1997 Volkswagen Jetta GLS review from North America

Cruise control has never worked for me and the seat adjustment knobs came broken off in the glove box.

Rear driver side molding fell off, but my dad put it back on and it has not fell off yet.

Clutch was gone within two to three months.

Driver window made awful noises going down, but was fixed, now it seems to just rattle in it's track.

Inside the car:

Electrical problems like none other. Sometimes the lights just don't work, but may come on on their own.

Lid on change holder broke off, as well as the cup holder behind it and the handle to the ashtray. Passenger visor broke off, and the release latch for the glove box has also broken now.

Air bag light has not gone off for over a year.

Air condition sometimes makes the car shudder and more susceptible to stalling.

Only half of the rear defrost works.

Sometimes when it is cold the doors just don't open, or lock in driver door gets frozen up so key will not even go in.

Regular maintenance has been done for the most part, all new belts, tires, spark-plugs and wires, distributor cap, brakes.

Although we are leaking coolant, after replacing the hose which we thought was cracked, just replaced the driver side hub and bearing because it was in pretty bad shape and we still have a certain noise that leads me to believe we will soon be replacing something else as well.

I love my car. For the most part it has been very dependable and fun. On the other hand, when something does go wrong it is always expensive to fix because of the VW label. I have learned to deal with the inside of my car falling apart, since small fixtures will cost way too much from the dealership and most of the VW's at the junkyards have been picked clean - I am guessing for the same reason I would.

I do want to mention the good things though, after reading everyone else's comments. My heating works really well, and usually my air conditioner does. My windows have not given me too much trouble except the driver side acting funny. I do not use the key lock for my trunk so I don't have any problems with that. Nothing has happened to my cushions either, but the paint on my door handles and side mirrors has faded quite a bit.

He's got a lot of life in him, I can tell... as long as I repair his frequent wounds.