1988 Volkswagen Jetta GL 1.8L SOHC 8v I-4 from North America
Summary:
A slow, small, unreliable and costly car to own
Faults:
The head gasket blew at 131,000 miles.
New CV joints at 133,000 miles.
Exhaust completely fell off at 130,500 miles.
Oil leak since the day I bought it. (I didn't know until I saw oil under it the day after I'd bought it.)
Cooling problems galore.
Interior is in perfect shape, clean and still looking new, the one I truly respect about VW is that they made high quality interiors in the vehicles.
All electrical shorted out at 130,750 miles.
Many more problems to mention...
General Comments:
My Volkswagen Jetta has been the most unreliable, hard to fix car I have ever owned. I have owned it since April 2002, and have had nothing but problems with it. The man I bought it from was the original owner and used it to commute to work. I've calculated the amount of time it takes for something to break on this Jetta, and it seems that about every two weeks, something has broken on it and these repairs tend to be extremely spendy. I will never own another Volkswagen as long as I live.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 21st January, 2003
2nd Nov 2004, 12:59
Ditto to the comment above. I once heard somewhere that "A well maintained VW is 10 times better than a well maintained Honda, but a neglected VW is 10 times worse than a neglected Honda." If you bought your Jetta neglected, you probably should have anticipated some of these issues that you're seeing with your car, and the fault lies with the previous owner, not with the car. I can assure you that, when properly maintained/tuned, these VWs are great cars.
Also, certain items you're mentioning (such as the CV joints failing) are common VW issues that aren't hard/too costly to fix. Also, take a look at the mileage on your car - 133000 miles is by no means a "new" car.
Give VW a second chance, or at least look at your current Jetta differently (assuming you still have it).
13th Apr 2003, 07:32
I understand how disappointed you are, but was the car in good shape when you bought it? I think the person you acquired your car from sold it because it had many problems and also because he did not take care of the car. I suggest you give Volkswagen another try. peace.