Took my vRS into local dealer this morning to have tailgate damper struts replaced (leaking) under warranty - simple straightforward enough job.

Came away in courtesy car! - vRS ended up with shattered rear screen, boot and back seat covered with glass shards, tailgate edge bent and body opening edge dented. :eek: :thumbdwn:

Removing the first strut (obviously the remaining good one doing all the work) it appears second failed (no gas/oil) and tailgate collapsed unsupported onto the first which must have flipped out of the side of car.

The dealer workshop staff were appropriately embarrased, apologised, accepted liability and rustled up a courtesy car. After a touch of incandescent Victor Meldrew I've left it with them to put back as was, and wheezed off in a 1.2 HTP for the next few days or whenever.

What makes it worse is, if it hadn't been under warranty, I'd have done the job myself with the usual 4x2 timber jammed in for safety, per the ones on my family's VW's, Vauxhall's & Fords that I've replaced over the years.

Nowt I can do about it now but write the legal liability letters and hope it looks OK when they've finished with it.

I'll not name the dealer at this stage in the expectation that they make a good job of redressing the mistake, but if it doesn't work out you can be sure I will loud and clear!

:thumbdwn: :thumbdwn:

Whoops !!

Hope it gets fixed properly soon.

Ooops

I should imagine they'll be keen to offer you something in return for the mistake especially as you've been reduced to a 1.2 loan car for a few days.

How South of England are we talking about?? Might we be along the M3/M27 corridor or further afield?

Right on the South Coast, another 4 miles and your feet are wet.

Not one of my local 'experts' then

Right on the South Coast, another 4 miles and your feet are wet.

Bexhill or Saltdean perhaps?

Oh dear mate, I'd be furious. Sure, accidents and mistakes happen, but they are supposed to be experts ffs.

And as for your pride and joy, even if the repair is a top job, you will always know that the car has been damaged etc. I'd be most unimpressed.

I hope, at the very least, that your next service is free, and the car is FULL of diesel when you return to it.

Bexhill or Saltdean perhaps?

Or Shoreham, although I suspect 4 miles from there it would be more than your feet which were wet

Chris

Sorry to hear about you mad news, anyway what do you think of the 1.2HTP car.

Sorry to hear about you mad news, anyway what do you think of the 1.2HTP car.

So far only driven it about 6 miles!

Seems quite smooth when rolling although the 3 cylinder engine sounds a bit "industrial" when pulling away.

There's a massive difference between the 310NM torque of the vRS and the 112NM the HTP Ambiente puts out so the most noticeable thing is the lack of grunt. Horses for courses however and the 1.2 is designed for a different purpose so I can't knock it.

Right now its a set of wheels to go from A-B in the dry so from that aspect its good!

If I have it long enough to give a better feedback I will, but hopefully my vRS will be fixed properly and in a reasonable time.

Bexhill or Saltdean perhaps?

Neither of them, or Shoreham or the M3/M27 corridor.

As I said, I'll keep the powder dry pending the outcome, which will hopefully be positive and also in the not too distant future!!

Neither of them' date=' or Shoreham or the M3/M27 corridor.

As I said, I'll keep the powder dry pending the outcome, which will hopefully be positive and also in the not too distant future!![/quote']

Spoke with the dealer today and it looks like next week before I get the vRS back:(

In the body shop this week, bonding the new rear screen hopefully on Friday then leave over the weekend for the bonding agent to cure.

The more I think about the stupidity of the incident the madder I get:mad:

Still, hopefully they really are taking their time to get it right I'll have built up a good head of steam by next week if they haven't.

Driving the 1.2 Ambiente courtesy car round though keeps reminding me what a hoot the vRS really is. Surprisingly the Ambiente has alot of the same little gadgets and features as in the vRS, a quite well equipped "mid-level" trim.

Spoke with the dealer today and it looks like next week before I get the vRS back:(

In the body shop this week' date=' bonding the new rear screen hopefully on Friday then leave over the weekend for the bonding agent to cure.

The more I think about the stupidity of the incident the madder I get:mad:

Still, hopefully they really are taking their time to get it right I'll have built up a good head of steam by next week if they haven't.

Driving the 1.2 Ambiente courtesy car round though keeps reminding me what a hoot the vRS really is. Surprisingly the Ambiente has alot of the same little gadgets and features as in the vRS, a quite well equipped "mid-level" trim.[/quote']

I do hope they replaced the struts BEFORE they bonded in the new rear screen:)

Yeah the Ambiente is nice enough, and from what I can gather from my 'Fabia Sports courtesy car' thread the 1.2 12V engine is a lot better than the 1.4 16V

How are you finding it for your daily drive at the moment? I know it's not in the same ballpark as the vRS but it's not bad?

I do hope they replaced the struts BEFORE they bonded in the new rear screen:)

I do too!!!! :rofl:

Yeah the Ambiente is nice enough' date=' and from what I can gather from my 'Fabia Sports courtesy car' thread the 1.2 12V engine is a lot better than the 1.4 16V

How are you finding it for your daily drive at the moment? I know it's not in the same ballpark as the vRS but it's not bad?[/quote']

Good enough for the town commute, and actually pulls quite well up a steep 1/2 mile hill I use 4 times a day. The gearchange is very smooth, and the engine warms up much faster than the vRS but then the 3 cyl petrol lump is a lot less mass than the PD130 so it should. Once the revs build it rasps a bit - not quite my taste - prfer the growl of the PD130, seems to have a lot of transmission whine when you wind it up from rest but not intrusive.

The interior has a white roof lining which brightens the interior a lot over the dark vRS version. Dash has a twin texture which breaks the slab effect compared to the vRS and makes it look more in balance. The texture closest to the windscreen looks very effective on the antiglare front.

Seats are more durable colour and fabric but not as nice to sit in as the vRS.

The lighter all up weight makes it feel slightly more nimble but if you chuck it about too much it flabs about a lot but then maybe I'm still trying to correct for the missing 250kgs of the vRS!

The long handbrake travel could be down to drums over discs or just bad (no!)PDI on the courtesy car, clutch is also light as you've found.

My Mrs has a 3 door 53 Punto 1.2 which although has slightly less torque and power, somehow "feels" to me a better drive round town. Maybe its the 4 cylinder engine, the higher seating position or lighter weight but as town cars go I think the Punto is surprisingly solid, except for the warping clutches and distorting discs - maybe Italians aren't very good at flat things that go round!! :rofl: