help! on 2002 1.8t buying issue

Hi! First time poster!!!

Ok. I am looking at a 2002 VW Jetta, 1.8L turbo, auto S5 transmission. I test drove it recently, and tried to use the S5 manual shift option. It did not work. I am posting here to find out if these models have a reputation for bad transmission, or if a broken S5 shifter would compromise the rest of the engine/transmission at all... If it would not cause any other problems, I would be looking to buy it still, as I could use this to bargain down the price of the vehicle.

Anybody know about these? Franco?

Welcome to the forum Nat.Davis. Before i give you my total opinion, how many miles on the car?

Welcome to the forum Nat.Davis. Before i give you my total opinion, how many miles on the car?

It has just under 80k miles on it... Clean title.

Ok great. First the tiptronic shifter has magnets that my have come unstuck from the shifter base. These magnets control the positioning of the tiptronic mode. You can remove the shifter cover to see if they are in place. Not a big issue for most transmission shops.
The miles are high enough to warrant a mechanic to look over some items that need to be done. Here are the items.

1. Timing belt and Water pump(at every 60,000) Top Priority
2. Fuel filter(every 20,000)
3. Cabin air filter(every 30,000)
4. Coolant change if dirty or weak.(VW coolant is considered a life time coolant) Dealer Only
5. Air cleaner(every 15,000) in Texas, OK.
6. Transmission fluid and filter(every 100,000) Considered a long term fluid. Only use VW transmission fluid. The dealer is who i would use on this one also.