Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| POWER TRAIN - CLUTCH ASSEMBLY | |||
| 08/31/2007 | 39750 | 1 | 03/12/2007 |
| Entire clutch assembly. *tr | |||
| 08/15/2006 | 48000 | 1 | 11/02/2004 |
| The clutch failed on my '03 vw gti after only 48,000 miles leading to an $1,800 repair. while the vehicle was still under the manufacturers warranty, the clutch is not covered. *jb | |||
| 09/17/2005 | 3500 | 2 | 06/02/2003 |
| Just before 8,000 miles, the clutch of my 2003 vw gti slipped and went bad. as it was still under warrenty, the dealership replaced the clutch and flywheel at no cost to me. when asked why the failure of the clutch occured, i was told that it was due to wear. now at 35,000 miles, the clutch has failed again, unfortunately this time, not under warranty. this is the second time in two years this has happened, and with a $2000 repair bill by vw, i will have paid for the car twice in ten years. i refuse to believe that vw builds a clutch that will fail due to light to moderate wear as they claim. *nm | |||
| 06/08/2004 | 26000 | 2 | 03/03/2003 |
| The clutch slowly started to slip when trying to move forward eventually the engine would rev at very high rpms with very little forward movement in the car. after much reading, this seems to be a very common problem. my car only had 26,000 miles on it. it is a daily commuter driven mostly on the freeway which should mean very little clutch wear. i took it to a shop to replace it with a more sturdy clutch made of ceramic since it was out of warranty already. approximately 8 months after the clutch was replaced the suddenly stuck in first gear and would not shift out. after taking it to the dealer again, they determined it was most likely the transmission, once they pulled it apart they said the clutch was bad again. this leads me to believe the design of the car is causing these problems, not my driving or normal wear and tear. *nm | |||
| 09/28/2004 | 20895 | 2 | 10/23/2003 |
| This is the second time my clutch assembly failed. first time at 4500 miles in december 2003. vw dealership replaced clutch. clutch assemply again became spongy and rpms increased to dangerous levels. volkswagen america refused to repair malfunctuion in equipment. many specialty repair shops are saying this is caused by the dual mass fly wheel sticking open. *ak | |||
| 03/28/2003 | 22500 | 1 | 02/07/2003 |
| 2003 vr6 gti catastrophic clutch failure. everything was fine and then i completely lost all of the pressure. almost got myself killed. ii think it is the slave cylinder as i never had any problem with the clutch and this happened during normal cruising.*ak | |||
| 12/19/2003 | 8000 | 2 | |
| While driving at 70 mph rpm indicator began to fluctuate, and depressing the clutch felt spongy. vehicle was taken to the dealer for a check up. by the time the vehicle arrived at the dealership the clutch was not functioning properly. the dealer replaced the clutch. currently another clutch was needed. *ak | |||
| 11/19/2003 | 14000 | 4 | 02/10/2003 |
| My clutch failed at 14,000 miles. my ignition fails regularily, the ignition coil has been recalled and now i am having problems with my catalytic converter. i have owned vw's all of my life and traded in my last vw that had 170k on an original clutch.*ak | |||
| POWER TRAIN - CLUTCH ASSEMBLY - PEDAL/LINKAGE | |||
| 01/20/2004 | 700 | 6 | 01/10/2003 |
| During cold weather (below 20 degrees f), the clutch gradually gets closer & closer to the floor & will not pop back up. i am not able to shift when this problem occurs - the one thing i have been able to do is reach down, pull-up the clutch pedal & then it will work.this problem has happened at least 6 & the car is at the dealer right now getting fixed fro the second time. i bought the car new about a month ago & it has only 1100 miles on it. *ak | |||
| POWER TRAIN - MANUAL TRANSMISSION | |||
| 08/01/2005 | 30000 | 5 | 10/04/2003 |
| I have taken my '03 gti vr6 to the dealer 3 times for the same complaint. when it is raining, there is a squealing noise coming from the passenger side of the car. dealer could not replicate the problem each time i brought the car to them. they said that it could be the belt but it would not be covered under warranty. i replaced the belt myself and i still get the squealing noise, even with belt dressing. i have also noticed a decrease in engine power when the squealing noise is occurring. my most recent problem now is my speedometer and fuel gauge stop working intermittently. the speedo will be reading my current speed and then drop to zero, bounce back up and back down to zero, up a little bit more and then stay at zero until the next time i drive the car. seems to do this only on trips greater than 20 minutes. *nm | |||
| 06/08/2004 | 26000 | 2 | 03/03/2003 |
| The clutch slowly started to slip when trying to move forward eventually the engine would rev at very high rpms with very little forward movement in the car. after much reading, this seems to be a very common problem. my car only had 26,000 miles on it. it is a daily commuter driven mostly on the freeway which should mean very little clutch wear. i took it to a shop to replace it with a more sturdy clutch made of ceramic since it was out of warranty already. approximately 8 months after the clutch was replaced the suddenly stuck in first gear and would not shift out. after taking it to the dealer again, they determined it was most likely the transmission, once they pulled it apart they said the clutch was bad again. this leads me to believe the design of the car is causing these problems, not my driving or normal wear and tear. *nm | |||