I have a love hate relationship with my Black 2000 VW Jetta 1.8 Turbo. Actually, I love 95 percent. The 1% is some craptacular plastics that I can bear, it's the other 4 % that chaps my hide. The front power windows are complete crap. 2 weeks after I got it in 2000 the driver side window fell after a loud popping sound in the middle of the door. The dealership acted like it was the strangest story they ever heard and fixed it. The week after the passenger window did the same thing. After about 10 minutes at vwforums.com I came across the reason. A faulty plastic ring in the power window driver assembly gets too hot and allows the metal cord to slide right through and the window just drops into the door with a thud. I confronted the stealership and they admitted that it was an issue that they could fix but it would keep breaking unpredictably until VW decided to change the component to something other than plastic. All total I had the front windows fixed a total of 9 times in 2 years. Then in late 2002, VW designed a metal ring to replace the old plastics ones. Of course, the dealer said we aren't authorized to preemptively fix them... so I sat in the dealership parking lot and rolled the windows up and down until both broke. Took about 10 minutes. In early 2003 I got a letter from VW saying that the windows would be covered until 100K miles or 2007, which ever came first (class action settlement). So big deal, they were already fixed... until this week. I rolled the driver side window up but instead it went down... then the front of the window started to sink into the frame. I grabbed it propped it up. Taking the car to the dealership today.
A friend of mine had the driver's-side airbag in his Jetta go off this past weekend when he drove over a pothole.
That sucks. VW's quality has gone way down since they've been mass producing in Mexican factories. Once the yield goes up so fast, it's hard to implement the same standards that they had back in Germany.
One of my first cars was a 1999 VW Jetta. I had the same problem with the windows. One day it just got stuck. I took it into the dealership and they told me to come back in 3 days. Anyways they called me back in 2 hours and said it was fixed. Now my brother drives the car, and sometimes I've noticed when you press the up button, the window starts moving down. Really strange. It may be the signal that the window is about to break again. Have I also told you the AC compressor has gone out after 35K miles on it, and is not covered under any warranty.
This thread is funny. My friend has a 2001 Jetta. That car has been called the "Jinx" car because once a month, the car will inevitably have something go wrong with it. The funniest one was while we were driving home, he slammed on the brakes, and both airbags deployed! We thought it was funny until we found out how much it cost to put them back in. Oil problems Front Fender problems Window problems Heck it's not my car, so I can't think of them all, but needless to say, my friend has sworn off any German made car again. Can't say I blame him. My Porsche sucked too.
I've had three VWs and never had any problems, but I've read that electrical issues are very common. Like someone mentioned, perhaps Mexican production plays a role -- open a new factory halfway around the world to be operated by people making a few bucks a day and jack up production, you'll have problems arise. I checked into it, and my three VWs happened to be built in Germany, where they've been made for 70 years. It's probably just a coincidence, but it would be interesting to research whether production location plays a significant role in reliability. By the way, Mulder -- rolling your windows up and down in the dealership lot is brilliant. Funniest thing I've heard all day.
I remember a story a couple of years ago about a guy who had a Lamborghini that kept having all sorts of problems, including a situation where he was trapped in the car when the doors wouldn't open. Funny story. Your tongue-in-cheek comment made me think of that.
A Jetta is not a Passat, it's a Bora. I've had one for the past year and a half, not a single problem other than the usual maintenance - breaks, oil, etc... Passat is a class higher than Bora, it's around $10,000 more than a Bora, give or take a couple of thousand. I like the car, although I'm looking for something slightly "younger" now.
I 100% agree. Over the last few years, I have inspected over 100 VWs for various reasons. I found that about 30-40% of those owners were openly unhappy about the vehicle as a whole. I also hear that VW Corporate basically could give a rats ass about satisfying their customers.
My wife bought a used volkswagen cabrio about 15 years ago and drove it for years in Calgary weather. She sold it to her mom who still drives it today, and they've had absolutely no problems with it. It's a 'wolfberg' edition made in germany -- which is somehow a big deal to her. I've known others who keep pumping thousands into their volkswagens because they think they are 'good' cars. I'm still tempted by the 1.8T engines because of the mileage -- but have been pretty much scared off by their reliability reports.
Here is a link for you: Consumer Satisfaction Index - http://www.jdpa.com/studies_jdpower/pressrelease.asp?StudyID=866&CatID=1 Youll notice that Volkswagen was ranked 35 out of 39, just ahead of powerhouses, Kia, Suzuki, Isuzu and Daewoo. Apparently, even the Germans aren't too thrilled with Volkswagens: http://www.jdpa.com/studies_jdpower/pressrelease.asp?StudyID=861&CatID=1 Last, Volkswagen is 2nd overall in problems per 100 vehicles: http://www.jdpa.com/presspass/pr/images/2004037cfull.gif
lol I wasn't trying to do that. I mean, just like you said, there are VW owners who are happy and get the longevity they want out of their car. I was just presenting a wider sample to make things more objective. Personally, I would never touch one. But I am also one to get obsorbed into my professional experiences with cars I see as well as the stuff like JD Powers always puts out. IMO, its a HORRIBLE combination to be ranked high in Problems per 100 vehicles, yet, low in CSI (satisfcation). With regards to VW, that tells me: 1) Their cars have alot of problems 2) VW isn't doing a very good job of a) eliminating those problems and b) keeping their customers happy However, look at Hummer. High in problems per 100 vehicles, yet also relatively high in CSI. That tells me: 1) Their cars have alot of problems 2) They take care of those problems AND keep their customers happy despite those problems. Therefore, I would never have a problem buying a Hummer, like I would a VW.
