Faults:

I have only had the car for three months, in with in the first week of purchase things went very wrong.

My Visor light stays on at all times and I fixed it by taking out the light bulb.

My six disk CD changer broke three weeks after purchase. It jammed and will not let me manually take out the changer. It has my Cd's stuck in the changer. The dealer says they will not fix it under the warranty.

The Check engine light comes on more times then I can count.

The car dies ALL the time. I have had it checked, and the TECHS say it is not the battery or the alternator, it is a short.

The brakes have squeaked since day one, and now, 3 months after purchase, the ABS and BRAKE light flash at all times.

The key does not work when used in the door to shut or open windows and sunroof.

My trunk light has never worked.

Once again I have had this car for little less than three months, and I have STILL failed to get registration tag, and plates.

General Comments:

The car has a lot of pep to it, and looks very nice, however it has many hidden problems. I can only hope nothing else major goes wrong after these problems are fixed.

Faults:

~25,000 miles - One of the glove box door hinges broke. Never bothered to fix, still works fine on just one side.

~42,000 miles - Entire engine (short block) replaced under warranty by VW North America. (Water pump also replaced when engine was replaced.) Engine killed when a valve stem holder broke, allowing engine to ingest valve, which destroyed head, piston & possibly block. Timing belt had been changed just a few thousand miles before this, but the mechanics at the VW Dealer (not the dealer at which the timing belt had been done) found that the timing was still correct, even after the catastrophic engine failure. Repair took approximately 1 week. Rental car paid for by extended warranty.

~44,000 miles - Broke down and left me stranded when a fuel filter connection slipped loose & engine tried to run on a 100% air-air mixture.

~50,000 miles - Glow plug harness failed, replaced under extended warranty.

~63,000 MAF Sensor (Mass Air Flow Sensor, if you know TDI's, you've heard of this) replaced - paid for by extended warranty.

~68,000 miles Radiator return hose replaced after sudden failure dumped all the engine coolant. Left me stranded.

~72,000 miles Front brake rotors & pads replaced. The fact that I got 72,000 miles out of the original pads/rotors suggests how good this car could have been.

~74,000 miles - Brake booster & brake master cylinder replaced - paid for by extended warranty.

~79,000 miles alternator replaced - paid for by extended warranty.

General Comments:

Wonderful mileage, fun to drive, spirited despite having only 90hp.

Maintenance has been a disaster. The car has broken down and left me stranded numerous times.

Faults:

I happened to buy this car with 98k/m so I had to do a few things that were sort of scheduled; such as, two belts, a full tune-up, changed the double muffler and that's about it. again, those things were kind of expected at 98k/m. besides that I had to change the ignition cord which wasn't all that expensive to fix. no major worries.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that my left driver window doesn't work, but I bought the car like that so it doesn't really count, but if you want to buy one of these be aware that their electric engineering is kinda daft.

General Comments:

This is my favorite car ever!!!... although it's a 99' I have the older body style which I like much better.

Fun to drive, very quick for a 2.0 engine, comfy, full of features, great gas mileage, awesome gear-box, roomy backseat (compared to the IV generation), great looks, excellent 6disc-CD player with 6 speakers.

And it seems like they have corrected all the problems of the previous years, such as electric thingies, etc. the only thing they haven't improved is the way their dealers work, but I guess all dealers are the same way or at least that was my previous experience with Honda and before with Ford.

Not the best at all under heavy rain conditions or snow.

Great vehicle, I feel like I'll most definitely pass the 200k/m with this one and then I'm getting another one because VW are just the whole package.