New Jetta owner questions

[AlphaBiker]

I recently purchased a 2003 Jetta GL. I have a '97 Expedition I purchased new and my wife has a '00 Mercury Grand Marquis. I wanted a small somewhat sporty car to commute with and keep the Expo for towing my boat and other recreation task. Not to mention to save on gas. The Jettas have always appealed to me so I decided to get one. I was a little concerned when during my research of the Jetta to find so many people were having problems with them. But I know from experience that on forums you will hear from many more people with complaints than from people without. Anyway I believe I got a good deal on a '03 with only 21,000 miles. It was a prior lease and looks new inside and out. My only gripes at this time are the 115, 4 cylinder engine is OK but I would have liked a little more acceleration. The engine is very noisy and road noise is very prevalent. Lastly, I'm almost 50 and not a speed demon. But on the highway when I take it up to about 80MPH to see what she can do, it doesn't feel sturdy. It feels like it wants to drift from side to side. At normal highway speeds it's OK. My question is, are the '03 models prone to have many of the problems such as windows falling into the door, engine light on, and other common problems compared to earlier models? It seems that at some time VW would resolve those bugs. What is it that I should look out for? How many model years have the same issues? Sorry for the long post.

Thanks

[FierceGT]

We just bought an '02 GLS 1.8T, and the first day the window sounded like it broke, and there was a squeak coming from under the engine. We already knew the center console latch needed fixed.....no spring.....and the gas cap tether needed fixed. We took it to the dealer and all those things were under warranty....the windows and the console were recalls, and the squeak was a broken muffler mount which they fixed by giving us a new muffler. There are plenty more recalls that we are going to look at....so I wouldn't worry about it too much, just make sure you take it in and let them look at it.