2006 Volkswagen Jetta GLI from North America - Comments

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While the Mk V Jetta is considered a compact, it looks and feels more like a mid-size car. Ride is surprisingly smooth. The GLI package is awesome and gives the Jetta a unique sporty look, which is nice in today's age of look-alike automobiles. Performance of the 2.0 turbocharged motor is great and the car just eats up curves. My Jetta came with the cold weather package and the auto climate control works great. I love the draft-free design. The 6-speed manual transmission shifts as smooth as butter. If I had to get nit-picky, I'd say it takes a bit too long to get juice going to the heating elements in the seats, but once they warm up, they are super comfortable. This car is very enjoyable to drive!

Glad to see you're enjoying your Jetta. Give us periodic updates, especially as the years go by. Thanks.

This is an update from the original poster. Its now been 10 months and the car has 7000 miles. So far my biggest complaint by far is the interior has been developing rattles in various locations, mainly from the vents and sunroof sunshade. I have managed to repair some of them, but it can still be annoying unless I turn up the radio to drown out the noises. Now that it has gotten warmer I had some time to use the AC. So far its been working good except it does not blow as much cold air as I'd like in stop and go traffic. It also eats up gas mileage in the city. It usually drops to the low 20's, however on the highway I still manage to get 30+ MPG. In addition, the AC also saps power, especially on 90 degree days since turbos work better in cooler temperatures. Another reason I mention the AC is I have heard that there is a supplier issue regarding the compressors failing prematurely and many people with 2.0T equipped Jettas and GTI's have had the AC quit. Worst case scenario the compressor would seize up causing the serpentine belt to blow rendering the car undrivable. I have my fingers crossed that this will not happen. Hearing about issues like this from others is not very inspiring when you are driving a $30000 car and greatly affects my enjoyment whether or not I actually experience the same issue. As for the rest of the car, I'm still happy with it, everything is working well. It still has awesome power and can catapult past 100mph until road or nerves run out. I still plan on keeping the car for at least several years and hope that I do not run into any reliability issues. I'll keep updating here in the future.