New car, no more P5!!

[AromaRoyale]

Well, I finally did it.. I got new rims for the P5 a few weeks ago.. loved em.. I'm driving around up here in boston a few days ago, the car started acting pretty funny.. kinda shaky, slower than usual... I reset the ECU, no good.. so I took the car home, let my dad look at it, he said the cat was ******.. this is like the 8th thing to go wrong with this car, so I took it back to where I bought it and traded it in.

Now I'm the proud owner of a 2004 VW Jetta GLI, with the 2.8L V6 GLS package.. I love this car.. nearly fully loaded, handles almost as well as the P5, and just destroys it in speed.. I test drove it for less than 20 minutes, but that was pointless. After 5 minutes I knew.

I just got back on a jaunt from DC to Boston, with a stop in NYC, inckuding a drive through the Lincoln Tunnel, into the Lower East Side and up to Harlem. This car is simply brilliant- no disrespect to the P5, but they're worlds apart in smoothness and "fun". But I loved my P5.

Anyways, I'm gonna keep around these boards, they're the best car community I've seen- so much love!

But on that note, anyone know any good GLI forums, or good Vw forums in general? I googled, didn't find much that could compare

AR

 

[P5w3kids]

in shock here

But on that note, anyone know any good GLI forums, or good Vw forums in general? I googled, didn't find much that could compare

AR

vwvortex is a great forum.

Man oh man, I cannot believe you bought a Jetta to get better reliability. The Jetta is about the most troublesome car sold today (check out CR, those forums, or the owner reviews at Edmunds to get a taste). My sister has a 2002 that drives her nuts. Mostly little stuff, like light bulbs going out over and over and the turn signal clicker sounding off at random times while cruising down the road. Be very careful when parking your new car. The Jetta's front air dam breaks off very easily if you scrape it on a curb. (I'm not sure if the GLI has the same air dam as her GLS, though.)

Was this car new or used? If used, it might well have been traded for the same reason you just traded your P5.

But maybe you'll be lucky. Not every Jetta owner has lots of problems. Just most of them. There's a good apple in every bunch.

I'm actually in the process of getting some research started to help with this sort of decision. I'm going to be collecting data on number of repair visits and number of days in the shop. I think this puts reliability in the most practical terms, how it impacts the owner's life. If you feel this information would be helpful, please consider joining my panel. My site is www.truedelta.com, with a link to the reliability research near the top of every page.

The more quickly people join, the sooner I'll have this information available. Members will get more detailed info than non-members and notices of potential upcoming reliability issues (based on the experience of people with their car, just older).

Beyond the reliability issue, nice to see you got the VR6 and not the turbo four. Only the turbo is offered for 2005. I personally much prefer the lag-free VR6. Soggy handling in my opinion, but very fun nonetheless. Definitely FEELS more solid than a Protege. For details, I posted a review at epinions a couple of years ago: www.epinions.com/content_78046006916. I'd like to see your own reviews of the VW, P5, and any other car you have a good sense of there. Let me know if you write some.

Again, best of luck. Keep us posted.

 

[NJP5Guy]

yeah i've heard that vws are crap in terms of reliability. test drove a gti before the p5. it felt like a bowl of jello. he said he got the vr6....howd you miss that

 

[P5w3kids]

yeah i've heard that vws are crap in terms of reliability. test drove a gti before the p5. it felt like a bowl of jello. he said he got the vr6....howd you miss that

It's very early in the morning and I have three noisy kids in the room. (For those of you who are confused now that I've editted my post, I initially asked whether he got the turbo or six.)

 

[ottawaP5]

test drove a gti before the p5. it felt like a bowl of jello.

I know what you mean....I had a Beetle as my rental, and I could remember the commercials talking about great handling, etc.

I took it around a curve, and there was so much body roll that I thought the car would lose control. I was anxious to get my P5 back!

 

[digitalpro5]

My friend has the 03 Jetta GLS, and as far as the engine troubles she hasn't had none...but all sorts of other problems pop up once in a while, like her power windows had stopped working a few months after she had bought it new, and her ac would work sometimes, haha. Now after two years I think its stable probably had to be burn'd in, ahaha.

 

[mcstark]

Test drove a Jetta back in `99 and the handling was ok, but the suspension was marshmellow soft. The four-banger was waaay weak -- at least ours has some torque. I'm not talking pure numbers here, but seat of the pants powerband feeling. The VR6 was a speeding ticket waiting to happen, but even with 17's the suspension blew. They could at least have put better shocks and springs on it.

Besides, they're expensive for what you get. No disrespect meant...buying used is smart with VW's -- you let someone else take the depreciation hit.

Enjoy your new ride! Now go upgrade that suspension and see what German handling really is!

 

[Protege52003]

Got my g/f a 05' Jetta GLS with the 1.8T three months ago. Nice car but had the first problem last week (2300 miles). The odometer and clock on the dash went out for a day. Called the dealer and made an appt and of course they worked the next day. VW's are known for little stuff going wrong but my g'f always wanted one. we got a pretty good deal on the car and a great trade in on her POS 01' sentra (actually an okay car), but she destroyed it. Probably would have been a more reliable car than the jetta.......


http://forums.vwvortex.com is a nice VW forum.......

I love the 1.8T.....the P5 handles better though.

-R

 

[Protege52003]

Anyways, I'm gonna keep around these boards, they're the best car community I've seen- so much love!

But on that note, anyone know any good GLI forums, or good Vw forums in general? I googled, didn't find much that could compare

AR

Yeah, people are good on this furum. I am a member on many other forums and find this to be the best......http://forums.vwvortex.com is pretty good for VW stuff and there is loads of info there.

-R

 

[altspace]

I almost bought a Jetta, but for all the reasons above and then some I did not. I joined the vwvortex forums and read everything I could before I made my decision. The P5 is just an all around great car imo.

 

[rookie]

Awww dude... what they said... VWs are a nightmare when the "new car smell" effect wears off... I too have a friend that has a 04 and is less then impressed with "little stuff" issues. Also, this can't be good:

http://money.cnn.com/2004/11/08/pf/autos/cr_auto_reliability/

Least reliable:
Volkswagen Golf (turbo)
Volkswagen Jetta (turbo)
Volkswagen New Beetle

(Consumer Reports' 2004 reliability survey)

Anyhow - good luck with your car... we all move on sooner or later, but you know - I would not move to VW from Mazda, at least not at this point...

 

[chuyler1]

I want to hear from you in 2 years after your new car has gone through the same trials as your P5. Statistics show that no matter how much you love this new car, it will break more often and be more expensive to fix than your P5.

As my future father-in-law likes to quote: "The similarity between the German auto manufacturers and the Japanese is that when something is flawed they both deny it. The difference is that for the next model year, the Japanese will have fixed it."

He used to drive VWs and got so fed-up with their reliability that he now drives a Civic and is looking into buying a new Mazda3.

 

[spicymsp1308]

Congrats on the new car... however----->

Had a 2001 Jetta- went through lots of problems with it... before even doing on mod on the car... finally after two clutches and two trannys later- traded it for the VW R32.... and hence the same thing had the car for seven months- 2 broken motor mounts, ebrake handle constantly breaking or falling apart, rims bend super easy, air conditioning going out (and in June in South Carolina- that sucks!!)... the list goes on... got rid of the R32 last Monday and will pick up the MSP at the end of this week... Good luck with your VW and as someone else previosly posted check out the vwvortex and also vwfixx.com

 

[Douggie]

Aren't Jettas are made in Mexico?

 

[geomatics_tech]

Congrats on the new car. Its tough to compare a jetta vr6 to a p5, they are in totaly different classes.

I was set on buying a audi a4 (essentialy the same as a vw) after I graduated, but like all the others before me I was turned off by the reliability. Its not major things most of the time, but mainly stupid little electrical problems. I need my car to get to work everyday so the mazda was my choice.

Good luck on your new car.

 

[Bumble G]

my buddy has a jetta.

he goes to the dealer at least once a week for new light bulbs. back, front, side....
and once a month for strange, unexplained electrical problems, like he would turn on the headlights and the high beam indicator would be lit, or the heated seats would turn on and off by themselves....

he can't wait to dump it.

 

[Rickman]

I know what you mean about the VW's being completely different. My wife drives a Limited Edition Isotope Green 2001 New Beetle (1.8t Fully loaded GLS), and man that thing will smoke my P5, and it handles great... and it's an AUTOMATIC. I know VW has some great products, but they all seem too overpriced. I think the only VW I would own would be a Corrado.

Congrats on the new ride, have fun.

-r

 

[msubullyfan]

Proteg Reliability = GOOD

Jetta Reliability = BAD

Consumer Reports says that the reliability for the V-6 is comparable to the 4-cyl, too.

 

[JOS3]

(yupnope)

good luck with your jetta. you're going to need it.

 

[P5w3kids]

I don't think the entire NFL season saw a pile-on this brutal. Anyone else want to kick the poor guy? I hope this really wasn't news to him, or he really is hurting at this point. Doesn't everyone know how unreliable the Jetta is? Then again, he might get really lucky.