'97 Jetta

[Hessian]

I am new to this forum. I am considering buying a '97 Jetta GLS. It looks in mint condition, but has 160,000 miles on it. The asking price is about 3400.00. Are there any problems that I should be aware of that are peculiar to this year and model? I do my own work on cars and am looking for a second car. Are there lots of part available? Anyone know about what the life of one of these may be? Any help would be great. Thank you in advance.

Craig

[pmartino]

I bought a 97 Trek model (alum rims, spoiler, better seats) in Oct 03 with 160k km on it (100k miles) for 6500 Can dollars (as little under 5k US). With that in mind 3400 sounds a little steep with all those miles on it.

It is my first VW, ran fine up until a month or so ago then I had some serious problems and am still working away at it. I think my problem was a direct result of the crazy cold temps we had up here in January... timing slipped at one point. VWs are notorius for being shite in the cold. Also I've put 60k kms on it in a year and a bit so that hasn't helped.

It's a pretty good car to work on, lots of room in the engine bay and generally I think rust isn't a big problem with them. Parts are a little more pricy than domestics but not too bad overall. A lot of the bolts on it are Torx for some reason so that takes some getting used to.

Overall I'm happy with it, definitely no warrior like my '90 Laser (230k miles on Mitsu engine).

[nicoleos]

Is it a 2.0 or VR6 gls? Either way, that is a lot of miles for a 97. Thats roughly 20,000 to 23,000 miles a year. Do you know of any recently changes parts or services done? Since $3400 is not a lot, you have to ask yourself,
"Am i going to nickel and dime myself with this car?" and
" That is pretty cheap for a '97. Is it worth taking a chance?"
But if you are really interested, try paying a mechanic to take an extensive look at the car before you buy it to see how much extra you will need to spend. Hopefully that helps.

[CaseyVR6]

Doesn't sound like that many miles at all to me if he lives in a rural area. The engine will have far less wear than city miles for sure. my 2000 jetta VR6 has 180,350 on it and still going strong. Few parts here and there, but that's life. Sounds like what the car is worth to me, no deal but no rip off.

[Hessian]

Thank you all for your input. I will have to consider all this. I am not to fearful of the miles. I have a Dodge full size van with 230,000 on it and it is my daily driver. I was more concerned about any typical quirks that a '97 Jetta might have. It sounds like they might be pretty sturdy little cars. I am glad to hear they can be worked on at home. The only VW's I have ever owned were all air cooled. They are easy to work on. Maybe these will be too. Thanks again for the input. This is a great forum.

Craig