I bought a VW Jetta TDI Wagon last summer and love it. Other than one batch of old (un-winterized) fuel this past winter, I've had no trouble (knock on wood). I get 40MGP consistently regardless of the driving, and that's with an auto trans. Very peppy car too.
I was very concerned about the reliability record of the VWs too. In digging deeper, I found a few things.
1) There was a cronic problem with the power window lifts which broke and caused windows to drop into the door, sometimes breaking the glass, and always leaving a wide open car regardless of weather, security, etc. Nasty problem, VW was very slow to respond to it, and they would not pro-actively repair all window lifts when one broke, so you got to have all your windows break before being clear of the problem.. They have now done a full recall and exetended the warranty on the window mechanisms to 7 years. New production of course is fixed too.
2) There was another cronic problem with the ignition coils (one for each cylinder). They would crap out and leave the car limping at best. Again, VW wouldn't pro-actively replace all of them when one failed, so most customers enjoyed this experience 4 or 6 times (depending on the number of cylinders). Stupid, stupid, customer service.
3) There were many complaints of poor workmanship in general, rattles, etc. I found that all the beetles, Jettas, and Golfs are built in either Mexico or Brazil. The Passats, on the other hand, didn't carry the same workmanship complaints, and are built in Germany. It also turns out that the Jetta TDI wagons are built in germany too.
My conclusion was as follows:
- Problem (1) has been fixed.
- Problem (2) does not exist in a Desiel
- Problem (3) is lesser with a car assembled in Germany
And I was keeping my Pathfinder so if the car crapped out at least I'd have transprtation - So I bought one.
Knock on wood.
Peter
