Dealership ignorance

I'm waiting for my 2011 GTI to arrive in September. Have been reading the forums and wondered whether the Canadian GTI is missing the noise pipe that comes in the American cars. Someone suggested that the Canadian cars don't have these.

As well, I was wondering if the 2011 diverter valve will be the the 'D' or 'G' revision.

So I called my dealer.
I asked them
1. does the Canadian GTI have a noise pipe?
.....'a what?', I was asked. I explained about a pipe to take noise into the passenger compartment, etc. I was transferred between parts and service and no one knew what I was talking about!

2. So I asked about the Diverter Valve.
Wow! Never mind the revision in use, between not knowing what the DV was and 'is there a problem' I got no where.

Does anyone find it troubling how little these guys know about the cars they service?

It's gonna be revision G DV. Can't imagine they'd use a piston DV when the G has no problems. Don't know about the noise pipe. I'd assume it does

Not a surprise - these guys know how sell cars - most of them dont know shit about them.

Yes, if it were the sales department. But this was the service and parts department (I was transferred to both of them).

Anyway, it took me by surprise even though I didn't expect too much from them.

fredf said:

Yes, if it were the sales department. But this was the service and parts department (I was transferred to both of them).

Anyway, it took me by surprise even though I didn't expect too much from them.

Click to expand...

The Sales Department won't know much of the technical stuff unless the sales guy is a GTI fanatic. Most sales guys just land a job in a dealership because they need a job, not because they love GTI's or VW's.

The best person to discuss technical stuff like this would be the head mechanic. Any other person in the Service and Parts department won't know how to answer your questions. I am guessing, based on my experience working in a Toyota dealership a long time ago, your call was tranferred to a Service Advisor. Rarely will you get the Service Manager during an initial call. Service Advisors also don't know much about the inner workings of a vehicle unless he or she is an auto enthusiast or ex-mechanic. Most Service Managers won't know how to answer your question, as well. They are trained to run a Service Department efficiently. Again, very few of them are genuine auto enthusiasts.

Same with the parts guy. They all know how to work the computer system that manages and tracks down the parts you need. They have basic mechanical knowledge but are not necessarily in tune with the nuances of particular car models.

One simple way of finding out if the DV is Rev. G is to get the parts guy to look for the part number of the DV in their system. They may not have the 2011 parts in their system yet at this time (too early?). Same for the noise pipe. Both parts can be outfitted (I am guessing) if the Canadian 2011 GTI's don't have them. Now, some parts guys don't even know how to look for the Diverter Valve or Noise Pipe in the first place, so you may need to help them look for it in their system, that is, if you know where it is located.

It'll have the Noise Pipe and not have the Rev D dv. I'd bet my life on it.