Faults:

Air bag light came on at around 2000 miles. The car needed a new driver's side seatbelt - dealer replaced for free.

Check engine light has come on about 3 times - I can't recall the mileage except for this current time - about 54000.

Took it to the dealer the first time - turned out to be nothing - the dealer said it never turned on for them. A little strange, but OK.

Second time was due to the O2 sensor. Recall took care of that - no charge.

Third time (currently being fixed) the car needs a new vacuum hose, and a new engine coolant temperature sensor (should be covered by extended warranty).

Serpentine belt needs replacing at 56000.

Rear brakes needed at 30000.

New tires needed at 40000.

Rear cup holder broke.

Glove compartment door broke - I had it fixed and it broke again. I'm just going to leave it that way.

Brake lights needed replacing.

General Comments:

I've read a number of very negative reviews about this car. before I bought it, I was made aware of VW's "tradition" of poor electrical systems. So, I bought the GL to try and minimize the fancy electrical gadgets. I'm sorry to hear about many people's problems with various electrical components, but it's not like this is a new thing for VW. Also, items like power windows are nice, but they do have a high incidence of breakage and are costly to replace. So I avoided those for that reason.

I wanted to get the Jetta look, quality and ride for as little $$$ as possible. While I know people like luxury in their car - the Jetta is probably not the vehicle to purchase for this reason. My car cost me about $15.5K which I think it a good price - this is not the car to pay upwards of 22-23K for.

Many car owners do not take their cars in for regular maintenance/service and generally do not take care of them. So, that needs to be kept in mind when folks complain about their cars - a lot of times deferred maintenance cause much bigger and more expensive problems down the road.

All in all I love my car, and it has treated me very well. An Accord/Civic or Toyota might have more reliable - but who needs to see yet ANOTHER one of those cars on the road - boring!

PS. This is a great car for long trips - and I'm 6'4"!

Faults:

Arm console latch broke.

Flat tire.

General Comments:

The car is very responsive, I've recently purchased a VW despite the numerous listings such as this highlighting all of the horror stories have had with their VW. It's a good car, it's a shame more people who are satisfied don't take the time to list, just the people who are dissatisfied.

Faults:

I have had to put multiple MFA sensors into the car.

I have had to put multiple O2 sensors in the car.

The coil pack has went bad three times.

I have had to replace the 100,000 mile spark plugs three times.

I had a new coil pack put in the car last December and in January the car began to misfire again. The dealer, Byer's Imports in Columbus, Ohio, said I needed a new O2 sensor and a catalytic converter. They wanted almost $3000 dollars for the repair. I immediatly took it to an independent muffler shop which said the c.c. was good. I then went to an independent garage which read the error code and found a misfire on cylinder three. This was repaired by replacing the spark plug wire. I didn't have any more problems until the "new" coilpack went bad in March. I have since bought the factory repair manual and plan on doing my own maintenence until I can afford to replace this car.

The cupholder is broken again.

The armrest latch snapped and the cover came off.

The armrest jammed in the upright position.

The driver's side front window fell into the door, When I took it to the dealer, the salesman acted surprised. But the service guys said, "Oh, it must be the regulator. We see a lot of those." When the passenger side window fell into the door, I found out about the factory recall. It took five weeks to get into the dealer to get it repaired, due to the backlog.

The trunk latch microswitch came loose and jammed the trunk latch. I fixed that one myself.

General Comments:

I live in fear about what the next big repair will be.

I had a diesel Rabbit in college, and I had a lot of fond memories about that car. My grandmother had a 1973 Beetle, which she drove to work every day and was very reliable. But I am afraid that VW has alienated me as a customer. I will never buy another VW. The cost is too high and the service leaves much to be desired.