Faults:

Within the first few weeks of owning my brand new GLX I had returned to the dealer 3 times. First the seat memory did not work, then I noticed the seat heaters did not work and finally, the sunroof made a horrific noise everytime I closed it.

Eight months after taking delivery of my car I could not shift out of park. The brake sensor failed and did not recognize that I had my foot on the brake!

My left and right signals stick mid signal.

Next, the clock in the car does not keep the time. As the car is driven, the clock gets faster and faster. Of course, when I take it in to the dealership, they do not notice a problem because the problem cannot be assessed in a 1 hour trip to the dealership. They did not fix it, and now the car is not under warranty anymore and I am still having the problem and they are still not fixing it!!!

Finally, the panels on the rear windows are rusting. Again, I am fighting with my dealership to fix that as I have been told this is a very common issue with the Jetta.

General Comments:

This car is very comfortable as a driver and as a passenger. However, the humming noise every time I press on the gas does concern me and way too many things have gone wrong for me to say I would buy another one!

Obviously VW became aware of many of these things given that with the 2001 version the warranty was doubled!!!

Faults:

The car has burned oil since it was new.

The front passenger-side window has dropped into the door three times. This has been due to faulty plastic window regulator parts.

At about 40,000 miles, the oxygen sensor had to be replaced at a cost of approximately $140. During this service trip, the dealership tried to sell me on a tune-up and throttle body cleaning at an additional cost of $320.

At 44,000 miles, one of the plastic hinges on the glove compartment door broke off. Even though the door has probably never been opened more than 20 times, I was told by the dealership this is "normal wear and tear." Cost to repair this is estimated at around $150.

General Comments:

This car has good looks and style, particularly for a car in this price range.

With the 5 speed manual transmission, it's great fun to drive.

Unfortunately, the horrible workmanship and overall build quality completely overshadow the good qualities.

It's a shame that Volkswagen didn't care enough about their product to get it right the first time. It's even worse that they don't care enough about their customers to fix their mistakes.

They will never sucker me in again. Volkswagen should change the slogan from "Drivers wanted" to "Victims wanted"

Faults:

Headlight was out when the car was delivered to me. Dealer fixed it and it went out again two days later. Has been fixed and have had no problem since.

Brake-light went out at about 10,000 miles. I replaced it, and it went out again a few days later. I replaced it again and has been fine since.

Rear brakes needed replacement at 20,000 miles.

One of my glove box hinges broke at about 30,000 miles.

At about 55,000 miles my car lost all power. I could barely get going from a red light and getting up hills on the highway was next to impossible. Took it to the dealer and they said the turbo was bad. Luckily, it was under power-train warranty, but the dealer refused to do the work because I had done oil changes myself and not kept the receipts for the oil I bought. I finally convinced them to do it under warranty (after about a week of hassle). They replaced the turbo, then said the intake into the turbo was clogged, so I had to get that cleaned (not covered under warranty).

At about 60,000 miles my car died on the highway. Got it towed to a dealer, and the injector pump had gone bad. Luckily, replaced under power train warranty.

When I picked the car up the AC was dead and the fan only worked at the highest speed. I took it back to the dealer and they said a resistor was corroded and had to be replaced.

Just dropped it at the dealer today. Once again, I have no power and can't get the car up a hill. This time, it's the mass air flow sensor. Volkswagen of America is paying for half of it, even though it's not under warranty. It's interesting: by paying for half they have admitted to me they have serious problems with this part, but they won't fix it for free or issue a recall considering the number of other people that have had this problem.

General Comments:

To other volkswagen owners: sorry, and I sympathize with you.

To prospective volkswagen owners: don't do it.