Comments: 1-15, 16-28
I can't help, but think of title of Leonard Cohen's most famous novel when I look at my car: Beautiful Loser.
Truthfully, the 21 months that I've owned this car has proven to be a real comedy of errors, in which VW has cast me as the comic foil... or should I say faulty coil?
Let's see, of the 21 months I've owned the car, it's been in the shop for over 3 months. The problems included:
-All 4 ignition coils required replacement, which was accomplished on 3 separate occasions, as they refused to replace all 4 coils at the same time. I cannot describe the dread I felt the first two times I drove the recently repaired car off the VW lot, knowing that it would only be a matter of time (days, weeks, months?) before the remaining coils would fail. My rental and loaner cars during the protracted repairs (1 week to 1 1/2 months), would vary in quality from a mid 90's sunfire, to a late 90's Beetle. Neither replacement were reasonable replacements for a $31K Canadian vehicle.
-Over the past 12 months, the following has also required repairs: Passenger side brake light replaced, armrest door latch replaced, emergency brake cable replaced, washing fluid pump seal replaced.
-Now at 41,000Km, I've been told that my clutch is burned out. I've driven standard cars for 14 years (including a 90 VW Golf, a 94 VW Jetta GLS, and a 2000 BMW 328 - company car while in the UK), and have never burned out a clutch. Typically I would expect to see a clutch replaced on a standard car at over 150,000-200,000 km, not at under 50,000 km. According to VW, this is due to driver error and wear and tear, and hence is not covered by the warranty. Sadly, it took me less than 2 minutes to search Google and see that many, many 2002 VW 1.8T Jetta owners are experiencing the same early problem with the clutches at similar mileage. This is a $1371.00 Canadian repair, that I have to foot the bill for, as VW is refusing to acknowledge this problem. This, with the $300.00 service bill at 30,000 KM, has knocked up my operational cost for the 3 year lease by at least $1600.00, or pushing $2000 if you include all the oil changes, etc. This in total, pushes the average monthly cost to operate the vehicle up by $50-60 per month over the course of the lease, assuming I have no further problems (which is again, highly unlikely, given it's high occurence of other defects: windows falling, air sensor failing, etc...)
VW is making it very difficult for me to continue my love affair with their automobiles. I have been an avid VW advocate for over a decade, and appreciate the design asthetic and performance of my 2002 jetta... when it's running. It cannot match the performance or build quality of my last car, but it's not in the same price category. In it's range, it's should be a well equiped competitor (comparable to the new Altima, which is also very nice).
I cannot comment as to whether VW's customer service has always been this terrible, as I've never had to use it before. All things considered, I highly doubt I will purchase another VW again. At one point I was considering handing my car in at the end of the lease, and moving onto the Audi A4, but now that I know they share so many parts, I shudder to think of the quality issues I'd find in that car. To be frank, it embarasses me that my frustration has driven me to posting my complaints on the internet. But at the same time, I feel VW should be embarassed that their typical demographic customer, me and my ilk, are so flabbergasted at their poorly scripted, inflexible and non-accountable VW customer support system, that the only recourse is whinge loudly in internet forums. I mean, I shouldn't have to fight tooth and nail with the manufacturing of "the people's wagon" in order to get them to recognize their shortcomings.
:) My boss owns a 2004 Audi A8 and his entire electronics system froze up on him like a week ago in the cold weather. Also, about 2 months ago all his bumper sensors went nuts (which all had to be replaced in the end).
Even luxury comes at a price... and even the high end cars have problems.
For me, if I had a medical emergency right now my only form of transportation is my 2003 Jetta which will not shift out of park (auto trans) unless I warm the car up for like 20 minutes.
I also had problems with Jetta not shifting out of park. VW claimed to have fixed the problem through a brake light recall. Less than two weeks later, I was told my vehicle was unsafe to drive. VW has had my vehicle for over 10 days and replaced the master cylinder and a sensor and still has not completely fixed the problem.
I too have had the same problems with my 2002 1.8T Jetta. I was happy with it at first. My dealership replaced my coils due to recall. No problem. My driver side window fell into the door. Lucky I work in an office where I pretty much make my own schedule. I took it to the VW dealership the same day. Thankful it did not rain. Now my clutch burned out. This set me back about $1900.00. It sucks. I too have found that many owners of 2002 1.8T Jetta's are having the same problems. I have seen on the web that there maybe a class action law suit on the clutch problem. I should have bought the Honda. To make matters worse my clutch problem is still there. I am having problems getting into third gear. I am taking it back first thing tomorrow morning. Live and learn. Thanks for the venue to vent my frustrations.
I also have had the clutch burnout issue with my 2002 1.8T. I was just informed today, it needs a second clutch at 43K miles. I have never owned an automatic and do not race, etc.
My 2003 Jetta GLS had many of the same problems listed above. Twice I was stuck in park, had my arm rest door latch break, and now my car has little power and huge difficulties shifting (A/T). VW of course said their "computer" found nothing wrong. Maybe that's because my warranty doesn't expire until 500 more miles... then they'll probably find something.
Suddenly, without any warning while driving on Interstate 95, the clutch on our 2002 Jetta Wagon burned out and I completely lost power to the engine. The car has 31,000 miles on it. The repair cost will be $1,800. Until reading this website, I'd never heard of a clutch burning out at only 31,000 miles. Both my wife and I are experienced drivers of manual shift cars. My Passat has 160,000 miles and the clutch is fine.
Something seems to be defective with the clutch on the Jetta Wagon and perhaps other Jetta's as well. I hope VW will look into this issue. We are very fortunate that the drivers behind us on the Interstate were good drivers and did not rear end us at 65 mph when we lost power to the engine. January 10, 2006.
I also have problems with my 2000 VW Jetta. I got stuck outside a mall. The automatic shift won't go out of Park.
Don't know what to do. Also brake light won't work.
Just experienced a similar problem with my 2003 Jetta-got stuck in gear and couldn't get it out. I had to have it towed to the nearest dealer, who had a customer service ethic that would not be out of place in the former Soviet Union! I was wary of VW's to begin with, but bought this one in spite of gut feelings. I may try to sell it soon (while still under warranty and (for now) everything working) and buy a Subaru or Honda.
"I also have problems with my 2000 VW Jetta. I got stuck outside a mall. The automatic shift won't go out of Park.
Don't know what to do. Also brake light won't work."
I had the exact same problem and was told it was a faulty brake switch and there was a recall for it (2001 Jetta). They made the change (with no charge) and it fixed both the brake light and not coming out of park problems. It's been working fine since then and it's been over a year since they did it.
Also, when I did have the problem I had to SLAM my foot on the brake to get it out of park. You can only shift when the brake light on the dash is off so keep slamming on the brake until that light goes off.
I had the same problem with my 2000 Jetta in terms of getting it out of park. I called Roadside assistance and they gave me a trick so I could drive the car down to a dealership to get it fixed. You turn the car off, pump the brake five times and hold it down on the last pump and keep it down through the rest. Turn the car back on for 5 seconds and then shut it off again. Turn the key to the first stop position (about 1/4 turn) and you can move the shifter so that it's between N and D and keep it there or it will lock into one or the other, then turn the car on and you should be able to move it to Drive and then you can drive like normal. After that, take it to the dealership to get it fixed because once you've done all that you'll realize what a pain it can be to get anywhere else again.
I have a 2002 Jetta 1.8T that is having a clutch problem...again...
The clutch was originally replaced at 389xx miles. now at just over 517xx miles it is starting to act up again.
Just last night when pulling up the driveway there was smoke poring out of the engine compartment! smell is just like a burning smell.
Last clutch wasnt under warranty because vw stated that it was driver error! cost just over $1600.
I know all of this because of the previous owner being my best friend... this car was purchased by me in aug. of this year (2006) and I have only put 1,000 miles on it!
If there is a lawsuit against this problem I would love to have them replace my clutch without a fee!
Friend other car a 2002 focus has over 122,000 miles on it, as well is a 5spd manual and has yet to replace the clutch or have any problems!
This is my first vw and might be the last if problems aren't taken care of!
I have had some problems with My VW GTI I'm in Florida and every time it rains when I'm running around getting stuff done, roads that I HAVE to take flood. Even with Flood waters not being as high, my clutch will not shift. It has been 5 days now and so far I still can't put it into gear, once the reverse didn't work, but after a day or two letting it dry it was fine. Now ALL of the gears! GRRRR Help.
I have had many of these similar problems and wish that I knew of this forum before buying my 2000 Volkswagen Jetta GL 2.0L around this time last year! Currently, I cannot shift my car out of park, it has been a few days that I haven't been able to. The problem began a few weeks ago, and I thought that there was a problem with the battery not holding sending enough voltage to deactivate the braking mechanism. Now, I am not so sure and have held off on going to purchase a new battery, as the car starts up fine. At times, I am lucky with getting the car to shift out of park by revving up the engine. This has not worked in the past few days, however.
The armrest latch is also broken. A few weeks ago, I opened the glove compartment to place my new insurance cards in there and the handle went too. I owned a 1986-87 VW Jetta and that car ran like a horse, so I assumed that VW would maintain the same quality in its newer vehicles. What a disappointment to find that this is not true. Beware in purchasing a 2000 VW Jetta.
I have a 2002 Beetle automatic and my EPC light came on out of the blue and it would not let me shift out of park, I slammed and slammed on the brake to get the light to go out next to "P" so I could shift, but to no avail.
I had it towed to VW, it is out of warranty, but it had all recalls and the expensive (and seemingly worthless) VW services. I sure hope it is just a sensor like everyone says...
I own a 2006 Jetta TDI, manual transmission. I''ve driven it for a full year as of this posting.
At 20K miles, just after the scheduled maintenance, I have experienced problems with the clutch. Fortunately VW is paying for it as a warrantied item.
However what led me to having the car towed to the dealership on this instance involving the clutch repair was that the wheels locked after I turned them towards the curb having parked on a sloped driveway. I turned the car off and then realized that I needed to move the car down the driveway a bit only to discover that the car would not turn over and that the steering wheel was locked with no apparent give. As the key would not turn the ignition and I couldn't release the emergency brake to get the car to move down the hill for rolling into a large bush, I resorted to calling VW's 24-hour roadside assistance.
I called at 10:30pm on January 1st. The roadside assistance representatives could not find a tow truck to come out that night and I was forced to wait until morning the next day.
A side note relating to towing a VW: At 4K miles I had to have my Jetta towed by calling the Roadside Assistance service because my rear break light failed and completely drained my battery. This was the first time I confronted the challenge of towing my new Jetta. And a challenge it was. This most recent occurrence was a repeat of the challenge. VW should redesign not just the way the car is towed, but their documentation explaining the how to do so and reconsider the placement of the tool pouch which is necessary for use when needing to tow the car. Being forced to move all items in the trunk in order to access the spare tire wheel well, then being forced to unscrew and lift the spare up and out of the way in order to get to the tool pouch is a user experience design flaw.
Once the car was received at the VW dealership, I was told that the wheel locking/failure to turn over the ignition problem for which I had originally called Roadside Assistance was fixed by the dealer service tech while the car was still on the tow truck bed. Why Roadside Assistance couldn't have talked me through how I might resolve this on my own without having to have the car towed to the dealership is a problem. If this is a common occurrence as two different VW dealer service technicians claim, I would think the 24-Hour Roadside Assistance Program would have a troubleshooting spec sheet documenting the procedure to remedy this problem right away in order to help VW owners resolve this without being forced to go through the hassle of having the car towed to a dealership.
The clutch problem that I have experienced is frustrating. Prior to the wheel lockup, I noticed the car began idling very roughly just after the 20K mile service. I suspected that maybe something wasn't properly re-tightened during the service or that in the 300 miles I had driven since picking it up from the dealer that I had unknowingly hit something on the road and maybe dislodged some connection. The new clanking at idle was bothersome and it increased in loudness and frequency. Shortly following the noticeable increase in volume and frequency of the clanking, I noted a change in performance when shifting from one gear to the next. I didn't happen every time at first. The occurrence increased with frequency. The problem was noticeable when I was letting out on the clutch. As I was in another city over 80 miles from home, I was concerned about driving home. I told the dealership this after they managed to make me feel like a fool for having the car towed because I couldn't figure out how to get the steering wheel unlocked or the ignition to turn over.
Next thing I know, the VW service department had taken it upon themselves to dismember my car rendering it un-driveable, in effect stranding me in another city, 80 miles from home (note that's 20 miles less than the 100 miles required for the Roadside Assistance Trip Interruption benefit to kick-in).
I detailed my concern about picking up the car without them first looking into the cause of the clanking sound. They supposedly identified that the clanking sound was related to the clutch. I explained to the VW service rep handling the case that ever since delivery of the car, I had complained of the difficulty of moving the gear shift lever. It always seemed tight and hard to move from one gear to the next. I have driven other manual transmissions and they all seemed to shift like butter, nice and smooth. Friends and family who have driven standards for years complained when they drove my car. Everyone seemed to have trouble with it. They embarrassed themselves when they stalled so frequently. One particular trouble I pointed out was when shifting from 4th into 5th. Sometimes I'd mistakenly end up in 3rd with it revving loudly and shocking me to quickly get it over and into 5th. I explained that I told the VW sales rep who sold me the car about this difficulty shifting shortly after picking up the car when I took it back for the window tinting. He assured me that it would smooth out after awhile and that I just wasn't used to it. I special ordered this TDI and waited 3 months to get it. I gather that only one person at the dealership actually ever drove my car before I picked it up. It only had 10 miles on the odometer. Whoever initially drove it probably dismissed the tightness of the shifting to the car being new. Having never *owned* a standard before, I figured that VWs were just more challenging to shift. I was also told by my local VW dealer service rep that the TDIs do tend to stall more often and were a bit more challenging. So how was I to know?
When the service rep told me that it was simply wear and tear on the clutch and that I would be responsible for the repair, I was dismayed and angry. How can a clutch go out at 20K miles?, I asked. The "Well, you must not be driving it correctly" response was lobbed back, and then I let them have it, going over yet again all the the problems I've experienced since purchasing the car. VW actually had the nerve to suggest that because it was not documented in writing with them that I had these problems and they were in their opinion only hearing about it now for the first time while it was in for service on another problem that there was no recourse and that it would simply be a wear and tear issue, not covered by warranty.
However once the mechanic actually heard what I reported about it being a problem from the beginning, that's when everything changed. I was then told that he was "90%" certain it would be covered by warranty. He supposedly had to go back and forth with VW North America to insure that this repair was going to be covered under warranty. It now appears there *is* some serious problem with the pressure plate.
It took two days to determine if VW would cover the clutch repair under warranty. Meanwhile, I'm left stranded 80 miles from home, luckily staying at a friend's house, with NO offer from VW for a rental car to allow me to return home and get to work. I had to press for getting a rental car from them. And because I was 20 miles shy of qualifying for trip interruption service, I was told there was nothing they could do for me. "What do you expect us to do?" was what one of the VW customer care phone reps asked me when I was so frustrated that I was trying to figure out if I was going to have to call in for a second day off from work. Out of desperation, I just said I wanted to know when I'd be getting my car back. Her only offer was to make a "courtesy call" to the dealership to inquire. I could just have well done that myself. After about 30 minutes I called back and told them what I expected. I asked that they at least reimburse or comp me my next oil change, which for a Jetta TDI runs about $80. By the time I end up getting my car back, I will have spent 4 extra hours driving back and forth to the city where I was stranded in order to pick up my car, then return home. I will have logged close to 200 miles out of my way because of this breakdown. But because I'm not 100 miles from home from where I broke down, I don't qualify for any Roadside Assistance benefits other than the free tow. The rental is covered only because the clutch problem is under warranty.
I chose to buy a VW because it was safe and because the TDI has great mileage and allows the option of running on BioDiesel. I think my Jetta feels like a solid car, versus the Japanese and American model cars of the same class. The *comparable* rental they've put me in is comparable only in cubic feet. I don't feel safe in the American tin-can-on-wheels rental. If they are going to proclaim putting someone in a comparable vehicle, I would think that Safety would be first, not cubic feet of passenger space.
VW North America needs to rethink the entire customer experience when they come up with their policies, when they create their owner's manuals, and when they design how to tow their cars.