2001 Volkswagen Jetta Wolfsburg review from North America

The car will stall a few times when starting after sitting over night. After starting a couple times, the engine will appear to be running normally until you place it in gear and begin to move. As soon as you let the clutch out and give it gas, the car will shake violently, with the RPM's erradically jumping between 200 and 1600. Sometimes it stalls, other times it will remain like this until it heats up. Once the car has had a few minutes to heat, it will run with no futher difficulties. It has been in several times, the list of repairs and status update is below in General Comments.

The air-conditioning did not work from the first time I tried using it. The dealership is currently working with this issue now.

There was a terrible rattle coming from the driver side door when playing my stereo. (The dealership believes this was due to a few clips which were missing and not seen when they did the certified inspection).

At times, there is a loss of power, especially in lower gears. When switching from first to second, the RPM's will drop very low and very little power is given. This may be related to the stalling issue since this only appears to happen when it is already warm.

This car was a Volkswagen Certified Vehicle. Upon leaving the dealership, it has given me nothing, but problems. The stalling issue has happened every day I have owned it since it was brought home. The Air-Conditioning has never worked.

The dealership has been great about trying to find me another vehicle since this has already reached the used car lemon law statute for New York State. Service is still trying to fix the issues.

Currently, they have replaced the air flow sensor, re-flashed the computer, and re-wired all ground wires, but still have not found what is causing the stalling issue.

The air-conditioning was recharged and they are checking for leaks, but have not found any. I haven't gotten the car back to see if this fix has worked as they are still working on the stalling issue.

If this car did not have so many issues, I would enjoy it. It handles great and the acceleration is decent. While not the most powerful motor, the turbo does a good job of delivering enough power in the lower RPM's for passing and spirited driving.

I notice a number of people are having the same issues with the stalling problem. If someone has had this problem in the past, and had it successfully fixed, please respond as I would love to know what it is. My dealership is looking for another vehicle for me, but I am very curious.