2000 Volkswagen Jetta GLX review from North America

I wrote a review of this car previously, and in the time since I wrote the review, two problems did occur... the car inexplicably would not start or turn over. I had it towed to the VW dealer and they said it was an ECU issue; the car had ECU issues before that required it to be reset, and so they reset it again and the car started right up and I never had any further problems with it. There was no charge for this.

Then the car started leaking coolant... three minutes under the hood found the problem: when they were playing under the hood with the ECU, battery, fuses, etc, they bumped a coolant hose on the right hand side of the engine and it came loose, and started to rub up against a hot piece of metal and a hole started. It wasn't covered under warranty, and hoses are considered wear and tear items, so I paid $40 for a new hose and called it a day.

Otherwise the car was problem-free up until that fateful day in Watsonville, CA...

I will miss this car a lot. I was sitting at a light behind a Plymouth Voyager and a GMC pickup going 45 mph nailed me from behind; the skid marks were only about a foot away from the impact, and it slammed me into the van in front of me, then the car bounced back and hit the truck a second time.

After my head quit moving around at frightening speeds, I was dazed for a moment then let out a stream of profanities when the pain hit. Fortunately, I'm a pretty strong guy and my shoulders were sore for a week, I had a headache for a few hours and now I'm completely fine. Typical guy... I was way more concerned about my car than my neck...

The back of the car was obliterated; the trunk is teepee'd, the lights (which work still, somehow) and bumper are pretty much gone, and you can see where the crumple zones did their job: the sides of the trunk are caved in where the body deformed to slow the impact.

The front of the car didn't fare much better; the grille is gone, headlights still amazingly work, though the bumper is ruined, the hood won't open and the fenders are skewed badly because of the frame warpage. The transmission was busted because I was sitting in first with the clutch in, and the forward-back-forward motion from the impact killed a couple gears. However, the car still starts up on the first click, and though it pulls to the right, it's still actually drivable, somehow.

The frame warped enough that the windshield cracked, and the rear doors were jammed shut, but could have been opened from the inside with a good kick (I yanked them open at the body shop). The damage was slowed completely by the back of the car and there was no damage to the cabin at all; if the car had been loaded, we'd all have walked away. The cops said I was lucky I was in the Jetta; if I'd been in a Honda Civic, I'd be in the hospital.

It's been written off as a total loss, and while I want to buy another Jetta, I make more money now than when I bought it and I'm looking for something faster and rear wheel drive, like an Infiniti G35. But I'd recommend a Jetta to anyone... it was a great car while I had it, I had lots of great times in it, and it gave its life to save mine.