2004 Volkswagen Jetta from North America

Faults:

Water leaks caused one inch of water primarily in the front passager side and rear passenger side of our 2004 Jetta. $2200 to replace rugs not covered under warranty, but the car only has 46,000 miles. Problems with clogged water drainage from the sunroof channels and pollen filter have been identified by VW owners since 1998 - Why does VW have such a bad design? Why does the dealership not check these items with each oil change? Why don't they warn us? How do we prevent it from re-occurring?

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 19th November, 2009

2004 Volkswagen Jetta Turbo 1.8 turbo from North America

Summary:

I'll NEVER buy a VW product again!

Faults:

Aside from the virtual flood of recalls, which kept me driving to the dealership every couple of months (most of the time, the replacement parts failed repeatedly!), I have a horror story car.

I bought a WORTHLESS 100k mile warranty from the dealership on this car. As all MAJOR parts have failed, they've covered NO, yes, NO repairs!

I've been told to junk my car by 3 shops, including a VW dealer shop. The list of problems is so long, I could actually buy a NEW Jetta for less than the cost of repairing the one I have. Again, the warranty is paying for NOTHING. If you lose paperwork for your oil changes, even one, they have an out by contract!!!

I've already spent a few thousand on repairs not covered by VW or the warranty (joke - $1800 more thrown away), and would list all the problems with it now, but the list is truly too long.

The main high points are these:

1. Turbo went out, throwing junk through the engine and exhaust system. Warranty won't cover it.

2. Transmission has failed TWICE, this time it cannot be repaired. New part - over $10k. Warranty won't cover it.

3. Engine failure due to above. Extended warranty won't touch this... too expensive and too close to the warranty expiration mileage! They won't admit this, but have decided to blame this on me for losing the paperwork on 4, yes 4 oil changes over the car's 93k mile life. I ALWAYS changed the oil, filters and etc every 3-4k miles.

4. Paid $1800 for premium, everything covered, top of the line extended warranty from the dealership when I bought the car. This would better have been used as toilet paper. They've refused every repair to date! The oil pump went out at 60k miles, the shop owner told them the part failed, yet they "opted" not to pay because, at that time, I was missing paperwork on only ONE oil change!

The warranty, I found out when the first repair was needed (not covered by VW), was particular to the dealership I bought it from. After a job transfer to another state, no dealer wanted to stand by this because it wasn't purchased through them! I couldn't believe it! The dealership where my car is now is trying to make the warranty company help me, nice people, but they've told me the list of problems is so great, the cost so high, that I could buy a brand new Jetta fully loaded for LESS money!

HOW can this be?? I see posting after posting with the same problems! When you get "one of those cars" you're on your own -- VW won't help, the warranty won't help! This huge VW lemon problem should be exposed!

Has anyone else thought of filing a class action suit over this? Anyone know of one currently underway? If not, I'm seriously thinking of going that route.

General Comments:

This car should have been great for 200k miles, I was told at purchase. I believed them! The problems began right away.

It's been hard to keep up with all the recalls. It seems to take the dealerships a ridiculous amount of time to fix these, rental cars are costly. As such, cost of driving this car has been very, very high.

In this case, virtually everything under the hood and through the underbelly went belly up at the same time. My 200k mile engine is shot at 93k. At latest calculation, it has cost me $10,870 PER YEAR to own this car, not including gas and oil!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 14th July, 2009

14th Jul 2009, 13:46

Lawyers, contact one. It's clear that you have a lemon.

18th Jul 2009, 12:22

Yep, get a lawyer. VW as a company treats their customers like crap. It's a known fact, Google it. Buying a VW is like playing the lottery, either you get a winner or you don't. It's unfortunate because they used to make decent cars, but they haven't in years.

6th Oct 2009, 21:32

Preach on brother. My wife has a 2003 Jetta and when the car was under warranty I think every electrical part in the car had to be replaced at one time or another. That should have been the first indication that it was time for a new car. No, we kept the car hoping that was the end of the trouble, but now over the last 6 months the timing belt, head, and now turbo has had to be replaced on the car. I think all VWs should be crushed/melted down and turned into soft drink cans.

4th Jun 2010, 11:26

The 1.8t made by VW is infamous for sludge! They put it in the Audi 1.8t also. No real explanation other than microscopic oil passages that clog and starve the engine and turbo of oil. If you have one of these, then put the best synthetic oil in it you can buy. The transmissions are good though.