Hey there just a warning for those who are considering an Amarok TSI (petrol) and live in a cold area

We have only hit -2 last week and they hesitate on cold start for a least 500m to 1km
and its brand new...

Our local dealer 'oh that's just what they do' 'Volkswagen don't have a fix, i will let you know if they do'

We get to -12 so who knows what to expect then..

be better of taking the old mans bay to work, it warms up in the same amount of time...

Wish the beetle was still on the road

What a whole half day and no comment Risky?

Its a real shame that i have had this problem because its great to drive...

Tell your dealer to hand his franchise in because he is too stupid to sell Volkswagens.

Something you wouldn't expect from a VW. You must be surprised. They are great to drive, my brother has one and he loves it, I don't think he'll experience your problem though livimg in Brisbane.

Quote:

Originally posted by AA003 Tell your dealer to hand his franchise in because he is too stupid to sell Volkswagens.

yes its very disappointing........Im trying to keep my cool, I have contacted the sales man who i know and see what he can do! then i will contact the owner/franchise if i have to, then Volkswagen Australia....

If it gets that far i will be throwing a tantrum... I am always pleasant, even this morning with the service department but i think its clear that you have to be a complete ass with the current staff they have to get something done. That's not my style or who i am.

Quote:

Originally posted by sgetty Hey there just a warning for those who are considering an Amarok TSI (petrol) and live in a cold area We have only hit -2 last week and they hesitate on cold start for a least 500m to 1km and its brand new... Our local dealer 'oh that's just what they do' 'Volkswagen don't have a fix, i will let you know if they do' We get to -12 so who knows what to expect then.. be better of taking the old mans bay to work, it warms up in the same amount of time... Wish the beetle was still on the road

I have a few customers who have them and live in the nsw snowy mountains. Ill be seeing them next week. Will be interesting to see what they say. Did the dealer say it was all or just petrol?????

Just the petrol, i was led to believe.

^ haha petrol in a diesel no go go

Our local dealer 'oh that's just what they do' 'Volkswagen don't have a fix, i will let you know if they do'

Sounds like you spoke with a salesman,speak to the service manager if you are unhappy with that response.

I am a grey nomad and as such I haunt the grey nomad forums. One of them has a propensity to comparing vehicles (mainly for towing you understand) and the Amarok one is here

http://caravanersforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=13943 

The Amaroks are not a fabulous tow vehicle.

They may well be the ants pants for buzzing around town and throwing the kids in for a camping weekend.

But they have not taken off as a tow vehicle here in Oz.

Read the thread. You be the judge.

Just remember, they have as many "experts" on their forum as we do here!

regards

Old Hutcho

The mechanics at your dealership are just too stupid to fix it. That's all that it is. There is no way that it would be a design problem that it would be undriveable in cold weather. The car is faulty! That is it. It probably just has a defective temperature sensor somewhere. There is no programming the ECU for cold climates.

Do you own a baseball bat?

Quote:

Originally posted by RISKY4LIFE Quote: Originally posted by sgetty What a whole half day and no comment Risky? im getting slow in my old age i could tow your Amarok to work each day with my hilux oh wait are you sure it's a petrol or are you just putting petrol in it ?

The VW dealers certainly are, in general, a real problem.

Yes, back in the early days there just as many 'faulty' VWs as today, however:-

1. The cars were MUCH SIMPLER, and therefore easier to fix.

2. The mechanics were MUCH BETTER TRAINED.

3. Not many people knew about these problems, unlike today - with all the communications we have.

Message to VW Australia.......look at the history books.

Different brand same problem.
ISUZU work truck kept going into limp mode. The truck spent 2 days in the shop getting fixed. picked it up late friday night. Left early monday morning. Got 80ks down the road and it goes into limp mode again.Take it back to the dealer and tell him whats going on." Shrugs his sholders" Not my problem. Laughs and walks away!!!!!!! Nearly jumped the counter!!!!! Spent 8 hours waiting for them to replace a senser that they charged me for on friday but found out they only cleaned!!!!!! Then tried to charge me for it again. Changed there mind when i told them ill charge them for a days lost wages and sales!!!!! O and fair traiding was thrown in there too.
Needles to say the truck is up for sale and were looking onto buying a VW or mercedes van!!!!!!!!

Some good points Greg. The whole dealership set-up is different now. When VWs were first sold, NSW distributors LNC Industries set up a whole new subsidiary called Lanock Motors (named after two of their directors Mr Lane and Mr Locke) to sell and service Volkswagens, and nothng else. In the 1950s they also had the Rover contract (and owned Grenville Motors) but they set up a SEPARATE dealer chain.

Some country dealers were joint Rover / VW dealers, but the city ones were all Volkswagen only. Lanock Motors even set up a mechanic training school at their branch at Five Dock. So the dealers sold, and serviced, nothing but VWs, had their mechanics trained on nothing but VWs, and they all got very good at it. Some of the air-cooled models had problems - the 36-hp and early 40-hp models had engine issues, the Type 3 (especially the twin-carb models) were problematic, and the post-'68 CKD models were comparitively badly built. But the dealers could fix them, and service them, and with over 300 Australian VW agents in the 1960s customers were well looked after.

I reckon the rot set in in 1973, when LNC gained the Subaru franchise and started selling them and servicing them at VW dealers - which soon became joint Subaru/VW dealers. The 'VW specialist' expertise was soon watered down, even more so when LNC also sold Fiats, Renaults and Lancias at VW dealers. Many long-time VW mechanics left to start their own VW service businesses. By the late '80s the original VW dealers were mostly non-VW, or gone altogether, when LNC went bust and Ateco took over.

There were lots of 'interim' VW dealers that only lasted a few years when the VW business was moved from Ateco, to TKM, to Inchcape. By the time today's VW Group Australia started in 2001, they pretty much had to start from scratch. There are no air-cooled era VW dealers left, anywhere in Australia. The oldest existing now is Denlo Motors at Parramatta - they started in 1993.

Today's 'motor city' VW dealers treat VWs as just another brand they can sell. Even Barloworld, which is a South African company that is VW-only in Sydney, sells other makes in Melbourne.

The original 1955 Volkswagen Club of NSW was founded by staff at Lanock Motors in William St, to boost their knowledge and enthusiasm for the make by going on runs, trials and motorkhanas together. Can you imagine that happening today? The Nationals are only a couple of weeks away and NO Sydney dealer is interested in participating - Dave asks around every year.

Exception - we WERE invited to display our classic VWs at the opening of North Shore VW at Artarmon last year.

It's not a VW and Audi dealer in the Illawarra is it?

I have a history with that one!

Cold climate problem...........ummmm, German company isn't it ?????????
Not exactly the hottest country in the world !
Slap them in the face with that !

Muller and Muller lost their 'official VW dealer' contract in 1994. They are still in business, yes, but are not a Volkswagen dealer.

There is currently no VW dealer in Sydney's Canterbury-Bankstown area, nor in Hurstville/Kogarah. Fairfield is the third-most populated Sydney district and hasn't had a VW dealer since the '60s. Other large-population areas of Sydney still without a VW dealer are the Hills District, Sydney City, Warringah, Randwick and Ku-ring-gai.

In NSW country the biggest towns without a VW dealer include Shellharbour, Albury, Ballina, Queanbeyan, Goulburn, Armidale, Broken Hill, Forster, Griffith, Cessnock, Grafton and Taree. All of them with over 15,000 people (Shellharbour has 65,000!) Yet - strangely - Bega has a VW dealer, with a population of just 4,500.

Much more work to be done here by VWGA.

taree had one and i believe it was taken off the people that had it after some complaints.

Yes Taree Continental Cars on the corner of Pacific Hwy and Railway Pde, became a VW dealer in 1990 (with numerous other makes) during the Ateco days. Lost the VW dealership contract in 2007. No replacement yet.

simplest fix is to take it to another dealer. If its a commonly known problem then this should've been explained to you before the purchase was made etc... which i doubt it is.
Im sure you will find another dealer willing to help and fix it.