Fix it before they sell it? CAR WIZARD gets a '16 Tiguan with issues no new buyer would want 

I bought a new 2013 VW Passat with the diesel engine. It was a great car! It came with 3 years of free maintenance (oil changes,etc). The diesel scandal was resolved after I had owned it for 39 months. I wanted to keep the car but VW offered me just $600 less than what I paid for it new for the buy back program. As much as I loved the car, the buy back deal was just too good to pass up.

VW gets a lot of hate, but I’m on my third VW (Arteon). My mom is on her third Passat. Never let us down, but we maintain our vehicles meticulously.

I bought one with 70k miles now has 100k in 3 years I haven’t had to take it to a mechanic once! Just regular maintenance by me. Oil changes, transmission maintenance, coolant change, new tires and rotors. It runs great!

The Name Tiguan comes from the Mix of the names of two animals. "Ti" from Tiger stands for strength and the "guan" is from the german Leguan which means Iguana in english and stands for climbing and grip.

My ‘03 Saturn VUE had a fuel tank like this. I remember the fuel gauge would never read completely full. It’s a smart design of Volkswagen to have those access holes.

Good on you for letting Mike have his own channel. I agree on the pumps, I've been a mechanic since the late 80's. It never ever ever fails that the tank is full no matter what reason it needs to be dropped.

here in germany the streets and parking lots of super marketes are full of black tiguans. you see them everywhere. I think they have sold more of them than golfs some years ago

Have 140,000 Miles on my 17 Passat R-Line. Oil changed every 7,000 miles with top synthetic and I service the trans, coolant, and brake fluid regularly. Still drives like brand new!

I have owned my 13 2.0 tdi tiguan since new. Coming up tp 400k klm. Its been a fantastic car. You just have to keep very well maintained, which i mostly do myself.

Very interesting that a dealership would send a vehicle out to an independent repair shop. Goes to show you what level of expertise a lot of these dealerships are lacking. In my experience, they’re nothing more than part changers hoping to find the problem.

I love my 2021 Tiguan. It has been perfect. There are small things about certain cars that people wouldn't know unless they owned one. For example, the heater is warm almost instantly, about 7 minutes faster than my Tacoma.

Good on you for supporting Mike and his channel. Good management there!

I have a 14 Tiguan and its been a solid car. Wizard you may want to check the water pump for the dealer they tend to give out after a while, there is an aftermarket aluminum one that will run forever. Honestly if you take care of it, and get a good mechanic a VW will treat you very well.

I had a Tiguan as a rental car a few years ago and liked it. The AWD system worked well in the snow. My car is a 2016 Golf with the 1.8 TSI engine. First time in my life I bought a brand new car.

I own a 2015 GTI, manual with 71K miles and the car has been almost flawless and it was made in Mexico. So far it has been the best car I've ever owned and the two previous GTI's (2006 & 2010) were also very good cars.

My DIL loved her '14 Tiguan until the turbo blew, and they had a bad experience with a motor swap. She traded it for a 2023 Toyota Highlander, thanks to Wizard's advice that I passed along to her 😉 I do love my VW's- had a 2000 Passat V6 wagon, a 2012 5-cyl Jetta, and now drive a '14 Eos with that 2.0 turbo motor... so far so good- I forget to worry about it when driving with the top down on a sunny day lol. I subscribed to Mike's channel a while ago- nice to see Wizard supporting him. 👍

I have this model for 10 years now and I love it.

Thank you, Wizard and Mrs. It may have improved, but I drove a 2010 and thought Euro Junk. For compact SUVs, there are much better choices (Honda CRV, Toyota Rav4, Mazda CX5) available in the same price range

Honestly I've been 100% Satisfied with my 2016 Jetta as well, no serious problems other than one bad dealership mechanic. She is Running really well with 85k miles.

My friend and I worked on one timing chains & head replacement. We put 200 miles on it before it left & change ed the oil. When it left, it ran smooth and strong. When we received a phone saying it was skipping & popping out the exhaust we were stumped. Found that the electrode melted to the piston and valve was bent. 87 octane fuel on hills of PA and full throttle on a turbo engine wasn't a good combination. So the guy junked it .

I remember my joy in finding that some previous owner had already cut an access hatch for the fuel pump in my 1999 Tahoe. I would never have risked it myself.

That blue Porsche 911 is gorgeous.

I owned a lot of cars in my time. A lot. 6 of them was VW. That was how many it took to learn my lesson. All of them was troublesome and broke down. 3 of them where Golf II. I could fix them myself and parts where really cheap. Now I play safe, and drives a Toyota and a Lexus. I only see the dealership for routine maintenance. Germen, French, Italian, Spanish, Swede and South Korean cars is in the history books for me.

My 2013 Tiguan 2.0 Tdi has done 200k km, apart from timing belt, a egr valve its been great. I do all the oil changes myself. Nice solid car been great for what i paid. These days to replace it would cost almost twice as much.

My 1999 van has a wonky fuel gauge, too. For now, I set my trip odometer to zero every time I fill up. That way I know when I should add gas. I should get it fixed, but I'm not sure how much life is left in the van.

I was looking at one of these but I bought a ‘16 Mazda CX-5 instead.I feel like I made the right choice.

Here in Europe most of us, the smart ones will only buy the Tdi VWs to avoid problems as the Tdi here last for ever. .. the TSI not so much

My 2019 Tiguan with 61,000 miles zero issues and it’s more thank 5 years I am driving with my family. Only had to change tires, battery and AC filter.

My'94 BMW 740 needed a fuel sensor/sender too, and it went out while it was full of fuel as well. It was an easy fix though, access panel was under the trunk mat. It didn't take me more than a half hour to replace the unit and finish the repairs. I don't know about other BMWs but E32's can be really easy to fix or stupid-hard, depends on what's wrong

I'm addicted of your videos Mr wizzard, keep going!

That front downpipe is out of its mount on the subframe

You don't see Tiguans or Audi A4s in your shop because the 2.0L is fine if you maintain it. Hope you can figure that one out in the near future. Drive around with no oil in your FJ Cruiser and see how long it lasts. Blame the player not the equipment.

My sister has a 2015 Volkswagen Tiguan. Her husband was driving the car. Parks it and gets in, car has zero compression. It was under warranty, we took it to VW. They wouldn't honor the warranty. I had to call Volkswagen of Canada and then they decided to take action. The valves were completely gone, melted, timing was off. They repaired the car, did a horrible job and damaged the top inside grille, missing bolts, etc. One month later, turbo goes out. Replaced the turbo and about four months ago, the new turbo failed. ABSOLUTELY the worst experience ever. Shockingly terrible car. Now the panarmic roof leaks, interior bits breaking. Not sure if we have a bad batch, the Germans were not happy on this day or what. Awful.

These newer Volkswagen's with the 2 L turbocharged four-cylinder engine have a lot of electrical and mechanical problems. So, it is the best decision to do your re-search first, prior to buying the vehicle. Thank you very much.

Just a heads up. At 6:37 look at the down pipe hangers. They have popped out of their rubber mounts.

I worked for VW dealer for few decades in parts. Tiguan's are known for turbo problems, rear main seal leaks, Carboned up intake manifolds, and water leaks with sunroof. If you are considering buying one make sure you check the vehicle vin for service history. The rear main seal has to be installed with the factory tool or it will leak. We had shops borrow the tool and trying to install seal without it and they always leak and they call parts back to do the job again.

The Tiguan is very popular in Europe but the vast majority have the Diesel Gate scandal engine. They sell well because they get the job done and return 50-60mpg without any environmentally devastating lithium. In terms of maintenance you do need to swap the timing belt in line with service recommendations. Other than that oil changes when the light comes on or 12,000 miles. You do need to be aware these engines can burn oil when new but when everything beds in after a few thousand mile you are good.

It's pretty funny to see how reliablitly varies from countries to countries. The 2.0 tfsi is genuinely regarded as reliable here in europe, but that's only because it sits in the range next to engines like the 1.4tfsi which are even more awful, I guess

And that is another reason why i drive on the TOP half of my fuel tank rather than the bottom half. It doesn’t cost a dime more and i know i always have at least 1/2 a tank of gas in any emergency…..

This would be an awesome thing for dealerships to have. A standardized checklist gone through on video for "certified" pre owned vehicles or all other pre owned vehicles

Interesting repair, I swear I am always learning something new from The Car Wizard!

I’m a VW tech and they’re great but usually depends on who’s working on it. Things as simple as a sloppy oil change or using cheap oil can cause some expensive repairs.

Super common in Europe this one, but in general with smaller engines or diesel. It's considered a medium sized SUV here :)

funny thing is that those with the start button gets the same key as the ones with regular ignitions, so you get a normal key with a swiveling blade that doesn't have where to go (it serves as the emergency key, but not at all concealed as a start-button-key-fob would be). So it's very common to see the plastic on the steering column all scratched from ppl forgeting the start button and trying to start the car with the key, only to find out no ignition switch at all

My 2012 Tiguan (Tiger/Iguana) was a money pit. Fully VW dealer serviced here in Australia. Chewed up coils and injectors, drank oil like an alcoholic likes whiskey, electric driver’s seat jammed a long way from home, electric fuel cap failed so couldn’t fill it. Great to drive but a disappointment to own. Avoid like the plague.

Don’t know if anybody noticed or maybe you guys were working on it etc but at 6:41 the down pipe wasn’t seated properly into the bracket that has the red rubbers

my mom bought a 16' Tiguan witrh 4montion 3 years ago with 25k miles and now is at 95k, never had a problem but now has CEL but still runs fine. It's a beast in the snow I've never once have gotten stuck and I live in the upper midwest.

My mother has this model. At 52k miles the intermediate shaft seal was leaking and required $2500 to fix. I own a 17 passat and the wheel sensors are always triggering all the warning lights and it's $400 a piece to change at dealer.

I had a 2019 I purchased new in 2019 for $25,000 it was the largest SUV in its class very capable for minor off road or snow driving in 2020 I moved to another state and my closest dealer was 2.5 hours away then I started getting notifications from law offices about lawsuits regarding my make and model so in 2022 I sold it to a local dealer for $25,000 and purchased a new Subaru

Do you remember The office the movie? The lady picking up the phone calls...Her voice..... Ringing my hears Becomes annoying the sales Pushing 😂

The little plastic "hole" it's there because the EA113 2.0 TFSI had a hole in there for the PCV hose and when deleting the PCV for a catch can, the hole was used as a boost tap port. The PCV valve for the TSI EA888 is different and that's why theres no whole in there.

The 1969/1970 Buick Riviera came with an in-tank electric fuel pump (the first American production car to do so) and way back then the engineers gave enough care to put an access panel in the trunk to access the sending unit/fuel pump. Why modern engineers don't consider repairs when designing new cars boggles the mind. Like no new car ever needs a fuel pump after a few years? Or do they just figure their cars are such crap they'll be in a junkyard before many parts will wear out?

Mrs. Wizard, those are not leather seats. It's what a lot of automotive brands call leatherette, really just a fancy word for vinyl.

VW'S were originally built for the people...now their built for the mechanic...

I believe crown victorias and grand marquis are the same way for access to fuel pump and fuel sending unit under the seats

Sold Tiguans when they where introduced. A great yawn from the buying public, at the time, but VW trudged on. Now I see them all over. Non AWD models are pretty useless, but ok if you need to haul 5 quickly and safely.

Bold of you to assume that I wouldn't take a $1000 discount for a car that had a non-op fuel gauge. I drove a 1989 Suzuki Sidekick for years that way. Filled up every 200 miles. Took around 9 gallons for a 12 gallon tank. Never ran out.

My daughter's 2012 loves oil but besides that, it's been a great little car

My 2000 Jetta had the same fuel tank access cover. Very convenient! My fuel level sending gizmo started to get erratic and the whole fix took grand total of one hour. On 2000 Jetta this cover was under the right rear folding seat, so access was a breeze. To this day I don't understand why so few car manufacturers offer this great repair feature. Why would you force the owners/mechanics to drop the fuel tank to replace something as basic as the fuel level sending unit??

VW/Audi is known for those weird fuel tanks. I own a 1994 Audi A8, the fuel pump has small hoses going into every area and installing it is a PAIN. It's a common issue that even shops install these pumps wrong and suddenly the car dies at half a tank.

I remember when VW built solid cars. Around the early 2000s, things started to go downhill

Name is Tiguan, tiger and iguana in German put together. I noticed the coolant is not a nice pink. I would Replace the coolant to restore the anticorrosive properties in it so it doesn’t rust the coolant system. We been having heater cores plugging up

I fixed one of these With 140.+ miles on it. It had 1 bad injector sent away for test and clean .intake runner flaps broken . Walnut blasted intake refitted new intake from europarts. It also had a massive oil leak from rear main, did not refit OEM inferior unit but fitted ECS tuning upgraded one. Flushed the bad wrong coolant and replaced with G40 correct coolant . It was gone for 4 years since repair and was just back this Xmas for a misfire Diagnosed 1 bad coil replaced with after market as we can't get easy any parts little own Factory OEM ones. Told client The other coils can fail soon also and it's only a cheap after market coil. He reckons he wants to sell it as they now hardly use it. On my Toyota 2004 last of the good ones I fitted 4 new after market coils and 1 failed after 1000 km again. So thats 25% rejects if you buy 4 and 1 failed. Denso ones i can only get from USA rockauto easy if i really want my Toyota to be reliable. I also use denso for all cars if possible, like spark plugs

Loved my VW Tiguan! Fantastic car in the 3 years I owned it.

I have Tiguan TDI diesel version, love the car.

FUN FACT, There are thin slots to the left of hazard button, above the radio. You can put your license, rewards cards, etc in them.

On cars that you have to drop the tank, I used an old fuel pump and made a fuel transfer hose. I would then mark how much gas it had then transfer the gas to a different car. When the repair is done, I would simply go to the station and refill the tank

I don’t know what Chrysler 300 you guys worked on but all of them have the access panel right under the back seat like you see in this Tiguan. No need to cut holes or drop the tank 🤷‍♂️

The scan tool won't find broken wires! Happened to a VW Golf I used to own. Dealer didn't have a clue, independent said "We fix these all the time..."

Scotty kilmer has a distant cousin in Kansas lol he goes by wizard.I've had audi and vws between other cars , my current is a vw gti mark 6 and it's been very reliable with the 2.0.It hasn't had as many problems as my Mazdas , Subaru s and Toyotas which are mostly touted as great cars across RU-vid.I like the wizards content but I feel a kilmer like preference on how he views the best in reliability😂

Missed the cat exhaust bracket out of the holder on the sub frame, just fyi sir!

That model is very good. 2014 is when they revised the issues with the turbo and timing tensioner. Basically the only issues are the control arm bushings go out always. Easy fix… great car imo.

Looking at over priced Honda Pilots and stumbled upon a Tiguan R line black. Great handling,braking,etc. Panoramic sunroof is awesome. Only problem so far has been a caliper piston causing uneven brake pad wear.

I love my 2018 Tiguan

I work at a Euro specialty shop and every week we have a VW or Audi like this one that is getting major work done

My car has 2 inspection hatches and an in tank filter which blocks up occasionally, also be careful of the balance pipe's becoming brittle

definitely subscribing to magic Mike's channel, Taylo's van is awesome, haven't seen those trucks or vans in years.

I really like the lower facia vent panel & interesting they use the same floor pan for both 2 & 4 wheel drive models

After owning one VW I will not be a repeat customer. I guess I should have learned, since before the VW I had a BMW 😂

I have a 2019 VW Golf Sportwagen, 0 issues and it has 77,000KM, had a 2012 VW Jetta TDI before and put over 100,000KM on it, only a few sensors went and everything else was maintenance and wear items, if you treat your vehicle right, it will treat you right.

Not all independent dealers have competent mechanics or not at all. It's just the way it is sometimes

0:34 ah yes the phenomenal vw 2.BLOW LOL

2005 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4. In January 2023 went to fill up the tank at Costco. Parked it and went in to buy the essentials. Came back to a dead fuel pump. Had it towed to a local shop. They dropped the tank and replaced the fuel pump. Cost me $1,700 mainly in labor and $400 for a rental car while the shop waited for the parts to show up.

People either love or hate VW but some people think they don’t have to pick a side but they do

Most off my work comes from dealers and they don't apprieciate the work we do for them and exhale when they get the bill . But when they're drinking champers with the profit they've made do they think about us ?

I’ve been hoping you’d end up with some more modern vw videos!

You've said stay away from turbos. I see why now

Tiguan is a mix of tiger and iguana. VW held a naming contest…and that name won.

Tiger + iguana = Tiguan, if memory serves. We had one of these for a few years. Good little (by American standards) tall car. Coincidentally, my 2013 mustang has a saddle-shaped fuel tank.

A few cars has these blind ports on the engine, and they seem very strange to a common person, but are actually blinded and not in us in this model. For other models they may be in use if the engine is set in a way that makes it nescessary to use it. I had a Volvo V70 with a blind port on the motor. This had the 185 Hp gasoline turbo engine and an automatic gearbox, and the port was just sittng there. When I used a tiny camera and scoped it, I found it was actually blinded. Just a waste of materials.

Dual clutch trans has to be serviced every 60k miles.

For a second it looked like a PCV Valve. VW = Endless Money Pit! If the dealership doesnt know their vehicles; what else the dont know???

Hey Mr. and Mrs. wizard can we look for any bus updates soon? Keep the great content coming.

I wouldn't buy any new vehicles these days - especially the ones with GDI. Too many electronics, plastics, and other issues.

Honda CR-V of previous gen still provides access under rear passenger's seat (left one). Didn't check the most recent one, but I own previous gen, so I know it ). Part number for the cap - 74660-S1C-E00

Seems like advertising for the dealer that wants to sell this. I suggest potential owner still get an inspection, look at 1:32 , brake rotors look to have grooves, that is something Car Wizard tends to miss when he just does an inspection for his videos.

As long as the oil control rings hold up its a great little engine

You should do a video on "platforms". A lot of that car is the same as Dodge Journey, it's just wearing different clothes. Some people and technicians may not realize that there are many parts interchangeable because of a "parent" company. For example, I had a customer at 2 other shops that said Suzuki parts are no longer available. The vehicle in question was the same platform as many GM models. I found what they needed under GM part number and got them repaired. Point being sometimes the imports will say we no longer have that part and I say no problem I will get it from the domestic vehicle that is basically the same car.

Great Team work you two!!! The Wizard the Mentor - with Majic-Mike..

funny to see fuel gauge sneding unit fail when they had a magnetic system back in 2004 and perhaps before that simply wouldnt fail. They went back to a resistive , dipped in petrol cheap crap to make sure it will fail.