2002 Volkswagen Jetta review from North America

OMG ---- what HASN'T gone wrong with this car!!!

I bought this car brand new from the dealership 4 years ago - and well, I have had problems with it from the start - everything you all posted prior to me has happened: the windows not going down, or falling down, the radio shorting out, the rattling noise, the shaking in reverse, the shaking while driving. I've had numerous repairs, and in the past 10 months, I have spent $7,000 on repairs.

We all know about the faulty coils and how they have been recalled, and mine were replaced.

Well my LATEST adventure was two days ago; I was driving down the street, my car started shaking and I saw smoke coming from the hood! I pulled over, my boyfriend and I opened the hood, and we saw FLAMES!!! We were swatting at it and blowing on it trying to get it out, and it finally went out. What was left was a hole where the fire was, about the size of my fist thru the engine cover. Through it I could see a bunch of wires.

I decided NOT to have it towed to the dealership (even though I have always used them), I have NOT been happy with their service at all and refuse to ever go there again. Now, I need to have a new harness put in, as well as a coil replacement --- uhm... I had those replaced and I didn't think that they should be faulty anymore. I'm wondering if the coils shorted out and that caused a spark which caused the fire in my car?

I will not EVER purchase a VW ever again and I urge you not to purchase a VW either. I'm buying a Toyota for my next car. I'm sure this Jetta won't last too much longer. I take it in for problems every 2-3 months, and the next time this car falls apart on me, I'm gonna try to sell the thing. Of course, who in their right mind would ever buy this piece of crap?