PHEV reflections after some months and miles of motoring

[Cyker]

Oh god you nearly made me spit out my tea  

Sorry, it's supposed to say "planetary gear set", but it turns out if you put "gear" and "set" together there is a word hidden in the middle which the swear filter picks up and changes to "ubik", hence, "planetary geubikt" 

 

I should note that actual CVTs, as seen in the non-hybrid Toyoa automatics like my dad's Verso, are still cone-and-belt type systems; It's just the hybrids that use the fancy "planetary geubikt" 

[ernieb]

 

[Lawnmowerman]

9 hours ago, ernieb said:

I felt the same about the CVT system then I had a test drive and finally bought a Subaru XV just a different league to the old Daf's and later generations of that design, moving to the epicyclic system was. game changer.

That said, I've had 3 cars with the VW DSG and Haldex systems and never had any issues at all, all under the Skoda banner, but still very much from the VW parts bin. Sometimes the luck of the draw or maybe the fact that the Skoda kit was often not made in Germany but in the Skoda factories.

Proportionally most VAG owners hadn't issues either (or were unaware). Nor did I with my 2 AWD Yeti's or my wife's 7 speed DSG Fabia.

However, the amount of Haldex failures attributed to blocked filters is significant - and the very fact that VAG do not even recognise that there is a filter never mind have a maintenance schedule for it beggars belief. At least Volvo do. The incidence of failure of the Haldex is far higher than currently known as many have failed but there is no warning to say so therefore most owners are blissfully unaware. And the DSG saga - dry clutch/wet clutch failures are significant.

VAG had a good record for goodwill claims out-with warranty but this evaporated after the huge costs they incurred with Dieselgate. My last Yeti had a shock absorber described at a service as 'misting' - I asked them to replace it under warranty and they refused saying it wasn't leaking. I asked if the fluid 'misting' that was observed should be within the shock absorber or not. They agreed it should be within but told me that VAG refuse warranty claims for 'misting' rather than an obvious leak.

Given the frailties of their DSG 'boxes, Haldex transmissions and the propensity for the Pano. roofs to leak with the prospect of no Goodwill out-with warranty I took the decision to look elsewhere before the expiry of the 3yr. warranty. Shame as I loved the Yeti (apart from the cill catching your calf on entry and exit). The cill would appear to be just part of the age of design - however, Toyota have an even worse cill on their Yaris Cross (sharp compared to the blunt design of the Yeti).

Ah well - life is full of compromises.

[Cyker]

The thing that I love most about the HSD is that there are no wearing parts - The DSGs are great gearboxes for the short term (Long enough to be reviewed anyway!), but they do wear out and the refurbishment of all those clutch packs is not cheap! A know a few owners who will trade in the car as soon as the gearbox starts to go, although the newer ones, esp. wet clutch, have had better longevity.

My brother didn't do his due diligence when he was car hunting and got an Audi A3 with the older dry-clutch DSG. The next day he quickly discovered it was faulty, and had to wait until it warmed up before it would engage a gear. (Another life tip when second hand car hunting: Always start it from cold, as that's where a lot of problems show up. If the car has already been warmed up when you go to check it, be very suspicious!)

Found out it cost more than double what he paid for the car to repair, quickly got shot of it to WBAC and got a lovely Mazda 6, which  has done very well considering how hard a life it's had! He's now having to think about getting rid of it because of the ULEZ tho'...

 

[Flatcoat]

I agree the dry clutch DSG is not very robust but the vast majority of wet clutch DSG failures are due to lack of servicing. I suspect the same applies to the Haldex - never had any problems with any DSG on 2 cars with well in excess of 100k miles when sold, ditto the Haldex. And both used for towing a caravan often across Europe. However it is apparent Toyota have an excellent reliability record, the current RAV has very good reliability and customer satisfaction reviews so do not foresee any problems. 

[ernieb]

My 3 Skoda’s had wet clutch DSG’s and were all fine/

[Cyker]

What's funny is the hybrids have topped the charts for reliability - The naysayers were all "Oooh two engines, twice as many things to break!" but so far they've been more reliable than EV's!

 

[IanML]

17 hours ago, Cyker said:

What's funny is the hybrids have topped the charts for reliability - The naysayers were all "Oooh two engines, twice as many things to break!" but so far they've been more reliable than EV's!

 

Is that comparing like-with-like, i.e. the same car with alternative propulsion options?