Volkswagen Eos Coupe Cabrio - 08 2.0 Coke bottles for fuels tanks: Motoring Technical Car/Motor Issues forum

Technical Car/Motor Issues > Volkswagen Eos Coupe Cabrio - 08 2.0 Coke bottles for fuels tanks	Accessories and Parts
Thread Author: Goddess of Bun	Replies: 20

View Threaded

New Wed 28 Apr 10 06:39

Volkswagen Eos Coupe Cabrio - 08 2.0 Coke bottles for fuels tanks - Goddess of Bun

Last year and feeling that our business had grown to the point where I could spoil the wife a little, I went out and brought her a nice new car.
We had never brought a brand new car before and I am always of the opinion, that you get what you pay for. My wife was always pointing out convertibles and many of them were reasonably priced too. There were Fords, General Motors, Peugeot, Renault, not to mention some of the Japanese manufactures. As I said though, I am a firm believer that that it is always worth paying that bit extra, as you will get it back in the end with reliability and longevity. We couldn't afford a Mercedes and a BMW was out of the question, as we are not those type of people, so instead, I purchased a VW EOS Turbo Diesel.
Well, the wife was ecstatic and zipped back and forth to the office and supermarket, with her hair blowing in the wind, like Lady Godiva (only not naked of course). Credit where credit is due, the car drives beautifully and has every gizmo a girl could ever want. As it is German, it also has that good solid feel to it, which is always reassuring. However, despite this apparent robustness, it did not take long to see that this was just a clever illusion, conjured up by our friends at Volkswagen. Within a month a couple of the plastic switches had crumbled. Obviously, VW blamed us, so we took it on the chin and paid up, a little disappointed that such a seemingly sturdy vehicle, had such weak and delicate switches. Obviously not made in Germany!
Next the was the roof. Now my wife and I are new to convertibles and these hardtop jobbies are a pretty new concept from what I am aware. Thing is though, we found that the roof made a lot of noise, while driving. Squeaking and rubbing and scratching away as you drive along the street. It wasn't until taking a ride in a friends Chrysler that I realised just how noisy the VW was.
Next came some real horrors with the roof, which I won't go into as VW did not blame us for this one and fixed the issue without question.

The latest issue however has raised some serious safety concerns with me that I must say, have me completely stumped and asking the question, how have VW got away with this.
My wife pulled up on to our driveway a few days ago, where I greeted her. As I approached the vehicle, I immediately smelt fuel, so on looking beneath the car, I noticed a very small leak. As it was Diesel, thus not a serious fire hazard like Petrol and it was not a huge leak anyway, I simply placed a tray beneath the leak until I could take the the car to VW. Obviously this was our fault according to VW. It seems that something very small and thin, like a pin or a needle has flown up off of the road and penetrated the fuel tank. My immediate reaction to this was, what in the name of sanity are VW making their fuel tanks out of? Coke Bottles! In fact, I'm pretty sure that if you flung a needle at a Cola bottle, even at high speed, it would not penetrate it. So again, what are VW fuels tanks made of.
Now, if I had brought my wife a Hyundai or Kia, even a Ford or GM brand, I would kind of expect this, but Volkswagen. Really!
Though bold, I am quite confident in accusing VW of getting their fuel tanks made in deepest darkest Asia somewhere, of that I have no doubt. But regardless of my disappointment in VW for pricing their product 20% higher than the competition, thus creating the illusion that they are of a higher quality and safety standard, I have a deeper concern. What about the Petrol Models?
Do VW install the same hardened Crisp packet to the Petrol Models as they do the Diesel? If so, do manufactures not face stringent safety checks when they bring out a new vehicle like the EOS. Are their not government bodies who check this stuff?
I would love to hear from anyone who has experienced similar problems and anyone who can tell me if the Petrol EOS and the Diesel EOS, use the same tank.
Also, what level of testing to government safety bureaus apply to these tanks and could the EOS have escaped these tests.
Surely this has to be a terrifying safety concern to anyone driving a Petrol Model, but I don't know, maybe it is acceptable these days.
I was just under the impression that safety was paramount, but maybe I missed something, somewhere.
End of the day I have to pay for a new fuel tank, which although made in the Communist Republic of Sing foo Wang, for the cost of a a bowl of rice, will cost me around $1800. Now that is some serious mark up.
Maybe I will just replace the tank myself, with Soft drink bottles. Has to be the safer option me thinks.