Jetta Sportwagen

[schmitty]

Does anyone have one or have any expierience with it. Is it a reliable car?

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

Used to have one years back...a diesel. It never gave me a single problem, other than some usually early interior wear and tear.

 

[schmitty]

Good to hear. Im looking at the TDI one now. 50 MPG is quite appealing as well as hauling my mountain bikes in the back.

 

[schmitty]

Anyone else have experience with it?

 

[pr surfer]

I have a shiny new 09 TDI sedan. So far, so good.

 

[DisneyWalker44]

The late 90's -> mid 2000's Jettas were some of the worst quality cars of the past 30 years. If you look at Consumer Reports used car reliability ratings, you'll see what disasters they were. I had one, and it wasn't any fun.

While the Jetta are better, if "reliability" was at the top of my wish list, I don't think I'd trust VW yet.

 

[SeeVee]

The important thing to remember when buying a VW is WHERE they were made.

Some models are made in Germany an some are made in Mexico.

The ones made in Mexico have serious QC problems.
If I remember correctly, the Jetta was made in Mexico while the Jetta wagon was made in Germany and the QC between thems are light years apart.

 

[tedhowe]

The important thing to remember when buying a VW is WHERE they were made.

Some models are made in Germany an some are made in Mexico.

The ones made in Mexico have serious QC problems.
If I remember correctly, the Jetta was made in Mexico while the Jetta wagon was made in Germany and the QC between thems are light years apart.

Exactly right. I had a 2002 Jetta Wagon - great little car. I only got rid of it because I wanted the larger Passat Wagon.

The Sedans sold in the US had been made in Mexico - and were a quality nightmare. The wagons at the time were made in Wolfsburg, Germany and were VERY good quality.

The only problem I ever had with the car was when the coilpacks failed - but that was a problem with ALL VW 1.8 liter engines at the time - not just the Jetta. The supplier that VW used had produced millions of faulty coilpacks that had been installed throughout the VW line (Golf/GTI/Jetta/Passat/Beetle). The packs started failing and could potentially leave you stranded. VW recalled them, but it took a LONG time to get enough replacements built - especially since they went to a different manufacturer for the replacement parts.

I had one fail, and my engine went into "limp" mode. I got to the dealer (about 6 miles away), and even though I was still on the waiting list for the recall, they pulled a coilpack from a new car on the lot and got me on my way within an hour... when the replacements came in, I got 4 new ones.

The Jetta did have a a higher than average number of reliability problems overall - especially the sedan, but the coilpack problems were really what caused the statistics (in places like Consumer Reports) to be SO bad... it was a real problem that hit many many owners... but it was just one issue.

I've considered the SportWagen - but I'm not looking to replace my '04 Passat any time soon... nearly 5 years old and I still love driving it. (I would like the SportWagen TDI's fuel economy though)

 

[pr surfer]

The important thing to remember when buying a VW is WHERE they were made.

Some models are made in Germany an some are made in Mexico.

The ones made in Mexico have serious QC problems.
If I remember correctly, the Jetta was made in Mexico while the Jetta wagon was made in Germany and the QC between thems are light years apart.

IME, the QC problems were with the Mk 4 Jettas (and the Mk 4 Golfs, which are Brazilian made), and the European made ones were no different. I know owners of both Mk 4 Sedans and Wagons and both suffer from the same problems, without regard to where the car was made.

My Mk3 beater sedan is Mexican made, and has had no problems other than normal wear and tear... which seems to be the norm among the VW message boards.

The Mk5's (current model) are ALL Mexican made, even the Sportwagen (source: look at the VIN numbers on the current ebay listings. First digit of 3 signifies Made In Mexico. First digit of W signifies Made in Germany). They are overall quite reliable, after VW had a long hard look at the damage the Mk4's caused their image (and generally to European cars in the US). The same for the Mk 4 Jetta.

In fact, the only VW I'd had problems with is a German made Mk5 R32