Buying a vRS - anything I should look out for?

[ahar]

Hello all

Looking to get a year old or so vRS to replace my stolen Honda Civic (insurance cheque has come through - hurrah!).

Anything I shouldl look out for particularly in a nearly new vRS particularly? Had a good poke through the forums and couldn't see anything too nasty for that model!

[czechsmasher]

dont touch it with a barge pole, unreliable with major known problems with dpf sensors, fly mass pulleys screechings, rear wash wipe pump failures and if you dont put the right type of screenwash, ie skoda approved it floods your boot with fluid in the winter and then you go to the dealers who dont give a crap and give you attitude you dont deserve. im not bitter, just went through the cycle of crap from skoda dealers. experienced it first hand live and not a good customer experience, buy one at your risk mate. dont ever tell me i never told u the real truth. avoid and buy an older reliable car, skoda trading on handed down reliability which sadly is not proven in real life, take a look at muy posts which went from great to dread, after only 15g! . vg after all and their DEAD. AVOID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[taffyboy]

yes the more mainstream the brand gets, the more mainstream utterly useless the main dealers get, I would deffo reccommend a vrs though, cracking cars,

[apd007]

Only thing I can say is I had mine from new for 2.5 years, covered just over 20,000 miles, drove across Europe 3 times and never had anything go wrong. Only got rid of it as I've got a new job and the mileage I'd be doing would be crippling in fuel.

Sadly, the comment about dealers can be true, my local dealer is carp so I drive about 15 miles across Birmingham to another dealer who can't do enough for you, but ALL manufacturers have problems with bad dealers, some of the Ford ones, for example, are shocking.

[Chrispy]

Ok here goes:

Dual mass flywheel failure (DMF) - vibration when accellerating/ booting it in high gears

Leaking door carriers - wet carpets and water on top of the door seals after rain/ washing the car

Water in the boot/ rear light clusters

Turbo failure

Particulate filter (DPF) failure or the pressure sensor failing (the latter is quite easy and cheap to fix)

Climate control issues - something to do with the control unit I think

Amplifier failure on the aerial

Uneven rear tyre wear (on the insides)

ABS/ESP unit failure

Delaminating windscreen

Rear quarterlight windows whistling at speed

Wing mirrors whistling at speed

Errm, that's all I can think of right now. Most are ones I've seen on here now and again.

Edited 18 October, 2009 by Chrispy

[ahar]

Thanks chaps

As for dealers, there's always bad ones out there no matter what the marque. Ford seem to have some particular stinkers.....

Palmers in Watford (my closest) seem to have a good rep so we'll wait and see.

[Aspman]

I've had a TFSI for 2.5yr and done 24k miles and so far I've had to return to the dealer 0 times for faults.

It's been back for it's first service and nothing else.

Yes the washers block, I've had that, but was sorted by using a 14p Tesco toothbrush.

A couple of trim rattles but I just need to spend some time hunting them down myself but you can't hear them with the radio on.

You might want to drive it first though, probably a lot less exciting than a CTR in standard guise. VRS is more of a fast family car than a racer. 200hp doesn't really feel like enough because the car is so competent.

My 3yr deal is up in June and at the moment I'll be happy to keep the car.

[martziniuk]

Yes they are a nice car but some go through a fair bit of oil and the direct injection is pants. I presume you are getting the petrol version?

[m0bov]

and the direct injection is pants. QUOTE]

Explain??

[martziniuk]

Major carbon build up on inlet valves due to fuel not being injected through them.

[m0bov]

Bit of a sweeping statement if you ask me, only one or two reports I can find, but mostly due to not using 98RON as far as I can tell. Its funny how 99% of posts on here are from happy owners, the minute a newbie asks for some things to look for, the Octy is the worst car on the planet.

Hopefully some happy owners will be along soon to balance things out.

[VRSbilly]

Starting to wish id read this before I ordered mine..... :(

[m0bov]

I'm not, one or two posts, amide 10s of thousands of other members. It only takes 2 or 3 disgruntled owners to make it look like the cars junk. I googled the thing about carbon build up and only found a few posts about golfs. The DMF might be a derv thing, as for other issues, you'll always get a "friday car", no matter what make. Its a gamble but that's what warranties are for.

I've been visiting this site for 3 or 4 months prior to my purchase and certainly none of the above has been mentioned much. Def worth reading the guides and spending time on here looking at what others are experiancing. In general, most on here are happy, dealers are hit and miss and its a post code lottery.

[FTM]

I had a mk2 from new in 2006...the only thing that needed changing were the tyres (no uneven wear on mine as such, just driving like a loon chewed through them) I also needed a new set of front discs just out of warranty, but again I put that down to my driving and not changing the pads when I should have

inside the car remained rattle free in the front but there was a rattle at the back seat catches which is well documented on here and easily fixed with a bit of gaffer tape.

it did use oil and required topping up every few thousand miles

I only used the dealers twice in 3 and a half years and that was only for the servicing..it didnt need to go in for anything else

it impressed me enough for me to buy a facelift which seems a step up in quality again

I would add that both of mine have been petrol and manuals so have not been affected by the diesel particulate filter problems or the dual mass flywheel problem..petrol engine for happier drivers!

the dpf problem also affected all cars in the VAG range with the PD engine

[supersport2]

I've had my 58 plate cr 170 vrs and I'm over the moon with it! Tyres on the front haven't lasted long, but all round, what a cracking car, thoroughly happy with it, and, touch wood, there have been no issues. You will get 50+ mpg if you drive like miss daisey, but I get mid 40s and still very happy!

[Krispe]

Had my VRS petrol estate for 3 years now. No problems, my local dealer was excellent, (Autohaus), but they went into administration a few months back. Just had 60k service by Progress in Bedford, (now my nearest dealer) and impressed with them so far. The car handles great, is pretty quick, loads of room, build quality I think is excellent. I have enjoyed owning it so much that I have ordered a new FL version, (even in the same colour, race-blue), as there is nothing else out there, for the money that offers the above, which I should get delivery of in the next two weeks. I'm genuinely suprised by the first few comments on here as I'm sure from most posts on this forum by us VRS owners, we are very happy with our cars?

NB - Mine will be for sale in the next two weeks when my new replacement arrives VRS 2.0TFSI Estate, Race Blue, 18" zeniths, 59k, FSSH.

[martziniuk]

I'm not, one or two posts, amide 10s of thousands of other members. It only takes 2 or 3 disgruntled owners to make it look like the cars junk. I googled the thing about carbon build up and only found a few posts about golfs. The .

Are you blind lol, there are loads on vwvortex. Try searching cold start misfire which is also related to carbon build up.

Don't get me wrong I love the car and think it's fast and fantastic value for money, it's just the OP wanted to know of "anything to look out for". I took that as meaning problems, not how good they are.

[FTM]

Are you blind lol, there are loads on vwvortex. Try searching cold start misfire which is also related to carbon build up.

Don't get me wrong I love the car and think it's fast and fantastic value for money, it's just the OP wanted to know of "anything to look out for". I took that as meaning problems, not how good they are.

tis a good point

the uneven tyre wear can manifest itself in other ways.....a lot of people report tyres where the tred blocks themselves wear unevenly, creating a saw tooth effect, higher at one side of the block than the other, this lead to a hell of a lot of road noise from the tyres. Proper wheel alignment should stop this from happening but once you have it its hard to get rid of it short of buying new tyres

its so noisy people think its wheel bearings!

[ahar]

Thanks chaps for all the comments. In the end I've plumped for a Limited Edition vRS - vrooooom

Edited 19 October, 2009 by ahar

[apd007]

Thanks chaps for all the comments. In the end I've plumped for a Limited Edition vRS - vrooooom

Nice, petrol or diesel version?

[ahar]

Nice, petrol or diesel version?

Petrol - I was pleasantly surprised by the push from the turbo through the range. Not as fast as my modified scooby, but not bad for the family car !

[Nobafett]

Just had my FL petrol vrs remapped and reckon it feels quicker now than a remapped WRX that I owned previously. (Scooby had 270bhp).