1997 Volkswagen Jetta GL from North America - Comments

Just about everything major went wrong with this lemon.

Bought at 18,000 miles, problems started at 23,000.

Transmission starting getting louder and louder. Gears are not kicking in or switching. The car jumps when the gears finally do change. I took the car to the dealership twice while still under warranty, and no one saw any problems. I was dismissed with a $500 tune up. Transmission problems continued getting worse.

Next, the engine lights started going off like it was the 4th of July. I took it to the dealership, under warranty and of course, they couldn't see any problem. The lights intermittently go off and on, still. If you want the engine light turned off after it's turned itself on, you have to go to a friendly Volkswagen dealer, who will do it for you for $75. I finally took the Jetta lemon to a mechanic who said there may be a major problem with the engine.

At 50,000 miles the AC had some major issue and it cost me $400 to fix it.

At 55,000 miles right front wheel bearing needed changing, $280.

At 56,000 miles I need to change shocks.

I emailed the friendly customer service Volkswagen manufacturer to complain about this car. They were quick to return my call, only to say that they are sorry, but they can't do anything. Not even a $5 coupon for oil change! I figure they must be flooded with phone calls and can't afford $5 for every customer.

Don't ever buy a Volkswagen! I have friends who have some major problems with their newer models just like I had with the 1997 jetta. Dealerships will dismiss your major and numerous problems, and the manufacturer will tell you that you're stuck with it.

Volkswagen! Good luck with your business, you'll need it!

As you can tell by all the negative VW reviews on this site, you're not alone! Check out TIME magazine dated Dec. 8, 2003. There's a story about VW and how their quality and customer satisfaction is on a downward spiral. I knew it was just a matter of time before someone "blew the whistle"!

Thank you for your comments on the 1997 VW Jetta. I just bought a 1997 Golf with 50,000 miles on it. Its transmission works in very peculiar ways. As you say, the dealer that I bought it from can't find anything wrong with it. Of course they can't, they don't drive the car every day like I do. I had a 1986 Golf that I bought in 1990. It was a real pleasure to drive. I know the difference between a good design and a bad design. Out of necessity I drove several rental cars for a month this summer. (Not VWs.) They handled fabulously well. I found your comments by looking for anyone else that might have reported similar problems on the internet. My 1997 Golf will be my last VW.

I own a 1989 VW Jetta that made me hate VW all together. The engine is strong and runs well, but everything else is garbage, VW designed most of the parts to wear out very fast with poor design and sometimes complicated like the ignition switch that every VW owner that I know of had several problems with the ignition switch.

The problem isn’t the switch only, but changing it also; a real pain in the butt, they made it so complicated and hard to replace.

Many other parts are the same way, like the door handles what a miserable design. And they have those in all their other models; I imagine that they’re making tons of money selling these defective parts.

My advise to anyone considering buying a VW is to think twice before making this huge mistake; Don’t be amazed by the car when you test drive it, all new cars are nice to drive when they are new, but you can’t tell the defects until after 25,000 miles or so.

If you want to make VW rich by buying lots of parts that you shouldn’t have to buy then good luck to you.

I really never heard of ignition switch going bad in any other car, just think about this, if they are unable to design a switch that last at least the life of the car then what about the other parts (like struts, door handles, windows switches, shocks, etc…).

I learned my lesson, never VW again. My wife owns a 97 olds achieva, new from the dealer, now 7 years and we still don’t have any problem with it, everything is well designed and working fine.

My next car will definitely be an olds or other US car.

I argee with everyone's comments about the 1997 Jetta. My mom bought me a lovely red Jetta, to be driven periodically (since I am a college student who lives a block away from campus). My warranty was soon needed to "fix" the transmission problems, which came to a grand total of about $2500. I knew that I wasn't crazy for think that the car should reach up to about 40rpm before I reached 20mph. That's insane. For some reason, I was drawn in by the fun, young design of the Jetta, but know I have seen the light. As a matter of fact, I am taking this thing for transmission "repair" at the end the week. Maybe a Chevy isn't so bad?

I too have a 1997 golf with 42000 miles. the car has been sitting for 2 years minimum in a garage. The car does not shift into high gear on the auto trans. I do about 45 mph at 3500 rmp way over the shift point.

Since I got the car new from a broker. they said it doesn't fall under warranty when I call last year. but the lady did say try to help, but the dealer had no idea about my car or the way it was purchased. (don't buy from a car broker)

Anyways. I don't see how a car that was perfect in 2006 and started and driven very minimally can have all these problems now.

I purchased a 1997 VW Jetta in August 2008. It had 130,000 miles on it and had some problems with it, but nothing I considered out of the ordinary. I am very pleased with my 5-speed manual transmission, other than if you over-rev it shifting into another gear it will slipper-shift and you have to let the RPMs go down before you shift again. The gas mileage is good and has been reliable so far. One caution; I've been told not to use after-market parts (filters, etc.) as sometimes they don't work as well as factory or VW-certified parts. So far, so good. It's nimble and handles very well. It didn't come with a owner's manual, so I bought a Hayne's manual, which has given me a good reference.