jaesyu

I have leased a 2002 Jetta 1.8T and it has got to be the worst damn car that I have ever driven. At first the turbo, the interior, the exterior, and the HP attracted me into leasing the car. Within 2 months, the turbo started to have problems and with the limited powertrain warranty, the company didn't even get me a rental car. I've made over 13 trips to the dealership within a 2 year time frame because of turbo problems, and minor engine problems. The car has been in the shop for as long as 2 weeks and Volkswagen refused to credit me with those time that the car was in the shop being repaired. And a couple of weeks ago, a few days short from my lease termination at 50,000 the timing belt snapped on me for no reason. The dealership refused to cover for the engine with the company warranty because they were telling me it was because I didn't do an oil change every 3,000 miles. They even required for me to bring in 15 oil change reports dating back to almost 3 years ago (how many people actually keep up with this info?). What I found out later was that for Volkswagen cars an oil change was needed only every 5,000 miles and luckily I had found records of prior 9 oil changes. The entire engine needed to be replaced and the estimate was close to $9,800.00 and with various threats and so forth to the company was able to get it covered under warranty. I have never had so much trouble with a car ever before and understand why people go for the less powered Japanese cars now. We have a Honda and a Isuzu and both are over 130,000 miles and have never been routinely maintained but are still in good condition and have not had any problems so far except for replacing the starters.

If you're out there to buy a Jetta I must WARN you to reconsider. My sister went as far to consider standing outside of the Volkswagen dealer with other unsatisfied customers with pickets complaining.

FuelEfficient

I would have to agree with you here...and i think many other (new) Volkswagen owners might too.

I was first attracted to the exterior and interior styling of the new body style Jetta. Quiet interior, sleek design, relatively good road manners, and a great transporter. But it had A LOT OF PROBLEMS throughout my owning this car.

First damn problem i had, i couldn't crank the engine because of a total electrical short. Dealer had to change all the fuses. In fact, ALL i mean ALL of the problems on this damn car at first seemed to be mechanical in nature, but turned out to be an electrical problem.

The current problem i have is the emissions. As you know...all computer and electrical here. I've had to catalytic converts go out. This time, most likely a mechanical problem...the engine is running too lean. But who knows...i've had to even change out the damn central computer (at dealers expense), so it might turn out to be an electrical/computer problem again.

Ahh...well... My next car will be a PRIUS anyway. Maybe by the time i can afford a new car, hybrid technology will be better. In the meantime, nobody seams to be complainging about the PRIUS...so my eyes are set on that.