Need VW Jetta Advice or Opinions

[Reefer Rae]

Get a Civic Si.

This

[A_A_G]

Get a Civic Si.

With a wife and kid? Not unless its an FA5 Civic Si and those are far from $5k. OP, get a 98-02 v6 Accord within your budget.

[dvups1]

Stay away from the auto trans. The 1.8T has been known to have a sludge build up due to lack of synthetic oil being used (a real nightmare).

Go for the 5 speed TDIs. 40mpg in the city and they run forever. I have 285K on mine and going strong.

[ram57ta]

I haven't owned one personally but I have several close friends who have owned the Jetta and Beetle 1.8T and all have had LOTS of problems with them. Electrical problems are fairly common on both cars (switches, window motors, lock modules). Auto trannies are trouble spots and are expensive to rebuild, motor mounts....hell one buddy even had the THROTTLE BODY go out on his 1.8T Jetta (and that was one HELLA expensive part). If it were my 5 grand...I would RUN.....you can get a few year old Civic Si or Acura RSX that is FAR more reliable for about the same coin.

[gonzoss]

long read so bare with me

I will have to agree that the tiptronic on the 1.8t are junk. They are just not built to hold up on the torque on those little suckers...I'd recommend the 5spd. or a GLi with the 6spd. The last year of the 1.8t came with the better topend, the oil sludge was mainly on the passats motors. Like previously stated make damn sure the timing belt it done and the waterpump is replaced with a pump with a metal impeller not the VW/Audi OEM version(plastic shit). TDi are always recommended for mileage and reliability reasons.
The DFW area has a lot of VW/Audi guys and there are three peeps I can recommend taking it too. bshaer(sp?) is one of them. He was around the Canada site, don't know if he made it over.

Overall IMO its not a bad car. Just be sure you are a aware buyer. What year exactly are you looking at? Oh and if its at VDUBs Only off of 75! FUCK THEM!!! I'll pm you contact info for so you can take the car to both dealer and non-dealer.

Here is vw/audi site that has a lot of info that have some good reads on the sludge issue. VWoA to this day still hasnt fully admit the sludge issue to be a recall. They resolved it a on a case by case issue.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?5187132-MK4Forum-Essentials-DIY-FAQ-amp-Resources-Guide

[Stephen]

Get a Civic Si.

those get stolen all the time.. Look on CL.. anyone that looks like a good deal is either hacked up or is a "theft recovery title"

[YALE]

If you get one, and the timing belt hasn't been changed, change it. Ask my brother about his Passat, if you don't believe me.

[BttleFedC10]

Yupp! Volkswagon are a PITA to work on. Never again!! lol. My sisters tdi jetta and her passat always had to go in for recalls and shit. Every other week she'd be in a rental or her bosses millions of cars she has. lol

[DasVWBabe]

Quite a bit of the same information that's already been repeated in here. The 1.8T isn't too bad, later examples have fewer problems, of course. Stay away from the auto. My sister's 1.8T would have been a great car if not for her automatic transmission (and her fear of ever changing the oil).

Honestly, the 2.0 na 8v is a damn near bulletproof engine, and would be what I'd recommend looking for if you're looking for a MkIV Jetta. That engine paired with a manual can take you well into the mid 100k mile range. I have a 1998 Cabrio with 160k miles on the original 2.0 8v, and I have routinely seen other Cabrios from similar years with 200k+ miles.

[GT Fanatic]

anyone know if the vr6 uses the same transmission as the 1.8? thanks

[YALE]

anyone know if the vr6 uses the same transmission as the 1.8? thanks

The answer to that is ridiculously easily googled.

[Mike]

If you get one, and the timing belt hasn't been changed, change it. Ask my brother about his Passat, if you don't believe me.

There is more than one of you?

[YALE]

There is more than one of you?

Not really. We're almost polar opposites, if it makes you feel any better.

[Mike]

We're almost polar opposites, if it makes you feel any better.

That actually scares me worse!

[YALE]

That actually scares me worse!

Touche. We're almost like a bizarro Station like that. If our looks and traits were averaged, we'd make a pretty normal dude.