- Joined
- Jan 31, 2016
- Messages
- 978
- Location
- Fleet, Hampshire
- Car
- 2008 CLK 350 Sport Cab and 2021 BMW 520i M Sport Saloon
Forgive me here, as I need to vent my frustration! But I'm also interested to hear if this is typical...
My 2 year old A6 (which I've had from new) is plagued with problems. It went in today for a service and to have a number of issues looked at under warranty.
Let's start with the service. I bought a service pack for it which covered two years of servicing. The only exclusions being wear and tear items and anything to do with the DPF or cambelts. The pack cost £525 from memory. It goes in today. Half an hour later the phone rings. "Your car needs the brake fluid changing". OK, I say - well it's under a service pack contract. "Brake fluid not included - that's another £120". After much moaning from me, they call back and offer to do it as a gesture of goodwill (free of charge). How nice of them. But when I bought the service pack I was told that it was "peace of mind - no hidden expenses beyond wear and tear". How could a service pack not include routine scheduled brake fluid changes? Odd.
Next the warranty work. You'll like some of this:
(1) Excessive condensation inside the car in the mornings (and I mean EXCESSIVE). So much so that in winter a layer of ICE forms inside the screen and slowly defrosts all over the dashboard. The cars demisting function is so poor that in winter you have to keep the window open a crack to prevent it fogging up. And here I was thinking that in 2021 we'd moved on from the Ford Cortinas of 1977
Dealer response: "this is a characteristic of the new A6. Nothing wrong with it."
(2) Investigate constant clicking from passenger door
Dealer response: "faulty door locking module. Warranty work required £420! Covered under warranty."
(3) Investigate sticking seat adjustment button
Dealer response: "faulty button module. New one required. Warranty work £450. Covered under warranty."
(4) Pull away lag is excessive and dangerous (7 speed DSG takes an age to realise you want to move - makes pulling out a nightmare)
Dealer response: "recognised as a safety recall. Software patch required. We will apply it under warranty." Me: damn right it's a safety issue - both me and my wife have had two near misses where the car would simply fail to proceed beyond a crawl for about 3 seconds. Why didn't YOU contact ME to recall the car??? Why did I have to raise it with YOU?
(5) Numerous rattles from dashboard, B pillar and headlining (which is also loose)
Dealer response: "we need to keep the car in and strip down the interior and line it with felt pads"
So there you have it. The car has done 11k miles. No courtesy car offered so I am without it now until next Tuesday.
The dealer's attitude to all of this sucks. The car itself sucks. If I was being generous, I'd say that I was unlucky and had a Friday car. But a quick trawl of the forums reveals many owners suffering the exact same issues as me. The general feeling is "can't wait to get rid of the bl00dy thing".
I would agree. It's going in two years time and I WILL NOT miss it at all. It has no redeeming features save for the fact that it is VERY quiet on motorways and it is pretty. But that's it.
In all other areas - utter dross. I should have bought an E-Class.
.............................and relax. That feels better.
So - am I expecting too much from a so-called premium brand?
EDIT - I forgot - more warranty work. New wing mirror mount required to fix folding mirror issue. £320.
My 2 year old A6 (which I've had from new) is plagued with problems. It went in today for a service and to have a number of issues looked at under warranty.
Let's start with the service. I bought a service pack for it which covered two years of servicing. The only exclusions being wear and tear items and anything to do with the DPF or cambelts. The pack cost £525 from memory. It goes in today. Half an hour later the phone rings. "Your car needs the brake fluid changing". OK, I say - well it's under a service pack contract. "Brake fluid not included - that's another £120". After much moaning from me, they call back and offer to do it as a gesture of goodwill (free of charge). How nice of them. But when I bought the service pack I was told that it was "peace of mind - no hidden expenses beyond wear and tear". How could a service pack not include routine scheduled brake fluid changes? Odd.
Next the warranty work. You'll like some of this:
(1) Excessive condensation inside the car in the mornings (and I mean EXCESSIVE). So much so that in winter a layer of ICE forms inside the screen and slowly defrosts all over the dashboard. The cars demisting function is so poor that in winter you have to keep the window open a crack to prevent it fogging up. And here I was thinking that in 2021 we'd moved on from the Ford Cortinas of 1977
Dealer response: "this is a characteristic of the new A6. Nothing wrong with it."
(2) Investigate constant clicking from passenger door
Dealer response: "faulty door locking module. Warranty work required £420! Covered under warranty."
(3) Investigate sticking seat adjustment button
Dealer response: "faulty button module. New one required. Warranty work £450. Covered under warranty."
(4) Pull away lag is excessive and dangerous (7 speed DSG takes an age to realise you want to move - makes pulling out a nightmare)
Dealer response: "recognised as a safety recall. Software patch required. We will apply it under warranty." Me: damn right it's a safety issue - both me and my wife have had two near misses where the car would simply fail to proceed beyond a crawl for about 3 seconds. Why didn't YOU contact ME to recall the car??? Why did I have to raise it with YOU?
(5) Numerous rattles from dashboard, B pillar and headlining (which is also loose)
Dealer response: "we need to keep the car in and strip down the interior and line it with felt pads"
So there you have it. The car has done 11k miles. No courtesy car offered so I am without it now until next Tuesday.
The dealer's attitude to all of this sucks. The car itself sucks. If I was being generous, I'd say that I was unlucky and had a Friday car. But a quick trawl of the forums reveals many owners suffering the exact same issues as me. The general feeling is "can't wait to get rid of the bl00dy thing".
I would agree. It's going in two years time and I WILL NOT miss it at all. It has no redeeming features save for the fact that it is VERY quiet on motorways and it is pretty. But that's it.
In all other areas - utter dross. I should have bought an E-Class.
.............................and relax. That feels better.
So - am I expecting too much from a so-called premium brand?
EDIT - I forgot - more warranty work. New wing mirror mount required to fix folding mirror issue. £320.
