How long have you owned your MkVI? Miles driven?

1 yr and 8 months

62,00o with only an updated intercooler due to icing and tires.......

Did find my factory rims are crap...... They all have a wobble in them. Don't know if they were that way as some have experienced or they are just cheap and can not handle spirited driving. One does have an impact flat spot (pot hole)......

Tinman265 said:

1 yr and 8 months
62,00o with only an updated intercooler due to icing and tires.......
Did find my factory rims are crap...... They all have a wobble in them. Don't know if they were that way as some have experienced or they are just cheap and can not handle spirited driving. One does have an impact flat spot (pot hole)......

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Nice mileage report!

Unless you had the wheels on a hunter wheel balancer and know for sure it's the wheels I'd also check the tires out to see if they are the cause of your problems.

Owned my 2010 JSW since August 2013 with 52 or 53k miles on it. Now has 122k+ miles on it. It's a love/hate relationship. When it's working (if at all), it's a great vehicle. Torquey, comfortable, handles well enough (at least, since I've put the falkens on it), and can haul me, the family, and my stuff comfortably. But when things go south, I regret the day I ever bought it. The fan resistor went out a few months after I bought it. Then, by July, the mechanical fuel pump failed on me (left me stranded in fort Walton beach, florida on 4th of july weekend. VW paid me back for the $700 hotel expenses), that October, a glow plug failed. 2 weeks ago, the car just cut off, and I was told that there's a short in the wire harness that killed the injector driver, and that short possibly messed up the new fuel injectors that were put in last year. Nearly a $6k fix... not under warranty. I haven't fixed it yet. I've also heard my mileage is low, but I do disclose that I set cruise at about 75 mph on my trips to and from work (I work offshore, Louisiana, but live in Georgia). 32-35 mpg below 60 degrees, 34-36 mpg above 60 degrees.

Outside of that I've been in two car accidents in it, and a rock just cracked my windshield... but that's just because I believe white cars are unlucky... and of course, I buy a white car. lol.

I wish the car actually ran well all the time. If it did, the expensive maintenance cost would be acceptable. I'm really stating to miss my Toyotas, but the diesel has me hooked.

Had my 2010 sportwagen for 1 year 6 days exactly and I've put 32k miles on it in that time. It's been garaged 4.5 months of that year.

Currently at 79k miles.

2011 JSW here. Got it new in March 2011. 62k miles as of June 2015. Issue = bad glow plug replaced under warranty. Awesome in every other way...

ATR said:

Nice mileage report!
Unless you had the wheels on a hunter wheel balancer and know for sure it's the wheels I'd also check the tires out to see if they are the cause of your problems.

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I watched the tech..... And they showed me wheel by wheel...... All 4 have a wobble to them.

To be fair...... I have the 17" wheels

Tinman265 said:

I watched the tech..... And they showed me wheel by wheel...... All 4 have a wobble to them.

To be fair...... I have the 17" wheels

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Well that explains that

I'm also on the stock 17" wheels. No vibration issues with them and they have nailed a couple gnarly potholes at highway speeds.

October 30, 2010 --> Present and 90K miles

bought my 2011 in aug 2010, 116000 now, other than a sticky rear caliper piston it's been solid. (tuned at 32000, and beefed up my fuel system with 2 micron mods near 60k) Ive towed trailer maybe 8000 miles of that with a gross weight of near 6000 lbs as well, its a champ. Next to do is the timing belt, just need a dull weekend to get it done, parts and tools are in stock.

I bought my 2012 6MT Golf 2 years ago with 22,000 miles... it has 39,000 miles now. No issues to date other than a dead battery.

I have a 2012 Golf TDI 4 door w/ 6 speed MT, tech package & in reflex silver. I replaced the original tires with Michelin Primacy's at around 30,000 miles. The stock tires that came with the car were horrible. When I changed the tires out, I also added a "Panzer plate" to protect the oil pan as we all know that these cars have a fairly low stance. Not too long after that, I added Andrew's "2 Micron" fuel filtering system, 3rd generation, in order to protect the engine from imploding. God knows how many horror stories there are about these HPFP's failing. A few weeks ago I had my mechanic install "Diesel Geeks short shift kit" which quite frankly, is AMAZING! The only real problem that I had was with the "start/stop" button that recently went bad at around 40,000 miles. I now have a little over 43,000 miles and the car has been running great. I should also add that I use Shell premium diesel fuel almost exclusively as there's a station right down the street from me. I've also have been using "Opti-lube" fuel additive at every fill up since day one. This is for lubricity purposes for the fuel system & injectors as supposedly the diesel fuel here in the USA is somewhat dry versus the diesel fuel in Europe. Most of my driving is local and short distances, I don't baby the car when I drive it. I love the torque and handling, I'm only hoping that the car lasts, especially after doing all that I've done to this car...

samarai said:

I have a 2012 Golf TDI 4 door w/ 6 speed MT, tech package & in reflex silver. I replaced the original tires with Michelin Primacy's at around 30,000 miles. The stock tires that came with the car were horrible. When I changed the tires out, I also added a "Panzer plate" to protect the oil pan as we all know that these cars have a fairly low stance. Not too long after that, I added Andrew's "2 Micron" fuel filtering system, 3rd generation, in order to protect the engine from imploding. God knows how many horror stories there are about these HPFP's failing. A few weeks ago I had my mechanic install "Diesel Geeks short shift kit" which quite frankly, is AMAZING! The only real problem that I had was with the "start/stop" button that recently went bad at around 40,000 miles. I now have a little over 43,000 miles and the car has been running great. I should also add that I use Shell premium diesel fuel almost exclusively as there's a station right down the street from me. I've also have been using "Opti-lube" fuel additive at every fill up since day one. This is for lubricity purposes for the fuel system & injectors as supposedly the diesel fuel here in the USA is somewhat dry versus the diesel fuel in Europe. Most of my driving is local and short distances, I don't baby the car when I drive it. I love the torque and handling, I'm only hoping that the car lasts, especially after doing all that I've done to this car...

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There's a good DIY for fixing the start button issue:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=430031

Got my 2012 Golf TDI, 2 door with tech package with 13k bout a year and a half ago. Have driven about 45k miles, and have had the dpf/egr replaced 2 times under warranty due to APR intake. Apparently since the APR intake deletes the DPF cooler rubber hose that stock intake has it cause premature ware? Who knows.....but ever since I took it out, no more problems regarding that.


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I have 136k km on my 2011 now; I put fuel in it on Saturday, 929 km on the tank (with about still 280 to go before empty). It was the first fuel I bought for it in exactly a month, so that works out to a mere 11k km per year now since I retired; mind you we did a fair bit traveling in that month but it was in Mrs. PC's waggin'. Just had some rust spots touched up. Still leaning towards trading for a Mk VII TSI next spring (or shipping it out West to our secondary residence), but in case the markets tank at least it should be good for a while unless the HPFP grenades or someone totals it.

Off-topic but VW is giving $1500 discounts on Golf TDIs these days. Apparently the difference in fuel economy of the TDI vs TSI doesn't attract too many takers at $3k extra. Most Golfs I see on the road these days are TSI or GTI...

PlaneCrazy said:

I have 136k km on my 2011 now; I put fuel in it on Saturday, 929 km on the tank (with about still 280 to go before empty). It was the first fuel I bought for it in exactly a month, so that works out to a mere 11k km per year now since I retired; mind you we did a fair bit traveling in that month but it was in Mrs. PC's waggin'. Just had some rust spots touched up. Still leaning towards trading for a Mk VII TSI next spring (or shipping it out West to our secondary residence), but in case the markets tank at least it should be good for a while unless the HPFP grenades or someone totals it.

Off-topic but VW is giving $1500 discounts on Golf TDIs these days. Apparently the difference in fuel economy of the TDI vs TSI doesn't attract too many takers at $3k extra. Most Golfs I see on the road these days are TSI or GTI...

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The TSIs are having their fair share of growing pains. You may want to do a bit of research on it. When I hear things like "cam shafts snapped or fractured" I'd take a step back to see what's going on there

ATR said:

The TSIs are having their fair share of growing pains. You may want to do a bit of research on it. When I hear things like "cam shafts snapped or fractured" I'd take a step back to see what's going on there

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It's one reason why I'm waiting for 2016. Never buy a VW in the first model year.

I've had my fair share of troubles with my TDI though, a lot of it paid out of pocket, including a HPFP replacement which VW only partly covered as it was out of the powertrain warranty.

At least the TSI would be under warranty for 5 years.

quartersaw said:

Just a casual survey: I've read the sobering threads re: HPFP, and I was wondering how many of MkV/VI owners have driven without any major/X-pensive problems?
A simple roll call stating years owned/miles driven should do it!
I'm picking up my 'new' 2010 6 speed stick JSW tomorrow.
Thanks, guys!

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You may already know about NHTSA web site. It is an amazing site, Government agency, www.nhtsa.gov/ National Highway Traffic Safety Administration tracks auto issues reported by public as well as the manufacture and other sources. They are the ones that find trends of cars that stall, burst into flames or have airbags that malfunction... on and on. The HPFP is well documented on that site for earlier years.

HPFP - Just know if it happens the glow plug comes on and you lose power. Pull over and do NOT try and start car. Get it towed, read the codes and look for metal flakes in the pressure sensor. I never had a HPFP failure, but I DO USE Opti-Lube XPD and XR in my fuel. It can't hurt and costs about $1.50 a tank. It improves fuel lubricity which lubricates the HPFP. The good news is the MK6 has extended HPFP warranty, 120,000 miles and 10 years.

Serpentine Belt is the one that drives the alternator and AC compressor. If it fails it can get under the CAM TIMING BELT COVER and foul it. That could change the cam timing and cause valves to hit piston, and that is bad. So make sure you check this belt and replace it early. It is visible and not expensive.

Turbo Failure - Turbo is lubricated by engine oil. When the turbo fails, the seal fails and engine oil is blow into the exhaust system. Loss of turbo is bad but the oil takes out the DPF. If you keep driving for long, your engine will have no oil, also a bad thing. To replace the turbo (part $1000) and DPF (part $2500) plus labor is going to be about $5000. One thing you can do is be kind to the turbo. Do not shut down during a REGEN when the engine is pumping extra fuel to raise EGT to REGEN the DPF (it cooks the bad stuff it collects and turns it into ash and needs high temps to do this). This makes the turbo run red hot. It is best to let this finish and let the turbo cool a little before shutting engine off. If you have a failure, you will know it, loss of power, smoke and I believe glow plug light . Like a HPFP failure pull over ASAP and shut off. Do not try and run the car as you lost oil out of the engine very quickly. Have it towed and read the codes.

PlaneCrazy said:

It's one reason why I'm waiting for 2016. Never buy a VW in the first model year.

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Don't buy first year I've heard of, would not argue that, but I would add VW cars are often made and sold for a year or two in other countries before coming to North America. I recall the MK6 was made for a time before coming to North America. I know MK7 Golf TDI's were sold in Europe for a year or two before coming to North America this year. You can even find a MK7 Golf TDI as rental cars in Germany.

2015.
Have had it for 5 months and have 1100 miles on it.

gmcjetpilot said:

Don't buy first year I've heard of, would not argue that, but I would add VW cars are often made and sold for a year or two in other countries before coming to North America. I recall the MK6 was made for a time before coming to North America. I know MK7 Golf TDI's were sold in Europe for a year or two before coming to North America this year. You can even find a MK7 Golf TDI as rental cars in Germany.

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That really doesn't apply. For TDIs, the emission controls are sufficiently different here (exhaust flaps, EGR, and in some cases DPFs, etc) that the European experience is in no way applicable to VWs sold in N. America. Plus the HPFP issue was not really predicted, due largely it would seem to US fuel quality compared to Europe. Look at the main issues with the Mk VI: EGR leading to intercooler condensation pooling, HPFP, exhaust flap module failure... all N. America-specific issues.

The same technically applies to the TSI, which like the 2.5 it replaces, is an engine specifically designed for the North American market (though the 1.8 TSI is a 2.0 TSI derivative), and thus again the European experience can't be extrapolated to N. America.