I am planning on selling my Sportwagen TDI (manual, 54K) back to VW. I have driven a stick shift since the 1970s so do not feel the problem with my clutch is related to my driving style.

Get into the car one morning (2 1/2 hours away from home) and I can't get it out of Reverse. After a few tries I realize the clutch won't come fully back up, it's stuck partway down to the floor. After looking around to check on floor mat and any other possible obstruction I realize that I can put my foot under the clutch to force it to pop back up. I proceed to drive home during which it happens over and over. I have to put my foot under the clutch to get it out of gear and then again to get it into gear. Extremely tricky on the highway.

Two weeks go by with no problem at all, clutch is working fine. Then it starts again one day last week, acting exactly the same. I take it to VW service, they see there is a problem, but in order to diagnose it they have to spend 3-4 hours ripping it apart. Not covered by warranty. They contact VW asking for some kind of pre-approval to pay for work and get a no. I contact VW and after 35 minutes on hold and another 30 minutes struggling with a "customer service" (not sure why they are called that) person, I am told same thing. I have to authorize the work to diagnose the problem. Then IF it is caused by a faulty part, I can contact them again to ask for assistance.

I am not willing to spend $1000++ to fix this problem and am furious w/ VW for not covering a repair.