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So, I've had a 2011 Polo GTI dsg for 3 years, and it's been overall a great car. I've put 35k on the clock in that time (now on 75k), and for the most part its been reliable, with a few little hiccups along the way. I've just had to fork out £600 for shock absorbers, £1300 for a new clutch, and now the garage reckons the timing chain is on its way out. That'll be another £1k bill. Knowing the reputation of this engine to have problems, I'm tempted to jump ship before I get bitten anymore, as I'm trying to be a bit careful with money! Would be looking at getting a car thats still a bit perky, but maybe have a better reputation reliability wise. Thoughts?
Is it the 1.4 TSI?
PX it for the newer 1.8 - AFAIK (and hope as we have one) none of the same issues with this engine.
Timing chains should be for the life of the engine. Blimey.
130k on my 17 year old Nissan - original chain, no noise/rattle/misfires. 17 years on my Wife's yaris when we sold it - it's still about locally and it's nearly 20 years old.
Timing chains should be for the life of the engine. Blimey.
The engine in the polo is a belt.
If the belt hasn’t been done it certainly time to do it. The chances are, anyone buying the car approaching 80,000 miles would want to see evidence of a cam belt change, or £1,000 off the asking price.
Yup 1.4TSI. Yeah bit gutted about timing chain, although it sounds like it's more common than you expect with these engines. Wouldn't mind paying the money if I knew it was going to keep going for a while, but just worried I'm going to keep throwing money at it. Newer polo gti would be lovely, but I can't really justify it- I'm trying to save for a house!
£1,000 for a belt change. Good god. I'd may be expect a heavy bill for a chain, but a belt... OP did say 'chain', that's why I was surprised. What does VW have to do to change a belt - half engine out ?
Just to add some balance to the force,
I had a Nissan primera that was about 7 years old and the timing chain snapped destroying the engine, so nothing is invulnerable. AA man said he'd never seen it happen, which was nice.
I prefer belts now as they are a service item and get replaced. Of course, they will go if they are not done.
Shoot happens , but £1k for a belt change ? That's not service part price.
It definitely has a chain, they are quoting £380 for parts, and 8 hours labour. Eta, that's my local independent garage rather than VW.
@rapidrob95 Do you have the car looked after by a local independent garage. I do all my servicing myself, but my local garage does the MOT and any job I can't do - e.g. ABS rings, rear pads (not worth the re-wind tool and faff), air con gas, and rear shocks ??
My local is very reasonable. We have about 4 independents in the village, and all are good - you don't get ripped off - I'm surprised the estimate is so high.
Fossy, I edited my comment before I realised you had replied, the quote is from my local independent. Will phone round for some other quotes though.
Crikey - and here’s me with my 12 yr old Mazda 3 Sport that has cost me a total of about £800 over and above regular servicing and consumables and getting concerned it might be getting spendy.
It does eat tyres for breakfast though.
I think I'd be going to a different garage.
I had two clutches (including DMF and slave cylinder) changed on a 2009 mondeo about three years ago for £600 each time. I had the clutch and slave cylinder in my son's Corsa changed a few days before Christmas and that was £339.
Crikey – and here’s me with my 12 yr old Mazda 3 Sport that has cost me a total of about £800 over and above regular servicing and consumables and getting concerned it might be getting spendy.
exactly what i was thinking! Except mine is 10 years old and i've only had to spend about half that on repairs.
OP - if you're still after people's thoughts, get a Mazda 3 😉
It's got the dsg box, which complicates the clutch job. I actually got the clutch done at a transmission specialist as they on the cheaper end of the scale, and sounded like they knew what they were doing. Will defo get some more quotes tomorrow
If there's nothing else wrong with it and you've just spent out on it I'd probably keep it and get the chain changed.
Get another couple of quotes though, I've just found prices of under £500 mentioned after a quick Google.
If you have full service history I'd also go and ask nicely at your dealer if they're interested in contributing to the cost as it's a known issue.
I'd agree with phil5556 - given the mileage you've put on it, it sounds like you've got one of the good 1.4tsi engines that doesn't drink oil. They're a really enjoyable engine when they work - I much preferred the one in my Fabia VRS to the 1.6 turbo in the (admittedly generally much better otherwise) Peugeot 208 GTI that replaced it.
Given what you've spent, I'd just keep it going. I'm surprised the chain needs replacing, though.
Yet another example of that famous VW group reliability? I don't know how they keep their good reputation, I really don't.
It'll be the chain stretching or the tensioner.
Common on the 1.4, I've got one as well.
Lots lunched themselves around the 40k mark
This may sound bonkers but get a quote from your local VW dealer; they operate a much lower tariff of prices for cars that are out of warranty so as to compete with the independents.
As per above its a common problem in the 1.4/1.6 engines - combination of
extended service intervals and poorer quality chains + engine design , chains like good clean oil they have a lot of bearing surfaces and they can get clogged up with deposits that prevent clean oil getting in , of course once the chain has so much play in it that the oil can get in again its not obvious.
exactly what i was thinking! Except mine is 10 years old and i’ve only had to spend about half that on repairs.
TBF, £600 of it was last year after the front disks/pads needed doing along with some suspension bushes/arms etc.