1998 Volkswagen Jetta GTX review from North America

Ran fine until 100,000.

Great power when you really get the pedal down.

Amazing sound system.

That's the only thing that was good about the car.

If this car wasn't such a money pit, I would buy it again just because of the performance.

We had bought it at 99,000 miles. It ran fine until about 120,000 miles. Then the coolant container somehow got a leak in it and that spilled all over the computer underneath it. Great place to keep a $2000 computer isn't it? So we had to replace both of those.

Then the air wouldn't blow cold.

Had to take it to the shop for the transmission, to get the transmission replaced about 3-5 times, and that cost about $1,000 every time.

Then the pressure plates started to slip; that there was another $2,000.

One time the locks actually locked us in the car once we shut it off. The car would not start and there goes another 2 grand for a new computer.

In the winter the passenger door wouldn't open. Still sometime in the winter it wouldn't. You would have to hit where the lock was and then it would work.

We were in Mackinaw City, and the rear ball bearing broke.

All in all, I'm not sure if it was just this Jetta or not. I love the V6, lots of power, poor gas. The car was driven from Grand Rapids to Muskegon almost everyday. I'm glad we finally got rid of this car.