Thinking of buying a Jetta

[teenie]

Personally, "the book" I use is the Haynes manuel, available at any Napa auto parts stores. It's approximately 13 dollars or so there, and serves for our purposes.

[sgtglenn]

Have a 99 Jetta that went through a quart of oil every 1000 miles from the day I took delivery. Service manager insisted this was "normal during the break in period". After having them do the oil consumption testing (visit dealer every 1000 mi.) they had the nerve to say the car was out of the warranty period and they couldn't do anything. Researched this problem and found that certain Jetta's (VIN #'s supposedly unknown, yea right.....VW just avoiding a massive and expensive recall) were manufactured with the piston rings installed wrong. Thus allowing oil to blow right by.

VW North America was contacted by phone and was pretty much useless. Stated warranty issues are up to the descretion of the local dealers.
Needless to say I fired off a letter of disgust to VW America and copied it to the dealership owner, sent them certified return receipt. That was on a Friday morning.... on Tuesday afternoon the service manager called me and said the new piston rings and other parts are ordered and I should bring the car in for the necessary warranty repairs. I had the work done and they were bending over backwards for me, had it done in two days.
Amazingly, after being told for 10,000 miles of use and five trips to the service dept. that my oil consumption on the 1.8 Jetta is normal, I haven't used one drop of oil since the rings were replaced.
I guess the dealers don't want VW America to know how their service departments really treat customers!

[sgtglenn]

I apologize for being long winded in my previous post. Other than the oil problem and the glove box door hinge breaking (twice) my 99 Jetta is a great, reliable car. I am so confident in their product that I bought the wife the 2003 Beetle Convertable earlier this year. That car is a blast to drive.

[ehsrifledude]

For the money... Don't buy a jetta... In fact, don't buy a volkswagen period...

[teachergirl]

Don't do it!!!! Problem after problem. I used to have a 99. It was a great lil Car. For some reason, I wanted to get a newer one. Got it and it's been nothing but trouble. Just little things, but SO annoying. What happens when the warrany is up? Should I get out now? I've had the windows go, the wipers go, the coils replaced (just in case!!!), and now I have electrical issues. What does the lemon law actually say?

[Sy.Berian.Wulf]

i realy dont know why you people b1tch so much.... people are never satisfied...

i got a 88........an 88!!! jetta 2 csl 1600 .. its got 174000km on the clock (108000 miles) and she goes like a bomb... hell i crack the sump going over a rock.(not my fault) at 130000km and had to have the cylinder head skimmed by a 100th of a mm and the block borred slightly... new pistons fitted and from service to service, she doesnt use a drop of oil...u people must realise that the min and max mark on a dipstick is there for a reason... max at service change..... and then min for the next service.... also... the engine isnt in brilliant condition .. but i still drop cars traffic light to traffic light...

my interior is not brilliant... but i got kids that have ruined it.. i love kid so i i dont kick up a fuss... my aircon is killer... i would freeze if i forgot it on...no leaks on that... i replaced the water pump on it... only cause the thrust bearing got damaged and forgot to put anti rust in the water system... oh that doesnt use a drop either.... i drive comfortably from service to service with reliability... things like the battery have droped me.... thats not VW... they dont make batteries.... theres a manufacturing plant down the road here where i live and they produce the best peoples cars ever... damm... i can buy a brand new engine right off the factory....

[teenie]

If you've read other posts, I think you will see that almost everyone agrees that VW has gone down-hill in their ability to make a quality, long lasting cars. It's a fact, the newer ones have multiple problems with them, and VW consistently blames the consumer-one lady had her clutch go with less than 3,000 miles on her & they blamed her for not driving it right. She'd driven standards (VW's included) for 15 years, and SUDDENLY didn't know how to shift? I don't think so.

[datsunadict]

Guys, you have to realize that VW's, like all german cars, are soley dependant on how well you maintain them. i have a friend with a mkiii jetta vr6 that has had nothing but trouble with less than 80,000 on the clock, but my brother's 91 mkii 8V digifant (which i am about to buy) has 150,000+ miles and is in perfect condition. doesn't burn a drop of oil, runs like a dream, perfect paint and interior, and has never had a single electrical problem. the difference between these two people is that my friend (apart from changing the oil regularly) has done virtually no maintanence on his car and my brother has had his in the shop every 10,000 miles since he bought it with 22,000 miles. mileage is a relatively mute point when compared with car care.

keep an open mind about cars if you haven't had extensive experience with them. VW's are one of the best engineered cars on the road today.

[teenie]

What would you say if you bought a brand new car, and it burned 1 quart of oil every 1000-1500 miles? THEN the dealership says that's "normal" and refuses to do anything about it. It would shock you to know how many people this happened to-and all these people were new VW owners. Not every single VW they made after '99 had major problems, but there is an overwhelming amount of people out there who can't even drive their new cars because major stuff happened to the engine, and VW won't repair them.

One thing I thought was interesting, when I was thinking of buying my '96 Jetta I checked the VW of America website out, and they had a section for people to post their experiences with their cars. There was a lot of happy campers-especially the "older" ones (and I would consider a '91 older). There was also an abundance of unhappy customers, having similar complaints, and the general concensus was that VW was telling each owner every problem was "normal wear and tear". One lady even had pics of her 3 month old car & all the trim had fallen off around the doors/windows-again VW refused to fix it & said it was "normal wear & tear". At any rate, I again revisted that same site after I found this one, and every single plea for help, complaint, and photo of a falling apart new car were removed. VW of America left on only the "happy camper" stories. Hm---are they trying to hide something?

Burning oil, clutches giving out, and major alarm malfunction before 10,000 is not normal wear & tear on ANY car. If you look at other sites, you will see one after another tell their experiences where VW couldn't find the problem, or said it was normal wear & tear, until AFTER the warrenty, then wanted 1,000's to fix the problem.

As for having experience with cars-lol. Besides major alarm electrical work, there is not one thing my husband & I have NOT had experience with. My Jetta has been one of the "good" ones-yes, there are a few out there. It has not given me much problems, and it waited until it had 109,000 on it before the alarm started to malfunction. I consider myself fortunate, and I love my car, but I don't discount anyone else's experiences just because I've happened to have good luck with mine. From all the research I've done, I think they really fell apart in their craftmanship in '99. I sincerely hope they can get back to where they were, because they really did make quality cars that lasted.

[datsunadict]

i am gonna have to agree with you on this one teenie. the early mk iv cars (98.5/99-2002) were very poorly built. The main problem with them is the same problem VW has had with all its generation changes. The early MK I cars were built fairly poorly. The early MK II VW's were actually the best engineered VW's, other than mid 90's models. And when they made the switch to MK III in 92.5/93, the car quality was very inconsistant. some would run for 250,000 miles without a problem, others would fall apart in less than ten. And the worst so far, 98.5/99-2002, when they made the MK III to MK IV changover, they really screwed up. If you own a 99-2002 VW Jetta, and have not had a major problem, i would start buying powerball tickets.

Care and Maintanence are very important, but no matter how much you try, you can't polish a terd. gotta start with something good if you intend to keep it in good shape.

[teenie]

lol-I love the reference to not being able to polish a terd...we happen to refer to horrible cars (whether they fall apart or are just butt ugly) as terds in our house...my 5-year-old has even picked up the habit!

I posted that because I got the impression you were saying anyone with VW problems just wasn't taking care of their cars. I'm glad I was wrong!

[teachergirl]

I take damn good care of my "good looking" car. Took it to service for the trunk popping open while I drive problem. No matter how good I take care of it there is always something. I purchased it with 9,000 miles and now it has almost 24,000. Is my CPO warranty up at 24,000 or 24,000 plus the original 9??

[Sy.Berian.Wulf]

I dunno.... alot of people say that th early mk1 were poor..... the mk2.(which i happen to have and i have a love hate relationship with it... my fault for fiddleing)..... which mind you....if u fiddle with your car is gonna give hassles... i just happen to know VW cars backwards.... we race with them here and they perform outstandingly on the track... the mk3 were bad on fuel.... they messed up their power to weight ratio.... the mk4 jettas are brilliant... the jetta TDI is a fantastic car... one of the best fuel effecient cars out.... not many cars get 5.1l per 100 km..... and keep that for 90000 km on the clock...sorry.....VW still make some of the best cars in the world....... people are just full of...(what your faveorite word...) .......terds....

[datsunadict]

a guy like me isnt worried about gas mileage. the TDI is an underpowered grandma car. a good car for business trips and commuting yes, but a racecar, NO WAY.

When it comes to fast VW's, you have to start with a MK II body and drop in a MK III VR6 turbo or n/a, or a MK IV 1.8T. the 4th gen cars are way too heavy and the 3rd gen's have been done.

there is nothing like a MK II GTI with a turbo charged VR6.

[Sy.Berian.Wulf]

WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT????????????/ a tdi is killer.... i cant help you fuckup cant make a good car..... we got tdi that race here..... ill tell you what.... get a brain first with some knowledge of diesel powa.. then work on your car and MAke it a good car.... shit people .... its takes some guts to do up something.... it takes tallent to make a good car...the turbo was the ultimate weapon for diesel... thers no detonation...... and if u know your diesel rules.... u inject diesel in just before TDC.... wont take much to get a good car going...diesel still has more torque than petorl enginees..... i will admit.... the mantenance required on the diesel engine is higher....but damm.... i can race with a mini if i want...