I have a brand new 2005 Passat TDI with about 2.500 miles. Last couple of weeks I've noticed my transmission is shifting with significant noise and feels af if the car has hit the pothole. Slowing down with the brake pedal applied results in downshifting that can be felt as is you drive manual and suddently release clutch. On couple of occasions while driving with barely pressing the gas pedal car acted as if it was a wild horse, lot of klonking noise. Took it to dealer twice. Both times they sent me home stating that th aftermarket floormat I have in the car was too close to the gas pedal and supposedly obstructing its motion. Dealer says the pedal is not mechanical but rather electronic with some sort of the slider built in it. Does anyone else experience this problem? I am taking car back on Monday and will ask them to dig it out.
Looking forward to read your comments.
Don't be alarmed, this is completely normal behavior for this transmission. This is why I am getting rid of my 2005 Passat GL TDI.
Now don't beat me up here as I stand on my very tall soap box while I rant.
My car does all of the things that you describe (and more) which provides for an absolutely nauseating driving experience. I'm counting down the months now and after 12 months this piece of junk is history. Love the mileage and the diesel though.
How is it possible that VW could make such a nice car and wrap it around such an ill-mannered transmission, drivetrain, and suspension system?
I've spent an inordinate amount of time searchng for information on this topic and there doesn't seem to be any answers whatsoever, just problems.
The only suggestions I have been able to find are as follows:
- Switch the source of fuel.
- Add Power Service Diesel additive.
- Perform this funky transmission reset thing with the ignition turned on and the accelerator pushed to the floor.
- Change the transmission coding to Sport Mode.
- Replace the fuel filter.
Well guess what. I've done everything but the sport mode option and the car still acts the same way. And why should I have to recode my transmission to sport mode anyway? It worked OK when I test drove the car, why not now? Is this some kind of learned behavior that isn't described in the owner manual or is this a real technical problem?
And get this: absolutely no answers have been obtained from anyone in this forum from any dealer except for the usual runaround.
The issue I have with all of this is that I test drove 4 of these cars (including the one that I own) and experienced no problems. Yes, I was very careful about this as the '98 Passat I owned felt like I was being bumped from behind when coming to a stop as the transmission klunked it's way down to first gear. Man, I really thought that they would have fixed that problem by now. Nope.
Anyway, my test drive was a delight and I couldn't wait to get my hands on one of these cars but after the first 300 miles all of these creepy behaviors started kicking in.
But don't worry, I went to my dealer and described all of these things and, of course, they looked at me like I shot President Kennedy. They never heard of such problems.
I asked them if they could just ask someone technical at VW if any issues have been reported by anyone anywhere. Well they said "no, we can't do that but if you can leave the car with us we can take it out for a road test and check for any problems."
So what good is that? I've already done all of the road testing the dealer will ever need and can describe in precise detail all of the transmission quirks I live with every day.
So I said to the guy at the service desk "If no one has ever heard of any transmission problems with this car then what is there to fix?" All I got was "Well, all we can do is road test the car and check for diagnostic codes and refer the problem to VW to see if they have a solution. Sorry you are disappointed."
Let's face it. This car has had a very, very long production run so it is not possible that some of these problems haven't surfaced somewhere at a dealership and then filtered back up to VW in some way.
I really think that these issues are just a trait of the car. Some people are less aware of these problems than others, if at all, and maybe some people don't care because they love there car so much, but with all of these problems the $465.00 per month payment doesn't do it for me.
A fan no longer.