1995 Volkswagen Jetta Celebration Edition 2.0 4 cylinder from North America
Summary:
This is a car that should be classified as a lemon!!
Faults:
Two days after purchasing the car, my radio went dead. They replaced the radio, but two years later the forward button stopped working. I now have to scan the radio stations and CD's backwards.
The tail-pipe fell-off six months upon owning the car. Instead of just replacing the tail-pipe, they replaced the entire exhaust system. From that point forward the car has consistently made backfire noises when downshifting. I took the car to three different dealerships and had the exhaust replaced two more times, all to no avail.
The track to the drivers seat broke 1.5 years after purchasing the car. They replaced the clip, but it is broken again.
The drivers door lock has broken twice. I stopped fixing it after the second repair.
My distributor cap and rotor went bad at 79,000 miles. I had it replaced at a VW dealership and that one went bad 13,000 miles later. VW wouldn't cover the replacement of the distributor since I was over the 12,000 mile warranty mark. We came to an agreement that they would deduct 30% off my final bill.
I replaced the starter at 80,000.
I replaced the clutch at 96,000 miles and now the VW part has broken again.
I have to replace the front bearings and hubs, another $700 repair.
The trim has mysteriously started to peel off. The seal around the windshield has begun to crack and come off.
General Comments:
This is a terrible car that should have been classified as a lemon. The fact that VW charges the customer a minimum of $150 to diagnose a problem is criminal; especially with the fact that my car is always having issues.
The only positive I can add about this car is that when it is not in the shop, it drives extremely well. I can feel how the car hugs the road. Too bad it is broken more often than not.
I had a 1981 VW Rabbit that I am longing for today; it wasn't pretty but at least it ran all the time.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 22nd February, 2001
4th Apr 2003, 18:26
I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure that if your front bearings and hubs both required replacement, your bearings were probably operating in disrepair for quite some time, resulting in the hub damage. Possibly were bad when you got the car? Fixing the bearings when they start to make the very annoying howling noise can prevent hub damage, and cut the repair cost more than one half. From what I understand, there are also other reasons for hub damage, but since both needed replacement, I'm almost positive the loose bearings did it. I own a 95 too, and the bearings wore out very early, luckily I had them repaired before damage to the hub developed. I suspect that there are high # of Volkswagen bearing assemblies that are poor in quality.