So my car is back in the dealers again, this time in a different county and has been there for 2 weeks and counting.

 

Yes I know things go wrong but f*** me not expecting my car to be this unreliable!

 

Currently in the dealers for the following 'issues'

- Cutting out whilst driving (Even been in Autoexpress re this)

- Front assist / ACC error messages and / or stops working

- Does what appears to be a DPF Regeneration every 80 miles

- Burning diesel smell in the cabin

- Drivers window auto up / down stopped working

- Stereo doesn't always work

- Sat Nav freezes

- N/S/F door trim rattling its tits off

- Reluctant to start most of the time

 

I love my car but am astounded at how unreliable it is and how poor the Skoda retailer network is (current dealer excluded).  Sad to say but I can't wait to get rid of it and get something else as it's been nothing but a thorn in my side since it was 4 months old.

Edited 18 March, 201610 yr by back1980

That's a sad tale, people will tell you it's only a car but it does weigh in your mind! I didn't have any major mechanical failures as such with my Leon but it had so many recurring niggles that the dealer couldn't give a **** about sorting that it had to go. Door card rattles, it went in 3 times for that. Dashboard rattle the same. Knock on the rear suspension twice. Creaking Windows and door seals. Rain running into the car off the roof when the door opened. Headlights that wouldn't self level. The head unit which is basically the same had similar issues to what you are getting I'm guessing - it would be a blank screen with sound, or no sound, or no media and then it would crash and the sat nav would think it was in Wolfsburg.

As an owner of 24 hours I'm obviously concerned by your post. I do hope you can find some peace sometime soon. Clearly I wouldn't recommend jumping to SEAT but inversely I guess you would tell me the same about Skoda :(

Had the same experience with a Fabia Greenline, in two years of ownership new engine after two weeks, every injector changed on new engine, DPF issue and DPF pressure valve.

 

Changed to a 1.6TDI Fabia that had no issues and I am very happy with my 1.4TSI DSG.

I would get it in a state where it's fully functional, then get rid asap, otherwise when it's out of warranty your screwed. You don't want to get saddled with a lemon.

That's a sad tale, people will tell you it's only a car but it does weigh in your mind! I didn't have any major mechanical failures as such with my Leon but it had so many recurring niggles that the dealer couldn't give a **** about sorting that it had to go. Door card rattles, it went in 3 times for that. Dashboard rattle the same. Knock on the rear suspension twice. Creaking Windows and door seals. Rain running into the car off the roof when the door opened. Headlights that wouldn't self level. The head unit which is basically the same had similar issues to what you are getting I'm guessing - it would be a blank screen with sound, or no sound, or no media and then it would crash and the sat nav would think it was in Wolfsburg.

As an owner of 24 hours I'm obviously concerned by your post. I do hope you can find some peace sometime soon. Clearly I wouldn't recommend jumping to SEAT but inversely I guess you would tell me the same about Skoda :(

I've also owned a Seat previously and the dealer network for them isn't that great either!  

 

Perhaps I'm just unlucky but I'm also getting my car tomorrow (yes a Sunday) and they've fixed nothing whatsoever.  This IS NOT the dealers fault though as they are at the mercy of Skoda UK and there inability to provide a solution to the problems with my car.  For instance the dealer has acknowledged that there is a problem with my car starting and cranking for far to long but as it doesn't log a fault they're waiting for technical to tell them what to do next.  As per the norm they aren't sure 

I would get it in a state where it's fully functional, then get rid asap, otherwise when it's out of warranty your screwed. You don't want to get saddled with a lemon.

Trust me it's going ASAP when I get it back and someone else can get lumped with it.  

Trust me it's going ASAP when I get it back and someone else can get lumped with it.  

 

Don't forget to put the Reg Number on here when you get rid so no Briskodians buy it

I have had my car for 19 days so far.

 

Its all working fine....  :clap:

My Fabia Greenline went in with a fault code and the tech phoned me up to ask if it always took a long time to start, yes was the answer, hum that's not normal.  shortly after a brand new engine.  One of the things the dealer did to determine the fault was to send a sound recording of the engine starting and running to the factory. Factory diagnose faulty engine and a new one had to be installed.

I thought my car was bad

 

As others way, the car is under warranty so "it shouldn't matter" but it's still a pain, for a start even if you get a courtesy car from the dealer it's not your car and you've still got to organise it and get to and from the dealer.

 

My car is into the dealers again soon and I'm planning on getting a printout of when/why the car has been in but off the top of my head,

Dashboard Rattle

Headlight Washers getting stuck

Water collecting in doors

Stereo only playing buzzing noise intermittantly

Waterpump failure (Recovery needed)

Damaged alloy wheels (from the above recovery)

Gearbox issues (refusal to go into first on start/stop) - still not fixed (Skoda UK not interested)

Stereo bugs - autodimming screen settings don't stick (dealer can't fix - Skoda not interested)

Stereo wiping radio settings

Stereo display failing intermittantly (repaired about a year ago with a new unit - now faulty again)

Estate roller cover springs failing (cover now loose and flapping - dealer can't replace as Skoda claims this is "normal")

 

I think there's been a few more but I can't remember them.  Not great on a 25k car in my opinion, to be fair my local dealer (who didn't sell me the car) have been absolute stars but it's 100% clear that everytime they can't sort something Skoda UK just don't give a toss, even if you complain to them directly it's all talk and no action.

Edited 19 March, 201610 yr by gullyg

Sounds like you've been extremely unlucky there. Sometimes the factory produces a lemon and it appears it landed with you. I'd say your biggest problem now is where to go next. ALL car manufacturers are having there fair share of poor reliability issues, but again these are most likely lemons too.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If you get to the bottom of the unwillingness to start please let me know how they solve it. Despite showing my dealers a video of my car taking 10 seconds to start and nearly draining the battery flat in the process I'm still being told it "normal for a diesel in the cold weather".

Ps: I feel your pain. 23 months of ownership and roughly 6 weeks of being sat in a dealers being worked on for various faults.

Edited 19 March, 201610 yr by JamesVRSmk3

After jumping from my SEAT with its terminal rattles and poor suspension I've ended up with a VRS with the low frequency boom which is currently destroying a car I really like. I always thought a brand new car meant no troubles or at least a fix for your troubles. I know now this is wrong. What I do know also from the SEAT forum I used was that there were many with such buyers pride they would never admit a fault and therefore would criticise those who did. These people are the many who let the dealers and the manufacturers away with murder by not wanting to cause a fuss or by not wanting to face up to their purchase being less than A1.

I genuinely hope you can find some peace mate.

Most of the problems suffered by the OP sound familiar to owners that had purchased their Octavias before MY'15.

Sadly, nowadays new car models, VAG or not, come into the market without enough time for performing comprehensive reliability tests.

Hope your nightmare will end soon.

If you get to the bottom of the unwillingness to start please let me know how they solve it. Despite showing my dealers a video of my car taking 10 seconds to start and nearly draining the battery flat in the process I'm still being told it "normal for a diesel in the cold weather".

Ps: I feel your pain. 23 months of ownership and roughly 6 weeks of being sat in a dealers being worked on for various faults.

 

Been told by the Master Technician at the dealers that it's the gear shift control unit not recognising which shift position the gear lever is in.  This in turn will either prevent the vehicle from starting, cause loss of power whilst driving, prevention of the key being removed from the ignition and a few other things.  Apparently there's a TPI out for this that's just been released.......  The part is on order and will hopefully be fitted tomorrow and extensive testing / reprogramming carried out.  

 

As I don't know when I'm getting my car back 1) because I'm refusing to take it back until it's fixed 2) I want a meeting with Skoda UK and 3) the car is in a different county to where I live which means collecting it is still over 10 days away I'm unable to confirm if the fix has worked or not!  

I thought my car was bad

As others way, the car is under warranty so "it shouldn't matter" but it's still a pain, for a start even if you get a courtesy car from the dealer it's not your car and you've still got to organise it and get to and from the dealer.

My car is into the dealers again soon and I'm planning on getting a printout of when/why the car has been in but off the top of my head,

Dashboard Rattle

Headlight Washers getting stuck

Water collecting in doors

Stereo only playing buzzing noise intermittantly

Waterpump failure (Recovery needed)

Damaged alloy wheels (from the above recovery)

Gearbox issues (refusal to go into first on start/stop) - still not fixed (Skoda UK not interested)

Stereo bugs - autodimming screen settings don't stick (dealer can't fix - Skoda not interested)

Stereo wiping radio settings

Stereo display failing intermittantly (repaired about a year ago with a new unit - now faulty again)

Estate roller cover springs failing (cover now loose and flapping - dealer can't replace as Skoda claims this is "normal")

I think there's been a few more but I can't remember them. Not great on a 25k car in my opinion, to be fair my local dealer (who didn't sell me the car) have been absolute stars but it's 100% clear that everytime they can't sort something Skoda UK just don't give a toss, even if you complain to them directly it's all talk and no action.

You make some good points. My car also has spent a lot of its time since new at the dealer. I must have driven all of the dealers 'courtesy' cars over this time and it's a bitter pill to swallow when you are paying for example £200-250 p.m to drive a citigo or something equally as lame whilst your own car is being fixed.

I used to think the same this is not expected on a £25k car but in fairness the cars rivals are similarly priced. What I would say is that 'these' cars are not worth anywhere near £20k IMO. Blighted by serious problems and a lot of niggles that appear to be a consequence of poor design or lack of robust testing.

I have the same car stereo issues but when you are faced with other more serious problems I overlook the trivial ones as to be constantly visiting the dealer for them really does waste ones life.

Summary of my problems:

Very poor exterior paint finish - bonnet, bumpers and 2 doors removed for repaint - car was brand new at time.

Centre interior airvent failed twice.

Power tailgate struts leaked oil twice.

Front door seals fell off.

Keyfob battery (both keys) drained within 18 months.

Trivial stuff:

Amundsen intermittent power up issue.

Amundsen loosing presets and logos on own accord.

Sat Nav lags.

Water collecting under front doors.

Power mirrors sometimes won't fold in when I lock car.

Leather finish wearing off drivers seat.

Major rattle in the roof lining.

The trivial stuff I can live with as they appear to be trademark VAG 'freebies' with the exception of the rattle as it could be serious.

Even all the courtesy cars I have driven are equally poor. Internal cabin pressure making journey uncomfortable or high pitched wind noise when fan is running, trim failing off to name a few. I think all car manufacturers make a 'lemon' on occasions but this lot make lemons with the occasional half decent car in between.

On another note I do laugh when I hear the service department say 'its normal' when discussing a possible fault. My leaking power tailgate struts we not leaking 'enough' to warrant warranty repair. 1 month later when car in for service with an accompanying email to dealer principal they were replaced no fuss.

They do a great job of really p*****g the customer off who will take their business elsewhere in this case.

On a positive note :-D the car is a decent straight line cruiser.

Maybe I'm overly picky but I get annoyed by the little things on a new car. Although to be fair I generally wait until something more major breaks (often not long) and then phone the dealer with a list of issues as long as my arm.

The courtesy cars are that, a courtesy at my "local" dealer (West End Skoda) rather than the Arnold shark Skoda dealer at Edinburgh Seafield which want money for them. But even so they're often not brilliant ( roomster :() but better than nothing.

It's a pity that such a great car has been spoilt with such minor niggly little issues. I bought my Octy on the back of owning a 6 year old Fabia vRS (mk1) as it was brilliant.

But when my current car cost almost twice my mother's Kia ceed which was bought new about a month later and the ceed is more reliable and better built (I know not a totally fair comparison) it's not exactly promoting the brand. The one issue she did have Kia uk were fantastic at sorting as well.

Really love the look on the new Superb for me and SWMBO really fancies a mk3 Fabia Monte Carlo but I think we'll give them a miss.

Its a shame as I really like West End but we're looking at a XC60 to replace the Octy which is annoying as I don't like the local dealer and will have to drive an hour down the road to get to a decent one, hopefully I won't need them as much .

Edited 28 March, 201610 yr by gullyg

Day 29, still all good.  :clap: 

Did you guys complain to Skoda CZ? Seams some of you have terrible problems that others don't?

I also seem to have nothing but problems with my mk3 VRS TSi recently. I've owned the car for 16 months and it's done 18,000 miles.

 

So far it's been in for:

• Dashboard rattle
• Interior light housing rattle/buzzing
• Headlight washers not closing properly
• Oxygen sensor failure (Skoda assist recovery)
• Oxygen sensor failure again (It was then in the dealers for over a month with several parts replaced as they couldn't figure out what was causing the failures - eventually it turned out to be the catalytic converter)

I've also had to correct some things myself, I've added some foam lining around the glovebox door due to rattles, and I've fitted some material around the driver's seat due to it squeaking and rubbing against the plastic base.

 

It's got a few other issues I want checking (paint issue, water collecting under front doors, and suspension noise), but I just haven't got the energy to go back to the dealer as you really have to be prepared for a battle to get them to correct anything. 

 

I really enjoy the performance from the car when it's driving well but I know I need to get rid of it before the warranty expires. I just haven't got a clue what I would change it for that ticks the performance and practicality boxes, and is also reliable.

Edited 30 March, 201610 yr by Stroeng5

Day 29, still all good. :clap:

Don't worry that will all change;-)