2000 Volkswagen GTI GLS review from North America

Window regulator on driver's side broke a month after I got the car. This causes the window to fall into the door. The passenger's side broke a few weeks later. When I took it to the dealership, they said that they weren't aware this was an issue with these cars. The third time this happened, I looked around the Volkswagen service lot and saw 7 cars with either one window rolled all the way down (parked under an awning) or with one window taped to the roof of the car to keep it shut. Volkswagen finally issued a recall on this, a year after I had these troubles.

Electrical system isn't functioning properly. Beeping that used to warn if lights were on no longer works, so I accidentally left my lights on. The battery died and the only kind of battery you can use to replace it is one made by Volkswagen with cost me $120.

Electrical system also causes door locks not to work properly. Door will unlock when it's supposed to be locked and vice versa. Recently I left the key in the ignition when I went in for an oil change and the car locked itself with the keys inside. The pop-a-lock guys came (I wasn't there) and now the locking mechanism on the driver's side doesn't work at all. I have to enter the car from the passenger's side and climb over.

Finally, the check engine light and temperature guage are coming on, so I'm going back to have those looked at.

Service from the dealer is awful. They aren't honest at all.

I paid $18,000 for this car 22 months ago. If I tried to sell it now, I'd get $9,000 for it. I know to expect depreciation in a car, but that's just extreme. I've paid $6,500 on the car so far and will have to pay another $2,500 just to get out of it.