Faults:

The main problem with this car is the smell of the interior. As other reviewers have noted, it has a smell of burnt crayons or a wax candle. Shortly after we bought the car, I have experienced nausea, dizziness, headaches, burning eyes and throat. A month later my wife is starting to experience nausea, dizziness.

General Comments:

The dealer has acknowledged the smell, but says all VW's smell that way. So far they've taken the car back over night and did some type of oxidation process, which reduced the smell somewhat, but still having nausea, dizziness.

Car gets great gas mileage, but not worth much if we cannot drive it.

Faults:

Oxygen sensor replaced 5 times.

Mass airflow sensor replaced 4 times.

Engine temperature sensor replaced.

Unknown transmission problem (Likes to go into neutral rather than go into fourth gear)

Problems downshifting.

Blinkers don't work.

Interior lights and the bing sound likes to go on and off while driving.

Rear brakes pads wear away faster than font.

Engine rev's about 500 rpm each time my gears change.

General Comments:

The 2001 is a very sporty car. For the price, it gets excellent acceleration and handling. You can tell you are in a German car.

Purchsed the Jetta because I wanted a reliable car. My last car, Honda Civic, had a cracked engine block at 82,000 miles. I wanted something I wouldn't have to worry about for a long time, four months after I bought the Jetta it was back into the shop.

Faults:

Brakes worn at 20,000.

This car has the "crayon" odor that is so objectionable. VW has failed to respond to repeated e-mails and will try calling. The local dealer denied knowlege of the problem that the car detailer identified immediately as the VW smell attributed to oils used in the vinyl.

Faults:

Latch to close centre armrest broken.

Centre vent not adjustable due to broken plastic part inside vent.

Rims starting to corrode.

Hazard switch and turn signal switch both had to be replaced.

General Comments:

The car is extremely fun to drive as it is quick and handles very well.

Quality of plastic parts is extremely poor with many little parts (such as vents and armrest latch) breaking.

Expensive to maintain - $11.00 Canadian for an oil filter from the dealer, and 4 spark plugs cost me almost $100.00 Canadian from the dealer.

When I complain about known problems to the dealer (corroding rims, and hazard switch), they act like it's not their nor VW's fault. VW recalled the car for a hazard switch defect about 2 weeks after I had it replaced at my own expense.

I'm pretty sure that this car will not last as long as my 1995 Nissan Pathfinder which has 418,000km's on the original engine and transmission.