This is crazy shit right here! You explain that you’re hyper sensitive to odours, yet you expect the dealership to find a (quite likely) faint odour that is probably a smell that others will just associate with the usual way a new car smells as it initially off gasses, although you’ve said it’s bad etc, you haven’t really explained what the odour you smell actually smells like, what else in the world smells like it? Is it the plastics maybe? Organics? Chemicals? Glues even? You say the dealership is lying, but what about? They probably think you’re crazy and are accommodating you’re concerns but genuinely don’t think there is an issue, take the car back, change the cabin filter, and have a quick search yourself, take it to an independent if your happy to pay and don’t expect warranty, if it’s coming from the vents then that’s where the issue must be right? if the whole car (interior) just smells bad to you then it’s likely just off gassing of glues etc, does the engine bay smell the same? What about the fresh air inlet when checked from the outside? A vary bizarre occurrence indeed! I hope you find a solution.
I've already mentioned most of that, but here's a refresher:
The service adviser sat in the car right in front of me, stating his surprise at the potency of the smell. Several techs noted it at well, and this was communicated to me. Two more smelled it; one was my insurance adjuster.
They all agreed it was extremely powerful. One happened to like it. Hypersensitivity was a tertiary topic. This simply means that it is much more difficult for me to endure a smell this powerful. It does not minimize the potency as experienced by others. Three people verified that, with the windows down, they could smell it from approximately ten feet away even with the blower off.
I've said the engine bay seemed to "include" the odor, and I've said that it was patently obvious when the intake was approached; even when sucking in air, you can smell it from the outside. The man had his head in the engine bay when the car was running trying to look for a plastic bag that may have been sucked up, for crying out loud. He smelled it plain as day, and even sat about trying to decide what it smelled like to him. We stayed out there bullshitting about cars for a while, actually.
I mentioned what they were lying about, as well. They told me one thing, and told VW another thing entirely, as well as swapped their words for my own, and then changed their story yet again later. VW communicated to me that nobody detected an odor, when that service adviser was up sniffing the vents in amazement and following his own nose around the car, commenting on the smell and what he thought it might be... Sure. Whatever. I've got two other people who won't lie about what they smelled.
When I drove into the dealership lot, I walked in and asked the service adviser to come out and see if he smelled anything; I didn't walk in
complaining about a smell. I wanted to make sure it was there. Once he confirmed it, I just wanted them to look over the vehicle to find whatever I must have sucked up on the road.
They looked, he said that they saw no evidence of any such intrusion, and suggested I call Volkswagen to see about other GTIs that had a production-related smell issue out of the blue (they said some did). Money wasn't even on my mind, because clearly the next step was for them to start looking a little more deeply, which they suggested as the next course of action. I did not believe a production issue could be at fault, but it needed to be investigated either way.
I made a phone call I was told to make, told the lady what I was supposed to, and then she created a regional case; suggesting she'd check into potential links with the other cars, and start a dialog with the dealership. Everything was cool, she said; it was just about making sure the dealer was doing all they were supposed to do... I never said they weren't. I called because they told me to...
The callback was when things got weird; that's when the outlandish nonsense started; just as quickly as the odor did, actually.
I know what the "new car smell" includes. As noted, this happened very quickly three weeks into my ownership. This smell is not adhesive, carpet, fabric dye... It is nothing of the sort.