Joined
·
9 Posts
Hello everyone. I've been lurking here since shortly before my fiancee & I bought a 2011 Candy White / Cornsilk Sportwagen TDI. Looks like a great, informative forum. This is the first Volkswagen for either of us. We've both owned mostly Hondas / Acuras recently, sprinkled with a few other makes in the past. We're very pleased, except for a recent experience I'll get to further down.
Her Civic hybrid was getting rough around the edges at 80,000 miles, and rather than waiting for the CVT shoe to drop or the battery to weaken, we went looking for something with a bit more polish, but also more utility, and equal or better gas mileage.
Seemed like a tough bill to fill. We liked some of the mini-utes, but ultimately we decided the big wheels & high centers of gravity of truck-shaped vehicles were too inefficient. Started looking at wagons and crossovers with good gas mileage, and quickly found the Sportwagen TDI. 42 mpg was better than the Civic Hybrid got, and more cargo room too, in a great-looking car? Seemed perfect.
Drove it and loved it. We both worried 140 hp would be sluggish, but that big diesel torque really does make the difference. Bought around March this year, with the 17" Porto alloys and the panoramic roof. I got the iPod Media Device Interface as part of the negotiations. We paid invoice plus one "non-negotiable" dealer fee.
And, it's been great. We're around 5,000 miles already. Got the new crossbars to mount the kayak, and a trailer hitch and a new Thule bike rack. Drives, handles, and parks like a solid European car -- reminds us both of BMWs we've driven, albeit obviously not as fast. She loves the Sirius radio. Perfect for our typical weekend roadtrips. Gas mileage has been a bit short of the 42 mpg max, but we get mid-high 30's even with a 17' kayak on the roof. And she's still breaking in.
Aaaand then ... Coming home from a kayak outing this weekend, we stopped off to eat, and when we got back in, it wouldn't start. Battery was clearly fine, and the engine turned over smooth as could be, then shut down within two seconds with the squiggly "engine management" warning light and a message on the dash about the immobilizer. Repetition gave identical results.
After considerable frustration getting it towed (late on Sunday -- dealerships closed) and a bit more frustration when our otherwise friendly dealer was baffled and suggested maybe "someone" -- us? tried to break into the car, we were getting a little annoyed, until they called to say the VW tech's intranet-type community had reported a few instances of the *instrument panel* software conflicting with the immobilizer. And VW has a fix. They will replace the entire instrument panel with one with new "encoding."
Today they called to say the instrument panel is on *national backorder*, and huge shipment is due to the state distribution center next week. The dealership believes this may mean a nationwide recall is pending.
Good news, in that they believe they have a complete fix. Maybe bad news for 2011 Sportwagen (and other models?) owners, who may have to come in for a new instrument cluster to make sure their car doesn't suddenly start shutting itself down.
Did a search earlier on immobilizer issues, and saw it's a recurring theme with Volkswagen, but nothing on this particular issue or an impending recall.
I'd be interested in anything anyone else has heard on this issue. I've done a general search on immobilizer issues, and didn't see it.
Sorry for the miniseries-length post, but I wanted to give a proper newbie introduction and not just cannonball into your pool with the technical issue.
Thanks. - Z.
Her Civic hybrid was getting rough around the edges at 80,000 miles, and rather than waiting for the CVT shoe to drop or the battery to weaken, we went looking for something with a bit more polish, but also more utility, and equal or better gas mileage.
Seemed like a tough bill to fill. We liked some of the mini-utes, but ultimately we decided the big wheels & high centers of gravity of truck-shaped vehicles were too inefficient. Started looking at wagons and crossovers with good gas mileage, and quickly found the Sportwagen TDI. 42 mpg was better than the Civic Hybrid got, and more cargo room too, in a great-looking car? Seemed perfect.
Drove it and loved it. We both worried 140 hp would be sluggish, but that big diesel torque really does make the difference. Bought around March this year, with the 17" Porto alloys and the panoramic roof. I got the iPod Media Device Interface as part of the negotiations. We paid invoice plus one "non-negotiable" dealer fee.
And, it's been great. We're around 5,000 miles already. Got the new crossbars to mount the kayak, and a trailer hitch and a new Thule bike rack. Drives, handles, and parks like a solid European car -- reminds us both of BMWs we've driven, albeit obviously not as fast. She loves the Sirius radio. Perfect for our typical weekend roadtrips. Gas mileage has been a bit short of the 42 mpg max, but we get mid-high 30's even with a 17' kayak on the roof. And she's still breaking in.
Aaaand then ... Coming home from a kayak outing this weekend, we stopped off to eat, and when we got back in, it wouldn't start. Battery was clearly fine, and the engine turned over smooth as could be, then shut down within two seconds with the squiggly "engine management" warning light and a message on the dash about the immobilizer. Repetition gave identical results.
After considerable frustration getting it towed (late on Sunday -- dealerships closed) and a bit more frustration when our otherwise friendly dealer was baffled and suggested maybe "someone" -- us? tried to break into the car, we were getting a little annoyed, until they called to say the VW tech's intranet-type community had reported a few instances of the *instrument panel* software conflicting with the immobilizer. And VW has a fix. They will replace the entire instrument panel with one with new "encoding."
Today they called to say the instrument panel is on *national backorder*, and huge shipment is due to the state distribution center next week. The dealership believes this may mean a nationwide recall is pending.
Good news, in that they believe they have a complete fix. Maybe bad news for 2011 Sportwagen (and other models?) owners, who may have to come in for a new instrument cluster to make sure their car doesn't suddenly start shutting itself down.
Did a search earlier on immobilizer issues, and saw it's a recurring theme with Volkswagen, but nothing on this particular issue or an impending recall.
I'd be interested in anything anyone else has heard on this issue. I've done a general search on immobilizer issues, and didn't see it.
Sorry for the miniseries-length post, but I wanted to give a proper newbie introduction and not just cannonball into your pool with the technical issue.
Thanks. - Z.