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Anyone contemplating purchasing a new VW T5.1 should think again and be aware of the problems I have had with my own £50K worth of Caravelle Exec 174 DSG 4 Motion with rear diff lock, park heater etc.
After only 6 months and less than 3750 miles, I have decided to cut my losses and get rid of it.
To date it has spent at least 2 weeks off the road at the main agents with all sorts of problems. They've had to strip the console out to try and stop rattles (without success), it sounds worse than a plumbers van, replace the sun sensor, tighten a loose alarm housing under the scuttle, do a call-back for the battery earth strip. The electric sliding doors rattle, it had the dreaded steering wheel clunk when cold (for which I've been told that there is no known cure). They've had to remove stones lodged inside the coil springs which have scratched the springs and caused it to sound as if the wheels were about to fall off! The metal skin is so thin a twig ...yes a twig fell off a tree whilst travelling along and dented the roof, and the side panel suffered ( no doubt in a shoppers car park) a neat line crease without so much as a scratch being visible on the paintwork, from which you can gather just how thick the outer panels must be.
These new T5.1 vans/caravelles/californias are not a patch on the T5 which I previously owned, and as far as I'm concerned the link between VW and the term 'quality' ceases to exist.
After only 6 months and less than 3750 miles, I have decided to cut my losses and get rid of it.
To date it has spent at least 2 weeks off the road at the main agents with all sorts of problems. They've had to strip the console out to try and stop rattles (without success), it sounds worse than a plumbers van, replace the sun sensor, tighten a loose alarm housing under the scuttle, do a call-back for the battery earth strip. The electric sliding doors rattle, it had the dreaded steering wheel clunk when cold (for which I've been told that there is no known cure). They've had to remove stones lodged inside the coil springs which have scratched the springs and caused it to sound as if the wheels were about to fall off! The metal skin is so thin a twig ...yes a twig fell off a tree whilst travelling along and dented the roof, and the side panel suffered ( no doubt in a shoppers car park) a neat line crease without so much as a scratch being visible on the paintwork, from which you can gather just how thick the outer panels must be.
These new T5.1 vans/caravelles/californias are not a patch on the T5 which I previously owned, and as far as I'm concerned the link between VW and the term 'quality' ceases to exist.
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