Considering a VW Jetta (joint, German, manual transmission, Japanese)
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What I have found with VW/Audi products is it's designed like a one off race car(like in F1). It's built to do a job well, but no thought is put towards simplicity or ease of maintenance. A friend of mine last month had to fix one part on her VW which lead to a number of other parts to the point that she ended up with a $4000 bill for repair.
Anytime you buy one of these cars I think you have to know what you are potentially getting into. As long as you don't let things that need fixing go on for too long and do preventative maintenance, I think you are good. But otherwise forget it. It's not like an old Honda Accord you can run and run and run.
yes, it's true that the MKIV Jetta was manufactured in Mexico, but i don't think this necessarily makes it inferior. the 2.0 engine is pretty much bulletproof, and the VR6 is not much worse. the 1.8T is a popular tuner engine, but the later 1.8T's are more reliable than the earlier ones. my girlfriend drives a 2000 Jetta 2.0 and it's an awesome little car. Make sure you go for the 5-speed, because i haven't heard great things about their automatic transmissions. also, they are known for electrical problems, my girlfriend hasn't had any, but she's got the base of the base model so no electric windows and whatnot.
One more thing. make absolute sure that the timing belt AND water pump have been replaced before you buy. they must be replaced every 75k miles, my girlfriend shattered her water pump at 80k miles, luckily she was able to make it to a repair shop without the car overheating too badly. they showed her the parts after and the timing belt was cracked too. if the belt breaks you need a new engine as valves will be bent and mass carnage will occur.
anyways, i strongly advise a Jetta for a daily driver. I myself have a 2002 audi A4, and i have had no problems with it. if you keep up with oil changes and proper maintenance, there is no reason for the car not to last over 300,000 miles.
let me know if you have any more questions, i am well read in the VW/audi world and i will be certainly staying in the family when i decide to get a new car.
yes, it's true that the MKIV Jetta was manufactured in Mexico, but i don't think this necessarily makes it inferior. the 2.0 engine is pretty much bulletproof, and the VR6 is not much worse. the 1.8T is a popular tuner engine, but the later 1.8T's are more reliable than the earlier ones. my girlfriend drives a 2000 Jetta 2.0 and it's an awesome little car. Make sure you go for the 5-speed, because i haven't heard great things about their automatic transmissions. also, they are known for electrical problems, my girlfriend hasn't had any, but she's got the base of the base model so no electric windows and whatnot.
One more thing. make absolute sure that the timing belt AND water pump have been replaced before you buy. they must be replaced every 75k miles, my girlfriend shattered her water pump at 80k miles, luckily she was able to make it to a repair shop without the car overheating too badly. they showed her the parts after and the timing belt was cracked too. if the belt breaks you need a new engine as valves will be bent and mass carnage will occur.
anyways, i strongly advise a Jetta for a daily driver. I myself have a 2002 audi A4, and i have had no problems with it. if you keep up with oil changes and proper maintenance, there is no reason for the car not to last over 300,000 miles.
let me know if you have any more questions, i am well read in the VW/audi world and i will be certainly staying in the family when i decide to get a new car.
good luck!
So you think a 2.0 5-Speed would be a decent bet to get me to 200k miles with minor fixes? (I wouldn't buy one without a replaced timing belt and water pump). When you say the new 1.8T are decent, what is newer to you? I'll be paying 4-5k max.
Also, what are your thoughts on the passat vs jetta? If I can pick up a similar passat (in miles and year) to the jetta for about the same price, would I be better off going that route?
These cars are not known to be trouble free as they get into the higher milage. Google up "owner complains" for that car and see what you may be dealing with later.
Avoid the Mk4 Golf (1997-2003), MK4/A4 Jetta (1998-2005), New Beetle (1998-2010) and MK5/B5 Passat (1998-2005). They are generally garbage and I've personally seen the issues that crop up in these cars (mostly electrical and computer issues). I should probably add the B5 Audi A4's too (1994-2001).
What I have found with VW/Audi products is it's designed like a one off race car(like in F1). It's built to do a job well, but no thought is put towards simplicity or ease of maintenance. A friend of mine last month had to fix one part on her VW which lead to a number of other parts to the point that she ended up with a $4000 bill for repair.
Anytime you buy one of these cars I think you have to know what you are potentially getting into. As long as you don't let things that need fixing go on for too long and do preventative maintenance, I think you are good. But otherwise forget it. It's not like an old Honda Accord you can run and run and run.
Funny, the older VW cars up into the 1980's anyway (and to include all the aircooled) are a bit maintenance intensive, but they are easy to work on for the most part, not so much of the "take the front license plate off and keep disassembling till you get to the water pump" approach that a lot of recent Audi cars, anyway, seem to have.
3 rules I follow when I buy cars for the dealership I work for, dealing with Vw.. No Passat's, No Beetle's, No Corrado's.. We deal in mostly Vw, unless we get a decent trade.. Stay away from the auto trans from early 90's to about 2000.. Stay away from anything with the Tiptronic trans.
Would also have a carfax run on the car you wish to purchase also..
I'm not sure what people consider "difficult" to work on.
I had to replace the water pump on my 97 Golf recently. Easily accessible. Easy replacement. A couple years ago I replaced the timing belt. It was one of the easiest I've ever done.
Actually, everything I've had to do on the car has been pretty simple & easily accessed.
I suspect that a lot of the VW problems are with the fancier cars, that have a lot of accessories.
So basically, if I can get a 2000+ Jetta 2.0L with the 5speed manual that has had the timing belt and waterpump already replaced, the problems i'm looking at won't be much different than most other cars?
I've noticed a lot of the Jettas that I've seen advertised say they have already replaced the timing belts and water pump.
Funny, the older VW cars up into the 1980's anyway (and to include all the aircooled) are a bit maintenance intensive, but they are easy to work on for the most part, not so much of the "take the front license plate off and keep disassembling till you get to the water pump" approach that a lot of recent Audi cars, anyway, seem to have.
The changing the battery on my A4 in -5 to -10 temperatures did it for me. The battery is wedged under the windshield between that and the engine. The battery going down also triggered an airbag light which I had to fix.
I'm getting ready to do the whole 8 control arms and all that mumbo jumbo.
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