Where Your Author Requires Another Volkswagen Quality Remedy
Well hello! It’s been over a year since we’ve had an update on the 2019 VW Golf Sportwagen seen here. In our last installment, I was filled with optimistical-ness at the prospect of years of trouble-free ownership. After all, surely all the kinks were worked out on this end-of-model Golf that was in production since 2013.
Spoilers: I was wrong.
In case you missed it, I’ll catch you up to speed. After the December 2019 purchase of the rigorously CPO-tested Golf, I noticed a lot of clicking in the headliner. Literally many trips to the dealer later, the source was identified: An improperly cured factory headliner that was too thin in the area over the driver’s head. The headliner had cracked; its pieces clicked against one another in an inharmonious plastic cacophony. I got an entirely new headliner out of the affair, as appropriate.
And now a new issue has arisen! Where do you think the issue might be? Shoddy turbo? Bad window regulator? Nope, it’s in the roof once again. It started a few weeks ago when I noticed a musty smell in the car upon entry. It was sort of a “plant-based” musty smell, and would dissipate after the car was driven any distance. Bits and pieces are dropping off trees in Ohio like crazy this time of year, so I assumed some tree parts were stuck in or under the floor mats. I cleaned the mats and the carpet underneath, and figured I’d give it a day to settle back to its normal vinyl Volkswagen smell.
Alas, no. The next time I got in the car (last week), the smell was worse than ever. I figured something was wet, and checked carpets, sills, the cargo area, and around the spare wheel. No moisture to be found! What gives? Then, by chance, I caught a glimpse of the headliner as I was about to back out of the driveway. Lo and behold, a nasty sight.
Water damage. All along the width of the headliner, just before the hatch. The affected area was probably up to about five inches deep, and is contained to that area for One Simple Reason: I park on a slight incline in the driveway. I booked an appointment with the dealer immediately, but the soonest I could get in is this coming Friday, May 14th.
Either the roof is leaking itself, or I’ve got a Golf with sunroof drain pinch issues. The TSB posted there covers only through 2018. However, the 2019 is identical and some research says the TSB was updated to include 2019. Seems as though the drain hose gets pinched by foam blocks that hold up the headliner, which of course causes an H2O uh oh in the roof. I’m sort of wondering if the drain placement was fine from the factory, but then the pinch occurred at the new headliner’s installment. Then, only heavy spring rains this year brought it to attention.
The Golf has about 8,000 miles now, so it makes sense it’s due for its second headliner, right? We’ll see by the end of this week, but I hope the dealer service department doesn’t push back on the repair. I made sure to book the same service manager I had previously, too. Wish me luck.
[Images: Corey Lewis / The Truth About Cars]
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
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I just got done with a painful reworking of sunroof drains on a jeep, and got an education on how badly designed these are. First, they used corrugated tubing similar to split tubing that goi around wiring. Really good for catchy and holding junk. Then they put a diaphragm with small cuts at the end of the tube, presumably to pass water and keep out bugs. Even better at holding junk. The best feature though was to have a right angle grommet at the firewall, so the string trimmer trick doesn't work. I wonder which features the vw has?
Silly you for thinking a VW of any kind or built anywhere would be reliable and trouble free! I had a brand new, Made in Germany MKV Golf (Rabbit a la NA) and it was nothing but issues. Don't listen to the Nazi car company apologists and fanbois. VAG is garbage.