Faults:

Absolutely No Faults.

General Comments:

This is the second VW Jetta I have owned. The first was a red 1996 GL automatic. Very reliable, no faults,although it was up in miles, about 220,000 when it finally died. I just bought a red 1999.5 GLS manual yesterday. This car was very well cared for. It has 127,823 miles. I opened it up on I-95 bringing it home and fell in love all over again. The paint looks like it did when it came off the showroom floor. The interior is spotless. Everything works! I am the second owner, which is great!. Jetta's are great cars if they are taken care of properly (same for any vehicle) Minor things like loose buttons and knobs, glove box doors, etc are signs of normal wear and tear from owners who probably didn't really treat the car like the gem it is. I absolutely love VW. I am sure I will be a repeat buyer!

Faults:

Engine light came on after the first 30 miles. It would come on and then go back off at various times, apparently at it's own will. Mechanic said oxygen sensor had to be replaced at a cost of over $200 but would not guarantee this would fix the problem. The car would not pass inspection because of the engine light.

After owning it for about one week my wife drove it on a rainy day and it died. It would not start back up for over 24 hours. Mechanic said it needed a new ignition coil and wires at a cost of over $300.

The right rear power window fell open one day. Had to buy a $100 part from the dealer and put it in myself.

Trunk release lock stopped working after one week.

Car has many other electrical problems and the transmission began to shift hard.

I returned the car to the dealer after owning it for less than 3 weeks. I thought the car was a real piece of garbage, a nightmare. I will never buy another VW.

General Comments:

Anything that might have been considered good was quickly forgotten because of the bad.

Faults:

These are things that have gone wrong with my Jetta since purchasing it:

1) Left front driver side automatic window stopped working.

2) Right after left window was fixed, the right passenger window stopped working.

3) Any passenger who sits in the front right seat has to wait until I roll their window down (remember #2), put their arm out of the window, and open the door from the outside because the door will not open from the inside.

3) Interior dash lights work when they feel like it, which is very annoying at night.

4) When the door is locked and you try to unlock it with the key it may or may not let you in. I guess it depends on it's mood. The alarm may go off too. I've found it easier just to not lock it (and hope that someone is stupid enough to steal it).

5) Vanity mirror won't close completely, which causes the light to stay on and drain the battery.

6) For some reason, VW thought it was a good idea for the car to have power steering, power windows, power locks, but no power seats. You have to manually turn the knobs on the side of the seat, that is when the knobs have not fallen off and rolled under the seat.

7) Sunroof is off track and will not open properly.

8) Sunroof sometimes opens on its own.

9) The most annoying and damaging thing is that when it rains, water leaks in through the passenger side door causing standing water (up to 5 inches depending on the weather).

General Comments:

Do not be fooled by the Jetta's cuteness and style appeal. You will be sadly disappointed!

I thought I was making a step up when I got rid of my Geo Prizm, boy was I wrong!