Complaint Review: Volkswagen - Covina California

I am the happy owner of two Volkswagens, a 1998 Cabrio and a 2000 Jetta. I have always loved Volkswagens and have much good to say about them. However, like any manufacturer, VW is not perfect. The dealers can say what they want about your driving, but the fact is that Volkswagen's automatic transmissions are JUNK!! Before buying my first Volkswagen, I researched to find out the good and bad about them. The majority of all of the horror stories were about their automatic transmissions. I know dealership people who say the same thing. It seems that the newer the model, the worse the automatic transmissions get. My Cabrio and my Jetta both have five-speed manual shift transmissions. I have never had any transmission problems. My advice to any prospective VW buyer is to avoid their automatics, as they are plagued with problems that VW does not like to admit to and can't seem to get corrected. Otherwise, they are great cars. Also, some VW dealers are less than reputable. If your dealer tries to deny that the automatic transmissions have problems, or worse yet, tries to blame you for their junk not working, I would recommend trying other dealers for warranty service. I hope that my advice can help some Volkswagen owners. Good luck to all.

I leased a 2003 Volkswagen Jetta (automatic) from a dealership in Columbus, Ohio 3 weeks prior to moving to Florida. I decided to purchase the car in Ohio before I left ebcause while visiting the dealerships in Florida, I received crappy service and the associates were downright mean. I had known a mechanic at the dealership in Ohio and felt I would be treated better in the North. I started having problems with the down shiftting as well as I think there is no clear coat on the car. I took it first to Gunther Volkswagen in Ft. Lauderdale where the customer service sucked and the associate treated me like an idiot. I too was told that the individual I needed to deal with from Volkswagen would not be available for 3 months and so I made an appointment to see him. Two weeks before the appointed time, I was called and told that he would not be available and they did not know when he'd be in town again. I moved farther North in Florida and started taking the car to Shumacher Volkswagen in West Palm and had one of the associates drive along with me so that he could feel the downshift and needless to say the car did not act up. The associate was polite but did tell me that it was something in the computer mechanism and that it was probably my driving that was causing the hard downshift. I asked if and when something would go wrong if it would be covered under warrenty and he assured me that it would. Now that I've read other reports out here, I am not even sure that if something did happen to the transmission, engine, etc if they would just turn it back on me. Even say that it was my driving that caused it. I had heard so many good things about Volkswagens and was proud to be in the "V-Dub" family but since getting this car it has not proven to make me proud. Neither has the service that VW has provided in South Florida. When the lease is up in 3 more years I will be returning this car and do not plan on getting another VW product again. I'm hoping that it can handle 3 more years because I don not want to be paying for repairs that this hard downshifting may be causing. It is a shame because of my VW love for thier old cars.