2000 Volkswagen Jetta GLX review from North America

I bought this car right off the delivery truck and though I expect minor issues with any car this has become ridiculous. I have always taken it to the dealer for scheduled maintenance and oil changes.

First item that broke was the window cowl. That black piece of plastic that runs under the windshield and fills the gap between the hood and the window. I live in a cold climate and apparently the water pooled on the cowl then froze then shattered into a thousand pieces. I took it back to my orignal dealer in Libertyville Illinois and they said it would not be covered under my regular or extended warranty becausee it was considered trim. I pushed they shoved and eventually they agreed to replace it.

Second item to break is my front in-dash cupholder. Worst design I have ever seen. My original dealer replaced it in 15 minutes without any gruff.

Then I moved to Tucson Arizona. Big mistake, there is only one VW authorized service center in this town. Beaudry VW, that's when the real trouble began. On my way home from a road trip to Vegas my check iengine light and emission workshop light came on with 300 miles to go before we hit home. Made an appt. with the VW dealer and they claimed it was an oxygen sensor that went bad, when I asked if it was a known probelm they replied, "put it this way, we keep a lot of these sensors in stock." Nuff said.

Then I made an appointment for the 40,000 checkup. They wanted $150 more than anyone else including the Chicago market. I argued with them for a week and they finally relented. I spent almost $500 and I am not sure they did a thing.

The very next week I pulled into my garage and all of the engine coolant poured out onto the floor. I had to have it towed back to the same awful dealer, who said the main hose ruptured. I politely explained that I just spent $500 dollars last week and they should have noticed a worn hose or at least done a pressure test. Once again the extended warranty did not want to cover the cost. We argued and finally the dealership picked up the cost of the labor and I paid for the part.

Now my cup holder broke again and for some reason this dealer says it won't replace it. They want $85 plus labor.

Then a piece of my front fairing fell off and while they were replacing the part they apparnetly pulled my rear wheels and said the pads and rotors were below spec and then wat $500 to replace them. My brakes work as good as the first day I owned the car, no noise, pulling, etc. No pad indicator light either. I think the dealer is to blame here, but I have seen TSB's on premature brake wear, on the rear wheels of Jettas.

Bottom line, I will never buy another VW again. I just bought a Honda Pilot and it is engineered well and I predict it will never see the same problems as my VW has.

Nice looking.

Love heated Seats.

Love instrumentation.

Not enough to overcome all of its shortcomings.