T6 Caravelle - all change
Discussion
I thought I'd keep a thread to track the changes and work done to this T6 Caravelle we've just bought, as it becomes day van and load lugger. But first a but about how we got here:
For the last 4+ years our fleet has been a B8 Passat family wagon, Renault Zoe ZE50 for commuting and local pottering, and the 996 as an underused 3rd car in a familiar tale of kids clubs and activities, exacerbated by the recent addition of a puppy. I had wanted to hang onto the 996 to do a NC500 trip, but the realisation that you can hire a Caterham up there, and that I’d generally rather spend my free weekend mornings cycling than hooning made up mind that the Porsche was to go. The boring but dependable Passat was beginning to get long in the tooth at 142k miles, and the Zoe having let me down twice (and Renault unavailable to fix it for weeks each time) I decided that having a nicer everyday car instead of the Porsche and a 2 car fleet would be more manageable and more fun more of the time.
Well laden on one of many trips.
This is the only photo I have of the Zoe - the only time I public charged it.
Pre-pup I had thought that an ID7 tourer to replace the Passat, and a recent Civic Type R or Mk7.5 GTi PP would fit the bill nicely. We bought a new camping trailer earlier in the year but once loaded with all the camping gear, bikes and trailer it was a massive faff, and trailers and public chargers aren’t a good combo, so a rethink was needed.
After a difficult trip flying to Dublin with our 1 confirmed and 1 likely ADHD/ASD kids we decided that driving and having a constant base would work better for us for weekend type trips, so started researching day vans. We tend to go to the same campsite for each May half term, and there has been an immaculate T4 Caravelle on a adjacent pitch a couple of years, so my research started there.
With the Porsche sold to Australia thanks to their 25year import rules, the hunt could begin. I had £20k in my head as a budget for the van, but having seen a couple of T5s and a leggy T6 that was much more refined, realised that needed to be upped to get us into a T6 with sensible mileage. With a ULEZ only a few miles from us, and an expectation that we will do a number of continental trips where town and city emission zones are move prevalent, a T6 made lots of sense. My wife wanted one with a heated front screen as she couldn’t reach it to clear it or scrape it when frosty and it’ll be her everyday car, so we were looking for a manual Executive spec which are surprisingly rare, and most are the BiTDi which we wanted to avoid.
The shift of thinking to the van would mean my nicer daily would need to be electric, and electric and nice/fun to drive aren’t obvious bed fellows. My first thoughts had been an Ionic 5N, but with the increased budget for the van I couldn’t make the cost work. I wrestled the idea of a used Tesla Model 3 alongside something more interesting, a Caterham, MX5, or even another Fisher Fury but they’d likely get even less use than the not that impractical 996 did. I then clocked that the 2024 refresh on the single motor Polestar 2 changed it to RWD, and in long range form upped the power to near enough 300hp. I test drove one and confirmed that they steered better than expected, are nimble enough on a B-road and quiet and civilised on the motorway. So by mid-August a plan was starting to come together, and not long after that a cheap lease deal on a pre-reg 24 Polestar 2 long range single motor with Plus pack came up which I jumped at. I complete the paperwork as a personal lease, then thought I’d ask work if I could do it as a Salary Sacrifice, and UKCarLine whether I could switch it to a business/SS contract, both came back affirmative.
The deal on a personal lease was £608 on a 3+47 deal, 20k miles per year fully maintained. All told with the tax savings, BIK inc increases, insurance and electricity that shakes out at about 34p/mile which I’m happy with considering even an efficient ICE car would be doing half that just in fuel.
Infuriatingly a couple of weeks after the Porsche sold, and only a few days after confirming the go ahead for the Polestar the Zoe broke for the 2nd time, with the same STOP - Electric Motor Failure warning that I had a few months earlier. Previously the dealer couldn’t isolate the cause as there were too many error codes and none of them returned once cleared. The Polestar was for September delivery, and within a few days of doing the personal finance docs I had an email about a delivery date, so I wasn’t overly worried about the Zoe being broken.
Between other things taking the accounts departments time at work, and Arval seemingly taking longer for business enquiries than personal ones, I didn’t end up with the Polestar until mid October. In the mean time I borrowed my Dad’s R170 SLK 230K to knock around in, other than incredibly vague steering I really quite liked it.
Polestar 2 was delivered, it is a bigger car than expected and makes things pretty tight where it is parked at the top of our drive, but as per the test drive I like how it drives, its comfortable, and has far more toys than I’ve been used to recently.
I’d been looking at cars for a several months now, a Caravelle, something to lease, a stop gap, and was getting pretty fed up with, I wanted to change the fleet and be done with it for the next 4 years.
The day after the Polestar was delivered I found myself in Berkshire with work, and went to look at a 2018 Caravelle (so T6) 150TDi Executive manual that had been on the market a couple of weeks. Oddly, the dealer had it since June, I had my search limit set at £35k so they may have dropped the price significantly or it had just sat with them for months before being listed. It had obviously had new brackets/rollers on the sliding doors, and there was some surface rust where these had previously dropped and rubbed on the top of the sill below. So with a deal was done with the dealer sorting those bits of bodywork out. It doesn’t have some of the accessories/options we want, but they can be added later, but it is the model we want, with sensible mileage, so seems like it’ll be a good base.
I was away on a stag do the following weekend so hurriedly cleaned and photographed the Passat in the gloaming to get it listed on eBay before picking up the Caravelle. Phone cameras are remarkable now how they can get decent pictures in very low light conditions, but I got it listed as an auction with reserve set at the WBAC price and best offer enabled. The next few days I must have had 15 calls and messages asking for best price or making offers at 50% of what it is likely to be worth. I did take some more pictures in proper day light, she scrubs up alright given the mileage, she’s got a couple of faults but is well maintained.
The auction ended at a higher price than I expected, and I was duly messed around by the winner, fingers crossed the second chance offer comes good but as it stands the car is still with me.
In the interim I had collected the Caravelle and driving it the 100miles home, it drove very nicely and was unexpectedly efficient giving ~45mpg on an admittedly pretty slow rush hour run. Mid-journey I hit a bump and the near side mirror housing moved, got caught by the wind and few off, initially retained and flapping by the DAB aerial that I now know is in the mirror housing, before falling off to inevitably go under the wheels of something behind me. It’s obviously been held on with sticky pads, a new one from ebay painted in the correct colour is <£70 so this doesn’t fill me with confidence it has been looked after properly, despite there being a comprehensive service history. I stopped at Cobham services to sort the flapping DAB aerial, and as the front had felt a bit softer than the back did the tyre pressures which improved things.
I got back to excited kids and wife, and went out for a spin to them all to collect the Polestar from the nearby station. We got back to find the near side electric sliding door refusing to close electrically, it would to within 6” of being closed them spring open like the anti-trap function has sensed something. Lifting the door while it is closing gets it closed and a few days later it decided to work normally again.
Our kids are on the cusp of not needing car seats, they are over the 135cm requirement but the seat belt sits in a better place over their should when they are a bit higher. Putting those in later in the evening I folded one of the individual rear seats and couldn’t unfold it as the seat belt tensioner had jammed. That needed the seat to be removed from the rails and tipping it released the tensioner, during which I put a deep dash in the side of my finger.
The tyre pressure warning for the NSR went off a couple of days later, checked manually and all still as I had set them at Cobham (and I set the system at the same time). While checking the pressures I found the NSF leaking through the valve a tiny bit (but evidently not enough to get past the valve cap as the pressure was still fine).
It feels like it’s fighting us at the moment, but hopefully that is the end of the niggles as they have put a dampener on the whole thing, especially as it is by far the most expensive car I’ve ever bought. The dealer is sorting a replacement mirror cover which I will fit, but at the moment I’m reluctant to take it back to the dealer with the door issue as it’s currently working fine again. There are lots of videos on YouTube with the same symptoms that are cured by retensioning or replacing the cables. I’ve also seen a T6 forum post which says the doors are sensitive to battery condition, they each have a 40A fuse so are obviously a significant draw.
It still has the original battery on it at 6years and 65k miles, so if the problem returns I think a preventative change will be in order. I have ordered some new cables, but uncertain whether I will fit them or take it back to the dealers if the problem persists.
We’ve got a few things planned for it immediately:
For the last 4+ years our fleet has been a B8 Passat family wagon, Renault Zoe ZE50 for commuting and local pottering, and the 996 as an underused 3rd car in a familiar tale of kids clubs and activities, exacerbated by the recent addition of a puppy. I had wanted to hang onto the 996 to do a NC500 trip, but the realisation that you can hire a Caterham up there, and that I’d generally rather spend my free weekend mornings cycling than hooning made up mind that the Porsche was to go. The boring but dependable Passat was beginning to get long in the tooth at 142k miles, and the Zoe having let me down twice (and Renault unavailable to fix it for weeks each time) I decided that having a nicer everyday car instead of the Porsche and a 2 car fleet would be more manageable and more fun more of the time.
Well laden on one of many trips.
This is the only photo I have of the Zoe - the only time I public charged it.
Pre-pup I had thought that an ID7 tourer to replace the Passat, and a recent Civic Type R or Mk7.5 GTi PP would fit the bill nicely. We bought a new camping trailer earlier in the year but once loaded with all the camping gear, bikes and trailer it was a massive faff, and trailers and public chargers aren’t a good combo, so a rethink was needed.
After a difficult trip flying to Dublin with our 1 confirmed and 1 likely ADHD/ASD kids we decided that driving and having a constant base would work better for us for weekend type trips, so started researching day vans. We tend to go to the same campsite for each May half term, and there has been an immaculate T4 Caravelle on a adjacent pitch a couple of years, so my research started there.
With the Porsche sold to Australia thanks to their 25year import rules, the hunt could begin. I had £20k in my head as a budget for the van, but having seen a couple of T5s and a leggy T6 that was much more refined, realised that needed to be upped to get us into a T6 with sensible mileage. With a ULEZ only a few miles from us, and an expectation that we will do a number of continental trips where town and city emission zones are move prevalent, a T6 made lots of sense. My wife wanted one with a heated front screen as she couldn’t reach it to clear it or scrape it when frosty and it’ll be her everyday car, so we were looking for a manual Executive spec which are surprisingly rare, and most are the BiTDi which we wanted to avoid.
The shift of thinking to the van would mean my nicer daily would need to be electric, and electric and nice/fun to drive aren’t obvious bed fellows. My first thoughts had been an Ionic 5N, but with the increased budget for the van I couldn’t make the cost work. I wrestled the idea of a used Tesla Model 3 alongside something more interesting, a Caterham, MX5, or even another Fisher Fury but they’d likely get even less use than the not that impractical 996 did. I then clocked that the 2024 refresh on the single motor Polestar 2 changed it to RWD, and in long range form upped the power to near enough 300hp. I test drove one and confirmed that they steered better than expected, are nimble enough on a B-road and quiet and civilised on the motorway. So by mid-August a plan was starting to come together, and not long after that a cheap lease deal on a pre-reg 24 Polestar 2 long range single motor with Plus pack came up which I jumped at. I complete the paperwork as a personal lease, then thought I’d ask work if I could do it as a Salary Sacrifice, and UKCarLine whether I could switch it to a business/SS contract, both came back affirmative.
The deal on a personal lease was £608 on a 3+47 deal, 20k miles per year fully maintained. All told with the tax savings, BIK inc increases, insurance and electricity that shakes out at about 34p/mile which I’m happy with considering even an efficient ICE car would be doing half that just in fuel.
Infuriatingly a couple of weeks after the Porsche sold, and only a few days after confirming the go ahead for the Polestar the Zoe broke for the 2nd time, with the same STOP - Electric Motor Failure warning that I had a few months earlier. Previously the dealer couldn’t isolate the cause as there were too many error codes and none of them returned once cleared. The Polestar was for September delivery, and within a few days of doing the personal finance docs I had an email about a delivery date, so I wasn’t overly worried about the Zoe being broken.
Between other things taking the accounts departments time at work, and Arval seemingly taking longer for business enquiries than personal ones, I didn’t end up with the Polestar until mid October. In the mean time I borrowed my Dad’s R170 SLK 230K to knock around in, other than incredibly vague steering I really quite liked it.
Polestar 2 was delivered, it is a bigger car than expected and makes things pretty tight where it is parked at the top of our drive, but as per the test drive I like how it drives, its comfortable, and has far more toys than I’ve been used to recently.
I’d been looking at cars for a several months now, a Caravelle, something to lease, a stop gap, and was getting pretty fed up with, I wanted to change the fleet and be done with it for the next 4 years.
The day after the Polestar was delivered I found myself in Berkshire with work, and went to look at a 2018 Caravelle (so T6) 150TDi Executive manual that had been on the market a couple of weeks. Oddly, the dealer had it since June, I had my search limit set at £35k so they may have dropped the price significantly or it had just sat with them for months before being listed. It had obviously had new brackets/rollers on the sliding doors, and there was some surface rust where these had previously dropped and rubbed on the top of the sill below. So with a deal was done with the dealer sorting those bits of bodywork out. It doesn’t have some of the accessories/options we want, but they can be added later, but it is the model we want, with sensible mileage, so seems like it’ll be a good base.
I was away on a stag do the following weekend so hurriedly cleaned and photographed the Passat in the gloaming to get it listed on eBay before picking up the Caravelle. Phone cameras are remarkable now how they can get decent pictures in very low light conditions, but I got it listed as an auction with reserve set at the WBAC price and best offer enabled. The next few days I must have had 15 calls and messages asking for best price or making offers at 50% of what it is likely to be worth. I did take some more pictures in proper day light, she scrubs up alright given the mileage, she’s got a couple of faults but is well maintained.
The auction ended at a higher price than I expected, and I was duly messed around by the winner, fingers crossed the second chance offer comes good but as it stands the car is still with me.
In the interim I had collected the Caravelle and driving it the 100miles home, it drove very nicely and was unexpectedly efficient giving ~45mpg on an admittedly pretty slow rush hour run. Mid-journey I hit a bump and the near side mirror housing moved, got caught by the wind and few off, initially retained and flapping by the DAB aerial that I now know is in the mirror housing, before falling off to inevitably go under the wheels of something behind me. It’s obviously been held on with sticky pads, a new one from ebay painted in the correct colour is <£70 so this doesn’t fill me with confidence it has been looked after properly, despite there being a comprehensive service history. I stopped at Cobham services to sort the flapping DAB aerial, and as the front had felt a bit softer than the back did the tyre pressures which improved things.
I got back to excited kids and wife, and went out for a spin to them all to collect the Polestar from the nearby station. We got back to find the near side electric sliding door refusing to close electrically, it would to within 6” of being closed them spring open like the anti-trap function has sensed something. Lifting the door while it is closing gets it closed and a few days later it decided to work normally again.
Our kids are on the cusp of not needing car seats, they are over the 135cm requirement but the seat belt sits in a better place over their should when they are a bit higher. Putting those in later in the evening I folded one of the individual rear seats and couldn’t unfold it as the seat belt tensioner had jammed. That needed the seat to be removed from the rails and tipping it released the tensioner, during which I put a deep dash in the side of my finger.
The tyre pressure warning for the NSR went off a couple of days later, checked manually and all still as I had set them at Cobham (and I set the system at the same time). While checking the pressures I found the NSF leaking through the valve a tiny bit (but evidently not enough to get past the valve cap as the pressure was still fine).
It feels like it’s fighting us at the moment, but hopefully that is the end of the niggles as they have put a dampener on the whole thing, especially as it is by far the most expensive car I’ve ever bought. The dealer is sorting a replacement mirror cover which I will fit, but at the moment I’m reluctant to take it back to the dealer with the door issue as it’s currently working fine again. There are lots of videos on YouTube with the same symptoms that are cured by retensioning or replacing the cables. I’ve also seen a T6 forum post which says the doors are sensitive to battery condition, they each have a 40A fuse so are obviously a significant draw.
It still has the original battery on it at 6years and 65k miles, so if the problem returns I think a preventative change will be in order. I have ordered some new cables, but uncertain whether I will fit them or take it back to the dealers if the problem persists.
We’ve got a few things planned for it immediately:
- Fit the replacement mirror cover
- Change the slightly tatty rear number plate
- Add a towbar
- Add a tailgate mounted bike rack.
- Play round with the seating arrangement and work out what we’re going to do for storage/storage boxes.
I’ve had a T5/5.1/6/6.1, the T5/5.1 were definitely the more reliable and better built.
You will have EGR valve and cooler issues, it’s inevitable, the 2017/18 204 also has issues with bore score and the small turbo bearing failure, not to mention the usual dpf blockages.
Run it on premium diesel, let the regens fully complete and change the oil/filter every 12 months/8-10k miles.
My T6 204 had a Revo map, oil/filter change every 6-8 months and always good quality diesel. I sold it at 6 years old and 40k miles and had no issues at all. I also paid £49k for it, plus added a few mods like pop top and sold a few days after advertising it for £41k, great residuals.
Apart from that they are great, enjoy
Edit - just spotted it’s a 150, very few issues with that engine, far more reliable than the bi-turbo’s.
You will have EGR valve and cooler issues, it’s inevitable, the 2017/18 204 also has issues with bore score and the small turbo bearing failure, not to mention the usual dpf blockages.
Run it on premium diesel, let the regens fully complete and change the oil/filter every 12 months/8-10k miles.
My T6 204 had a Revo map, oil/filter change every 6-8 months and always good quality diesel. I sold it at 6 years old and 40k miles and had no issues at all. I also paid £49k for it, plus added a few mods like pop top and sold a few days after advertising it for £41k, great residuals.
Apart from that they are great, enjoy
Edit - just spotted it’s a 150, very few issues with that engine, far more reliable than the bi-turbo’s.
DirktheDaring said:
I’ve had a T5/5.1/6/6.1, the T5/5.1 were definitely the more reliable and better built.
You will have EGR valve and cooler issues, it’s inevitable, the 2017/18 204 also has issues with bore score and the small turbo bearing failure, not to mention the usual dpf blockages.
<Snip>
Apart from that they are great, enjoy
Edit - just spotted it’s a 150, very few issues with that engine, far more reliable than the bi-turbo’s.
Blimey, piss on his chips! You will have EGR valve and cooler issues, it’s inevitable, the 2017/18 204 also has issues with bore score and the small turbo bearing failure, not to mention the usual dpf blockages.
<Snip>
Apart from that they are great, enjoy
Edit - just spotted it’s a 150, very few issues with that engine, far more reliable than the bi-turbo’s.
Or not, are you eventually saying the 150bhp ones are fine and avoid the problems you highlight?
Those are known issues with the BiTDi engines so I ruled them out after looking at a lovely T6 204 which was the perfect spec, but it was using 0.5l of oil every 3 months/2k miles, which prompted some more research. That's well within what VW say is acceptable, but some of them use none between services, it seemed safer to stay away. Darkside state that the 180/204s rarely make their stated power anyway, and the 150 remaps to 190, so if we find it short of poke that is always an option.
I'm not expecting the 150 to be without EGR issues though. I looked at a nice 2015 T5 (so the 140 engine) which had the EGR replaced twice in 30k miles by the current owner despite being run on premium diesel. I suspect the type of journey has more impact than the fuel.
I'm not expecting the 150 to be without EGR issues though. I looked at a nice 2015 T5 (so the 140 engine) which had the EGR replaced twice in 30k miles by the current owner despite being run on premium diesel. I suspect the type of journey has more impact than the fuel.
macron said:
Blimey, piss on his chips!
Or not, are you eventually saying the 150bhp ones are fine and avoid the problems you highlight?
I’m saying exactly what the edit says - it’s a 150, they are more reliable and less complicated than the bi-turbo engines.Or not, are you eventually saying the 150bhp ones are fine and avoid the problems you highlight?
Sorry for not spotting that vital bit of info sooner, maybe another member will read it and avoid making a mistake in future.
HughG said:
Those are known issues with the BiTDi engines so I ruled them out after looking at a lovely T6 204 which was the perfect spec, but it was using 0.5l of oil every 3 months/2k miles, which prompted some more research. That's well within what VW say is acceptable, but some of them use none between services, it seemed safer to stay away. Darkside state that the 180/204s rarely make their stated power anyway, and the 150 remaps to 190, so if we find it short of poke that is always an option.
I'm not expecting the 150 to be without EGR issues though. I looked at a nice 2015 T5 (so the 140 engine) which had the EGR replaced twice in 30k miles by the current owner despite being run on premium diesel. I suspect the type of journey has more impact than the fuel.
Some will call this snake oil, but I swear by it, I use it on all of my Transporters, my wife’s Tiguan and my old Landcruiser and never had any dpf issues on the newer vehicles despite doing mostly short trips.I'm not expecting the 150 to be without EGR issues though. I looked at a nice 2015 T5 (so the 140 engine) which had the EGR replaced twice in 30k miles by the current owner despite being run on premium diesel. I suspect the type of journey has more impact than the fuel.
https://amzn.eu/d/at1XiFF
Have the cambelt and dsg been serviced? Cambelt intervals have been revised by VW but I’d still change every 4 years/40k.
I have a T5.1 Caravelle 2.0Btdi DSG Exec.
I had a 997 before and I love the Caravelle far more. It is the perfect vehicle for me. I can carry 7. I can sleep in it. It does over 40mpg. It's fun to drive and it fits in multistory carparks.
Unfortunately I hadn't read up enough to know about the crumbling EGR valve cooler issues, so I didn't replace the cooler with an update version as a precautionary measure. That was a VERY expensive mistake... £13.5k expensive to be exact for a brand new engine, turbos and all ancillaries from VW. I didn't want to go down the cheaper option of the exchange/rebuilt engine route as the worry then is that history will repeat itself.
Having bought the vehicle from a main VW dealer just over a year before and with only 70k on the clock, I assumed that they might help with it, but no. Ignored my emails and refused my calls.
I now have a VERY expensive T5.1 Caravelle but I still love it. I may consider selling next year to buy a motorhome (early retirement thing), so someone will get a monster deal on a 80k Velle with a 10k engine.
I had a 997 before and I love the Caravelle far more. It is the perfect vehicle for me. I can carry 7. I can sleep in it. It does over 40mpg. It's fun to drive and it fits in multistory carparks.
Unfortunately I hadn't read up enough to know about the crumbling EGR valve cooler issues, so I didn't replace the cooler with an update version as a precautionary measure. That was a VERY expensive mistake... £13.5k expensive to be exact for a brand new engine, turbos and all ancillaries from VW. I didn't want to go down the cheaper option of the exchange/rebuilt engine route as the worry then is that history will repeat itself.
Having bought the vehicle from a main VW dealer just over a year before and with only 70k on the clock, I assumed that they might help with it, but no. Ignored my emails and refused my calls.
I now have a VERY expensive T5.1 Caravelle but I still love it. I may consider selling next year to buy a motorhome (early retirement thing), so someone will get a monster deal on a 80k Velle with a 10k engine.
DirktheDaring said:
Some will call this snake oil, but I swear by it, I use it on all of my Transporters, my wife’s Tiguan and my old Landcruiser and never had any dpf issues on the newer vehicles despite doing mostly short trips.
https://amzn.eu/d/at1XiFF
Have the cambelt and dsg been serviced? Cambelt intervals have been revised by VW but I’d still change every 4 years/40k.
Thanks, I’ve ordered some of that, and will use it whenever we aren’t doing a long journey and going to go straight through a tank. https://amzn.eu/d/at1XiFF
Have the cambelt and dsg been serviced? Cambelt intervals have been revised by VW but I’d still change every 4 years/40k.
The cambelt interval in the book is 80k miles (no time), and I understand the interval has been revised to 140k miles. I will change it at about 80k, which will probably be next year.
Before the music stops said:
I have a T5.1 Caravelle 2.0Btdi DSG Exec.
I had a 997 before and I love the Caravelle far more. It is the perfect vehicle for me. I can carry 7. I can sleep in it. It does over 40mpg. It's fun to drive and it fits in multistory carparks.
Unfortunately I hadn't read up enough to know about the crumbling EGR valve cooler issues, so I didn't replace the cooler with an update version as a precautionary measure. That was a VERY expensive mistake... £13.5k expensive to be exact for a brand new engine, turbos and all ancillaries from VW. I didn't want to go down the cheaper option of the exchange/rebuilt engine route as the worry then is that history will repeat itself.
Having bought the vehicle from a main VW dealer just over a year before and with only 70k on the clock, I assumed that they might help with it, but no. Ignored my emails and refused my calls.
I now have a VERY expensive T5.1 Caravelle but I still love it. I may consider selling next year to buy a motorhome (early retirement thing), so someone will get a monster deal on a 80k Velle with a 10k engine.
Sorry to hear that, but glad you love it. I hope that we can get past these initial niggles and jobs with it in the same way. I had a 997 before and I love the Caravelle far more. It is the perfect vehicle for me. I can carry 7. I can sleep in it. It does over 40mpg. It's fun to drive and it fits in multistory carparks.
Unfortunately I hadn't read up enough to know about the crumbling EGR valve cooler issues, so I didn't replace the cooler with an update version as a precautionary measure. That was a VERY expensive mistake... £13.5k expensive to be exact for a brand new engine, turbos and all ancillaries from VW. I didn't want to go down the cheaper option of the exchange/rebuilt engine route as the worry then is that history will repeat itself.
Having bought the vehicle from a main VW dealer just over a year before and with only 70k on the clock, I assumed that they might help with it, but no. Ignored my emails and refused my calls.
I now have a VERY expensive T5.1 Caravelle but I still love it. I may consider selling next year to buy a motorhome (early retirement thing), so someone will get a monster deal on a 80k Velle with a 10k engine.
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