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Last post on May 10, 2013 at 4:52 AM
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Volkswagen Beetle Forum.
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Volkswagen New Beetle, Transmission, Convertible, Hatchback
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#160 of 777 My New Beetle turned Doom on Wheels
by cupidnlove
Feb 19, 2010 (6:44 pm)
I just bought a 99 VW New Beetle last week, and it was love at first sight. I thought to myself the Beetle is the car for me. It's cute, small, and just for me. Boy was I ever so wrong. A few days after I got my car my whole world almost changed for the worst. I was driving home from work on interstate 75/85 south going through downtown Atlanta when suddenly my car jumped gears. I was doing between 65 and 70 when this happen. Within a split second my car went from 65 to 45. It was stuck in Neutral. I was terrified. I didn't know what to do. Cars started flying pass me left and right, and all I could do was coast. I was almost rear ended by several cars. After I was able to get all the way over to my far right hand lane; my car jumped back into Drive. I was able to make it home but very shaken up about what had happen. I couldn't sleep right for the next couple of nights afterwards. I took my car back to the dealer I bought it from and he said he would get it looked at and see what the problem was. The day after he supposedly got it "fixed" he said nothing was wrong with the car but the same problem keep occurring. I left the car there again and the dealer said he would drive it home through Atlanta to see for himself if the car would do to him what it was doing to me. Two days later I come back to pick up my car because he had another person from VW look at my car to "Fix It". When I asked him how did it drive for him through Atlanta he said he didn't drive it home because he had to pick his kids up from school. My question to him and to VW is, if you wouldn't pick your kids up in this crap, why would you sale it to me to drive and put me in danger? Im getting rid of this car from HELL, and I would advise anyone who is bitten by this Love for THE BUG to seriously think again. Go to the doctors and get your head checked before you go to the dealers to get this car checked. Trust me it's not you that needs to be put away in the Nutty house, its the car. DO NOT BUY THE NEW VW BEETLE! I REPEAT. DO NOT BUY THE NEW VW BEETLE. IT MAY COST YOU MORE THEN A NEW TRANSMISSION. IT CAN COST YOU YOUR LIFE. AND PLEASE REPORT ALL OF YOUR ISSUES AND COMPLAINTS WITH VW TO The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and your local State Attorney General Office . THIS IS A HUGE SAFETY ISSUE. ITS' JUST AS SERIOUS AS THE TOYOTA ISSUE. I've made my complaint already, PLEASE MAKE YOURS KNOWN. THE MORE WE SPEAK OUT THE MORE ATTENTION THIS MATTER GETS. Sincerely an Ex Vw Lover - 2/10/2010 -
#161 of 777 Re: 05 N.B. TRANSMISSION [junkbug]
by stampersim
Feb 22, 2010 (9:58 pm)
Wow, your story sounds just like mine. I have an '05 Beetle Convertible Turbo and I've been having problems with the jerking for 2 years now (car is 4-1/2 yrs old and 42,000 miles). I've had the valve body replaced twice, as well as other things to try to get the jerking to stop, and this week I am getting a new transmission. My regular bumper to bumper warranty expired last June but thank God I still ahve the power train which will cover it. It is still a huge inconvenience, and I have to rent a stupid car which VW will not cover because they said once the bumper to bumper expires and you are only under power train they do not cover rental expenses. Well ... I've had this SAME problem for 2 years, which started while I had my bumper to bumper.
If my car didn't have such a huge cuteness factor (I have the light Aquarius Blue one with black convertible top) it would have been traded in long ago. My 16 year old daughter has had her heart set on this car since I got it.
On top of the transmission issues, I've used my regular bumper to warranty to death. thank God I had it !!!!!!
Worst car I've ever owned .... but the service department at my dealer is awesome. They would be the ONLY reason I would buy another VW in the future (I'm not though ... plan to get a Ford Edge LOL).
Feb 23, 2010 (8:16 pm)
So it is with a 2005 turbo covertable with 36K mileage: transmission started shifting harshly at about 31k; took it to the dealer who tried to pass it off as fuzzy logic; they said they ran the diagnositics and that nothing was wrong; supposedly "fuzzy" is the bug responding differently to my and my wifes driving habits; progressively has gotten worst and started disengaging between shifts; problem is intermittent but clearly getting worst. Toyota's recent behavior has been my motivator to not tolerate large corps ignoring serious and expensive to repair issues. Returned the Bug to the dealership yesterday and told them they can keep it until they fix the problem. Fortunately, the transmission "behaved badly" when my wife took the maint. sup for a test ride. The vehicle is coming up on the 5 year warranty in July 2010. So we will see. Keep you posted....but the preceding discussion certainly has been reassuring that VW has a problem. Thanks for the postings.
#163 of 777 Re: bugged2 [bugme2]
by stampersim
Feb 24, 2010 (12:06 am)
Is it mostly with '05 Convertibles?? Does Turbo play a part in this do you think ???? I plan on printing out most of these postings and putting them in my arsenal if I continue to have problems even after the new transmission. They called tonight and said it's ready already ... 2 days before planned. It only took them 1 day to replace. When they said it was ready I thought they were going to tell me they decided to replace the valve body again instead of the transmission but they said they put it in. We shall see !!!!!!!!
#164 of 777 2nd time around
by cbahalo
Feb 24, 2010 (5:36 am)
My vw 2005 turbo convertible bug had the transmission replaced April '09 at 60,000. The new transmission is doing the exact same thing - jumping gears and clunking into other gears. I'm just praying it "goes" completely before the 1 yr warranty on the thing is over. Of course it won't do it when I take the dealer rep for a ride.....
The 1st excuse was the tranny fluid was 2 quarts low, they could find no other excuse to explain the clunking gears. Because it has a sealed transmission they wanted to charge me $800 just to look at it. Once they discovered how low the fluid was and couldn't explain why my husband convinced them they needed to replace the transmission due to poor maintenance at the factory. We'll see what happens with the next one.
#165 of 777 Re: bugged2 [stampersim]
by bugme2
Feb 24, 2010 (4:54 pm)
Thanks for the update....I too will keep you posted....Yes, after they test drove the veh. their maint sup said that the turbo wasn't working correctly and that they needed to attend to it. He didn't suggest that the tranny problem was related. The good news about sharing experiences is that it prepares us in the event they attempt the same "story". What I have gotten from all these postings is to push for an 3 years(min) extended warranty for any work they do related to the transmission. I'll let you know how that goes.
#166 of 777 Re: reporting back [diannelaughs]
by tpadelford
Feb 24, 2010 (7:06 pm)
what is VW USA's contact info. Please blog this so everyone has it. I do not have this info. please.
#167 of 777 E-mail them every day
by tpadelford
Feb 24, 2010 (7:15 pm)
If some one would get the contact information for VW. and email or phone info what we should all do is start calling and emailing them at the same time every single day until the proper course of action is given to us by VW. We all need to do it every day at the same time.
We can use co-ordinated universal time or also called Zulu time. Will someone please post the info and lets all come up with the best time for us to call every day blog your time so I can see and post to you a Time. If we hit them all at once every day at the same time It just may work. It is worth a shot. We need to create a paper trail with VW. and when they dont respond to thousands of e-mails we can then take that to local media and then to lawyers congress men ntsb etc. So after you email it we can all send copies of our e-mails to eachother and keep them in a folder. The pile will build and even if you get your problem resolved please stay in the fight are you in If I get the info I will start doing it at noon every day.
#168 of 777 Re: bugged2 [stampersim]
by stampersim
Feb 24, 2010 (11:54 pm)
I picked up my car this morning and I am pleasantly surprised at how good the car feels. I am still paranoid that it's going to happen again. I was mistaken ... I have 50,000 ... not 41,000 ... but still. Cars should not need new transmissions at 50,000. Anyhow, I learned that the new transmission has its own 1 year/12,000 mile warranty so when my power train expires in June I am still covered for another 8 months. My daughter will be getting this car when she gets her license (already 16 ... but hasnt' wanted to drive) and I'm wondering if I should just trade the Beetle in on my Ford Edge right now ... then get her something when the time comes? Or wait. I"m just paranoid that the tranny will go out again and if I try to trade it in I won't get sh*t for it!
#169 of 777 Re: bugged2 [stampersim]
by stampersim
Feb 25, 2010 (9:40 am)
OMG if it's not one thing it's another. This morning my rear brake light is out. This falls under work I had done in December when my right rear fender was hit from behind but still ..... will there ever be a day when NOTHING is broken on my car ?!?!? I think I"ll trade it in next week LOL.