1992 Volkswagen Jetta Reviews

Battery died in the winter of '05, starting in deep cold still touchy even with fresh battery.

5th gear blew up on the interstate at 209k, drove home in 4th gear.

Burns 1.5 quarts of oil between changes.

Door handles break semi-regularly; poor material.

Loud interior road noise at speeds above 45mph.

Great on gas, 35mpg even at 70mph.

Feels good to drive, very solid car.

Handles turns very well.

Deceptively large trunk space.

Decent backseat space for a small car.

Great for DIY mechanic.

Still runs great after 227k miles and 15 years.

Twice all the engine sensors went out. Mass airflow sensor, throttle body sensor etc. 60k and 80k.

At 100k starter went bad.

Batteries seem to die every year or two all brands.

Other than the sensors, which cost $800 each time to fix and the strange battery problem, I have done nothing, but put gas in and go. It still looks good, drives good, no minor, no major issues. For the first 50k miles I was good and serviced it regularly. Now it might get an oil change every other year.

Dealer service is a mixed bag. In 1992 it was awful to buy a VW, salesmen from the dark ages. Tried 4 dealers. Service dept in 90's was great though. Always fixed problems (sensors) the first time, fast for any recall work. The last visit though about in 03 or 04 for the sensors second failure was a nightmare. Line out into the street from all the cars waiting to be serviced, took days to fix the sensors and when I picked up the car it ran bad and then wouldn't restart at the dealers lot.

I love my Jetta, I am finaly going to retire it this year. I love the look of the new Jetta GLI's or as I'm getting older the Passat looks nice too. I'm scared to death though of the reliability issues the last 8 years or so, and even more so about the poor dealer and company service.

Acura TSX.. Jetta GLI.. Honda(boring)Accord. Do I go with my heart or with my head.