New Sportwagen owner

[JustPlaneChris]

Hello all,

Just a quick intro. My name is Chris, and I just bought my first VW and first diesel!

It's a 2010 Sportwagen, manual transmission. It has no options other than the 'mud flaps' and rubber mats. It's Candy White, with the Titan Black interior.

I wish I could say it's been a perfect couple of weeks, but alas it had to go back to the dealer after 3 days due to a faulty right-rear brake assembly. It was apparently dragging and after 100 miles at highway speeds the rotor was slightly blued and the wheel was black with brake dust! Once I convinced the dealer there actually was a problem (why do they never believe it's broken? ) they fixed it pronto.

I am having some intermittent failures in the Bluetooth. Sometimes (maybe 2 out of 10 times) it acts as if it hasn't even powered on the Bluetooth when the car is started. No flashing LED, no attempt to connect. If it continues to do it, I'll take it to the dealer (where I'm sure it will behave perfectly!)

Other than that, I'm really enjoying the car! It's peppy, comfortable, and of course gets great fuel economy.

 

[coolbreeze]

Welcome to the club Chris and congrats on the car. you made a great choice and once you get those bugs worked out you will love it. 14 months in mine and i still look forward to getting in it. Good luck!
Bruce

 

[UberVW_TDI]

Welcome Chris! You've got good taste...I've got a Candy White JSW 6spd manual coming next week!

What did the VW dealer do to fix your rear brake issue? Did they replace anything, or maybe they just adjusted the parking brake cable.
This same issue has happened to others on this site.
Did you notice your parking brake handle would engage even though you only pulled it up a couple clicks?

 

[JustPlaneChris]

Thanks guys!

The dealer replaced the rotor and pads on the right, and also put new pads on the left so they were both new side-to-side.

It wasn't the park brake, they checked that first. They were very puzzled by the entire thing and even opened a ticket with VW and were going to send the old parts to them for evaluation. Our best guess is the pads on the RR were either installed improperly at the factory or had some sort of defect that was causing them to drag.

The most frustrating part is they didn't believe there was an issue despite my description of the hot brake smell and 2x the dust on that one wheel. It was only after the service manager and I drove for 20 miles and then shot the disks with an IR gun that he believed me. Why? Because the right rear rotor was 150 degrees hotter than the others after steady highway cruising (no braking). Well that, and the disk was turning blue.

Oh, and I forgot: My wife has already named the car "Teddy". TeDI, get it?

 

[dsnook]

After 250 miles of ownership both of my back rims are coated in brake dust.

Should I have the brakes checked or is this normal? My emergency brake engages with only a couple of clicks, but I thought that it was by design.
​

 

[eddie_1]

I've been looking at the JSW from a need for trunk space point of view, but not sure what to make of the fact that the 2010 JSW is really the 5th gen JSW with cosmetic changes. The Golf is the real 6th gen. Golf with the new stiffer body and sound proofing etc etc. Why did you guys look over the Golf for the JSW? Did anyone test drive both and made a decision? thanks! ~ed

 

[JustPlaneChris]

After 250 miles of ownership both of my back rims are coated in brake dust.

Should I have the brakes checked or is this normal? My emergency brake engages with only a couple of clicks, but I thought that it was by design.
​

After the replacement, they washed all the wheels so I could get a fresh start on the brake dust. It does seem like the rears are picking up more dust than the fronts, but then again that's with new pads.

I'd say if both rears are evenly coated (side-to-side) you're probably OK. Mine was dramatically darker only on the right side, indicating uneven wear. Well that and the heat and smell!

 

[JustPlaneChris]

I've been looking at the JSW from a need for trunk space point of view, but not sure what to make of the fact that the 2010 JSW is really the 5th gen JSW with cosmetic changes. The Golf is the real 6th gen. Golf with the new stiffer body and sound proofing etc etc. Why did you guys look over the Golf for the JSW? Did anyone test drive both and made a decision? thanks! ~ed

I made the decision based purely on aesthetics. IMO the Sportwagen looks a lot nicer than the "chopped off" look of the Golf. Yes, I realize that's probably very shallow of me just buying on looks.

 

[6910sb]

I've been looking at the JSW from a need for trunk space point of view, but not sure what to make of the fact that the 2010 JSW is really the 5th gen JSW with cosmetic changes. The Golf is the real 6th gen. Golf with the new stiffer body and sound proofing etc etc. Why did you guys look over the Golf for the JSW? Did anyone test drive both and made a decision? thanks! ~ed

I have a thing for wagons. My first car was a '69 squareback. That must have somethong to do with it. Plus the utility of a wagon is a hugh advantage over the Golf.