VW Jetta or Passat V6, please leave kudos or horror stories here.

[Liberal_Andy]

Just looking, thank you.

[Justice]

1. I actually have both

A Passat V6 wagon, with the all wheel drive - excellent excellent car.

Our Jetta is a basic model - very peppy, just not as smooth on long rides.

[Ellen Forradalom]

2. Plunging windows

In 1999/2000 VW Jettas, the front windows have a strange way of plunging into the door. On our car, one window fell into the door just before a four-hour drive in October. Brrrrr. Then, a few months later, the other one fell in too.

Same thing happened to our neighbor with a 2000 Jetta.

That aside, it's a decent car.

[GOPisEvil]

11. There was a recall on that.

Dealer should have fixed that for free. So sayeth my coworker who owned 2 Jettas. His wife has a V6 Passat t hat she is in love with.

[RandomKoolzip]

3. I have a 91 VW GTI....

Which is an utter piece of crap. No plastic lining in the passenger side door, so water leaks in and floods the floor when it rains, water pump cracked, heater core busted, brakes gave out, etc. Useless. I'm donating it to charity and get some money back on my taxes.

Next car I get is gonna have to be a Volvo (I love 'em.) Volkswagens are too much hassle to own, IMHO. I've had two of them in the past, and have in both instances, spent more money on repairs than I have on the car itself.

Volvos? No trouble at all....

[jburton]

6. well, it's 13 years old ('91)

Sounds like normal problems in such an old car. Why is there no plastic lining in the passenger door? Was it wrecked?

[RandomKoolzip]

8. No, it has no damage.

The guy we bought it from replaced the engine in 2002, and had undergrone major repairs (and had him pay for them) before we bought it. According to several VW FAQ/forum sites I've seen on the net, VW didn't bother to include plastic lining in the doors on the 91 models- it's a notorious problem... lots of people were mystified by this odd indoor flooding, until it was discovered that VW fucked up.

Yeah, I guess for a 91, it has typial problems, but I had a 86 Volvo station wagon that stayed on the road for 19 years with little or no repair issues. I'd rather just get another one of them than deal with the hassles used VW's ensue.

[ramapo]

4. Also both

We have a 2001 Jetta and a 2003 Passat wagon. No problems w/either. Both have the Turbocharged engine. Makes a big difference. Didn't get 4WD. Never have gotten stuck w/FWD and I live in a hilly area. We get our share of snow.

The Jetta's a lot of fun and the wagon is very handy (downsized from a Windstar). Not sure what's new w/the Jetta. Looks like a bit of a redesign. Maybe a bit boxier?

Good luck on your search.

[midnight armadillo]

5. The turbo 4

There are aftermarket tuning chips for the turbo 4 cyl that'll increase its horsepower to be pretty much equal to the 6 cyl without the weight and mileage penalties.

I'd head over to www.vwvortex.com and ask the experts what they think.

[JVS]

7. The Jetta V6 is more expensive than a Honda accord V6 and...

unless it is made in Germany, probably suffers from low quality Mexican construction. My mom has a Jetta 2.0 made in mexico and the quality of the materials, particularly the interior has not been good.
The Accord is also bigger, and if you are determined to have a VW the Golf is usually a couple grand cheaper than the Jetta.

My brother has the Passat, but only with the 1.8 turbo. It is a nice car, feels more solid and was built in Germany. The quality of the workmanship shines through. The 1.8 liter turbo delivers a lot of power and is a good buy. With the V6 you are pushing 30 grand. For that much money you might prefer something else. You can get a BMW 325 sedan for 28 grand and it also has a six, but this one is an inline 6, which I personally think is cool because inlines are generally smoother.

The passat 1.8, especially in its wagon form which costs less than $23,000 is a great buy. On edit: if the US still got the Accord Wagon and the Camry Wagon then maybe the Passat Wagon wouldn't look so good, but we don't.

[Liberal_Andy]

9. thanks for the advice!

I've only begun looking, but I liked both the Jetta & Passat at first glance.

[JVS]

10. If you want to compare stats on the cars www.carsdirect.com is a good site

It will let you get the specs on the cars.

[Braden]

12. 97 Jetta owner

no complaints on the car. it has run great, its paid for, and the sound system is excellent. Highly recommended.

when I mention that I also own a Ford Explorer people compare me to nefarious underworld creatures. I usually leave out the fact that I own an "earth friendly car" oxymoron of all time.