Comments: 1-15, 16-26
The automatic transmission was replaced at 9400 miles. It had been faulty for months.
Transmission problems, clunking, began in the summer of 2004. Many trips to the dealer to complain, but they said unable to replicate the problem. They finally agreed there was a problem in March, 2004 and said they would order a new transmission. Then they changed their mind and serviced the original. Upon return transmission was worse; slippage, clunk, jump out of gear. Back to dealer who finally installed a new transmission.
This is my review. A new transmission was finaaly installed after a year's anguish. One loses faith in a vehicle after such an encounter. We put an end to waiting for the next shoe to drop, bit the bullet, and purchased a new vehicle elsewhere. As I said- "my first and last Volkswagen".
It is realy too bad that VW will not stand behind their cars. I too am having a frustrating time concerning a transmision problem with my 2004 Jetta. VW's position is that the car is operating within manufacturer specs. They may be winning the battles, but as sales figures show they are losing the war.
This is the exact same problem I am having with my 2004 Jetta. I have been to the dealer 4 times already and they have not been able to replicate the problem.
Gosh, same story I got:
"We cannot replicate the problem."
This was after letting them drive my car for 5 days.
Yet my husband had the problem 'replicate' at least 3 times in a 5 day period when I loaned him the car.
Standard reply to shut up the consumer???
The Jetta IV is a car that drove VW to near extinction in the US. Quality problems are legion. These cars are not like the older VW's that age very slowly. The '93-'98 Jetta III was much better. We have a '98 and it is very solid and strong after 7 years and 85,000 miles. VW lost a billion dollars last year in North America. Most of was for quality problems with their biggest-selling models, the Jetta and the Passat.
Only a year after owning my Jetta had I experienced the transmission changing gears in a jerking manner. I took the car to the dealer for another recall and mentioned the transmission problem and how it would only occur when it was first started each day for about 10 minutes. I left the vehicle overnight with the dealer and said that it needed a new transmission. This was the second time that I had taken my vehicle to the dealer where I purchased it and the first experience was a disaster regarding the change of my fuel gauge. Once I emphasized the poor service from the first time, the service advisor made sure I was a happy customer.
"the service advisor made sure I was a happy customer."
Wow, you must have a good dealership, and that is a miracle. It's been my experience that the dealerships could care less about making anyone a happy customer. They act like you're the one that caused all the problems with the car. I had to bring my VW back 3 times in one week because the check engine light kept coming on. It was a different sensor every time. When I got it back the second time it drove like crap so I turned around and brought it back, it was the coil pack. They wanted $1200 to fix a car they returned to me broken. Now THAT'S customer service!
I have transmission problems, jerking and loud clunking around 30 miles per hour, otherwise it's joy to drive. Whenever I bring it to the dealer, they test drive it and say there is no problem. I don't know what to do.
The problem with VW is unless you take one of their guys for a ride then they won't find a problem. They only drive the cars around the block so odds are any problem won't be replicated.
I have had a ton of problems with my 04 jetta as well. Almost since the beginning of time the third gear would grind when I shifted my manual transmission, thinking I was just being a dumb girl I continued to drive it this way for a while until someone told me to take it in! They said they needed to replace the Synchro (whatever that is) It took them a month and I finally had my car back. After a few thousand miles it began doing the same thing only the 2nd gear was having the problem. They are replacing my transmission as we speak, and also informed me that at 50,000 miles my clutch needs to be replaced for the LOW price of $500 bux!! I'm furious with this buy, and will probably sell this thing soon so I don't have to deal with the problems anymore! Honda here I come!!
A week and a half ago I bought a 2006 Jetta TDI with the automatic Tiptronic transmission. As I write this, I am driving a Toyota Camry b/c after only having 828 miles on my car, my transmission supposedly blew. The dealer actually has no clue what is wrong with my car, but "thinks" that my transmission is what caused my problems. My car started making a very loud banging and clanging, and while my foot was not even on the gas pedal, decided to "take off" from me. I slammed on the brakes, heard a loud pop, kind of like a backfire (diesels don't backfire, I was told) and then my car stalled. It was towed back to the dealer, and after accusations of putting gas in my diesel, I am told that my transmission blew. They said that they are going to replace my transmission, but can't even get the parts for another week. I was first given a Kia as a rental. Sorry, but with $504 car payments, I was not driving a Kia. I am very dissatisfied with my car and have spoken to my Dealer and VW Headquarters and nobody seems to care. I thought their motto was to make their customers happy?
I have bought my brand new 2006 Jetta TDI a week ago and have 1200 on it. Today in slow traffic on Turnpike the car stopped responding to the gas pedal while in D. Then all the gear letters on the dashboard started blinking at once. The transmission not responding well at all though I was able to get off the Turnpike. Taking it to the dealer tomorrow. Will see what happens.
I too have the same kind of prob with my 04 Jetta, Transmission prob. when I bought it at 1000miles it started giving probs, hard jerk when shifting. Took it to the dealerships more than 10 times, but they could not replicate the prob, so I finally gave up and waited for the prob to get worse. So now with 27K miles on it when I put it in Reverse the car moves forward for like 4feet before it jumps to reverse. This time the dealer was able to replicate the prob, but when they contacted VW HQ they said that this is normal and they can't fix it because this is normal. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT! So now I don't know what to do...
I bought my 04 Jetta 2.0 Wagon a few weeks ago. It had 7000 miles on it and I paid around $15,000, so I thought I got a pretty decent deal. Within a week I noticed the transmission being really slow off the start if I was aggressive and jumping around between 1st-2nd, 2nd-3rd. I took it to a dealer and had a service rep drive around until he admitted he could feel it. I left it with them and they replaced my transmission with little hassle saying there was 35% slippage in the 4th clutch.
I was totally stoked that it was so easy; however, after having my car back for a few days, the major jumping between gears is gone, but it still seems to be missing some hitch in its giddyup. Sometimes there is a two second delay off the start, or when trying to get the downshift between 10-40mph and rounding corners. I don’t know if this is some kind of setting in the chip or if this tranny is effed up too. I love the feel and style of the car, it handles great, but I don’t know if I can handle waiting for it to catch up with me in the times that I need it to get me out of the way of oncoming traffic. Looks like I might have to take a loss and trade it in if I can’t get it squared away.
I own a 2003 VW Jetta, purchased new. At about 38,000 miles the manual transmission started grinding when shifting into 2nd and 3rd gears. I took it to one dealership and they could not reproduce the problem, however I finally had it looked at by another dealer, and guess what-they could reproduce the problem. Took the tranny out of the vehicle to replace the synchro's, however after inspecting it, ordered a new unit from VW and replaced the whole thing. I was told it would be cheaper and faster to get a totally new unit vs. rebuilding the old unit. I was placed in a rental car for four days while mine was in the shop. The service dept was awesome, and was very professional with me in all dealings. This has been the first problem I have had with my Jetta, I only hope it's the last. I'm keeping my fingers crossed...