2003 Jan 20 update:

Check Engine lights came on. 4 days after it came out from the dealer. It's back at the dealer now again.

2003 Jan 16 update:

The dealer called me. They have left a tool inside my engine compartment. They want me to drive to the dealership to return it. I asked if it was safe, they said yes. I popped the bonnet and found a 12 inch long wrench 5 mm away from my radiator fan. I dropped an email to the GM of the dealership and the service manager called me.

2003 Jan 15 update:

The car has been consuming 3 quarts of engine oil per 5000 miles for the last 15,000 miles. Sent it to the dealer during initial discovery: had the engine oil analyzed, compression checked. NOTHING.

Dealer said nothing's wrong. Fine. I drive it for another 5000 miles, lost another 3 quarts. I got p1ssed and went somewhere else for my oil change, put in heavier 20/50. Didn't help, lost another 3 quarts.

Couldn't help it, went back to the dealer today: guess what. Cam seals are leaking!!! Cam seals are leaking at 45,000 miles. Asked the service advisor if this is common. YES, it's common.

Symptoms: if you smell a burning smell coming out of your a/c vent BEWARE and check your engine oil level! If there's a burning smell everytime after driving your car - that could be it. THANK GOD this is covered by the powertrain warranty!!! (which like most cars is longer than the bumper-bumper)

If your parking spot is clean, not stained by leaking engine oil, like mine, it doesn't mean it's not leaking. There's a big dish like cover that prevents the engine oil from dripping onto the ground.

BTW the CV boots also gave way but I list that as wearable and tearable so no problems there. ($218 per side)

Squeaking noise from the suspension: dealer have been trying to locate the source of that sqeak for the last 20,000 miles, they're still looking.

My colleague is laughing at me while he picks me up in his 100,000 mile Civic from the VW dealership and drives me to work.

BTW I bought an '03 Passat & I'll tell my woes in another post.

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Original post:

Leased this car in Aug 99.

Right after the 24 months warranty expire, I had to replaced my 2 front discs. They cracked. The real funny thing is this happened right after my 25000 miles service.

The dudes over at my dealer told me that there's still 20% on the brake shoes and will last me until my 30000 mile service.

Today, I had to send it back into the dealer again. Some "switch" controlling the transmission is dead. This caused:

1) my reverse lights to be constantly on when driving;
2) my tiptronic to cease working
3) the car to be unable to shift into 5th when in D, I was stuck on the 4th and 3500rpm cruising down the freeway
4) All the LCD gear position indicator on the instrument panel lighted up P to R to N to D to all the way to 2.

Paid $450 to fix this problem. On top of that, I have to pay $30 a day for a rental Jetta. (more about the "switch" at the end)

Power: the 190@6000rpm horses produced by the 2.8 ltr V6 just doesn't impress me when driving in auto. However, if you shift into tiptronic mode, it feels much more powerful. Peak torque is 206 @ 3200rpm according to spec. and driving it at 3000rpm really makes the car come alive.

Rule: use tiptronic all the time, the stupid auto keeps shifting into 5th even when it doesn't make sense. Seems like the logic built into the computer isn't too smart.

Ride: 2 things I don't like about the ride. First, the suspension is too soft for the weight of this car. The suspension doesn't ride like comfort suspension, yet it doesn't ride like sports suspension. This really irritates me.

Second, once the car has enough inertia, braking the car is terrible. When it comes to a stop, the car seems to wobble a bit. All these due to the weak suspension & heavy weight. I correct this using engine braking (tiptronic again).

Efficiency: did not do the promised MPG but then again I keep running the A/C. My engine oil keeps going low in between each servicing. Analysis of the engine oil showed nothing wrong. Dealer took 15,000 miles to find the problem, see above update.

Warranty & customer service: The dealer trying to sell me extended warranty said "you know this is a VW afterall and spareparts aren't really what you call cheap" The standard bumper-bumper isn't impressive. Neither is the powertrain warranty. Compare that again with the 5, 7 and even 10 yr warranty that other makers give out. Customer service? They're OK, just OK, far from friendly. 01-15-03 update: they're getting friendly to me as I observe a decline in people sending their cars to this dealership.

This car has been nothing but troubles and frustrations.

"The switch" - the faulty part was returned to me. The box said that it is a common part used by VW (Passat), Audi (A6, I believe), Skoda (Octavia) and Seat (no idea). And it actually came all the way from Germany!

I've not seen Skodas on the roads of the US, I wonder why. Skodas, specifically the Octavia, has been doing real well in rallies in Europe. Seems that the Octavia is tuned differently from a Passat and is more suited for aggressive driving.
Amount Paid (US$): 27650
Condition: New
Model Year: 1998
Model and Options: V6