Faults:

The temperature gauge went out at about 30,000 miles. The battery died after only 14 months. The driver's heated seat works only intermittently.

There is an air leak around the rear passenger side door that doesn't seem to be fixable.

General Comments:

This is a fun car to drive. A lot of performance for a 1.8 liter engine, and it always runs great. But service and parts are EXPENSIVE. I was going to add the CD deck to the Monsoon sound system. For just the deck, it was $400.00! I made the mistake of telling them to put in 4 new spark plugs at 40,000 miles -- this cost me $115.00, and the dealership in Ann Arbor could give me no explanation why it cost so much --- gouging taken to a new degree!

Faults:

2 tail light bulbs burned out.

A buzzing noise developed behind the driver-side, door-mounted, tweeter speaker (fixed by dealer).

An engine light illuminated at 30k miles for faulty oxygen sensor (or something like that) ; recall item; fixed by dealer.

A glove box hinge broke(fixed by dealer, though much more expensive than expected).

General Comments:

I get surprisingly good power and response out of the 5-speed manual xmission & 115hp V4.

The suspension is tight and the car corners very well. As one might expect, though, the ride is a little hard on poorly paved roads.

The heated seats, sunroof, Monsoon stereo, and 6-disc CD changer provide great comfort for the price. My only gripe about the stereo is that the volume knob automatically mutes the speakers at a somewhat high volume, so the music is either loud or off. I haven't figured out how to disable this function.

The only real reason I can think of for driving another car is for want of a larger engine. Otherwise, it has everything I need for the right price.

Faults:

To start the driver's window felt into the door panel. The problem was fixed by the dealer. Three months later the passenger window felt. Each time taken to the dealer it took around two weeks to be fixed. Later on a leak from the door, engine light came on with no apparent reason. Dealer cannot find the problem with the engine light. Now the alarm is not working and kills the battery. While been serviced for a routine maintenance the mechanic replaced the spark plugs with the wrong parts creating a big problem. During oil change the filter was not tight enough and started leaking oil.

General Comments:

I will never buy another VW.

Service centers are the worst I've seen.

The car is nice, but not worth the money.

Faults:

In the shop seven times in first 6 months for radio failure, check engine light, and excessive (well I thought it was at the time) oil burning. They stated we should do a consumption test that as far as I can ascertain did nothing more than confirm what I had told them - ie. no remedy proposed.

Transmission was replaced at 30,000 km. ($1800 covered under warranty) 12 days in shop.

Excessive brake pad and rotor wear - and it costs about $400 to do maintenance on brakes.

The car constantly burned oil, requiring a replacement quart about every 3000 km.

Flimsy cup holder was constantly breaking.

Power sunroof stopped working ($400)

Strange smells coming from ventilation system.

Catalytic converter system needed to be completely replaced at 100,000 km's. Thankfully, this was covered under a special extended warranty ($2-3000)

Tie Rods needed to be replaced - approx. $600.

Velour upholstery nearly impossible to keep clean - gathers and retains dust, hair and lint.

Numerous other things the details of which I have tried to forget about. I estimate the car was in the shop 30-40 times in the 4 years I owned it.

General Comments:

I have sold the Jetta and bought a Ford Escape and I couldn't be happier. I guess there is a reason VW sales in the US are down 40% this year.