Faults:

I thought I had bought a wonderful car when I took delivery of my 2000 Jetta, I didn't know what I was getting into.

After about 9 days the automatic shifter was not shifting properly. On the most minute inclines the car would roll backwards in drive. The dealer found no problems and the mechanic said the rollback was standard on all VW's. Twenty days later, a different mechanic immediately diagnosed the rollback as not standard at all. After 17 days with a rental car, I received my Jetta back with a new transmission and even noisier than before. Two days later, none of the dials including the speedometer functioned. Then the dealer informed me that in addition to these maladies the anti-lock brakes were not functioning due to complications of the car's new transmission. Shortly after the 10,000 mile check up my little orange engine light came on. Another trip to the dealer showed up a minor problem with the transmission. At 13,300 miles the transmission fell off its support and is missing a chunk according to the mechanic. The car yet again resides at the dealer service lot. Ugh!

General Comments:

Buy something else, please.

Faults:

Diesel is sluggish and very hard starting, especially after the engine is hot. Cold weather is worse than hot weather. Have had car to two VW dealers and they cannot figure out what is wrong with it. What gives here? Are they incompetent or just really non-educated on their main product that they are trained to service?

Anyone else had the same problem?

Faults:

After the first tire rotation the tires made a thumping noise and the steering wheel vibrated badly. The dealership said they just needed to "wear in", but then eventually admitted the tires were defective and ordered new ones. This took at least 6 months.

The car makes many squeaks, thumps and rattles, and handles much more sloppily now than when I got it, but the dealer says it's fine.

The exhaust rattles during the winter.

Several air and gas sensors went at about 23000 miles - lights on the dash, poor performance and fuel economy.

The cheap floor mat has already worn through on the driver's side.

Paint job is very poor quality and is chipping.

Metal strips along the rear windows are rusting badly already, despite extra rustproofing (VW will not honor their rust through warranty in NYS or anywhere they have winter basically and use road salt).

Burns a lot of oil.

There are probably numerous things I'm not thinking of...

General Comments:

I loved this car when I first got it - one of the best looking cars on the road, handled great and was loaded with thoughtful features. Unfortunately, it doesn't take long to start decomposing...

Handling has deteriorated dramatically both in terms of the suspension becoming sloppy and making clunky noises (the dealership says it's fine) and acceleration.

Fuel performance is pretty bad for a 4 cylinder.

Innumerable small things go wrong and the dealers are TERRIBLE. Any number of small rattles and squeaks (my old Ford Escort didn't do this and had more of a quality feel in terms of integrity at 3 times the miles for half the price). I have had WAY more problems with this car than any other I've owned. In fact, I seem to keep ending up driving my old 87 Bronco II with 170k miles on it while the VW is in the shop!

Dealers are pretty lousy about getting you in when there's a problem - you will ALWAYS have to leave it, and they will never happen to have a loaner available. If I didn't have two vehicles I'd be unemployed I guess.

Several of my friends got Jetta's at the same time I did, and if anything they have all had MORE problems than I have! They are all starting to rust, little things have fallen apart, handling has gotten sloppy, etc, etc, and the dealers don't want to hear about it.

I might try BMW or Mercedes next and see if there are ANY reliable German cars, otherwise I'll go Japanese or even back to American. Why pay more money for an inferior vehicle?

DON'T BUY THIS CAR!!!