New VW Passat

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Totally agree with Sapience, if I like the car I won't be too bothered with the customer service. If I'm spending a million dollars to buy a Bentley or Maybach then that's a different story...

 

I've already read about the poor customer service at CnC, so when I was there for the first time a few months ago to test the B5.5 Passat they were clearing, I walked straight to the information counter and asked to be served, and they promptly assigned a SE to me. The SE wasn't all that bad, but she offered me a lousy price for my old car and was too eager to close the deal. Knowing the B6 will be launched soon and having read a lot of good reviews about the car, I decided to wait.

 

When I learned about the soft launch in December, I knew I am not bringing my business back to the same SE who served me at the showroom. I went to VAGSG.com and asked for recommendations for a good SE, and I got PMs from a few of the forumers there, all giving me the contact for the same SE. So I called him up, viewed the car, booked on the spot, and now I am enjoying my new ride..

 

The SE I dealt with is a reliable and efficient guy, and always kept me informed of the car's status along the way. If anyone is thinking of a VW, PM me for the contact..

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Rims need to be upsized though!

 

I agree that the 16" rims look a tad too small for the car, may do something about it later but I am planning to upgrade the stereo first. Does anybody know of any good ICE installer who are experienced with contis?

[Toledosun]

I don't think it's so much a case of penalizing the car as the fact that when you buy a car, you'll probably end up having to liaise with the salesperson a few times. If that person cannot be bothered with you when you are a potential customer, how will they treat you after you have signed on the dotted line?

 

Personally, I'm the sort who like to take my time to look at the cars so i don't mind not being disturbed initially. However, it's not a nice feeling when they totally ignore your presence.

 

When I went car shopping, other sales people would acknowledge my presence. Some would give me some time before coming over to introduce themselves. Others glance in my direction occasionally to see if I needed assistance.

 

In the case of VW, I went in with my family, spent 10 minutes, came out and they acted like we never existed.

[Edrollbrick]

Totally agree on acknowledge first and allow some room for look-see.

Even though a Car have rave reviews, "Sales Teams" are the front line of a company. If they cannot even be bothered to make the sale and still expect a commission from the sale, I seriously think they don't deserve it.

 

After checking on other forums, it seems that their after sales team is singing the same tune.. must be a "company image thing".

[Qwert]

You might want to reconsider pushing the changing of the rims till later...you actually can fetch a better trade in price if your tyres are newer...unless your idea of later is 1 to 2 years later...after the current tyres are worn...

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Actually I had a different experience last weekend. I was there to collect the car on Sat, was in the car going through the features with the SE while my wife was wondering around looking bored. She was then approached by a friendly saleswoman who asked if she would like to test drive the new passat.. hhmmm... maybe they have improved their customer service??...

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You might want to reconsider pushing the changing of the rims till later...you actually can fetch a better trade in price if your tyres are newer...unless your idea of later is 1 to 2 years later...after the current tyres are worn...

 

hhmm... you have a point there... think i'll start looking around...

[Edrollbrick]

I am seriously looking for a replacement car. Most others are already in their last or second last year, otherwise would not be looking at other models/brands, as quite happy with my rolling bricks.

 

Seems you are quite happy with your SE, can you give me his contact?

Maybe will test them 1 last time.

[Skip]

I am seriously looking for a replacement car. Most others are already in their last or second last year, otherwise would not be looking at other models/brands, as quite happy with my rolling bricks.

 

Seems you are quite happy with your SE, can you give me his contact?

Maybe will test them 1 last time.

 

Just dropped you a PM. Hope you have good experience with him too, and do keep us posted on your car shopping..

[Sapience]

yes, my point is if you really like a car, will you care too much about customer service? if customer service is putting you off from the car, you probably don't like it all that much in the first place...

[Toledosun]

fair enough. I agree that in my case. there isn't any car that I'm so crazy about that I'll ignore customer service, be it pre or post sales.

[Qwert]

Would recommend to start looking at SE Tyres...got my 18" RS4 rims there after trading in stock.

Had been looking around, SE gave the highest trade in value...

[Slowpoke156]

I never said the car was no good. Where's the logic in "not buying" being equivalent to "penalizing the car"? If you insist on calling it a penalty, shouldn't the penalty be on me instead since I had to "forego" the potential ownership of the vehicle?

 

Yes its the car that matters at the end of the day, that I agree. And I didn't not buy VAG then because I was pissed with the service, I was seduced more by the Alfa instead.

[Blackford]

The new PAssat comes with 10 speakers... stil need to upgrade ice?

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The new PAssat comes with 10 speakers... stil need to upgrade ice?

 

Stock stereo comes with 8 speakers. The 10 speakers as advertised is part of the Dynaudio option, which comes with a 600W amp too, but the upgrade was not available when I booked mine. Anyway when they say 10 speakers, they are counting the tweeters as separate speakers. So in fact the 10 speakers system is really a pair of 3-way component in the front door and a pair of 2-way component in the rear door.

 

My stock stereo comes with 2 pairs of 2-way component for the front and rear doors. I am planning to replace the front components, add an amp to drive the front components, and add a sub.

[Richardeng6763]

[reply]lol... I couldn't agree more. I brought my family to see the Touran before I bought my jag. The SEs couldn't even be bothered to approach us even though there were a few just sitting there.

 

Oh I must be lucky, went to showroom after reading Straits Time, was told no car available for viewing as soft launch over. But Salesman show a catalogue and even brought us to see the diesel version. Ended up booking a Passat 2 days later.

 

Tested the car and found that handling was superb but not that quiet though. But I heard Passat's engine behaves like that unless its a V6. Very satisfied with the equipment level. No complaints at all, only 2 years warranty very dissapointing.

[Toledosun]

Must be my looks then! Maybe they think I'm a tyre kicker .

 

Have to agree, the equipment level and the specs of the passat are very appealing. In fact, I told my wife before they even brought it in that if they were to price the new passat close to the $100k mark, I won't even think twice but just buy it because at that price range, I didn't think there was anything close to it.

 

I'm surprised that you don't find it quiet though. Is it tyre noise? If so could be just a particular stretch of road that causing the problem. For me, the tyre noise along TPE from Tampines to Yio Chu Kang is particularly noisy. At first, I thought it was my car but later realized I don't hear the tyre noise on other roads so....

[See_eff]

When one considers the OMV of an Accord, Mazda 6, Subaru Legacy and the Passat, I think the Passat is rather over-priced.

 

Don't get me wrong, it still may be a good car .....and if it really is that good ..then wait for the PIs to get into the picture ......