1996 Volkswagen Jetta GLS from North America - Comments

Transmission blew at 52000. The dealer wouldn't warranty it. It was the usual reverse gear problem that is typical in VW's.

Ignition coil fried at about 80,000 miles along with the ECU because the strip at the bottom of the windshield was cracking and water leaked in and cost about $1500 to fix.

Rear struts were really bad, and had to replace because every little bump I went over I bottomed out.

I went through window regulators and motors on two different windows, one was covered on warrany because it happened about a month after I had the car.

Those were my only real large problems. Everything else that happened was generally wear and tear things. Timing blet and tensioner, cap and rotor, brakes all around and front rotors at about 85,000 miles.

I love this car. I did a lot of performance things to it. I installed a p-chip, cams and cam gear, cat-back Brospeed exhaust, 17" rims, Eibach Sportline kit which lowered the car 1.9", interior excessories, and a $2,000 stereo system.

Also did the Vento conversion with the badges, headlights, tail lights, and the LED fast blinkers.

Added a front and rear spoiler as well as a German license plate to the front for looks.

Under the hood had a Neuspeed P-Flow intake and Neuspeed strut bar, and Neuspeed spark plug wires.

Going to be adding Wings West body kit and saving for Neuspeed supercharger.

I get some looks with this car. Its quick for a 4 cyl, and with the modifications I have done to the car, I do pretty well.

The bottom of the windshield is cracking too n people said its not a problem n its fine to leave that gap... but they can be bullshiting me so who's right?

I too am a lucky, proud owner of a Volkswagen Jetta. My friends call me "Jetta Joe"! I have had some problems with my car due to my abuses to it, however it's holding up great. I am a hooked Vee-Dub Fanatic. I own a 97 Jetta GL 2.0L 8V. It is a very quick car and I love it. So far, I have replaced the front motor mount (which broke while "Chirping" second gear, and I just broke the differential gears in the transmission (again my fault, doing a mean burnout). All I have done to my car is add a racing style pinstripe, and a racing exhaust system. I love it because it doesn't sound like a "Jap Crap" Civic coming down the street. It has a deeper tone to it. The looks are excellent, it has a very comfortable ride, The handling is awesome (except for in the rain or snow), And the trunk room is un-imaginable. I will never own anything other than a VW in my life. I don't even recommend anything other than a VW to anybody I know. By the way---I have 127,000 miles on my car and the engine makes no noises at all, not even the slightest low-octane ping. :-)