Hi All, I'm new here, and totally new to the VW brand... I love my Renaults...

But... I recently failed to resist the itch, and bought a 2011 T5 BiTDI DSG 4Motion Caravelle . The guys I bought from were... nice enough people... , but I'm concerned about the issues on the vehicle that I may not know about. I had a 'comprehensive' Dekra done before buying it, but there are a few things that they did not pick up, so now I am worried.

Electronically/electrics I am aware of problems:
- PDC front and rear seems to not work
- nothing seems to happen when the diff-lock button is pushed
- radio mic not working - it gave an 'open circuit' fault during the inspection
- front 12V socket not working

I'm aware of the following things that need attention, mechanically:
- Roof rack was removed, leaving exposed screw holes in the gutters
- Drive train boots needs replacement (front CV boots and one on the drive shaft)
- Ignition cylinder(?) worn - getting the key turned sometimes takes quite a lot of jiggling!
- one of the rear windows' lock pin mechanisms is broken (or at least the pin is un-hooked and does not retract)

From the trip we did, she certainly has oversized tyres, and probably raised suspension (hence the cracked and leaking rubber boots).

Question 1: She drives quite nicely, but at ~12.3l/100km (fairy steady 120km/h on the GPS) the consumption is higher than I expected - or am I just optimistic?

After 100,000 km it has only had (stamped) services done at ~130,000km and ~160,000km, so I would like to take it to a real specialist for a thorough check-up. I am close to Hatfield VW, but have had my fingers burned with agents (others) before, in terms of their knowledge, diligence and willingness to consider affordable reparation options.

Question 2: Is there someone non-agent in Pretoria that you guys can point me towards for the full thing, or should I at least for the first service stick with the agent, and is Hatfield (the Hatfield branch) the right choice then? It is the third vehicle, so I would prefer to have a good, affordable, slower job done over having a good, expensive, fast job done.

Question 3: Is there anything else I should be looking out for, except for oil and coolant, as mentioned in other threads?
Question 4: The central locking doesn't automatically lock once moving - is it only a matter of RTFM to figure out what's up?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Hello @Janrap and welcome to the VW Club Forum!

We all hope that you enjoy your stay here and consider the wonderful opportunity of becoming a VWCSA Member which gets you awesome vwclub merchandise and discount to our events for only R350.

Before you do, please have a look at the Forum Rules.

As well as the rules we have for Private Sales.

If you have any questions pertaining to your vehicle and not to do with Introducing yourself post it in the Technical Discussions section.

Please feel free to join in on the Events, its huge fun, and non-members are also more than welcome to join in on the action. Hope to see you at an event soon.

Now that you have introduced yourself to the forum, have a look at starting a Rides Thread and show us what you cruise the streets with.

(How to Post a Picture).

We look forward to having you on the forum, and hope to see you grow in the club, by becoming a member, and most of all, making new friends.

Cheers

Welcome and enjoy the forum

Welcome.