While you steer, a grinding, squealing noise comes from the steering column, which many people blame on the power steering pump or the steering rack, although the cause is often the control unit in the steering column, and that is a smaller part, not the rack. Replacing the control unit is the smaller repair, replacing the rack costs much more, and the noise alone does not separate the two, so a fault code read is needed.

The 7 speed, wet clutch DSG that replaced the DQ250 in the MQB models (0GC / DQ381) is vulnerable from the mechatronics side. Typical faults are a harsh 2 to 3 shift, delayed D/R engagement and limp mode; a fault in the clutch position sensors gives a separate group of codes.

The combined housing of the water pump and the thermostat is plastic, and it is bolted directly to the hot engine block. The many heat and cool cycles warp it, it becomes brittle, and then it develops a hairline crack: the fault is almost always the housing, not the pump itself. The signs are slowly disappearing coolant with no visible puddle, the coolant level light, a sweet smell from the engine bay, and later a pink stain under the car. The repair means replacing the pump and the housing together, and the intake manifold has to come off for it: 4 to 6 hours of work. It shows up on model years 2015 to 2025.

The crankcase ventilation (PCV) of the third generation 1.8/2.0 TSI fails less often than its predecessors, but it is not faultless. After sustained full load acceleration, under hard braking, the return branch of the ventilation can be overloaded, and the oil ends up in the intake instead of draining. The symptoms are oil consumption, blue smoke after load, and deposits in the intake.

Water gets in through the sunroof drains, the door seals or the window guides, and collects on the floor and in the sill. The water also ruins the wiring and the control units in the floor, which leads to hesitant starting and an alarm going off on its own. With a fault like this, lift the carpet first, because the water is under it.

The crankcase breather carries the vapour that forms inside the engine back to the intake, and a rubber membrane regulates the pressure. Oil and heat harden this membrane until it tears, and from then on the intake draws air through the hole in it. The engine control unit does not measure that air, so the mixture goes wrong: the engine shakes at idle, stumbles when accelerating, and the fault memory gets P2279 for an intake system leak. In the other direction oil starts towards the intake, which leaves an oily film in the intercooler and on the intake pipe and speeds up the carbon build-up on the intake valves. The audible sign is a whistling or hissing noise from the engine bay, loudest at idle. The tear is reported between 60,000 and 90,000 km. On the first and second generation the breather is a separately replaceable valve (factory number 06H 103 495 AK) and costs between 80 and 400 euro; from the third generation it is built into the cam cover, so there the cover is replaced. The maker issued three versions up to 2016, and fitting the pressure variant that does not belong to the engine brings the same symptom back.

Over bumps a booming, squeaking noise comes from the front, and a common cause is a bump stop put back wrongly after a damper replacement: that is not a factory fault, but the result of earlier work. On cars built between 2013 and 2016 the rubber bushes wear out too, the dampers weaken as well, the car rides more harshly, and the tyres wear unevenly. The two faults sound the same on a test drive, so if the suspension was repaired at a garage, ask for the invoice and listen to the car.

The engine warning light comes on, the engine runs badly, and the fault code points at oil pressure, although the most common cause is the sensor itself, not that the engine really has no oil pressure. Replacing the sensor is the smaller and more common repair, but you cannot decide that just by looking, because only a measurement can rule out low oil pressure, and if the pressure really is low the engine is damaged. Do not buy the car without a fault code read.

With the air conditioning on, a whistling noise comes from the dashboard, and the cause is the expansion valve, which meters the refrigerant, so the compressor has not failed and the gas has not run out. Most places first suggest a recharge, but a recharge does not stop the noise: the noise comes back, and you pay for a recharge that does not help.

The dash shows "Error: Workshop! Only leave vehicle in position P" with an audible warning. The message appears in whatever language the car is set to, for example "Fehler: Werkstatt! Fahrzeug nur in Stellung P verlassen" in German.

The per cylinder ignition coil of these direct injection, turbocharged petrol engines fails. According to the Haynes service material this and similar simple electrical faults account for roughly eighty per cent of workshop visits.