Volkswagen Jetta 2005 and earlier

vocus

I am telling you from experience, the rattles get worse in the cold. You should know by know, if it has anything to do with rattles in Jettas, you are talking to the right one!

Good Lord, do I have to even tell you that?

justin

be thankful that you didn't have an Integra. you don't know rattles until you have driven a 96 Integra GS-R. a loud/whiny car in general, then top it off with rattles. the 5 speed manual in the car was it's saving grace.

fish8

My wife's friend has a late mid 90's Integra and that thing does have rattles galore.

vocus

That's kinda surprising, since it is a Honda product.

Justin: How many cars have you had? This Jetta, the 99 Jetta, the Elantra, the Civic, a 96 Protege, a 94 Sentra, an Integra.. Those are the ones you have posted about in here. Finally met somoene who has had more cars than I have!

justin

it all started with my parents hand me down in 1989. it was an 80 Volvo (gas) DL. then an 83 Cavalier hatchback with F-10 suspension. cool car then an 83 Tercel (that car would NOT die). those were all of my used cars.

then, in 93 i got my first new car. a 93 Mazda 323. then a 94 Nissan Sentra (loved the sentra, but i killed it)...then a 96 Protege (awful car), traded after 2 months for a 96 Integra. (had one used 95 Jeep Wrangler Sahara in here - for a time i had two vehicles) Integra insurance. ouch. only kept it for over a year. then a 97 Honda Civic HX. cute little car. then a 98 Altima. AWFUL again. then my baby, a 99 Jetta GLS VR6. then, a 00 Elantra. not bad, but as buzzy as the Integra, without the nice engine and fabulous shifter. then the god-awful 01 Civic. then i went "home" to my current 02 Turbo Jet.

how many is that? not sure! haha.

justin

not surprising at all. see, that is where you are wrong. well, not WRONG, but you know what i am saying. this Honda thing is really an urban legend.

if you ask actual people that have experienced Hondas, they will tell you. they all manage to get great gas mileage, but they rattle, auto trannies are awful, but manual tranny's are FLAWLESS. they definitely have their problems. just like window reg in the VW's products....(and in my case, coil packs).

fish8

Are you kidding.....

If you don't mind me asking...how old are you? I am 29 and have had the following:

Hand me down 1980 Toyota Corolla, new 1993 Corolla, new 1996 Nissan Altima, new 1997 Jeep Wrangler, new 1999 Mercury Cougar, then my wifes 1998 Honda Accord and finally my '02 Jetta.

vocus

So that means you are on your 14th car in 13 years. That's about one every year. Did you lose money on them trading them so quickly or not?

fish8

Our transmission in our 1998 Accord went bad at 75,000 miles. To the tune of $5100 for replacement. Now that's Honda quality ;-)

vocus

I am 24, starting driving at age 19, and have had the following:

1994 Bonneville (used it most of the time, but it was mom's), 1988 Dodge Aries (my first car), 1996 Cavalier (traded for next), 1999 Protege DX (traded for next), 2001 Protege ES (traded for next), and the 2002 Jetta. I also bought my mom a 1993 Bonneville to drive since I pretty much killed her 1994. I sold the car when I traded the 1999 Protege, because she passed away and I had no other uses for it. It was in her name, but I paid for the car totally, down to the warranty on it.

So that makes 7 cars for me, even though 1 one them wasn't in my name, and the other one I hardly drove but still paid for.

vocus

Was that Accord a V6 or 4-cylinder? Honda auto trannies suck big time. They are replacing trannies left and right in the Acura TLs and Accords since their redesign in 1998.

A pity. And people complain about VWs rattling and having bad regulators? Whatever.

It seems though, you either get a perfect VW or one from hell. It seems I got one in between, since I have had alot of problems but they are all pretty minor (mostly rattles).

justin

started driving at 16 (legally that is) in 1989. i am 29 now. sure, i lost a boat load of money when i traded the Protege. And the Alimta. and i mean a BOATLOAD. but the rest have been fine. ever since i was 16 i had wanted a Jetta. i ALMOST had my parents convinced to get me one - but then i got a reckless driving ticket in the freakin Volvo, so they said, ummm, NO!

the bad part is, all of the cars had problems, except for the Sentra, which i killed by treating it so bad. when i traded it in, it did not have a front bumper (that was left on a lamp post in Atlanta)...haha.

i just drove this little Jetta GL to lunch. it reminds me a lot of my old Sentra. the difference between this one and my car, is that my car takes like a second for the gas pedal to respond to my commands in traffic and from a light. (turbo and tiptronic). my car is great on the highway though - excellent response. this GL would probably faint at 90 mph but here in the city, this little car almost "knows" that i want to do. i have a feeling i could have saved a lot of money....;) i can't get over how i like this little 2.0. why oh why can't the Cabrio feel the same?????

fish8

It was a 1998 Honda Accord EX 4cyl with auto trans. The car was flawless until the trans started leaking and it was downhill from then on. I contacted corp Honda and they would only give a 25% discount on a new Transmission. I was still in the hole OVER $4,000 after labor. It was not worth it and we sold the car to Carmax and bought my wife a 2002 Tahoe and myself a Jetta.

fish8

Do you live in ATL?

vocus

The 2.0 sounds downright raucous above 70mph. It's taching over 4000rpm by the time you get to 80, and sounds ragged. Nothing like the 1.8T engine, trust me. I always dread driving the 2.0 engines in the loaners when I get them. They feel so sluggish to me, it's awful.

I would have gotten a Jetta GL as well, but needed the lumbar in the seats, which means I had to get leather, which means GLS only. I am glad I got the car I got though, because I like it alot, despite the fact that it has problems.

vocus

Apparently, he just hits poles there. Just kidding.

Also, I am surprised about the reliability of Honda's automatics. I have heard bad things about them. I am also surprised that Honda wouldn't do anything to help you either. BTW, how much did Carmax give you for the Accord? You don't have to say, but I am just wondering because I am nosey.

justin

nope, but i left a piece of my heart (and my car) in Atlanta, haha. i live and work in NoVA/DC area.

chmeeee

You want to try driving something with no power, try a Ford F-150 V6. The trucks that I drive at work everyday have the V6, and the power is awful. Couple that with the handling, and I am sure any Jetta will feel like a dream afterwards.

Just to add to the car history everybody seems to be giving, I am 22, been driving since I was 16, and have had: 1986 Chevy Celebrity rustbucket edition; 1994 Chevy Lumina, 2002 Jetta TDI (first new one).

alyssazmom

http://www.safetyalerts.com/recall/a/02/v00360.htm

vocus

My car is marked, so it's ok. This is just a recall saying that the child seat anchorage points for the LATCH child seat system has not been clearly marked in the car. Not really important to me, since I don't have kids. But thanks for posting it anyway.

fish8

My car is very smooth at high speeds, but the 2.0 is straining at speeds in excess of 80mph. Supposedly, my GL can reach speeds of 115mph. I couldn't imagine the sound of the engine at that speed.

We got $9,000 for our Accord. Of course, they did not know about the bad tranny. Whe we got the check from Carmax we cashed it VERY quick.

vocus

I sold my mom's 1994 Bonneville SE to Carmax. At the time, it had 150K miles, bad rotors, a tapping engine, a loose driver's seat, and a messed up suspension part as well. They gave me $2500 for the car. I cashed the check, added some cash to that amount, and bought the 1993 Bonneville SSE for her for $6999 from a guy 3 blocks away from me.

vocus

My mother had a 1990 Pontiac 6000LE V6 she bought new. By the time I drove it, it was 7 years old almost (in 1997), pretty beat down, and had 87K miles on it. She ended up trading the car in and getting the 1994 Bonneville.

The 6000 was kinda small inside to be classified as a mid-size car (I thought), but it was. It was a pretty good car though, the only part that went South was the engine sensor at 80K miles. It ran pretty well, about as well as an American car is expected to run.

The V6 (3.1 liter) was pretty fast as well.

chmeeee

That celebrity must have been a later V6, mine was a 2.8L carbeurated V6 with 112 hp (in a full size sedan?). The suspension was awful, you could lean on the bumper and push it all the way to the stops.

vocus

The V6 in the 6000 was 140hp, the highest ever. In 1989, they were 125hp I think.

fish8

I believe my first Corolla was 80hp.....can you say DOG!! Good car though..

justin

slow until you drive a Turbo Jetta with only two cylinders firing....:)

although, that means i had 90hp. so, still faster than my 323 and Tercel.

vocus

I am trying to refrain from calling cars "dogs" because I did that in the Passat forum (about the auto 1.8T 1999 model I had as a loaner) and they said they were going to call the SPCA on me and report me for discrimination against animals..

A Jetta 1.8T with 2 cylinders firing... bet that was interesting.

newcar31

I had an 88 Subaru wagon with the 1.8L and that thing was slower than an automatic 3 cyl Geo Metro towing a Yacht. I swear the car only accelerated downhill. It was only a winter beater though, so the summer car more than made up for it.

I have an idea. With all the talk about who's car is faster, lets see who owned the slowest car.

vocus

The slowest car I ever drove was a friend's 1996 Ford Aspire 3-door automatic. It felt like it was going to fly apart once I got it up to about 70mph on the highway, and it took about 5 minutes to get going that quickly.

anonymous02

My 1978 Dodge Magnum stalled at most stoplights and stop signs. It had a 318 which probably made 150HP new, probably like 100 by the time I had it.

I wish I still had that car, it rode mint!

In fact, I wish my dad just stuck it in the garage. Those are collector's items now!

kyleknicks

why dont you try a 1980 Chevy Citaton? my dad owned one and if it didn't only have 2 cycl, it sure felt like it.. and with a stereo that mounted vertically... now, that was a classic

justin

still has my car. i kept the loaner. they have everyone and their mother (and the head technician, get this, a WOMAN!) looking over my car. they all say that it is fine. "operating within mfgr specs". how many times have we all heard that!? i think that ROCKS that a woman is the head technician! never heard of that before in my life. YOU GO GIRL! hahahaha....in Virginia no less. my state is joining the 21 century after all maybe...

as long as my concerns are noted on the ticket, i don't care. the second it breaks down (maybe it never will - but my luck usually dictates otherwise), i am cussing them all out!

i am beginning to like this Baltic Green color. i think because my silver car isn't really a color at all. this baltic is at least real color. it doesn't have traction control - or if it does - it is malfunctioning my car doesn't slip and slide in the rain - this GL spins out.

mdaffron

;-)

vocus

The GLs don't have the ASR, it only comes with the turbo engine. They do spin out in the rain fairly easily.

You're beginning to sound like me now, Justin..

fish8

You guys must drive the hell out of your cars. I have never even come close to spinning out. In what kind of situation do you feel like your spinning out? just curious!

vocus

By spinning out, I mean hitting the gas and making the tires spin when the ground is wet. Just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page here...

fish8

Oh, OK! I thought you meant spinning the car out of control. To be honest, I really haven't experienced any tire spinning. Except when I accelerate to hard and do it on purpose. ;-)

justin

not spinning out doing donuts. i just mean front wheels spin when you press the gas.

why do i sound like Vocus? i NEVER plan to sound like that! please explain!

moparbad

All you have to do is not press as hard on the accelerator and the wheels will not spin. When the ground is wet there is less traction.

justin

is that all? how many years of college do you have? i would have never come up with that idea! haha.

seriously, you don't live where i do. NOT stepping on the gas to pull out by the Pentagon in rush hour traffic is like digging your own grave.

mdaffron

Mah bruthuh duz, but ah prefuh thuh good ol' slow Southun Lahf down hyeh in Richmun' ...

Meade

chmeeee

You just have to moderate it, don't punch it and start spinning the wheels, because then you are accelerating slower. Don't be a grandma, then you will just piss people off. You just need to adjust to the level of traction and leave a little more space.

justin

this isn't my car. not going to learn how to drive it. my car doesn't spin out. the loaner does. waste VW's tires - i don't care

and Meade - soon enough your fair city of Richmond will be part of NoVa.

ashutoshsm

And then NoVA can keep its tax money (Richmond tithe) to itself, as a new state, huh?

justin

not even going into the whole NoVA vs. the rest of the backwards state debate....;)

mdaffron

for the past few nights. Seems this whole idea is old history ... ?

OK guys, let's not JETTAson too far from being on-topic. Don't want a Pat-O-Gram!

Meade

yettibutt

I have to agree that my 1989 Subaru 4x4 wagon was, by far, the slowest car ever produced. In order to merge onto the highway, I would floor it then as the speed slowly built, I would turn off the A/C and BAM! turbo boost.

vocus

Agree about not hitting the pedal hard to get out by the Pentagon. It's hectic over that way even on weekends. I have a hard enough time on 495 merging with traffic.

moparbad

You two should be in a VW Jetta commercial. The possibilities are endless. Could be filmed at the Pentagon with an awesome display of 2.0 doing a burnout and Vocus could demonstrate how the rattles can not be heard over the excellent VW sound system. What do you think? Beats the current Jetta ad with the guy licking the door handle.