In November 1999, I bought a 2000 Volkswagen Jetta GLX. I had test driven the car in August 1999, and I immediately fell in love with it. I loved it so much that I put myself on a waitlist for six months to get it! I knew I wanted something small to make parking in the city easier. At the same time, I wanted something with a lot of luxury features but without the huge price tag. The Jetta GLX definitely met my criteria.

Interior: The styling is fantastic. I love the leather interior and wood trim. The heated seats are fantastic in the winter. I don't think I can ever go back to not having heated seats. Especially with these New England winters. The seats are incredibly comfortable and can be adjusted in every which way. I am tall for a woman. With other cars, I feel too low to the ground or my head hits the ceiling. Not in the Jetta. The blue lights on the panel are very visible at night, and I've never had problems reading it. The only complaints about the interior I have are the dysfunctional cup holders and the arm rest. The cup holders are really flimsy and do not hold large cups. A big gulp from 7-ll would never fit in it. And forget about trying to use the cup holders when driving. They're impossible and require too much dexterity. The arm rest is located in the center between the driver and passenger seats. It is quite small, and only one person can really use it at a time. In addition, because of its location, it can get in the way when driving standard.

Sound System: The Monsoon system that came with the car is great. In my boyfriend's car (Ford Escort), classical music sounds very tinny and rap music just buzzes. But in my car, we can hear every note very clearly. My only complaint is that there is no low volume. The lowest volume level is what I listen to normally. If I want to turn it down because one of my passengers is snoozing, I have to turn it off completely. My friend who owns a Passat had the same complaint about his Monsoon system.

Engine and Handling: The VR6 engine has a lot of kick, and it's a lot of fun to drive. I drive the five speed, and the clutch is a lot smoother than other cars I've driven. The one thing I have noticed about the clutch is second gear can get choppy. I have to let the clutch out slower for second than other gears to avoid this. This happens when other people drive my car, too. So, I can't blame it on the way I drive. The engine is unbelievably quiet. Sometimes, I can't even tell if the engine is already running.

Rain Sensor Wipers: I am not a big fan of the rain sensor wipers. I have noticed they do not do a good job detecting how much water there really is. Sometimes, when I have them on in a light drizzle, they go crazy as if I am driving through a deluge.

Trunk: The trunk is huge for a compact car. I was able to fit a book shelf in it. The trunk lid is very solid, which is good and bad. It's good because I know my things are secure. However, it can pose problems when loaded down with lots of shopping bags. It's not exactly the easiest thing to open with just one hand.

Issues: I have had some minor issues with the car. All of them have been of the small, annoying variety. About six months into owning the car, the driver side seat starting wobbling and would not stay in place. The dealership fixed this, but it took two trips. On the first trip, they did not have the parts in stock. Another issue I have encountered was the check engine light/emissions workshop warning kept going on in my car. This also resulted in several trips to the dealership. Each time, they would fix the problem. But it would reappear again after only a week.

Accessories: When I became a Volkswagon owner, I started getting Volkswagon catalogs in the mail. After oohing and aahing, I decided to order a trunk liner for my car. I called the dealership to ask if they had the part in stock. They did indeed...for $20 more than the catalog quoted. Being an internet addict, I decided to order it from the Volkswagon website instead. My order went through successfully, and I thought my trunk liner would be on its way. I was wrong. A few days later, I received a voicemail saying the item was only available in Canada. My order would be canceled. According to the catalog, it was available in the US. After that, I received a letter telling me the item was backordered. Hmmm. I think Volkswagon hasn't quite gotten their ecommerce act together, yet.



Update 4 February 2003:
I have owned the car for three years now, and my love for the car has faded. Although the car is beautiful and very fun to drive, the high cost of ownership and multitude of inconvenient, little problems has left me yearning for my trusty old Toyota back. After the two year free maintenance period ended, my car started riding very rough in the rain and stalling. It cost $600 to replace a bad coil pack, which was not covered under warranty. To add to the pain, Volkswagen just announced a recall of 2001-2002 Jettas and Passats because of bad coil packs. Of course, I have a 2000 Jetta, which is not covered by the recall! In addition to the coil pack problem, I have been going back and forth with the Volkswagen dealership about a bad rim that is causing slow leaks in my tire. They refuse to believe a problem exists even though I have had TWO independent mechanics, including a trusted family friend, look at it and confirm the problem. This is a problem that should be covered under warranty, but I have yet to get anywhere with resolving the issue. Then, there's the issue with the rear passenger door no longer closing completely. Water keeps getting into the car. I can only imagine what havoc this will cause to the leather seats.


Update 23 April 2003:
The car was not starting in the rain again. I brought it back to the dealership, and they replaced the coilpack yet again. Since I had already plunked down $600 in February to fix this same problem, this repair was covered under the warranty. Coil pack problems are very common with Volkswagens.

Update 23 August 2003:
The passenger side window fell inside the door. Three days before I left the country for vacation! In November, Volkswagen announced they had extended the warranty for this. Although it was fixed for free, this is just one more hassle to add to the long list! When I called to make an appointment for service, I did not even have to finish the sentence. As soon as I said window, the service representative said, "The window fell into the door, huh?" Apparently, he has been getting a lot of calls for this problem. The earliest appointment they could get me was a month away. When I finally got my car into service, six other people were there with the same exact problem.

Update 13 October 2003: The airbag light is on, and the car is not starting in the rain AGAIN. Volkswagen quoted us $500 to fix the airbag, and they can not reproduce the water issue.

Update 13 August 2004: After many months of frustration, my husband and I decided to ignore all of the issues. If the car runs, no need to worry. All of those warning lights? They are easily fixed by putting black tape over them. Ah, ignorance is bliss. However, the latest problem could not be ignored. A valve in the gas tank came apart and was blocking any gas from getting into the tank. Last night, we called Boston Volkswagen and explained the situation. They told us to bring it in first thing in the morning. If you can not get gas into the car, that is a big problem. They would fit us in. At 8am, I dropped the car off. I explained the situation again. The customer service person asked me when the latest he could call me was, and I told him I usually leave work at 5pm. He looked at me weird and said, "We're open all night. I don't know if we can fix it by 5pm because we have to take care of the people with appointments first." At this point, I got a bit annoyed. Yes, I know you have other appointments. Unfortunately, I do not have psychic powers and did not know my car would stop taking gas. That is why I called the previous night to check whether I could bring it to get fixed. If the person I spoke to last night had told me honestly that you could not fit me into the schedule, I would not have driven the car 20 miles to Boston to be left at your mercy. He said he would do his best. At 3pm, I called to check the status. They informed me they had not even looked at my car, yet. I asked if they had a timeframe, and they said no. I told him I needed to be able to plan my evening. No other car, stuck in Boston. His reply was, "I don't know what to tell you. We'll get to it when we get to it." Nice. Volkswagen really knows how to treat their customers. When they finally looked at the car, they determined a new gas tank was needed. The good news was the gas tank was covered under warranty. The bad news was the parts were not in stock.

Update 27 August 2004: The parts for the gas tank arrived, and I dropped my car at Boston Volkswagen at 9am. The customer service representative informed me the technician assigned to my car did not start his shift until 4pm. Replacing a gas tank is a time consuming task, and my car would not be done until 8pm. Since I was meeting a friend for dinner after work and did not need the car until after 8pm, I agreed to this. At 8:30pm, I called to check the status. Boston Volkswagen informed me they "forgot" to fix my car. My car sat at Boston Volkswagen for twelve hours, and nobody ever looked at it. The night manager told me they had a big miscommunication and that the morning shift never told them about my car. Needless to say, when I went to get my car, I was a bit upset about this. The manager asked a technician to take another look at my car. Maybe there was something he could do to temporarily fix it. The technician told me, "I don't know what to tell you. There's nothing I can do." I had an almost empty tank of gas and twenty miles to home, and there was nothing they could do for me. At my job, if we screwed up big time for a customer and responded that way, I would be fired. That is not an acceptable answer. I asked the technician if he could try to unblock the tank. He showed me the stuck piece and said he could not get it out. I asked him if he could try to break it into smaller pieces to pull it out. After a while, I think he finally felt a little sorry for me and decided to be somewhat proactive about the situation. He yanked at the broken part for a while. After several minutes, he cleared the blockage. The gas tank still needed to be replaced, but I could get gas into the car at least.

Update 30 August 2004: Gas tank, Take Three. Once again, I dropped the car at Boston Volkswagen at 9am. The manager apologized for everything that had transpired and assured me my car would be done by 5pm. At 5pm, the car was ready, but the paperwork was not.

Update 31 August 2004: Just as I was beginning to feel a bit relieved that the gas tank saga was done, the Check Engine light came on. When I got home and looked at the invoice, I noticed a note in the comments section that said, "Customer has written a scathing review about us on epinions..." Unfortunately, the comments box was too small to reveal the rest of the contents.

Update 7 September 2004: I dropped the car at Boston Volkswagen at 9am. This was becoming routine to me now. By noon, they informed me a hose was loose. Since it was related to the gas tank work, I was not charged. Hopefully, this is the last of the gas tank issue. But I wonder what else they may have left loose.

Update October 2004: My Volkswagen sorrows have ended! I dumped the piece of junk, and I am a very happy owner of a Mazda 6 now. Yay!

If I could go back to that fateful day and buy the Volkswagen Jetta GLX again, would I? NO.
Amount Paid (US$): 20000
Condition: New
Model Year: 2000
Model and Options: GLX