Last winter as a favor to a friend I had the distictive honor of
babysitting her 2002 VW Jetta while she went home to Texas for
Christmas break. Of course, as anyone up here in central New York can
tell you, parking a car in a lot for a month is a great way to watch
your rotors get rusty and your battery die. So as part of my “favor” I
stipulated that I would have to drive the car at least weekly
(Ow, stop twisting my arm). Of course, she agreed, it was only fair.
After all, I was saving her around 250 bucks.
Last winter as a favor to a friend I had the distictive honor of
babysitting her 2002 VW Jetta while she went home to Texas for
Christmas break. Of course, as anyone up here in central New York can
tell you, parking a car in a lot for a month is a great way to watch
your rotors get rusty and your battery die. So as part of my “favor” I
stipulated that I would have to drive the car at least weekly
(Ow, stop twisting my arm). Of course, she agreed, it was only fair.
After all, I was saving her around 250 bucks.
The Handling
First off, the steering wheel felt too heavy, almost like the power
steering was underpowered. I suspect some people like it that way, but
I am not one in that group. The turning radius seemed about normal so
I have no complaints there. And despite my annoyance with the “weight”
of the steering wheel, the car handled smoothly and turned as
anticipated without any unexpected effects.
The Brakes
This was my biggest sticking point, so to speak, with the car. When
the car’s owner was driving us to the airport she slid through an
intersection and the ABS didn’t quite seem up to task. Luckily there
weren’t any cars coming but I didn’t see the kind of stop she was
trying to make as one that required ABS to kick on. Later when I was
driving the car myself, I realized why they turned on. Maybe this was
a defect specific to this car, but the brake pedal had no gradient. It
was the exact opposite of a spongy brake pedal. The brakes engaged
around 80% at one point halfway down pressing the pedal. For any
biologists out there, her brakes were like an action potential -
either all on or all off. (Ed. — great, thanks for the lesson) Anyway, when the brakes engage that fully, it makes sense why her ABS would kick on so easily in un-needed situations.
The Interior
I loved the interior of the car. I liked the seats, which were leather
and very nicely heated. My ass gets cold for lack of insulation. I
also liked the rear defroster button which was in the center of the
dash and changed color when you pushed it in, however the hazard light
button mimicked it too closely. That’s always a fun mistake to make.
My problem with the interior was that many of the parts were cheap,
where they shouldn’t have been. I know it was cold, but there is no
reason why the fader knob should have snapped off. And before I filled
the car up with gas I managed to break the gas tank lever, which
appeared to me as a down lever. Unfortunately for it and the cheap
plastic holding it in, I pushed it down into the spot and had to pry
it out with my Leatherman™ (anyone who drives a car should own one). Gas tanks shouldn’t have
levers or buttons, or latches alltogether. Latches freeze.
Maybe it just isn’t that cold in Germany.
Conclusion
While I somewhat liked the Jetta, I felt goofy driving around in it.
It was appropriately sized for my 6′1″ frame, which I liked, but at
the same it gave off too much of the “yuppie” vibe that I can’t stand.
I swear, the car actually wanted me to go visit a Starbucks and have
Panera for lunch, like I have that kind of money. Let’s face it, this
TCB gig doesn’t exactly pay all the bills. With the proper corrections
to the brakes and the interior I probably would have liked the car
more. Some of that fancy German engineering doesn’t cut it in actual
production. The Jetta was a “nice” car, but definitely not a “me” car.
10 comments so far
Nice little writeup there. I was thinking of going VW for my next car (GTI though, not Jetta). Nice to see something objective written on the matter (the VW owners I’ve met seem to be a little too fanatical about their cars)
October 29th, 2004 at 10:34 am
Yeah, I wouldn’t mind maybe having the new GTI that’s coming out next year as a commuter car or something… but anyone who buys a new current model Golf or GTI right now is just plain silly IMO. The current model has been around for practically 6 years now and you can get better bang for your buck with, say, an RSX-S or for a few grand more get yourself AWD and 4 doors with an WRX.
And there’s always that lame yuppie factor with VW’s …
October 29th, 2004 at 11:25 am
maybe the reason they have that lever is that it doesn’t freeze in mexico where the jetta is made.
October 29th, 2004 at 11:28 am
I tend to agree with your assessment. I’ve owned a 2002 Jetta for 3 years. I agree the breaks are not great and I’ve had the mirror adjustment knob snap off — and it was summer!
You didn’t mention which engine your friend’s Jetta had. There is a huge difference among the ones offered. The regular 2.0 liter is very slow, but I’ve got the 180hp turbo and it’s pretty powerful.
October 29th, 2004 at 9:57 pm
I don’t know about the ‘02 Jetta but the ‘04 TDI is rad. My Uncle just bought one and it’s a zippy little car. Was this a manual or auto? VW aren’t meant to be auto if it was auto. I don’t like the idea of an automatic VW.
Side Question: What type of leatherman do you have?
October 29th, 2004 at 11:12 pm
Benjy: I’m guessing it was the 2.0. It definitely wasn’t turboed. It wasn’t too slow IMO. I definitely thought it funny that the Tach was in 10s and not 1s though. Crazy Germans…
Andrew: It was an auto (try not to groan). I know lots of people that only like stick, but for me sometimes I really like the “set it and forget it” quality of auto, especially in Utica when it’s stoplight to stoplight 60 feet away. And of course, in this instance I didn’t get to choose the tranny type.
Also I just have the original Leatherman PST. Archives are a wonderful thing. That tool saved my butt out in Worcester Mass, when I had to change my old F-150’s alternator (well… that and the 4 foot 1 inch pipe I happened to have laying in my backseat, but that’s a story for another day).
October 30th, 2004 at 2:19 am
I’ve drove that model of Jetta a couple times before, and just like you, I wasn’t impressed with it either.
Want a powerful VW, check out the Phaeton:
http://www.vw.com/phaeton/index.htm
It was featured in this month’s Rolling Stone… The model that they featured came to $96k! But it also sports a 6.0L 420 HP engine…
October 30th, 2004 at 1:52 pm
I own an 02 Jetta which I have been driving for about a year, I have the 1.8T which is nice and peppy. I have an automatic with Tiptronic, which does somewhat compensate for having an automatic, Not quite the same control, but close enough when you need to pass someone on the highway.
I haven’t had problems with buttons breaking off or getting stuck in like you mention, but I can see it happening, as they are fairly light plastic.. I have had some issues with the interior though. There is a film that covers the bezel on the empty bank above the stereo deck that has started peeling in mine. It makes no sense to me why it is not just colored plastic to match the rest of the dash, then there would be no film to peel off.
Also, when I got the car, something I hadn’t noticed was that the cover for the center console was broken. (One of the pegs that hold it in was broken clear off). This was replaced free of charge, but what struck me as odd was that whoever the previous owner was, would have had to really yanked on it to get it to break, based on how sturdy the one in mine now feels.
I haven’t noticed the problem you mentioned with the breaks either. And in the year I have had the car, I haven’t had the ABS engage once when I wasn’t trying to engage them. (If you aren’t doing this at some point, you should, knowing what your cars ABS feels like in advance is a very good thing God forbid you actually need them.)
All in all, I think my Jetta is a very fun car to drive, and I don’t feel like a Yuppie for driving it. :-p
October 31st, 2004 at 12:10 pm
I have a 2001 wolfsburg edition jetta and we have been reading in the consumer reports that at about 80,000 miles they start to have signifigant problems and since being at 78,000 miles we have already had two problems. Our brake lights wouldn’t turn off and when we took it into the dealership they acted like it happens to them all, also the cooling fluid, which supposedly you never have to replace drained. So beware. Also i agree about the litte hardware parts that seem cheaply made. my drink holder, my middle console and the glove box broke right off. And also i have the same peeling plastic but it’s on driver side of the door.
August 29th, 2006 at 5:06 am
I found this googling for “brake lights won’t turn off” while on hold to a dealer, its 7pm I had little hope. I’m no longer on hold now and apparently the “happens all the time” issue was true, because the dealer said that it is covered. I sadly replied,
“No, I have an 01 Jetta, with 178,000 miles, I’m beyond the warranty.”
She kindly responded, “its a recall issue, it will be covered don’t worry.”
So I’ve had this car for 6 years now. I waited three weeks for it to get off a boat from Germany and ride from Boston to NY. I’ve driven it all over since then, note the mileage, and every issue I’ve ever had with the car turned out to be handled by VW.
The cheapness of the interior parts, honestly I think they are better than my friends comparable car’s interior accessories, but the latch to the arm rest storage broke once. My dealer fixed it, VW covered it.
The expensive parts, oh yeah. The catalytic converter went. I felt like I swallowed a watermelon whole when I found out the part alone was over a grand, and yes I was past warranty. So I ordered one from some guys in Jersey with fantastic accents for much less that I found online. Within a year I received a letter from Volkswagen that this item was being covered and anyone who had previously paid for a replacement was being reimbursed. They paid for the non-standard issue part I had used and paid for the service the dealer charged for installing said part.
I love my Jetta. I love VW. and I only eat at panera when my boss is paying.
November 3rd, 2006 at 11:57 pm
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