2000 Volkswagen Jetta GLS review from North America

90,000km, interior console latch broke

92,000km, timing belt

100,000km, gearbox problems started during cold weather

112,000km, the rear bushings had to be changed

115,000km, one front bearing

118,000km, the brake sensor

118,000km, brake pads AND disks

119,000km, interior console latch broke AGAIN

122,000km, a windshield wiper flew away

125,000km, a spark plug unscrewed out of its socket and BLEW OUT of the motor

130,000km, steering problems started

Drive train problems started to get really big at 135,000km

140,000, the check engine lit up, Mass Airflow Sensor.

I will elaborate a little bit with my own general experience with modern Volkswagen.

I am a college student, and have always preferred the Volkswagen brand for numerous reasons. Notably its German heritage, which differentiates it from boring American sedans, and also from mass produced Japanese cars all my buddies had.

So what appealed to me was the brand image (important to note).

I first bought a 1997 Jetta GL, which was already 8 years old. I was convinced Volkswagen cars were of superior quality and reliable. I sold this car after a year of using it. Many things broke during that year, and I ended up quite a loser on the final sale price.

Having a bigger budget to purchase a nicer car, I decided replace the '97 Jetta with the "new" Jetta, which at the time was the '00-'05 series. I ended up choosing the Jetta versus the Accord. I tried both, but finally chose the Jetta because the Accords were more expensive for the same year/mileage.

I found this 2000 Jetta GLS, previously owned by a respectable looking old man. This inspired confidence. The car was 4 years old, and freshly out of warranty. I thought I had made a good bargain, it only had 80,000km.

Right away, I noticed the plastic interior was peeling off every piece it was coated on.

At 90,000km, the latch that slides to hide the 12volt lighter and the ashtray broke. Had this repaired at a cost of $30.

92,000km, I changed the timing belt because of everyone telling me I had to change it before 100,000km. So I did as I was told. This cost $360.

At 100,000km, winter was starting, and the cold weather seemed to have totally ruined my driving pleasure forever. The gearbox was now very hard to up shift into 2nd gear. I had to "warm up" the car and gearbox for at least 10 minutes to be able to shift the manual shifter. This problem was never resolved, although I did pay for labor time to look into it, but only got inconclusive answers and/or contradictory from one garage to another, so I decided to leave and not change anything. Cost $35.

At 112,000km the rear bushings had to be changed. Noticeable thumping noises would be heard at every street bump or imperfection. Very annoying. Cost $740.

At 115,000km I was told from a regular inspection that one front bearing would need to be replaced. Cost $180.

At 118,000km the brake sensor lit up after I hit a really deep road bump. The garage told me the brake sensor broke and had to be replaced. This cost $65. He also told me I had replace my brake pads and disks on both front wheels. Cost $350, done with brake sensor.

By this time, I started to realize this car was quite expensive in maintenance costs.

Having entirely paid for the car, I thought the costs would be low to keep it running. WRONG.

At 119,000km the latch that slides to hide the 12volt lighter and the ashtray broke AGAIN. Didn't bother to repair.

At 122,000km a windshield wiper flew away on the highway. Replaced both by new Bosch ones. Cost $60.

At 125,000km a spark plug unscrewed out of its socket, and BLEW OUT of the motor while I was driving on my way to work. This caused my to lose half a day's work and cost $60 to put in brand new spark plugs. Very weird.

At 130,000km steering problems started. Eventually the car started to leak big amounts of its power steering liquid. I had to urgently go to the garage and have a big repair done. It cost $950, as they had to change an important piece concerning the steering.

Drive train problems started to get really big at 135,000km. Grinding when shifting into third started to be frequent, and grinding when shifting into reverse gear. I had to change the clutch. This was a crushing blow to my budget. Cost $760 (and I had a good price of the repair).

At 140,000 the check engine lit up. The garage told me it was the Mass Airflow Sensor and it would probably cost in the near $350 (not including the labor). I did not have this repaired. He erased the check engine and I didn't repair this problem.

After all this, I re-sold the car 2 years later, and lost well-over £3000 on the car price, which I consider normal. However the $3000 in repairs, isn't.

After finding this website and noticing everyone with the same problems I was having, I'm just real glad I sold that beautiful piece of thrash.

Long live boring American sedans and mass produced Japanese cars if they're anything better than German crapwagons.

I'm also noticing Passat and Golf owners are having the same problems.

Can we draw conclusions here..???