Faults:

Well, to begin, I bought my 1999 VW Jetta used in 2008 from a small dealership. It was an awesome car for about the first two weeks before the problems started.

The first problem was the oil light firing off about every 3 minutes or so while driving. So annoying; the light makes terrible loud beeps... three of them in a row.

I took the car to a specialty auto repair shop to get it looked at and fixed. In fact they supposedly specialized in Volkswagen and Audi. An oil change was done, along with check of the oil sensor, and all was declared fixed. By the way, I forgot to mention the car consumed about 2 quarts of oil every 800 miles or so, I came to find out in the months ahead. Jetta owners beware; keep fresh quarts of oil handy in the trunk because you will need them. It's ridiculous how a car can eat so much oil.

Then the second problem began. The check engine light. This was one of the most annoying issues. I took the car back to the Volkswagen and Audi shop to get looked at. The mechanic ran the computer code and he said that it probably just needed a minor tune up to fix the problem. So I had them tune the car. The light went off. $200.00 to get that done.

About a week later or so, boom... the oil light on the dash fires off again. UGH! Sooo... back to the shop the car went. An oil sensor was diagnosed as the problem, and so it was replaced with a new one. By then I had had the car about 18 months, and all that time the check engine light and oil light would come on as they pleased. In that time I also had the windshield wiper motor replaced twice. A motor for a VW Jetta runs about $210.00 plus labor. That was the last time it was in the shop 1/30/10. The last wiper motor was replaced, and I had the car gone over to see if the mechanic saw any problems starting. They declared it in good shape and ready for the road.

Well, five days ago, between the time I left home and had almost arrived at the doctors, which was a half an hour a away, the car completely lost all its oil. Ironically the stupid oil light never went off like it had done so many times in the two years I had it. Any one can guess what happened next. The motor blew on the freeway. It was the scariest sound I had heard come from a car. It shook violently and everything seized up. The brakes... the power steering. The motor blew at 75 mph. I managed to coast to the off ramp cuz the car was completely dead. Lost story short... My car is useless to me now. The motor is completely gone. 2,500.00 dollars worth of repairs later.

Faults:

Where to start?

Both back windows have gone out and one side slides down all the time.

Passenger door doesn't open sometimes.

Turn signals stopped working; I believe it was the flasher.

Problems with the tire area and brakes.

All this in about 8 months. I have already spent as much fixing it as I did to buy it!

Faults:

One radiator fan.

Clutch hose.

Coil pack.

ABS pump & wheel sensors.

E-brake cable tubes.

Glove box door.

Arm rest.

Rear ashtray.

Dash cupholders.

General Comments:

I got a good deal on this car used. I had no illusions that it had a hard life, given the cheap purchase price, but the bodywork was immaculate black, so the repairs that followed weren't (to me) a big deal.

Well I'm deep into repairs. I have heard horror stories for the 99.5+ yr (Mk 4) Jettas and some are legitimate. The interior components that have failed (glove box, armrest, rear ashtray) are VERY common failures, and thus are very hard to find parts for.

The other parts I've replaced have just been ignored by neglect, most of which have never been replaced before... a testament to VW quality. I question the quality of the 3rd party parts I've bought to replace them, but being knowledgeable in vehicle repairs, I can keep an eye on them.

The ABS system has failed, which is not a big deal as it reverts the brake system back to old school non-ABS. But there's an annoying flasher warning on the cluster that has to be dealt with as $1000 for a new ABS pump is unacceptable.

I am happy with the comfort of this vehicle, but the Mexican build quality is not as good as German (or even Brazilian) builds.