2018 GTI SD Card Issues

I got a call from VW Monday morning. Got excited when I saw them on the Caller ID. They said "We're waiting on the part still but just wanted to make sure you were OK and is there anything else we can do for you?". I said no, thanked them, and hung up. I mean I appreciate the follow up and all, but don't toy with my emotions like that! So I'm still waiting on the part arrival.

On a side note - kinda related to the issue at hand - is my theory on why they made that phone call. I got an email survey, asking to rate the level of service I've received so far. I didn't fill out the survey (and don't plan to) because of one specific reason...

When I bought the Golf R - and when we bought my GF's 2019 Honda Accord 2.0T 6MT - we were told that we were going to get a survey, they'd appreciate it if we filled it out, etc., etc. What both dealerships told us.... mind you these are two completely different car companies... is that we have to give everything on the survey 5 stars. If we don't, the survey is considered to be a failure. They used the example of cleanliness of the dealership: If we gave everything 5 stars on the survey but felt the cleanliness was worth only 4 stars, the survey is considered a total failure. So both places put pressure on my GF and I to fill out the survey "but make sure we give everything 5 stars". We didn't feel this was honest, so we didn't fill out either one.

So my question is, if you're not able to rate the dealership honestly for fear of repercussions, then what's the point of the survey? I understand that may be the new industry tactic to make sure everyone gets a 5-star rating, but it just didn't smell right to us. Anyone else have a similar experience?

That survey BS has been going on for decades now. It's totally disingenuous to "fail" a dealer for one bad mark, causing them to beg for perfect scores, and sometimes retaliate when a customer doesn't give them one. It's a shitty, flawed system, yet it soldiers on for some unknown reason.

When you say you got a call "from VW" - was that VW corporate, or your dealer? If it was your dealer, than yeah, they're probably just trying to cover their own asses. Which is admirable, they should be doing that under the circumstances.

KevinC said:

That survey BS has been going on for decades now. It's totally disingenuous to "fail" a dealer for one bad mark, causing them to beg for perfect scores, and sometimes retaliate when a customer doesn't give them one. It's a shitty, flawed system, yet it soldiers on for some unknown reason.

When you say you got a call "from VW" - was that VW corporate, or your dealer? If it was your dealer, than yeah, they're probably just trying to cover their own asses. Which is admirable, they should be doing that under the circumstances.

Click to expand...

Sorry, yeah, it was the local dealership.

I left a mostly-positive review for a cabin we rented on VRBO a few years ago. Mostly glowing review but pointed out shortcomings (light bulbs not working, cleanliness, being accused of stealing a sheet (who does that, by the way?), etc.). The cabin owner angrily lashed out at me for not leaving a 100% perfect review and accused me of lying. She even threatened to have me kicked off VRBO, or worse, give my name to other cabin owners so they wouldn't rent to me. Of course none of that happened, but wow...

I even read a story the other day about a used car dealership pursuing legal action against someone that left them a less-than-perfect review on Yelp.

Anyway, sorry for the digression. Figured something to chat about while we wait for my 5F module.

VW called, the part has arrived. Hope to get it installed this week. Will report back once it's installed.

At the dealership now. Here's a pic I took the other day. We'll see if the new 5F module is any different.

We are eagerly awaiting the results...

Sorry for not replying sooner... have had the grandbabies and family here since Friday night. The new 5F unit is installed and yes, it's on a higher software revision. I haven't had much time in the car myself but so far, so good. It remembers exactly what's playing and at exactly what position when the car is turned off. It seems a little snappier too but that's most likely my imagination.

Time will tell if it's truly fixed but the results so far are encouraging.

I've driven the car two days in a row now, listening to nothing but the memory card. Must be 4 on/off cycles per day. It has been remembering exactly where I left off. So far, so good.

Good to know. I think I will schedule mine to get replaced since yours is now operating flawlessly.

Hi everyone,

While searching for a playlist file fix, I noticed that the SD card specs seen here may be incomplete and/or outdated. Here is what my car's Composition/Discover Media 2 Manual (update April 19, 2018, Italian version: July 2018, p. 24) says on the subject in a footnote:

SD cards up to 2GB, SDHC up to 32GB, SDXC up to 256GB. If the size exceeds 64GB, some files might not play.
[Comment: if the second sentence is true, the first one only confuses readers, so the section should read instead: When using >64GB cards, the audio system may be unable to play all stored files.]

Supported playlist file formats: M3U, M3U8, PLS, ASX and WPL
A playlist file shall not exceed 20kB nor contain more than 1,000 entries.
Each support (SD card) may contain up to 32 playlists.
Each support may contain up to 1,000 folders and up to 30,000 files.
Max. file size in the FAT32 system: 4GB.

On playlists:
Playlists establish play order of songs only, they do not contain music files. Playlists won't work unless the files on the support (card) are stored in locations pointed to by playlists (relative path pointers).

There's also a long list of acceptable audio file types and parameter ranges already reported here.

Discussing the play order, at one point the Italian text abandons playlists and continues by using the terms folder and file list, the latter being ambiguous. I suspect that something got lost in translation, it would help to see the German original to sort that out.
The Manual is of little use when it comes to audio media coverage. The satnav section is almost as bad, but the rather robust and intuitive satnav saves the day.

It seems to me that part of the problems experienced by many members here may be traced to this "soft" limit, so keeping the SD card size to 64GB or less may be worth trying.

Hope this helps.

Cheers from Italy