Are Touaregs really made this poorly or do I have a dud

mokotoks

New member
Joined
Dec 7, 2013
Location
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
TDI
13 Touareg TDI Execline
Our 2013 TDI is 1 year old 32K and we have not had it for over 6 weeks of use because of warranty work needed. We have had to replace : The Starter after towing it from our Garage, The Alternator was also replaced, The Engine pulled because of an oil pan leak we were not even aware of and then the EGR valve, Exhaust manifold gaskets, Head gaskets and over three pages of parts. We have used two different VW service centres and had terrible experiences and long delays getting parts sometimes from Germany. There are no Lemon laws in our Province so we are stuck with this one and once repaired I don't know how we will ever sell it with a history of issues like this. We love the vehicle when it is working and hoped to pull a small travel trailer which sits in a storage lot until we have a useable vehicle again. Good luck I wish on all those who have not had problems......I estimate that after 3-4 pages of parts over $10,000 of work has been done under warranty :mad: sorry for the Rant but I think the VW Touareg is poorly built based on my experience and buyers beware
 

Dodoma

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2004
TDI
2002 Jetta White
While VW diesels are inherently flimsy and problem prone, the faults or replacements that I see in your Touareg seems out of proportion. I suspect your dealer is purposely replacing this and that under the warranty to generate income. Ask dealer that you want to see the replaced parts.
 

Tom_B

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2004
Location
Central Oklahoma
TDI
15 Touareg, 14 A6
IF all the work were truly needed I would say you have a dud -- it happens. Touaregs are complex vehicles but your experience is far different from mine and that of many other owners I read about. You have a right to be frustrated either with VW or with your dealer but in my opinion they are not poorly made. If there is a bright side, at least it's all being done under warranty.
 

South Coast Guy

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2010
Location
Mattapoisett, MA
TDI
2009 Jetta TDI wagon
While VW diesels are inherently flimsy and problem prone, the faults or replacements that I see in your Touareg seems out of proportion. I suspect your dealer is purposely replacing this and that under the warranty to generate income. Ask dealer that you want to see the replaced parts.
Then why are you driving a VW if it is "inherently flimsy and problem prone"?
 

tdi90hp

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2002
Location
Canuckland
TDI
2011 Golf TDI 6 speed(gone but NEVER forgotten)
Our 2013 TDI is 1 year old 32K and we have not had it for over 6 weeks of use because of warranty work needed. We have had to replace : The Starter after towing it from our Garage, The Alternator was also replaced, The Engine pulled because of an oil pan leak we were not even aware of and then the EGR valve, Exhaust manifold gaskets, Head gaskets and over three pages of parts. We have used two different VW service centres and had terrible experiences and long delays getting parts sometimes from Germany. There are no Lemon laws in our Province so we are stuck with this one and once repaired I don't know how we will ever sell it with a history of issues like this. We love the vehicle when it is working and hoped to pull a small travel trailer which sits in a storage lot until we have a useable vehicle again. Good luck I wish on all those who have not had problems......I estimate that after 3-4 pages of parts over $10,000 of work has been done under warranty :mad: sorry for the Rant but I think the VW Touareg is poorly built based on my experience and buyers beware
Shame. Should be one of their best vehicles now....lots of time to sort out the kinks over many years...Sucks. Sorry for your hassle. I cant see myself ever driving such a big/expensive vehicle but it seems that simple is better these days...The "luxury" cars are breaking because of millions of complicated systems that have to work perfectly all the time and they simply don't...often anyways.
 

ruking

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 27, 2003
Location
San Jose area, CA
TDI
2003 VW Jetta, 5 M, Reflex Silver: 09 Jetta, 6 Sp DSG, Candy White: 12 VW Touareg, 8 Sp A/T, Flint Gray
You should get a load of what they say on the Mercedes Benz web sites !!! ??? GEEZZZZZ

Statistically, there are DEFNITELY so- called " DUDs, lemons, Friday afternoon built cars", whatever one wants to refer to them as. Any good OEM tries to keep that to an ultimate minimum. No oem to my acknowledge has EVER acknowledged the percentage, let alone how many.

More on topic, the (my) 12 VW T TDI with app 47,000 miles, has literally been flawless. While I really wanted to get things "corrected" during the new car (unofficial but 1 year/10,000 miles and/or 3year/ 36,000mileage warranty period , there was literally NOTHING to correct/R/R or fix. So the good news is that the warranty covers/ed repair costs.

I did take a nail early on. The tire pressure computer screen let me see instantly that I was down on T/P ( leaking air). I shot over to the dealer where they took me immediately, they removed the tire, took it off the rim, patched, rebalanced the wheel, rehung the wheel (used torque wrench on the lug nuts also). Much later, I took another nail in a non repairable portion of the tread(different position) and had to replace tires. But I think most would agree that is not a VW quality issue. I could nit pick and say the dealership should have pick up this/these bill/s. (customer good will).
 
Last edited:

mokotoks

New member
Joined
Dec 7, 2013
Location
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
TDI
13 Touareg TDI Execline
Thanks for the comments.I am glad to hear that some have been flawless.It gives me hope that when we get it back after four weeks it will be good for a long time. We are prepared to use the three strike rule and we sit at two at the moment.Looking forward to towing our RV trailer and take advantage of the TDI attributes
 

Fourdiesel

Veteran Member
Joined
May 19, 2003
Location
SW Wash. USA
TDI
'04 Touareg V10 TDI
Always look at the bright side (at least when that is the only side) -- By the time the dealer(s) get through replacing parts your Treg should be in near perfect shape! And MUCH better than when it left the factory.
 

scrubber

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2004
Location
Happy Valley, OR
TDI
2012 Touareg TDI
Seems really odd. Just over 40k miles on mine- flawless.
(I should add, I still have lots of meat on the original brakes and tires)
 

Blownvette

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2004
Location
Derwood, Maryland
TDI
1990 Corvette with V10TDI ,2004 (2)V10TDI’s
I can't comment on the newer ones, but both of mine are 10years old and they really have held up well. I base this on having driven and seen comparable BMW and MB of the same generation.
 

gfeero

New member
Joined
Jun 22, 2014
Location
Oregon
TDI
2012 Touareg, 2003 Jetta and 2001 Beetle
Just got a 2012 Touareg TDI Friday. Drove it 300+ miles home, half of which against a severe headwind, and yet got 27 mpg overall. Love it. We have an '03 Jetta TDI with 345,000 plus miles, needing to install the new turbo, but going strong regardless. Had it since new. Also have an '01 Beetle TDI with 200,000+ miles that we recently bought while I had the Jetta since I worked out of the county during the week.

I have never seen anything about TDI's being flimsy or problem prone. Everything has been wonderful other than a worn out turbo and a few little nit-picky things in the cabin. So, I'm curious as to what you are talking about? (I cheat though, and am married to a diesel mechanic who has done all the timing belt stuff and other servicing at home.)
 

IFRCFI

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2010
Location
Winchester, VA
TDI
2013 Touareg TDI Lux
Jinxed myself. AdBlue warning appeared out of the blue, won't reset, and is counting down from 1500 miles. Tank is full, and reset procedure doesn't clear. 20K miles. Off to the dealer. I did promise myself I'd never drive a VW outside of an extended warranty.....


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

OsirisTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
May 30, 2007
Location
Middle TN
TDI
Tech Package DSG Golf, Executive Egg
Drain/siphon the ad blue tank. Fill with distilled water. Drain. Fill with ad blue. It worked for me.
 

IFRCFI

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2010
Location
Winchester, VA
TDI
2013 Touareg TDI Lux
Drain/siphon the ad blue tank. Fill with distilled water. Drain. Fill with ad blue. It worked for me.

Thx! I understand that there is a float sensor that can 'bind' with crystalized AdBlue. Since the dealer refilled it last week during the 20K service, I'm going to let them diagnose and fix. Good to know for the future.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:

OsirisTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
May 30, 2007
Location
Middle TN
TDI
Tech Package DSG Golf, Executive Egg
I speculate that my issue was simple, the urea %(specific gravity) was too high for the electrodes to calculate the DEF level, after 50k miles of "salt creep"... Rinse it out.

Ask if they have a refractometer to measure your urea%.
 

IFRCFI

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2010
Location
Winchester, VA
TDI
2013 Touareg TDI Lux
Update - Service tech reset the SCR system with VAGCOM. No faults found. Interesting that the book procedure wouldn't work.
 

wakdady

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2006
Location
San Francisco
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI 5spd
Our 2013 TDI is 1 year old 32K and we have not had it for over 6 weeks of use because of warranty work needed. We have had to replace : The Starter after towing it from our Garage, The Alternator was also replaced, The Engine pulled because of an oil pan leak we were not even aware of and then the EGR valve, Exhaust manifold gaskets, Head gaskets and over three pages of parts. We have used two different VW service centres and had terrible experiences and long delays getting parts sometimes from Germany. There are no Lemon laws in our Province so we are stuck with this one and once repaired I don't know how we will ever sell it with a history of issues like this. We love the vehicle when it is working and hoped to pull a small travel trailer which sits in a storage lot until we have a useable vehicle again. Good luck I wish on all those who have not had problems......I estimate that after 3-4 pages of parts over $10,000 of work has been done under warranty :mad: sorry for the Rant but I think the VW Touareg is poorly built based on my experience and buyers beware
So your car has 32k and the starter went out? Bad luck, these things happen. They replaced the alternator while it was in for the starter? Maybe they felt it wasn't charging properly and replaced it as preventative.

Next, during their inspection they found an oil leak from the oil pan gasket? Good! That means they are doing their job! They found an issue and fixed it before it became a real problem. Happens all the time regardless of mileage.
And they had to pull the motor?!?! oh noes!!! just kidding. well, i'm sure it's a very tight engine bay. it's not like they replaced the engine.

Furthermore, diesels do have these kinds of issues in the states. Maybe you drive it like a grandma and the intake/egr got clogged up. Who knows.

No, it's not a lemon. Why is it that people think that because things break it must be a lemon?

I assure you, it's not poorly built. It's a complex machine and things happen.

Lastly, it's all being covered under warranty. You ought to be happy!
 

IFRCFI

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2010
Location
Winchester, VA
TDI
2013 Touareg TDI Lux
No, it's not a lemon. Why is it that people think that because things break it must be a lemon?

Because the last 6 Japanese cars (Toyota, Subaru, Infiniti) I owned from new ran to +150K with only routine maintenance. We expect better for $55K, complex or otherwise. Probably not a lemon, but worse than average as supported by JD Powers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

wakdady

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2006
Location
San Francisco
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI 5spd
Then why don't we all drive $15k corollas?

In that case a $250k Ferrari should last forever, maintenance should be free, and if it does break down a helicopter should fly to you and pick you up wherever you are.

Complexity adds to things that will fail, length of repairs, people qualified to deal with said repairs, etc.
 

Richard_mayer

New member
Joined
Jun 12, 2012
Location
Montgomery al
TDI
Looking to buy passat
Have you put over 5000 miles per week on your Touareg?

You stated you hate 32000 miles after only having 6 weeks of usage is that correct?
 

Yeti35

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2009
Location
SL, UT
TDI
2010 Touareg V6 TDI
You stated you hate 32000 miles after only having 6 weeks of usage is that correct?
Reread what he wrote. That is not what he said. It has 32K on it and he has not had in his possession for 6 weeks due to repairs.
 

Tarbe

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2002
Location
USA
TDI
Touareg and Sportwagon Sold to VW
My 2012 has not had any repairs in 35,000 miles...just as expected.
 

joep1234

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2014
Location
NC
TDI
former '04 Beetle TDI, now 2x '15 Audi Q5 TDI's, 2007 Dodge Ram 4x4 6.7
I've had 2 (V6's). First one (2004) was a lemon 40k miles in 18 months and stayed in the shop for 6 months. VW put us in a '05 and we kept it for 2 1/2 years with only one trip in for a 4x4 sensor going south. Both cars loved tires. Came with Scorpions and only got 19k from oem tires. Put Michelin X Terrains and only got 23k. I was told that these were heavy cars and kept them rotated and aligned. I bought both of them because of their GVW (6k+) so I could 179 them off my business. Had 2 Nissan Armadas but now want another Touareg TDI this time. Have a '04 Beetle TDI and a '07.5 Ram 2500 4x4 Cummins. Sold on diesels.
 
Top