Faults:

My transmission went out at 25000 miles, luckily the car was still under warranty.

The gas lid does not open, had to stay at gas station for 30 minutes with no gas trying to pry it open.

My seats look like someone has taken mud and scissors to them, very embarrassing.

My headlights go out all the time.

The check engine light comes on at random intervals, a.k.a. all the time.

The brake pads take a special tool to change, which is not cheap. Took the car to a garage, had to pay outrageous fee to have them changed.

The brakes still make terrible noises.

The O2 sensors have gone out twice.

My cup holders have decided to all break at the same time.

The air conditioner is horrible, when it is on you sacrifice a ton of gas.

The passenger side door handle sticks, and makes a loud poping noise when it decided to become unstuck.

General Comments:

I will never own another VW vehicle.

I am in college and wanted a car that is cheap on gas, but reliable. (not reliable)

This is not a car that I would want anyone I know to purchase.

Faults:

The New Beetle was nice for the first year that I had it, then it started having problems for the following 2 years until it got wrecked. It was a very safe car though!!!

Had the car for 3 years and 46,000 miles and went through 3 sets of tires. Aligned a few times, but never figured out what was causing the tire wear.

The EVAP canister needed to be replaced after only one year and 10,000 miles. Would have normally been covered under warranty, however dealer would not cover it. Since the car had a couple scratches on the rear fender (from a parking incident) the dealer claimed it was damaged by the "accident". Filed claim with VW, but they refused to cover the repair, cost me over $500 to fix.

At 34,000 miles the speedometer would stop responding now and then, never was able to figure that one out.

At 40,000 miles, car would hesitate and/or stall under anything more than very light acceleration. In the shop 4 times, but dealer new figured it out before the car was totalled. I assumed it was something to do with the distributor/ignition system.

General Comments:

When it first came out it was more of a spectacle than anything else. Felt very solid and quiet, but the interior looked cheap.

Fairly comfortable in the front, but very cramped in the back. Lackluster performance, mainly because it is quite heavy for a 4-cylinder car. Decent low-end torque, but no real power. Got around 30mpg most of the time, and has a 14 gallon fuel tank. It's a decent around-the-town car, but not great on long trips.

Handles OK in bad weather, but not as well as the Jetta or Golf. Brakes work nicely, but ABS is quite intrusive. Lots of body roll in turns, but still grips the road well.

Faults:

I have had a few problems, but nothing major. Brought it in for an oil change, and had to sign a...apparently I had NO oil in my engine at all. I couldn't tell.

The plastic parts need to be handled with care. The side mirrors control switch broke right off, and I have yet to figure out why.

First gear is EXTREMELY SMALL. I can't get through a whole intersection without having to shift, and I'm already in shifting into fourth at 35 mph.

CD changer occasionally doesn't work, especially when it's cold.

The A bars (four corners of the cab) are in the worst positions possible. I can't see blind spots, traffic around curves, or the cars pulling out in front of me in parking lots.

General Comments:

All my previous cars have been 6 cylinders, and this is my first experience with a 4 cylinder vehicle. I can't tell if it's supposed to sound that loud, or if I'm being obnoxious.

Overall, the heated seats are a life-saver! The car warms up quickly, the drive train is solid, and the gas mileage is great. The stock sound system is very very good, the dash is the size of my coffee table.

You cannot, however, put anyone over about 5'5 in the back seat, the way its constructed, the back roof slopes down too much. But it's got a TON of leg room.