Rough engine noise in a brand new VW Virtus: Dealer says the car is ok

The car has been with the dealership for last 15 days now.

BHPian ferrarirules recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

A friend shared his ordeal with me today. He bought a VW Virtus Topline 1.0 TSI AT in Ambala on 17-August. And the engine sounded rough from Day 1 of driving the car. The car has been with the dealership for last 15 days now and still there has been no resolution. My friend asked the dealership to replace the car but that has been out rightly denied.

Details of the issue:

VW Virtus Topline 1.0 TSI AT from Ambala Dealership on 17-AUG-2023 with below details:

Vehicle Number : MEXG23XXXXXXXX839

Temporary Number : T0823HRXXXXXX

\I am hereby sending you a written complaint with the timeline of events, since all my emails went unanswered.

17-AUG-2023 : Purchase of Vehicle.

17-AUG-2023 : First complaint to the Dealership right after 2-3 kms of drive out of the dealership.

18-AUG-2023 : Visited the dealership with the Vehicle and the mechanic took a test drive and acknowledged that there is an issue and recorded a few videos of the noise reported. And asked us to take the vehicle home and come back on Monday.

21-AUG-2023 : I drove the vehicle back to the dealership and the vehicle was test driven by dealership folks for around 40-50 kms, and asked us to leave the vehicle with them.

Videos:

Rough sound of the engine while driving

Rough sound of the engine at dealership with the car standing

The issue was acknowledged by dealership. My friend drove the test drive vehicle and the same sound is not present.

After a few days, they dropped back an email saying that the car doesn't have any noise and they have escalated it to VW technical team.

Dear Sir,

Hope you’re doing good and safe…!!!

This bears reference to your below concern raised with Volkswagen Higher Authorities for your Virtus with VW Ambala Dealership.

With reference to your concern of noise issue in your vehicle engine we would like to apprise that VW Technical Team has thoroughly inspected your vehicle and couldn’t trace any noise in your vehicle. According to them your vehicle is in complete roadworthy condition and you can take delivery of your car. To apprise your vehicle is under warranty policy for 4 years & 100000km.

VW Technical team will conclude your case in 2 days with clarifications.

Please do not have any apprehension on your concern

Looking for your kind understanding on the same.

Assuring our best services.

After above email, my friend went to check the car, the same noise is still present. The dealership is saying that they are only responding to the case as per directives from VW and their technical people are analyzing the issue. It is not in their hands.

Any of the senior BHPians can suggest on what can be the cause of this issue? Also, can somebody guide on how to escalate this in VW?

Here's what GTO had to say on the matter:

Videos can be misleading - they can either suppress or amplify the sound. This 1.0L engine is known to be loud, raspy & rough at different rpm levels. The first thing to do is to check another VW Virtus 1.0L TSI (or two) in the dealership. Does it make the same sounds? Or is the problem unique to your friend's car?

Here's what BHPian vattyboy had to say on the matter:

The dealership will not replace the car unless your friend is a High-ranked Govt. Officer e.g. in the embassy etc. or have some good relations with the government of India.

I suggest you ask him to tweet on Twitter and tag Volkswagen India. Generally, Most big companies pay more attention to complaints made on Twitter.

From my personal experience, when I tweet on Twitter about some issues in my car, I always get a call from a senior official from the brand in 3- 4 hours, while they take ages to revert for the complaints made on their toll-free number. Also when they revert after a few days, no senior person gets involved in it.

Here's what BHPian GTE had to say o the matter:

VW would not "throw in an extra 2 years warranty" unless there is an issue with the car. It maybe that the noise is more than what is acceptable which is why this is given. There could be an internal bulletin about the same. I would suggest doing an Internet search for it.

Here's what BHPian true_sedan had to say on the matter:

I can understand your friend’s frustration. Nobody wants a problem in their brand new car. But as a few in this thread have pointed out the 1.0 TSI engine is raspy and the degree of raspiness varies from engine to engine because of the varying mechanical tolerances between different engines of the same type. Even my 1.5 TSI sounded a bit gruff initially but as time progressed and with regular usage it became creamy smooth. There is no way the showroom will replace your car. Forget that option.

My suggestion would be:

• Take delivery of the car.
• Get in writing from the showroom and service centre acknowledging that “this is normal but in case an issue occurs down the line even after warranty expires we’ll replace the entire engine at no cost.”
• Drive the vehicle for 1500-2000 kilometers(the run in period) and check if the sound decreases.
• Always take every assurance the showroom gives in writing. That’s the only way to hold them accountable.

Cheers!

Here's what BHPian ankitsharma had to wsay on the matter:

Fellow owner of 1.0 TSI (Skoda Rapid) and I dot not feel anything abnormal in the first video. Second one, the car is running at approx 3K+ rpm where this roughness appears in most of the 1.0 TSI engines though I would not generalize it as I have not done 3k on my car when stationary.

I would suggest to look at the following:

• Air Filter (I know it is a new car but still to rule out any possibility). As with dirty AF the sound increases.
• Engine oil level.
• As someone already mentioned, ask your friend to try switching to XP95 from a reputed dealer. The engine characteristics change a lot with the fuel. In fact in my family my Rapid has been termed as fuel tester.

If nothing works then I would even recommend to change the engine oil once and test.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.