Volkswagen Amarok 2013 Problems

I'm not surprised that VW refused your request to meet and go for a ride in your car, but it's important to keep the company under pressure in an effort to keep them honest. It's now a stand-off. I would engage an automotive engineer to assess the lights to give you an expert opinion on their performance. Once you have that approach VW again. You could also try enlisting other Amarok owners in your cause.

I doubt very much that you would get the 90,000 km you claim you would out of a set of pads, and 50,000 km or so out of a set of rotors is not that shabby in today's world where rotors wear at a much faster rate than they once did. I really don't think you've got much of a complaint.

You need to get this vehicle to a transmission specialist right away. There’s clearly something not right either mechanically or electronically with the gearbox, and continuing to drive it in its wounded state is a big chance to cause more damage than has already been done.

Any vibration in an automatic transmissions suggests either torque converter or internal problems. It may already be too late for your vehicle, and the damage may already be done. But the sooner you get to a specialist, the less expensive, permanent damage will be done.

The best course of action is to try and create a groundswell of feedback to VW as you are doing. That way the message might get through.

They’re not any more or less expensive to maintain than the Mazda or Ford. A VW dealer will be more expensive than an independent mechanic, but there’s nothing to prevent a regular mechanic from servicing it.

It’s always worth contacting a carmaker’s customer service division in a case like this. I agree that 136,000km is far from a reasonable expected lifespan for a modern more vehicle of any sort. But exactly how Volkswagen Australia will view the matter will depend on the car’s service history and how it was used.

You might have some luck and perhaps financial assistance in getting the Amarok fixed, but VW could also point at the age of the vehicle and the fact that it’s way out of warranty. But, again, if you don’t ask, you’ll never know. Don’t bother pursuing this at a dealership level, either, go straight to head office.

Heavy brake wear is something owners of European cars regularly complain about, and yours seems to fit within the bounds of what we would expect to see. I doubt very much that you would get 90,000km out of a set of brake pads and wouldn't be fitting two sets of rotors to every set of pads.

The headlights of the early Amarok are clearly not up to the task, perhaps VW needs to have the engineers take a look at what is needed here in Australia and not rely on what is good enough for other more densely populated countries. You've also highlighted what we think is a problem for VW, and that is the quality of its dealer network. Think about contacting VW directly, they seem to have found their ears under the new management and appear to be listening to their customers.