Faults:

Clutch cable has been replaced twice.

Door card is coming off on the passenger door.

Doesn't start easily in cold weather.

Difficult to get it into 5th gear.

General Comments:

Had the car resprayed in a custom electric blue, and fitted 17 inch MSR racing mags.

The engine has redone from the ground up.

It's very fuel efficient for an old car, and has performance that feels like a 1.8 and not a 1.6.

Parts are easily available, and are generally super cheap in RSA.

I'm planning to get a smash and grab window put in, and an alarm with central locking in the next couple of days.

Overall, I think it's a great 2nd hand buy, as long as you find one in good nick, and have it checked by a mechanic.

Faults:

I owned the car for 10 years. Can't remember the costs, but repairs were a clutch once.

I went through 3 or 4 voltage regulators.

One fuel pump.

General Comments:

My first car, and I miss that car a lot.

It took me all over the country; I drove it to California twice, New York, Florida, Maryland many times.

That car never gave me any real trouble. It drove great, has enough get up and go to make me happy on the highway and around town. The handling was very good for its class. It was not the fastest best or best handling, but it did everything very well.

It could cruise on the highway at 70-80 all day. The gas mileage was awesome. It always averaged 35 to 40 mpg.

I just found out my mechanic has one, and he's going to be selling it soon, and I'm thinking even though it's an old car, I might buy it just to have a Jetta coupe again.

Faults:

Radiator had to be replaced. The Aluminum plastic interface in the manifold would fail due to fatigue. Expanding and contracting over and over again. I had the dealer install an aftermarket radiator. After that everything was OK.

Windshield replacement on this car is impossible. The design is so complicated. I had to have my windshield replaced when a rock cracked it. Three replacements later they got it right.

General Comments:

Big improvement over my 75 Rabbit. Much better fuel and electrical systems. Overall quality much better. More comfortable. VW has a beautiful four cylinder engine. Lots of power and good gas mileage.

The overall reliablilty could have been better.

Faults:

Things that needed replacing when I first bought the car.

- Needed a power steering pump.

- Needed all rear fuel lines replaced, including filter.

- Needed brakes all around.

- Needed a new A/C condenser pump.

- Needed front springs.

General Comments:

In general this is a very good running car. Volkswagen has found a sweet spot for fuel economy and engine power. The car is not exactly the quickest off the line, naturally with a 1.8L. But once at cruising speeds of 50-140km/h, the car has decent acceleration.

The fuel consumption of this car is a pleaser. It takes very little gas to run. I get about 23-25 MPG in town, and about 30-32 on the highway; not exactly a hybrid but better than most compact cars, and full size sedans.

The interior on the "carat' edition is just below the luxurious "Wolfsburg" edition. The interior features chrome accents inside, lots of storage space to put maps, your cigs, sunglasses (stuff like that), above average bucket seats in the front, and a bench in the rear (which includes fold down arm rest. The seats are adjustable in many ways to accommodate many sizes of person. It includes heated front seats as well. The Carat also includes a crank sunroof, power windows, cruise control, lighted shifter column, lighted passenger side vanity mirror, and power side mirrors. The interior is roomy, and comfortably fits 4 people, it will seat 5, but it gets pretty tight in the back seat. The trunk on this car is absolutely enormous compared to most compact cars. For Canadians let's just say 2 hockey bags, no problem. :-).

The sound system on the Jetta Carat is fairly decent when stock. I have upgraded the head unit to a CD player, but the car came stock with a tape deck, and dash tweeters, front door speakers, and rear deck speakers.

Aside from the top dollar maintenance costs to repair this particular vehicle, the parts last a very long time, and the engines are good for 300,000+ km's. I would recommend this car for anyone who has a tight budget for a car, but still wants the luxuries of a top model sedan. It's also a gas saver, which everyone could use right now, hehe.