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YACT: VW Jetta wagon

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DaveJ

Platinum Member
Hello all,

I'm planning on buying a new(er) car sometime in the next 6-8 months or so, and I'm looking at wagons... I hadn't thought about it before, but someone mentioned VW in an earlier thread, and I like what I see. I'm interested in something with good performance, handling, and decent economy. I've been looking at the Jetta wagon (GLS 1.8T) as it's probably more in my price range (max of $15K). Is it worth getting a Passat over a Jetta? I'd rather not pay more than $15K for a used car, unless it's worth it... Are there any major problems with VW I need to be aware of? I heard something a while back about problems with the coils, but I'm not sure which engines were affected...

Opinions welcome... 🙂

Thanks,

Dave
 
The engine affected by the coils was in fact the 1.8T. It's a fun engine to drive other than that minor problem. What year are you looking at?
 
Originally posted by: Stark
jetta doesn't have much leg room in the back seat. Passat would be a better choice.
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I was about to comment on this. If you are at all tall (I'm 6'2") then you're going to have to put the driver's seat all the way back. That leaves about 2 inches of legroom for the seat behind you which essentially means that its useless. That's just something for you to think about.
 
yesterday, while I was sleeping, my friend called me at 1 AM. He was stranded with his GF and his GF's friend because their 2001 Jetta's lock out system was acting up and wouldn't shift out of park. He was like, wtf dude, what can I do? Eventually after fiddling with it for half and hour, they had got it working. Apparently this isn't the first time it's happened. Imagine if this sh*t happened to you in the ghetto. Passat is like the only VW I'd even think of touching, all the little ones like the golf, jetta, bug are all crap cars.

The worst part is the Jetta isn't big enough for my friend to get some 3 way going on. 😀

 
I was looking at the Passat Wagons this weekend. My local dealership had two '03's left in stock, and they came upgraded with the Monsoon stereo and Moonroof. I got him down to $21k (pre-TTL) and almost bought it. But VW reliability is still a question, so we are looking at other brands now instead. The Passat drove really nice, except for the annyoying turbo lag. Every time I punched the gas, the excelleration didn't come until two seconds later. I would think they could engineer it better. Definately drove well though.
 
You should be able to find a 2000 or 2001 Passat wagon for 15K. Don't listen to everyone's generalizations about VW, since most of these people don't know what they're talking about. A Passat wagon will be an excellent car, a better choice if you need the room and the reliability than the Jetta wagon.
 
The Passat! Jettas are overpriced cramped little turds of cars that are plagued with problems. Consumer reports took the latest version off of their recommended list after the first year when reliability surveys started coming back as "much worse than average."

AFAIK, Passats have kept up a reliability score of "average," and are still on their recommended list.

Unless you're a lucky gambler, don't risk buying a car based on the Golf/Jetta/New Beetle platform.

 
Thanks for the opinions... 🙂 Rear seat legroom is a non-issue, I'm only 5'10", and it's just me so I'll rarely have passengers anyway. I'm probably going to look for something 2-3 years old, so it would be '01-03 (won't be ready to buy till next summer probably).

Wyvern, just curious, what other cars are you looking at? I have a Saturn now and was looking at the L-series wagon, but they have some major electrical issues that I've just found out about, so it's all but crossed off my list...

Dave
 
Just something to think about with regards to the engines. In 2002, VW changed their 1.8T from 150hp output to 180hp. I'm not exactly sure the longterm effects of this change, but a 2001 1.8T is going to feel slower than anything newer. Therefore, if you're going for sport, I recommend the 2002 or 2003.
 
i've never known anyone who owned a VW that wasn't just one problem after another. if getting stranded is your cup of tea, go ahead and get one.
 
There have only been two problems with my g/f's car that I can remember (other than the ignition coils) and neither of them stranded her. The first one was the radio died and was replaced under warranty. Most recently the part of the gear selector that slides with the stick broke off. There's still a hole there but its getting replaced under warranty too. Right now we seem to be having a problem with the alarm (it won't beep when we arm it) and that's all. Its over a year old at this point.
 
the jettas backseats are worthless! 🙂 its a nice car putting aside the bad rap its been getting...
other companies needs to take pointers from ze germans in car interiors 🙂

Check out the passat wagon as well.
 
Originally posted by: BornStar18
Right now we seem to be having a problem with the alarm (it won't beep when we arm it) and that's all.
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That's NOT a problem as far as your neighbors are concerned. I rented a Galant for two weeks recently, and the first thing I had to do was read the manual to figure out how to silence that stupid horn-honk.

My Mazda only honks the horn if you press the lock button twice in a row, as if to say "hey dumbass, you already locked the doors once!"

If you really want to contribute to nuisance noise pollution, read the manual and try the procedure for turning the horn-honk on and off. Some well meaning person at VW probably just turned the unnecessary horn-honking off.
 
Originally posted by: Thegonagle
Originally posted by: BornStar18
Right now we seem to be having a problem with the alarm (it won't beep when we arm it) and that's all.
Click to expand...

That's NOT a problem as far as your neighbors are concerned. I rented a Galant for two weeks recently, and the first thing I had to do was read the manual to figure out how to silence that stupid horn-honk.

My Mazda only honks the horn if you press the lock button twice in a row, as if to say "hey dumbass, you already locked the doors once!"

If you really want to contribute to nuisance noise pollution, read the manual and try the procedure for turning the horn-honk on and off. Some well meaning person at VW probably just turned the unnecessary horn-honking off.
Click to expand...
Uh, no. It was honking for quite some time and then just stopped. It isn't very loud, but its enough that I know it locked when I'm walking away. In other words, my neighbors can't hear it and I'm concerned that we're going to start running into other problems relating to that. There's no way to reinitialize the beep (I've gone through the entire manual). Thanks for all of your help though.
rolleye.gif
 
the only real problems with vw's that I have seen is with their electrical system, otherwise all the ones i've seen have been solid
 
Originally posted by: Turin39789
the only real problems with vw's that I have seen is with their electrical system, otherwise all the ones i've seen have been solid
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I have owned VW's all my life. The first was 88 Jetta that I bought for 700 bucks with 215,000 miles on it and the oil hadn't been changed in atleast 10,000 miles. I sold it a few years latter for 900 bucks with 240,000 miles on it. 3 years later (present) I still see the car still driving around with no problems that thing was amazing.
The Jetta I have now is a 94 with 140,000 miles on it it runs great only problem with it is if I put cruise control on after I go down a really big hill it will ussually turn on off not sure what up with that. Most of the problems with VW are ussually goign to be electrical things. But other wise very nice cars.
 
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