Corradobrit
Feeling pretty buoyant today after finally receiving some good news from VW via my dealer.
As some of you have been following my story as a Coast buyer on the Continent here is my tale of woe. I ordered my Pure grey Coast Edition model, 204 4Mo DSG in mid Nov 2020, while I was still living in the USA. Never seen one in real life, let alone driven one, but I knew instinctively this was the Campervan for me. A few extras not included in the Edition pack such as parking heater, wood effect floor, removable towbar, pano bellows, stiffer ARB,s, AS tyres, 4 keys etc added and the wheels were set in motion. Initially told delivery Sept 21.
Around March 2021 I see Calibusje's post about receiving a red Cali instead of the Ascot Grey he ordered. This got me concerned as my dealer is not a main VW dealer and I had not seen a final build sheet with all the options I wanted. The dealer duly replied sending the requested official VW build sheet. He said everything was present and accounted for. Excellent. So I relaxed and went about the business of tying up lose ends, putting a house on the market in preparation for my move to Germany.
Get to Sept and due to all the delays caused by Covid the build was pushed into Nov/Dec. No problem as I was in temporary rental accommodation without a garage. Dec passes and now its March 2022. No problem as I wasn't planning to go anywhere over winter and Hannover is a very bicycle friendly city. Further delays to the March delivery date due to Ukraine. No biggy. In early May I get the call I've been waiting for. Orso Grigio is in production and the dealer should have it by mid-May. I dug up the email from March 2020 and looked at the specs again, this time noticing a term I am not familiar with '150xx'. My spidey senses were tingling as up to this point I had only seen engine power quoted as ps, HP or kW. Quick check on Google tells me this a Dutch way to denote power. Now I'm freaking out. I fired off an email to the dealer for clarification. After not hearing anything for a couple of days I phone the dealer and one of his colleagues tells me not to worry. It was a clerical error and that I will be getting the 204HP engine I spec'ed. Feeling relieved I booked my train ticket, a vacation in Northern France and bought a few items I'd held off ordering.
A week before the scheduled collection on May 26th I get another email saying VW screwed up and installed the 150 rather than the 204 engine.... all this after 18 months of waiting and knowing the Coast had been discontinued last year. Was I going to get another shot at my dream Cali? Taking the 150 was not an option given the added weight of the 4Mo and DSG, the places I wanted to visit and the terrain I might be encountering. Plus the ownership experience would always be tainted having been so vested in this whole, protracted process. So the communications with VW were initiated based on the factory taking full responsibility for the cockup.
The excuse was the emission changes for the new biturbo engine which altered it from 198 to 199 to 204HP, all apparently made manually into the system. But the mistake was made on more than one occasion as the dealer said a build sheet they had seen after March 2021 had the correct engine allocated. Ultimately human error.
The good news is VW have stepped up and agreed to build another Coast to my original spec and I was able to add ACC (instead of the standard CC I originally requested). Expected production is end of July or beginning of August THIS year. Bravo VW and many thanks to the dealer for following through and turning lemons into lemonade.
How do those sayings go? All's well that end's well and patience is a virtue. So true when buying a new California. May all your orders go through smoother than this one.
As some of you have been following my story as a Coast buyer on the Continent here is my tale of woe. I ordered my Pure grey Coast Edition model, 204 4Mo DSG in mid Nov 2020, while I was still living in the USA. Never seen one in real life, let alone driven one, but I knew instinctively this was the Campervan for me. A few extras not included in the Edition pack such as parking heater, wood effect floor, removable towbar, pano bellows, stiffer ARB,s, AS tyres, 4 keys etc added and the wheels were set in motion. Initially told delivery Sept 21.
Around March 2021 I see Calibusje's post about receiving a red Cali instead of the Ascot Grey he ordered. This got me concerned as my dealer is not a main VW dealer and I had not seen a final build sheet with all the options I wanted. The dealer duly replied sending the requested official VW build sheet. He said everything was present and accounted for. Excellent. So I relaxed and went about the business of tying up lose ends, putting a house on the market in preparation for my move to Germany.
Get to Sept and due to all the delays caused by Covid the build was pushed into Nov/Dec. No problem as I was in temporary rental accommodation without a garage. Dec passes and now its March 2022. No problem as I wasn't planning to go anywhere over winter and Hannover is a very bicycle friendly city. Further delays to the March delivery date due to Ukraine. No biggy. In early May I get the call I've been waiting for. Orso Grigio is in production and the dealer should have it by mid-May. I dug up the email from March 2020 and looked at the specs again, this time noticing a term I am not familiar with '150xx'. My spidey senses were tingling as up to this point I had only seen engine power quoted as ps, HP or kW. Quick check on Google tells me this a Dutch way to denote power. Now I'm freaking out. I fired off an email to the dealer for clarification. After not hearing anything for a couple of days I phone the dealer and one of his colleagues tells me not to worry. It was a clerical error and that I will be getting the 204HP engine I spec'ed. Feeling relieved I booked my train ticket, a vacation in Northern France and bought a few items I'd held off ordering.
A week before the scheduled collection on May 26th I get another email saying VW screwed up and installed the 150 rather than the 204 engine.... all this after 18 months of waiting and knowing the Coast had been discontinued last year. Was I going to get another shot at my dream Cali? Taking the 150 was not an option given the added weight of the 4Mo and DSG, the places I wanted to visit and the terrain I might be encountering. Plus the ownership experience would always be tainted having been so vested in this whole, protracted process. So the communications with VW were initiated based on the factory taking full responsibility for the cockup.
The excuse was the emission changes for the new biturbo engine which altered it from 198 to 199 to 204HP, all apparently made manually into the system. But the mistake was made on more than one occasion as the dealer said a build sheet they had seen after March 2021 had the correct engine allocated. Ultimately human error.
The good news is VW have stepped up and agreed to build another Coast to my original spec and I was able to add ACC (instead of the standard CC I originally requested). Expected production is end of July or beginning of August THIS year. Bravo VW and many thanks to the dealer for following through and turning lemons into lemonade.
How do those sayings go? All's well that end's well and patience is a virtue. So true when buying a new California. May all your orders go through smoother than this one.
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