Vw Jetta

[hunt em up]

It's time to buy a small car and park the truck, seen a nice 1999 vw jetta anyone have any info on these cars, good bad anything helps, I'm also looking into honda civics, toyota corollas, but the nice ones at fair prices seem to go real fast ($3500-$4500)1996-1998 even looking at some hyundai's in the years 2000-1 Any info on these cars would help. Thanks

[Go_Getter]

Originally Posted by hunt em up

It's time to buy a small car and park the truck, seen a nice 1999 vw jetta anyone have any info on these cars, good bad anything helps, I'm also looking into honda civics, toyota corollas, but the nice ones at fair prices seem to go real fast ($3500-$4500)1996-1998 even looking at some hyundai's in the years 2000-1 Any info on these cars would help. Thanks

My experience is that Jetta's are pretty high maintenance and parts are out of this world in price. I would stay away from older Hyundai's / KIA, their parts are pretty much only available through the dealer, again high maintenance. Newer ones I think are a lot more dependable. Toyota, Mazda, Honda, Nissan should all be good cars and easy to get parts for. Of course Toyota and Honda are going to be the tough to find ones. There was a civic for sale on here a little while ago that looked very decent. Don't know if it's still for sale but worth a shot. http://www.ifish.net/board/showthrea...ighlight=civic Good Luck out there.

[HntnFsh]

Jettas,great car or bucket of bolts.Toss a coin on which you;ll get.More towards the low side probably,Very expensive to work on.I would personally stay away.

Corrolla,Camry, Accord,Civic.Excellent cars.Corrolla would probably be tops for economy.35-37 Decent comfort etc.Then Civic. Probably close in mpg

Camry highest in comfort,driveability.32 mpg Then Accord

Thats with autos,4 cyl.mostly freeway driving.

I always rate the Toyotas just a bit higher than Honda.But both are excellent cars.I think the Toyotas have less road noise and are a little more comfy.

Nissans are pretty decent also.A little cheaper too.

HYundais.Most people say they are a throw away car.Drive em till they die.Which may not be long.Expensive to work on.

Other people think they are excellent little cars.I have seen a few that family memebers had that were very happy with them.

But you'll also hear a ton of negative feedback.

With Hyundais and Kias,I think the newere they are.The better they get.But not yet on the level of Toyota,hondas.

[Freakwater]

• Toyota
• Honda
• Nissan
• .
• .
• .
• .
• .
• .
• .
• .
• .
• VW

In that order.

Freakwater

[CATCH AND EAT]

Since I have worked on VW products in my shop I can honestly and without question say walk away from the VW products. Go find a nice Japanese car that has been well taken car of. Be careful though as there are a lot of shady deals on small Japanese cars out there. Look for signs of major accident and poor quality repairs. Any sign at all, WALK! Look around at the exterior trim for paint on the moulding where it should not be. Check door jambs for over spray and tape lines. You can do this simply by visual inspection. Look for dirt nibs in the paint to as a clue.

One of the big deals to look for is that if a car has been in an accident and the bags have gone off, were they replaced. I have seen many times where my clients bring a car in that looks just fine only to sit inside the car and notice that the airbag light will not go off. Hmmmm..... further checking reveals only the cover has been replaced or repaired putting your life and your occupants in danger. If you suspect anything have someone check the car out for you. Well worth a few hundred bucks to know what you are getting.

[boone]

My kid has a 92' Jetta with almost 300K miles, normal maintenance stuff no major repairs, just replaced the front CV joint and axle. Gets decent gas mileage like north of 32 mpg's. Shop for the parts online they are way cheaper. It's been a great car for him and it only initially cost him $700.

[Eagleclaw]

my wife has a 04 jetta turbo... so far it's been a great car, fun to drive, gets good MPG but i'll let you know how i really feel about it once something goes wrong with it and I have to take it in and get it fixed.. i'll probably have to take a second out on the house to pay for it

[ORrinker]

Ok, I have got the scoop for you:-) I was recently considering a Jetta and consulted a friend who is a VW mechanic and the vice president of my VW club. He said one of the most important things is to avoid the turbo and get one of the 2.0 liter models. Make sure that the car had the 80k service as that can be very expensive. Take it to a competent mechanic and have a pre-purchase done on it. My mechanic charges $120 for this service and they go through everything. If you cannot verify that it had the 80k service or at least had the timing belt replaced then plan on immediately changing the timing belt to avoid catastrophic engine failure.
Remember that there were two different Jetta's offered in 1999. The Jetta and the new Jetta introduced mid model year. I have not heard anything bad about the 1999 new Jetta but I would ask around and make sure there were no first year problems. If you want I can give you the name of my mechanic? PM me if you want it.

Good luck,
Randy

[Abiquadeer]

Originally Posted by Eagleclaw

my wife has a 04 jetta turbo... so far it's been a great car, fun to drive, gets good MPG but i'll let you know how i really feel about it once something goes wrong with it and I have to take it in and get it fixed.. i'll probably have to take a second out on the house to pay for it

I just fixed a jetta turbo that had the timing belt break at 98k. It was a very expensive fix for the customer. Whatever you do have it replaced earlier than the owners manual says. Paying to have it replaced is a whole lot cheaper than fixing the cylinder head and replacing valves.

[Pinecone]

My wife has a 2002 Jetta wagon, haven't had any *major* problems with it. We like it overall. It's had the powersteering pump replaced twice under warranty, and the radio replaced once, but that was due to the poorly designed cup holder (it's located right above the radio) and a can of diet coke....

Other then that, it's been a pretty good car, it's a 5 speed with the small 2.0 4 cyl in it. gets 28-30 mpg, and is fun to drive. We'd have no problems getting another VW once this one dies in the *hopefully* distant future.

-- I forgot to mention that we both had Jettas in college, my wifes was a 1985 and mine was a 1991....so we're kinda partial to VW's.

[duckboy]

You know,

Me and Anya drove to the toyota dealership in a TDI golf VW that we were darned nearly sold on.

When we pulled up in the car from the dealership about 1/4 mile away, we were treated with the utmost seriousness.


We went with the 06 Toyota Prius. Love it, the VW transmission was really jerky (which was not an issue for me, but ANya said she got seasick with the shifting....)

Both are great cars


One will hurt more than the other to get repaired (lots more)

sprechen sie deutsch?


Nihongo wa wakarima sen... But i haven't needed to since we got the Toyota.

If I was a betting man,
and had a dollar to spend based upon overall reliability... Toyota would beat the VW.

[ORrinker]

Originally Posted by Abiquadeer

I just fixed a jetta turbo that had the timing belt break at 98k. It was a very expensive fix for the customer. Whatever you do have it replaced earlier than the owners manual says. Paying to have it replaced is a whole lot cheaper than fixing the cylinder head and replacing valves.

Doesn't the timing belt get replaced at the 80k service? I understand that it should have. That is the problem with any car that has a timing belt. They need to be replaced sooner than later. I recently bought my wife a Saab which still uses a timing chain:-) It makes me feel a little better.

Randy

[wsuweston]

It will save you a ton on gas, because it will be in the shop more than you will drive it. Plus the defroster sucks.