Volkswagen Jetta 2005 and earlier

moparbad

Best mileage on one tank is 691 miles.

blackjetta18t1

my hgihway experience was 28mpg but I think I had a fair amount of miles more at a quarter tank left

rwr1708

Hey! I'm a Pennsylvania driver! But, I agree with you. Ever been to western PA? Near Pittsburgh? There are tunnels to cut through the hills. People see a tunnel and the speed limit feels like it drops to fifteen. People must not believe that the lanes are just as wide inside as they are outside.

I also noticed the ESP button while I was looking around, and I asked the dealer about it. He said that it is not ASR, but rather a stability control program that is standard on the new Jetta GLX, Beetle Turbo S, New 6 speed GTI, and Jetta GLI.

vwguild

Is Electronic Stability Program that controls
*Yaw* think *Top Gun*....

venus537

i have a 2001 vr6 5 speed and the engine is noisy at 85 mph. this is not unique to blue's jetta. there's a lot of wind noise too. the car has the power and stability to handle three digit speeds easily but it's way too loud. my test drive of a 2002 1.8t 5 speed auto (may be my next car) was also noisy at 85 mph. since i don't make a lot of long trips, it's not a deal breaker with me. cruising at high speeds over long periods of time is not one of the jetta's strong points.

8u6hfd

The other reason, is MD drivers get caught by speed traps.

vocus

I knew you would have to add something to the mix, since you are from Virginia. I drive in Va. all the time, and everyone seems to drive very fast there. I drove on 95 to NC in October, and frequent Arlington (via 395) on weekends. I never have problems with speed traps though. But if Va. drivers wanna complain about someone else, they need to correct themselves first.

Also, the only reason MD drivers are driving fast in VA is because they are trying to get the hell outta DC!

mdaffron

My brother lives in Herndon and I try to avoid visiting him the best I can! I HATE NoVa traffic -- especially on Friday afternoons and Sunday nights as everyone makes the "exodus" ...

And Paul ... you seem to do most of your Virginia driving in Northern Virginia and I-95. Let me tell you, there is a definite difference between the way people drive up there and how they drive in other parts of this state!

Paul, a reminder ... next time you find yourself cruising down 95 through Virginia, PLEASE drop me a line and we'll meet for lunch or have dinner or something! My office building is basically next to I-95 -- I could see you if you drive by. So lemme know!

Meade

(Sorry to intrude on the Jetta topic, everyone. I don't own one but I know they're great cars. We almost bought a Golf before buying my wife's new Protege5 last month.)

justin

i think our drivers are bad because our traffic is so bad.

but, by far, the worst drivers around here are the 17 yr olds in the Civics and the 30 yr olds in the BMW's. 100% of the time, you can bet your salary that they will at least attempt to cut you off or try some really dumb move on a beltway offramp. good thing the Civics and BMW's get decent crash test scores....;)

the 28 yr olds in the Jettas drive like angels, of course

justin

i lived in Reston for six years - the traffic out there is just as bad as it is here in Alexandria, except that the cars are nicer in Reston usually

mdaffron

We never would've thunk otherwise!

;-)

mdaffron

You and Paul should get together sometime!

Paul, it looks like you might have a reason to organize a MAJP ...

(Now I'll leave it up to you to tell all these folks what a MAJP is!!!)

Hee hee ...

Meade

target3

I hit 500 on a tank with an 88 2.0. Even though I recently purchased an 02 1.8T manual, I do not want to get rid of the 88 - it's just been too good to me!

newcar31

Please come and contribute to the Protege vs. Jetta forum. They are not competitors? Come to the board and explain why. Jetta sucks? Protege sucks? come to the Protege vs. Jetta board!

mlayton694

I think wind noise is a VW thing , my Passat is louder than all of the past cars I have had above 50mph. Small price to pay for such nice cars.

Anakin

I suppose it's what you're used to. My Jetta is much quieter than the 98 Accord Coupe I traded for it.

What car are you using for comparison?

manual

Hi all, I use GL. I experienced this following problem twice, during two winter nights, after the car was covered by snow (hate brushing the snow anyway). As usual, I unlocked the car door using the remote transmitter key - and of course the driver side car door was unlocked. When I started the engine, suddenly all of the door were unlocked, and I could not lock the doors again. The automatic locking feature didn't work either. After I arrived at home and turned off the engine, I could lock the door. Is this normal or is it a malfunction ?

bluewolf

I've got a Wolfsburg Jetta like Blueguy, and it's wonderfully smooth and quiet, but over about 80mph, it's pretty buzzy. On a 6 hour drive to San Diego it got a little tiresome and it's harder to enjoy the stereo at those speeds, but I rarely go that fast anyway.

VW's 5-speed is geared low to accelerate quickly, and it does the job. The bad news is the high-speed buzz and that you'll likely average about 23 mpg city.

FWIW, I have TDI Jetta as well, and it's is FAR QUIETER at speed than the 1.8T, and the TDI is a much better highway car. It feels electric it's so smooth, you can barely tell it's running.

Anakin

I wonder if the noise has something to do with the 150hp 1.8T Jetta? Is the gearing different between the 150hp and the 180hp?

venus537

"I suppose it's what you're used to. My Jetta is much quieter than the 98 Accord Coupe I traded for it"

say what! i did too and i have exactly the opposite experience and road tests clearly indicate that the jetta is noisier. i would say up to 65 mph the difference is small, but at higher speeds there's no comparison.

8u6hfd

I always hear wind noise around my A-pillars. I would suspect to be the door seals (and I always get a cold draft from that area also).

vocus

I have the 2002 180hp 1.8T engine. Everyone keeps saying the engine is breathless above 5000 rpm. I have the Tiptronic automatic, and my car still seems to pull pretty well right up to 6700rpm (yes, 200rpm past redline when I floor it to pass). So I don't get it. Maybe there is a difference between the engines at higher speeds.

vocus

I noticed something the other night. The last digit on my digital clock in the dash went out. You know when you push on the face of a digital watch and it looks kinda "washed out"? Well, that's how it looked for one whole minute. The last number just looked like a little ink spot or something. As soon as the minute changed, it was ok.

Anyone else ever notice this? I have noticed my clock do that 3 times thus far in 10,000 miles, and noticed my odometer/tripmeter do it once. Weird.

justin

I thought we discussed that. Maybe it was someone else. My car does that too. It lasts for one minute exactly. Never at the same time, and I have seen it a few times. Probably like once a month or so. Who knows if it does it while I am not in the car.

At this point, it doesn't bother me. Besides, what is the solution? Take it to VW? NO WAY. Number one, they could never find the problem - in fact - there is no way to duplicate the problem. Also, talk about rattles, if they take the dash apart to replace something, the car will never be the same.

I say live with it if you can, unless it gets worse. But, not sure if it will make you feel better, but my car does it too. But again, it lasts for exactly one minute only. Extremely random as far as I can tell. Mine has done it since day one too.

Anakin

Maybe I should have been more specific about the kind of noise... I rarely hear wind noise around here because the Seattle roads are so rough that the road roar drowns out the wind. In terms of road roar transmitted to the cabin, my Jetta is quieter than my Accord was.

I'm not sure if you had an Accord too, but was yours an EX by any chance? I've heard there may be some difference in sound dampening materials between trim levels.

sarah233

my clock did that once too, except the numbers faded, and it looked like there was a little stripe above them. I looked away, looked back, and it was gone. That has only happened one time, and the clock works fine for me now.

vocus

The odometer/tripmeter and clock work fine all the time. I just thought it to be strange for it to fade out and come back like that. I just wanted to see if anyone else has experienced that. I guess they have.

sbeck2

My roommate has a 2001 silver Jetta. Very fun car. However, whenever I get in the Jetta, I can smell a very toxic odor that gives me an almost immediate headache and eventually makes me nauseous. The odor seems to come from the air vents. We put one of those bags of volcanic rocks into the car, and that helped a little but did not remove the odor. He says he can't smell anything, but I certainly can. Has anyone else experienced this or heard of this problem?

bluewolf

Does your roommate keep the air on recirc or fresh? I almost always keep mine on fresh and maybe crack the sunroof when the temp is nice, just to keep the cabin from getting stale.

Anyway, I've heard that if you usually keep the air on recirc, you'll get mold growing, and it gets pretty rank. Something to check out...

vocus

That's amazing. I have never smelled anything like that in my car, and I just now (about 20 mins. ago, coming back from lunch at work) turned 10,000 miles.

I do, however, smell a funny odor when using the windshield washer jets. But it goes right away after like a minute or so.

justin

My 99 Jetta smelled AWFUL one hot humid summer day. I mean, like, I could not get in the car, it was awful. Everyone offered suggestions - nothing worked.

Then, I took it to the dealer for one of the then free maintenance things - they noticed it - changed some sort of filter, and it never smelled again.

I wish I could remember the filter they changed, but they said it was a mess. Is there a pollen or a/c filter?

Personally, I think it was hay that got stuck in my car that started to rot. True Story about my 99 Gen IV Jetta. On the way to the beach (Rt 1, only about 5 miles from Rehobeth/Dewey, right there next to the farms and fields) one night, I was driving, and it started to storm BAD. Seriously, the roads were flooding fast. I was freaked. I pulled into someones driveway. It was gravel. My car was in PARK, and started moving sideways, the water was coming so fast. Anyway, I went back out onto what I thought was a paved road. The road was long gone. This happened in a span of about 20 minutes. People were stuck on the roof of their cars. Wanna know the funny part, a MIATA was in front of me, and the woman driving it got through. I followed her. My passenger was freaking - she swears we were floating, because we would periodically move sideways. Anyway, I had hay everywhere, under my car, tangled around my tail-pipe, in the grill of my car, and near my windshield wipers. I know in reality we were not floating, cause cars don't float, but, only me and my Jetta and that lady and her Miata made it through.

Horrible experience, but I think that I did not get the hay out of all the nooks and crannys of the car, and it started rotting, causing a smell.

SBECK2, have you asked your roomie to check for hay?

vocus

There IS a pollen filter in the climate control. I don't know where it is, but that filter may be the cause of the smell. It was undoubtedly the cause of your smells, Justin.

Justin, glad you mentioned it.

venus537

i had the accord lx v6 coupe just like you. but of course i added the alloys, no true car enthusiast should have plastic wheel covers.

the solid structure of the jetta really comes through when you drive over those rough roads. there must be something to that laser welding.

427435

Justin, cars do indeed float for a little bit---especially if the doors are sealed well. You were lucky that night---you could have been swept off that road into deep water.

vocus

I started my car in the morning the other day, and it was about 20 degrees outside. The car had sat all night, of course. Anyway, I took right off when I started it (about 30 seconds actually). I drove like 20 feet, and had to stop to make a left turn. Well, the car started to feel like it was going to conk out, "missing" and stuff like that. I put the car in neutral and gave it a little rev, then put it back in gear and took off. Thought it to be kinda freaky though.

BTW, I have a 2002 Jetta 1.8T Tiptronic with 10,050 miles on it since 11/3/01 and love it!

justin

hmmm. not sure what could cause that. bad gas maybe? fuel lines clogged or something. no engine lights came on?

hope it is not the beginning of the end

427435

If it actually took you 20-30 seconds of cranking to start the engine, you may have messed up the oxygen sensor reading causing it to tell the computer to go too rich or too lean. When I start a fuel injected car that's been sitting outside in cold weather, I turn the ignition to run but not to start right away. In the run position, the electric fuel pump kicks on and brings the fuel rail pressure up and, if there's a cold start valve, some extra fuel gets sprayed into the manifold. By waiting 5 seconds, pressure builds up for correct fuel injector operation and any cold start fuel that's introduced has a chance to vaporize. Seems to work for me anyway.

yettibutt

This same thing happened to my wife after not driving it for about a week (2000 Jetta 2.0 L manual). It was cold out and she said it felt like it was going to stall out at the first stop she came to after leaving our house. It never happened again and I just figured it was no big deal.

blackjetta18t1

I was at the gas station and I asked them to chekc my oil( I have a 2.0, I had synthetic oil in there to) and the guy said I need oil bad, it was basically empty, and this is with 11450 miles and my last oil change was at 9500. Anyone smell oil burning? I know it uses alot because this has happened before and I broughtit up to the dealership, they say 1 qt. per 2000 miles is normal, blah blah, and one of the mechanics told me if I want I can go on the oil monitoring plan, but then that requires me to bring it back there every to often and I do not have time to drive 30 minutes each way so many times. I am sure mine is burning way to much, but it's a lease and I've already had my share of dealership visits for knokcing sounds, creaks, rattles, etc. But anyway, I added about 1.5 qts. of oil but some spilled out and around the oil fill up whole. After driving afterwards for a few minutes smoke started coming out of the hood and I figured it was the spilled oil burning off, but I got scared so I took it to the gas station nearby and they said the same thing, and that it's fine. So just to make sure, is it? It stopped smoking after a few minutes.

sbeck2

Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions. We'll try them all. I'm pretty sure it's not rotting hay, but we can check. We're in New Hampshire where it's mostly granite!

vocus

No, I meant I had left the car sitting like 30 seconds between the time I started it and the time I took off. I usually wait like 1-2 minutes for the RPMs to kick down from 1100 to the normal 950rpm (automatic). But that morning, I was in a hurry. From now on, I will sit and wait for the car to "warm up". :0

justin

Just FYI, you know it is JUST as bad to overfill the car with oil than to have it underfilled with oil.

Is your car leaking oil? Meaning, can you see leaks? If not, and there is no oil burning smell or evidence, I think the person that checked your oil was drunk. Otherwise, why would your car overfill so easily?

I would not take your car back to that person again. If your car doesn't have any leaks or engine problems, I would say it must be okay. Just add oil as needed. For 4.5 quarts of oil to be missing in a little over 1000 miles though, well, there is either a leak, or they never filled it up after the last oil change.

blackjetta18t1

I didn't mean it overfilled, my bad, I should of clarified. I mesnt that while pouring the oil, I didn't have a funnel so some of it didn't go into where it was supposed to and instead spilled out around the area in which I am supposed to pour the oil(still sounds a bit confusing...), but I checked my oil right before I out it in and it was at the very bottom of the area where it should be. So hopefully I didn't overfill with 1.5 qts, but I shall see what happens.and there is definatley no sign of leakage

jgoss1

I just got a vw jetta trek ed. 4dr. V6 5 sp. manual. the car came with a bicycle rack on top and when I open the sunroof it makes this funny noise like i'm in a helicoptor. how can i solve this?

yettibutt

You need to get a fairing. The racks are made by Thule if I remember right. Just find a local bicycle or outdoors store and ask for the Thule standard size fairing. This is a plastic shield that goes from the front bar down to the top of the windshield and will stop your wind noise, plue, I think it makes it look better too!

izfuney

(looking to purchase a used Jetta 1.8T from a VW dealer )
Checking its records found the above:
Blown valve on Turbo - VW replaced the entire Turbo ( so it says ) and tacked on some additional warranty .

Does anybody know what causes it(potential endemic causes) ? damage to the engine from such a problem ?

Has anybody here suffered such a problem ?
It would be great to hear your experiences/problems related to the above issue

justin

Was not aware they ever made those.....wow. What else does it have? I looked at Treks and K2's in the late 90's before the Gen IV's came out. They were all 2.0 liters.

Anakin

I thought the cure for a blown valve was to just replace the valve? I assume they mean a diverter valve.

Diverter valves can blow out if someone buys an aftermarket ECU. Most enthusiasts on VW Vortex recommend buying a Bailey DV.

I can't say whether your issue has anything to do with this, but that's my $.02

blexv6

My sister wants to buy the Jetta, with the 2.0 litre engine. 115 HP seems extremely lethargic, especially in an automatic transmission. Hell, my mother -in-laws Corolla has more HP to her engine. Whats the concensus of Jetta owners on this engine. Even the V6 has only 176 HP.

izfuney

Actually it was a bypass valve/DV failure.
I agree with u that such a failure should result in a new valve .
But somehow it seems to have damaged the turbo
(atleast that what i deduce by the fact that VW replacing the turbo)

point is the car was taken from the owner (possibly replaced) refitted and put back in auction. they have added some warranty to it too.

So ! is it a possible lemon ( carfax is clean ) or just a problem jetta
( sigh ! man it looked good )