Ahmedabad to Mount Abu

Had been planning on driving to Mount Abu for a short weekend and finally decided to club it with the Trail Marathon there.

Started out of Ahmedabad in my 2013 GT TSI. Roads in Gujarat are a dream. Good quality surfaces, hump & pothole free and moderate traffic, too. About 120kms enroute, looking for some place to take a break, cruising at 100kph, the engine cut off! Just like that!! No warnings, no lights nothing. And then the battery light came on?! The car came to a halt in a few 100 mtrs. Crank was working fine but the engine did not fire. Called VW service and they said I've to tow it back to VW Mehsana. VW has just five service centers in Gujarat. Yes, just five. I must have seen at least fifteen Maruti service centers in just this trip. Well, I waited for 15 mins, started and the engine fired and I decided to drive back to Mehsana (about 30kms). Reached Mehsana with a few more stalls along the way with me and the family speculating if it was because of the heat or the aircon or what! VW had closed for the day so stayed back in Mehsana.

The hotel in Mehsana, supposed to be one of the better 3 star options, was dank, dirty and really sadly maintained.

Anyway, next morning, VW inspected the car, OBD said "High Pressure Fuel Sensor Passive/Sporadic". They did a few things, and while I followed their movements like a hawk, couldn't discern what they did. Finally, they told me it was a loose connection, took me for a 20 km test drive and reassured me that the car was fine. I continued my journey to Mount Abu and when I started the climb, about 120kms from Mehsana and 30kms to destination, the engine cut off again. In the searing afternoon heat of March, phew. It started 5 mins later but cut off in a few 100 mtrs. I managed to coast back down to Abu Road, parked it there and took a cab.

With one day of the weekend wiped off, stayed just a night in Mount Abu, ran the HM, saw nothing, started in the afternoon and drove the car back to Ahmedabad with one stall along the way.

Handed it over to VW Ahmedabad. It is there still 15 days later. A few days ago, I was told that a sensor is being replaced at a cost of ~15k and they did a test drive after replacing it and it stalled again. I'm being told that VW engineers have diagnosed the problem or will do it. I'm getting a feeling that no one has a clue what to do and are randomly playing with parts of the car. While the workshop insists that the problem has been escalated, I'm just not confident that anything constructive is being done about this.

I have proudly owned this vehicle for 6 years and have driven it all over the country and have had no problems at all. I've loved the driving experience and am convinced that I'll buy a VW next time, too. But, I'm really sad to see VW take such a casual approach towards repairing the car.

First, it was VW Mehsana who so casually sent me on my way without knowing what the problem was. Such misleading advice from VW itself is rather disconcerting. I had a very difficult time what with a toddler in tow. Had VW Mehsana told me they didn't know what it was, I would have driven back or taken a cab from there itself.

Second, it is VW Ahmedabad. There are hardly any updates or calls from the team there. I have to keep calling them to sort of remind them that my car is with them. They just don't seem to care. The car has been off the road for 13 days now and I just don't see the urgency from VW to get it back on the road.

The beautiful winding road up to Mount Abu which I sadly could not drive on!!