Volkswagen Polo Problems

Oil leaks are a pretty common complaint in a second-hand car, but if the car as sold to you with a roadworthy certificate (which it almost certainly should have been) then there’s no excuse for those to reappear within two weeks of you taking ownership. I’m always suspicious of a second-hand car with a sparkling clean engine bay, as it usually means it’s been cleaned up to hide leaks, just as you’re now discovering.

Given that you bought the car from a VW dealership, I’d be having a chat with VW Australia’s customer service and complaints people as there might be something they can do to help in getting the situation sorted out to our satisfaction. On top of that, the dealer who sold you the car has an obligation under the terms of the second-hand car warranty. In WA, that means any second-hand car less than 12 years old (which a 2010 model is) and with fewer than 150,000km travelled, has to carry a one-month warranty on faults like the ones you’ve described. Since these problems were spotted at the two-week mark and pointed out to the dealership at that point, you should be covered.

The bigger issue from your point of view, of course, is that you were told the car had never been crashed when, in fact, it appears that’s not the case. That would seem like a fairly straightforward case of misrepresentation to me, and I’d be having the car professionally inspected (try your local State motoring club) and getting in writing the fact that it’s been crashed and repaired. From there, I reckon you’d have a decent chance of getting your money back and returning the car.

Clearly there are problems with your car that require attention. If you’re not getting satisfaction from your dealer, contact VW Australia (1800 607 822) and lodge your complaints with them. If you feel you want to go higher, contact your state’s consumer affairs people and ask for help.

In terms of life expectancy and durability I would expect both to be about the same, but I would expect the Polo to have slightly better resale value than the Clio. Both are good cars, but I would choose the Renault because of its longer warranty.

It’s a dual-clutch transmission, which raises the question of a problem with the transmission or the electronics that control it. Have a dealer or an automatic transmission mechanic assess it for you.

It’s not a common fault. Given that your car has only done 94,000 km I would suggest you contact VW to see if they might come to the party with at least part of the cost of repairs as a gesture of good will.

It’s losing coolant. Is it running ok? Does it get hot? If the answer to those questions is ‘yes’ and ‘no’ then look for a leak from the radiator, radiator hoses, cooling system fittings on the engine. If the answers are ‘no’ and ‘yes’ then check for a leaking heard gasket.

You're pretty safe with the 2015 model; the years to avoid are really around 2010/11.

The later you can afford the better, particularly as the 2010 model is quite an old car now, without even considering the possibility of an issue with the gearbox. I would recommend you go for a model that is no more than five years old. It would be also be a good idea to have it assessed by an automatic transmission specialist.