact and the joints were shot when I took it back in for the new boots), serpentine belt, mass air meter (PO102), EVAP (PO441), Tank Ventilation (PO456), and finally, a sensor in the Trans that indicates we may lose that soon too. If the trans goes we're looking at 6500K just for that.
We love this car (my wife even named it "Lou Victor") and have been pouring money into it hoping we'd get to a point that repairs would stabilize.
I called VWOA and asked for some help, and after stating that they only offer assistance within warranty parameters (If it was still under warranty I wouldn't need the help dammit) they offered me 1K customer loyalty on the purchase of a new VW, but I'm not feeling particularly loyal at the moment.
VW service at least here in Houston has been a bit of a joke. I frequently fail to hear from them when they tell me they'll call, they're always diagnosing one problem only to discover they're wrong, getting parts is always a struggle, and they fight me just about every time a little satisfaction is due... When I'm at the service department, I overhear other owners going through similar struggles.
The Toyota Mechanics expect to see their cars start to get expensive around 150K miles, and the VW mechanics around 60K miles. I would think VW would be doing anything it could do to keep it's customers. They have got to know how badly they struggle in reliability comparisons.
I guess I just wanted to vent to someone to understood the passion the W8 can evoke. Most folks would have gladly sold this money pit a while back...
We cannot afford to fix this car, and at this point can only hope to fix enough to get that damn light to go off long enough to sell it. Even then, I don't feel real good about selling someone a car with so many problems. We still owe more than the car is worth with the work that needs to be done. VW makes it just about impossible to do amy work on the car yourself, even changing the air filter was more trouble than it was worth.
If you have any suggestions for someone in my position, a direction to move in, or just moral support, please feel free to reply. It seems stories like mine are all over the Internet, and it's a shame so many Vdubs are lost before owners are ready to give them up... 
I've attached some pictures of our beloved and beautiful W8... Including the headlamps before and after 3M's headlight restoration kit, as you can see, it works!

Thanks,

John Novak
Missouri City, TX
[email protected]
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## un4givun2 (Jun 11, 2007)

*Re: Desprately want to keep my W8... (Finegan281)*

I find it amazing every time I go to the VW dealer and they tell me it's time to start thinking of buying a new VW. The remind my how OLD my 2002 W8 is with 85K on it. They try to convince me how normal it is to spend $5-10K a year on a car that old. I remind them each time that this is the newest car I've ever owned and that the purchase price, warranty, and repair cost on this car exceed the total ownership cost of my last 3 cars combined. I still have 2 of those last 3 cars and neither of them are ever in the shop (2000 Dakota R/T and a 1998 Honda Accord).


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## B5Speedo (May 2, 2001)

*Re: Desprately want to keep my W8... (un4givun2)*


_Quote, originally posted by *un4givun2* »_I find it amazing every time I go to the VW dealer and they tell me it's time to start thinking of buying a new VW. The remind my how OLD my 2002 W8 is with 85K on it. They try to convince me how normal it is to spend $5-10K a year on a car that old. I remind them each time that this is the newest car I've ever owned and that the purchase price, warranty, and repair cost on this car exceed the total ownership cost of my last 3 cars combined. I still have 2 of those last 3 cars and neither of them are ever in the shop (2000 Dakota R/T and a 1998 Honda Accord).

Let it go. You had a lemmon and an incompetant mechanic.


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## un4givun2 (Jun 11, 2007)

*Re: Desprately want to keep my W8... (B5Speedo)*

Lemon?
By law, Lemon Law that is, a lemon is a car that gets taken in for the same problem 3 or more times without resolving the problem. At that point, the lemon law goes into effect. It varies little from state to state but most states have the same *"3 strikes your out"* rule. It applies to new cars, not cars that have exceeded the factory warranty. 
Having a new part failure every 5K miles or 2 months does not fit the definition of LEMON. It does fit the definition of P.O.S!!! 
Speaking of P.O.S.....I just sunk another $750.00 on mine 2 weeks ago for a new wiring harness from the alternator to the battery .
Incompetent Dealer?
Each of the 3 times they had my engine out a VWoA Technician was there supervising/performing all the major work. It was required by my extended warranty to have a VW tech verify all the major diagnosis/repairs. So, who is really incompetent here? The real incompetent idiots here are the VW/Audi Engineers that designed this thing. Think about it, in 2004 Infinity/Nissan had a V6 that was a 1/2 Liter smaller than this W8 and it made 5 more HP. Today, that same Nissan V6 engine is making 60 more HP than this W8 with no reliability issues.
Stand behind VW all you want. They won't stand behind you. You will be out their on your own when it comes time for help.


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