2003 Volkswagen Jetta TDI TDI from North America

Summary:

By far the best car, in this price range, on the road

Faults:

There was one recall back on the seat heater. The previous owners took it in and courteously fixed it. No problems with it before or after the recall.

General Comments:

We LOVE this car!!

It's beautifully engineered, picks up fast, is amazing on diesel.. handles like the tires are suction cupped to the road. The interior is well designed, everything fits tightly like it should. There isn't too much leg room in the back, which these cars are notorious for, but who cares! Great car. Plenty of trunk space, well thought out and tight fitting back seats that flip forward, sun roof's great, buttons are all positioned well.. Don't' think we'll ever own another kind.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 28th July, 2006

2003 Volkswagen Jetta LS 4 cylinder from North America

Summary:

The Jetta is not a good buy

Faults:

I bought my car new in 2003. I had my car for 5 months and all four tires went flat at once. Not necessarily the cars fault, but the manufacturer put some crappy tires on my Jetta.

All of the coating on the control panels and center console has peeled off, again. It has already been rectified once by the dealer, which took 3 days.

The center console has broken twice- once they fixed it- the second time they said that I likely broke it. Not cool. I most certainly did not.

I had to have my catalytic converter replaced at 30,000 miles. Also not cool.

Most recently, 2 weeks ago, parts of the engine had apparently been recalled with out notice given. The car overheated and the engine had to be fixed, some parts not covered by my warranty, which still has 2 years left. That also took 3 days.

Sometimes the sensors and alarms, work for the lights and doors, sometimes not. Same with the key-less entry.

Sometimes when I put the car in drive after being in reverse- it still goes in reverse. Very uncool.

I paid a lot of money for my new Jetta- a lot for me anyway- and I am so sorely disappointed.

I just don't want anyone else to be conned into thinking it's a cute car with a good reputation so it must be worth the money. It is not.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 24th July, 2006

2003 Volkswagen Jetta GL 2.0 from North America

Summary:

This is a great car

Faults:

No problems with the car yet!

General Comments:

This car is great, it corners like a dream, I took a 30 MPH curve at 60 MPH and it held tight.

Also it sips fuel, not like my old Wrangler. I used 6 GAL for 200 miles, and in the Jeep I would get 100 MI to 5 GAL of fuel.

I have not had the chance to open it up to see what it would do, but for me now with the price of fuel, it's what I need.

For comfort, we had a 90 Accord EX. This beats that car by far on comfort.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 9th July, 2006

10th Mar 2007, 22:42

I would hope a 13 year newer vehicle would beat the older car's comfort.. you cannot truly compare a 1990 Honda to a 2003 VW as far as comfort... the technology used is completely different...

2003 Volkswagen Jetta GLS 2.0 from North America

Summary:

Horrible ripoff!!

Faults:

Failed water pump.

Broken glove compartment lock.

Broken trunk lock.

Failed trim parts - front doors & around shifter.

Oil pan stripped.

Coil #3 went bad.

Leather seats wearing poorly.

Horrible gas mileage till got coil replaced.

Trunk horribly hard to open brought in six times finally they realized struts were upside down.

Twice-broken center console latch

General Comments:

Sluggish accleration.

HUGE RIPOFF.

Wish I was back in my awesome reliable Mazda.

Overall very cute car with many cheap (expensive) parts.

Service at Bob Baker in Carlsbad has been awful

Rick the Service manager at Bob Baker in Carlsbad told me that since I didn't do all of my services at Bob Baker Carlsbad, they don't really care if I'm having problems that VW should address.

They should have told me I would need to spend $50 on oil changes and $600 on my tune-ups BEFORE I bought the car - so I could've decided not to buy it in the first place!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 8th June, 2006