2001 Volkswagen Jetta GLS review from North America

+/- 0-10k miles

- Front windows replaced due to breakage inside door, regulator.

- Interior surface peeling and scratched badly, parking brake replaced due to extreme peeling within a few months of delivery.

- Cloth fabric picks up ANY lint, seats look dirty all of the time.

- Bumper needs to be fixed numerous times after pulling off.

+/- 11k-40k miles

- VW emblem falls off one wheel cover, the rest fall off by 70k miles.

- Top of center armrest breaks off.

- Latch on glove box falls off in my hand as I open it.

- Bumper is replaced.

+/- 41k-60k

- Check engine light keeps coming on intermittently. Have several shops & the dealer check it but find nothing wrong.

- Control arm bushings bad.

+/- 80k-present

- While pulling out of a parking space (in R), a loud clunk and the car won't back up. Turned it off and then back on again, and it seems OK. Had it checked the next day, there were apparently some battery connection problems, the shop finds no evidence of any transmission problem.

- Check engine light continues on intermittently, but no other problems are associated with this. Have it checked again. Nothing found.

- Check engine light comes on, this time it coincides with the transmission not shifting properly (past 2nd), runs, but at 3K+ RPM's. Take it in again and they find a "Solenoid Valve 6" error code. During the test drive, the check engine light goes off and the car starts shifting properly again. A couple of days later, the check engine light comes back on, the shifting problem starts again. Randomly, while I am driving it about a week later, it goes off and the car immediately shifts into the proper gear. Ran OK again for approximately 300 miles.

- Check engine light has been on/shifting problem continues.

- The car won't start. Have it towed to a transmission shop. They get it running, again, some battery/connection/power draining issue. Pull the transmission pan and find a bunch of metal, re-build required.

After reading the other posts, I am completely shocked. It seems like so many people are having the same electrical/computer/transmission problems, all at around 80,000 miles. Unbelievable.

This is the first new car I've purchased and kept for so long, as I usually trade-in after 3-4 years, and overall, I really like this car. I could live with the cosmetic issues, all things considered, but now I am out of work for the first time in my life and do not have the cash to pay for a costly re-build so I am stuck. Plus, I still owe a small amount on the car, so I don't even have the title to sell the piece of crap. The irony is that I REALLY wanted a manual transmission, but got talked into a special deal on the automatic. This is sickening.

Update 18th March 2009:

Is anyone aware of any class-action lawsuits against VW and the defective automatic transmission, which apparently is not limited to the Jetta? Please respond if you have any information.

My car transmission should still be covered under the 10 year/100k mile Powertrain warranty, but apparently will not be because another transmission shop diagnosed it.

Any help you can provide is appreciated. This is a chronic problem and needs to be addresses by the masses. We can't just accept this, it is completely unacceptable and in all of the years I've owned cars, I have never had a car that was so clearly poorly made and designed.

Thanks for your feedback.