Question for VW owners

[DawnM]

Ok, this is what I thought.

DH has looked for used and finally just said, "Let's just buy new if we are going to get one."

We do keep our cars forever. Our '96 Saturn station wagon is still limping along, but I think its time has come.

Our other cars are a Toyota Sequoia 2004 and a Saturn VUE 2002. Both of those cars I would not hesitate to drive to Disney and back and they each have over 100K miles on them.

Dawn

DH has a 97 TDI Jetta that has 300k miles. Has had a hard time finding another to replace it because TDI owners will not sell their old cars. He has stopped and asked tons of people and they always say no way. The ones that are for sale are not cheap for the TDI even if they are older.

We also had a 97 gas verison that we drove forever and had no trouble selling it when we were finally ready to let it go. We have had no problems other than normal wear and tear you see with higher mileage. Maybe later versions had more problems. Both 97s are manual transmission.

DH also has a 2003 Jetta wagon TDI that he has had no problems with. He loves his Jettas.

 

[mrodgers]

If it has an extensive maintenance record, that means it was in the shop a lot. Also, all maintenance is not reported to Carfax.


Posted from DISboards.com App for Android

Or it means that the owner took it to the shop for all routine maintenance . It is true that a CarFax report can mean absolutely nothing. I can see the extensive bodywork all over my car that had a "clean" CarFax report. Front fender, both driver's side doors, rear quarter panel and passenger rear quarter panel has bodywork/new panels. CarFax reported nothing. Didn't deter me from buying at the price though.

Bought my 2003 Jetta Wolfsburgh 1.8 turbo in 2010 with 74,000. I have 108,000 on it now. LOVE IT!

Common problems are, the 1.8 turbo engine has a recall on the coil packs. They crack and you get misfires. Replaced in minutes for free. Another common problem with all VW cars it seems is wheel bearings. I had 1 of the front replaced at a shop for about $125. The fronts need pressed out and in. The rear you just swap out the hub and I replaced both rears myself for $50 each. Easy as they just slip right off after removing the axle nut.

VW's are common with electrical gremlins. You hear a lot of talk about the electrical stuff. On mine in particular, the windows don't respond as expected. With the one touch window switch, when I try to put the window down a little bit, it will automatically raise fully.

My transmission isn't very strong. I have to go fairly easy on shifting into 2nd and 3rd gear or it will grind. I don't drive easy on the road, but I don't rail through the gears like I'm on the race track either.

Driving the 1.8 turbo is awesome. I love driving it. The power is incredible. It's not a fast car, I'm not a 20 year old punk kid. What the 1.8t has is an incredible torque curve that starts at an early RPM and is flat through the whole range. Torque is what moves the car and the way the 1.8t is, you have gobs of power in any gear at any speed. I drive a lot of hills, hills that I would be screaming the engine at high RPM in previous cars to try to hold speed and with my Jetta, I just roll a bit more throttle on. Huge hills are just like driving any other car on flat road with the VW 1.8t. Makes driving such a pleasure not having to struggle on hills holding normal driving speed. I would have loved to have my Jetta when we were running down I-79 and the West Virginia turnpike going to Disneyworld and Myrtle Beach the following year where my Ford Escape was running in 2nd gear and I was having trouble holding 50 mph in the 70 mph speed limit.

Love my Jetta so much my next car will have to be a currently new VW GTI as all the rest of the VW line changed to a 2.5L 5-cylinder. I'm not happy about that as today's new VW will by my next used car in 5 years and I want another VW 1.8t when I'm ready to replace.

 

[fakereadhed]

DD is driving a 98 Beetle now(she loved the looks, I liked the safety) but it has a ton of ongoing issues including draining the battery which is a common issue and not an easy one to solve.

Before this, we bought her a 98 Toyota Camry on advice here. That was the best car! Reliable, and safe since she was in 3 accidents(one major). The first two fender benders resulted in only scratches on the car. The intersection collision left her unharmed, the car totaled, and it still ran! We are still on the lookout for another one in our price range to replace the bug.

 

[jessrose18]

We leased a 2012 passat and we really dont like it at all.....loved our 2004 camry se v6 we got rid of for this This car drives like a slug. Not too mention that the customer service at our VW has some major flaws, owe well 2 more years and we'll shop for a different company.

 

[Boston Tea Party]

I have had three Beetles and loved them all, but they were crap. When VW started manufacturing in Mexico the quality went down.

You used to be able to get a Passat from Germany but that recently changed.

The first number of the VIN tells you the country where it was manufactured. You might be able to get a used car that was manufactured overseas, but they are getting more difficult to find.

As much as I would love another Beetle, there is no way that I am going to buy another one made in Mexico.

 

[Sinderelly]

I have a 2008 Beetle 39K miles. No problems at all. Runs and performs like new. Very cute! Salsa red lol. I will be putting it up for sale very soon though. Not enough trunk space now. Can't get my mom's wheelchair in the back.

 

[ChrisinNJ]

My DH has a 2003 Jetta TDI. He had not a single problem for the first 125,000 miles. Had a few very minor recalls (break light switch and something else). Somewhere after that it developed a mold problem. The AC doesn't drain properly and the car has a moldy smell. Neither the dealer nor the independent mechanic we use seems to be able to fix it.

It now has 200,000 miles, still stinks, and we have 2 people interested in buying it from us, so we will probably sell it this week.

The mold definitely scared us from buying another one. My DH purchased a Subaru Outback over the summer, we kept the Jetta as a spare car, but we really are not using it.