In May, my 2004 Jetta…
STORY:
In May, my 2004 Jetta 1.8 Turbo started to get hard to shift. It was a slight change and I figured it was normal for a car going on 50K miles. After a while it started to get worse and one day wouldn’’t shift at all. I took it to the dealership who said I needed a whole new clutch and wanted to charge me $1,700. I took it back from them and towed it to a mechanic I found on Cartalk.com that was listed under VW mechanics. They unfortunately told me the same thing, only would only charge $1,200 for the same work. Both the mechanic and myself contacted the warranty company and were told that a clutch is a ‘wear-and-tear’ item and was not something they could cover.
Upon removal of the old clutch, the mechanic found that the teeth were shredded, not normal, especially with a car this new and with only 52K miles on it. I had them give me the old clutch so I could take it to VW and have it paid for. Unfortunately I was informed that even though the clutch was deemed faulty, VW couldn’’t cover it because the car had over 50K miles at the time it was replaced. I have filed complaints with VW and everyone else I can think of and have read loads of other complaints about the same issue.
Another problem I have with my Jetta is with the trunk latch. My trunk pops open for no reason at the most random times. I’’ll pull over and shut it just to have it pop open again. Eventually I just give up and drive around with it unlatched. I shut it when I stop and go shopping or in the house, it never pops open when the car is off. Because it never happens when I take it to the shop, they can’’t figure out what is wrong with it.
My most recent problem came today. Once again the car is in the shop for some unknown reason and I am anxious to know if this will be one more thing that the warranty just ‘happens’ to not cover. I took it in to the shop this morning because for the past couple of months every week or two the car would die right after starting it when it has only been sitting a few minutes. It wasn’’t a constant thing; it would do it twice in a day or not at all for weeks. Wednesday however, was a different story. It did the dying thing right after I started it, but this time, it wouldn’’t even turn over when I tried to restart the car. I sat in my driveway for 10 minutes reading over my warranty information before trying to start the car again, and finally it worked, however I had to keep my foot on the gas at all times or it would die once again. I left the car running when I picked my son up from swim practice but had to turn it off to get the pizza I had called in due to the busy parking lot and the horrible parking spot I ended up finding. I came back out with pizza in hand only to sit in the parking lot for 30 minutes before I could get the engine to turn over. Once I got home I stopped driving until I could get it into the shop. I knew it would start in the morning so I wouldn’t have to get it towed and in the shop it sits, waiting for a diagnosis. Here I sit waiting to see if my LEMON will once again break the bank. I HATE MY VW JETTA.
I would like to add however that this is the third ‘new’ VW I have ever owned and the third one I hate. The other hated VWs included a 1999 Beetle and a 2001 Beetle. I have had a 1972 convertible Karmann Ghia, 1976 Beetle, two 1984 Westy Campers, and a 1994 Jetta – and loved them all.