(First posted 6/23/2013) In early 1995 Volkswagen started running a very appealing lease special in my area: a new Jetta, for $199/month with nothing down. I’d never had a new car, and at the ripe old age of 26 I figured this was my due for the last few years of hard work. So I ventured down to the local dealer, in Redwood Shores, and kicked a few tires…
My history notwithstanding, I’d convinced myself that I could stick with a car for a full 48 months. I also liked the looks of the newest Jetta a lot, and ads and magazines touted a lot of improvements over the older model. Driving it pretty much sealed the deal; although VW’s new crossflow 2.0-liter four-cylinder wasn’t going to take over the racetracks anytime soon, it pulled eagerly, the car handled well and was very quiet inside. I wasn’t thrilled with the selection of colors on the lot, nor especially with the sort-of-paisley pattern velour upholstery; however, the dealer said he did have a transition model, in red, and would I like to see it? OK, sure. He pulled it out of the garage.
Back then, VW often started a new model year using last year’s leftover parts, so while technically a 1995, this one still had the ’94 interior fabric (which had a much nicer pattern) and the black rub strips on the body instead of the normal body color strips on the ‘95s. He also told me I could have it for $180/month with nothing down–$19 per month less than the advertised special. So I said sure, sign me up, and then verified the details with the salesman.
Ten minutes later I saw the paperwork and the smile turned upside down as the sales manager showed up and started apologizing profusely: There had been a “mistake” and I’d have to put $1,000 down. Uh, no, that was not the deal as far as I was concerned. It was $180/month, no down and no more. It turned into a bit (OK, more than a bit) of an argument on the showroom floor since I refused to be taken into a private office, causing several potential customers who were watching to walk out. After about 20 minutes and a half-dozen customers leaving, I got the deal I was promised. It was completely ridiculous, and I never returned to that mega-dealer, although over the years I had six or seven more cars that could have been serviced there.
Anyway, I was now the proud owner of a VW Jetta GL with exactly 22 miles on the clock. Bliss. Yes, new cars depreciate. No, they are not the wisest way to spend your money, but I’m sorry–it’s a great feeling to drive a brand-new car off the lot. So what did it have? Well, the GL was the base model, and mine was a manual-transmission car. Above it in the range were the GLS (with more features standard), and the six-cylinder VR6. The GL made do with somewhat homely hubcaps (the first pic is of my actual car), although alloys were optional. Power locks and A/C were standard, but not power windows. A sunroof, decent tape deck with AUX input for your Sony Discman (!), nice seats, a huge trunk, attractive design inside and out and a good warranty were all icing on the cake.
ABS it did not have–I had a moment of panic on my second day of ownership; I locked up all four wheels at 60 miles per hour on the 101 when I realized a little too late that traffic ahead was stopped. I didn’t run into the car in front of me, but I sure was sweating after that stop! I do not ever want to be that guy that has to go to a body shop with a hundred miles on the clock.
These cars were all over the Bay Area in the mid-to late-90’s, and black was probably the preferred color (and I admit it looked great that way). These were also VW’s first models exported to the U.S. from their new plant in Puebla, Mexico. I’m not sure if it had anything to do with that or, more likely, it was just VW’s “engineering”, but the car certainly had more issues than I was used to or would have expected from a new car. The shift linkage literally came apart after the second month, after which I somehow McGyver’d it back together at the side of the road. The A/C failed twice during the first year, and the toe settings out of the box were so bad that the insides of the front tires wore down to the cords within the first 10,000 miles.
These issues let me try out most of the other nearby VW dealers for service, since I had vowed not to return to the one I got it from. It seemed that I was not alone in having issues, as I encountered many other recent owners with weird maladies. One particular annoyance: I received a recall notice that instructed me not to use the supplied jack under any circumstances and to see my dealer for a replacement. Well, I tried every dealer, and everywhere the replacement jacks were on back-order for several months. This irked me to no end, as they kept selling new cars that presumably had an updated jack in the trunk, but I suppose that’s the way of the recall, at least as VW was concerned back in the day. Several months later a new jack finally arrived in the mail.
There are lots of people out there with their own VW stories, and there are also many who never have issues. Issues aside, I did like the car. It always started, drove well, got excellent gas mileage (and my girlfriend approved). It’s weird (and I have no real research to back this up) but I think a lot of the people who have stick-shift VWs (and I think VW sells a greater proportion of their cars with manuals than do their competitors) are more likely to put up with their issues and faults than owners of VW automatics. I believe it’s because many people who want a manual are more involved with their cars than those who drive automatics (assuming their car offers a choice). The driving feel and sense of solidity of a small VW is generally superior to that of, say, a Corolla or a Civic (and I hasten to add that I do not dislike either the Corolla or the Civic).
As with the other cars I had, I drove it a lot–down to San Luis Obispo regularly, to Los Angeles a few times (it being the car I had when my Dad passed away; he never had a chance to see it, which upset me), and to Lake Tahoe for winter sports. I’d always have the chains with me in case they were needed, but this is the car that made me swear that I was done with chains after one of them broke, scratching up the fender and destroying a hubcap before I got the car stopped with the chain wrapped around the front CV joint. Although most of the damage buffed out and the replacement hubcap was not a large expense, I decided I was done with that hassle.
Speaking of buffing out, my buddy Don is a big fan of washing his cars. Me, not so much. Anyway, I think he was tired of riding around in my usually somewhat filthy car and suggested we wash and wax it. We were both quite surprised when during the wax process all of our rags turned pink very quickly. This is when we realized that VW did not put clearcoat on their solid Tornado Red paint, nor did sister company Audi on their cars of the same color. Kind of strange, and they’re probably among the last cars out there not to be clear-coated, I’m guessing. It’s one reason why red Audis and VWs tend to look faded/chalky much faster than those in other colors.
I never did replace the hubcaps with alloys, but I did add a Neuspeed P-Flow intake, as well as a chip. It sure sounded better, but I am not convinced it really added any power, at least nothing noticeable. The chip did require the use of premium unleaded, but it cost only around $1.25 per gallon back then, so no biggie.
In the end I realized I had been kidding myself; although the payment was low, I didn’t want the car for the full term. So I eventually sold it, for $12,500, after 33,545 miles and a bit less than two years of ownership. My buyout cost with VW Credit was just over $12,063, so I got a few hundred dollars back from the whole deal even though I went way over the mileage allowance (how is it that I still have all this paperwork to reference?). It’s a good thing I sold it before the lease term was up; otherwise, I would have been on the hook for the extra mileage.
What amazes my wife and me is that periodically, VW still offers a Jetta lease for that same $199/month. In a few years, when our daughter is old enough to drive, we may well have another one.
Who in God’s name would buy on of those Harlequin Editions? Did these things have any resale at all, at all?
Last summer while visiting Alberta I saw a Golf version abandoned at the side of Highway 2 by Leduc. I thought to myself, the owner is probably hoping it gets vandalised, I know I would never want to see it again.
AFAS general comments go, I really haven’t heard much good about these A3 versions. I had an A2 Jetta and that was bad enough. Arguably, these seemed worse, reliability wise.
AMEN! “Cute and unique” for about 10 seconds. I guess for the ultimate precious snowflake!
I don’t think there was a Harlequin Jetta here in the ‘States, just the Golf.
No, the Harlequin wasn’t well-received and VW basically foisted the units onto the dealers. Many of the dealers had the cars re-painted to be one color, in order to sell the .
My sister-in-law has one of these in that deep purple that VW offered as a paint option. She has owned it since new and it is a manual transmission model. It has 100 of thousands of miles on it and is now teaching her daughter to drive stick with it. She loved it so much it convinced her to buy a VW Tiguan about two years ago.
Amazingly since the 90s the Jetta and the Tiguan are the only cars she has owned. (Her husband is an electrician and drives a diesel Ford truck.) Two cars in nearly 20 years and both VW to boot!
For some reason I never liked the styling of these Jettas. The square head and taillights look uninspired and unfinished, and the overall shape of the car is a little too chunky. I always preferred the Golfs of this era, and really loved the 1999-2005 Jettas.
As the former owner of two A2 Jettas, I never warmed up to these either. The really awkward part for me is the huge C-pillar and quarter panel that just has a lot of weird angles that don’t work together.
It mostly looks like they took an A2 and filed off the corners.
I have driven a bunch of these and it always seemed that the gearing was really tall and sid’match the engine. Though it has been a while and my memories of such things are a little cloudy.
Back then one of my uncles leased one of these newand even after all the niggly little issues bought it out after the lease. Three weeks after he bought it out the instrument cluster went on the fritz and he sent it into vw to be fixed,after he got his car back it was another three weeks and the new cluster caught fire. Long story shortened, he collected his insurance money and vowed never to buy another and bought a new monte carlo.
Yes, my current Golf I think has a 4.11 final drive, which makes the 2.0 litre seem pretty peppy around town, but it runs out of breath…I wish it had more gears when I’m on the highway (but since I do mostly around-town triving, it suits me OK).
VW had a really tough year I think in 1993 in the US, I think they were in transition, mostly sold Passats and Eurovan. They eventually pulled through, but it gave me a bit of pause when I bought my 2000. I’ve had several generations of watercooled VWs (unfortunately I skipped A3, I had A1, A2, and now A4 generations).
One thing I liked about these A3 and prior cars is that you sat up higher in the car…I guess because of fuel economy and aerodynamics, the new cars make you feel like you are sitting too low…I miss the high seating in my A2…plus stuff like the high mounted radio in A1, A2 and A3. VW seems to have sold out on some of the eronomic stuff that made their older products more comfortable, starting with the A4 models…but I guess you can’t have your cake and eat it too, they kind of are bowing to market pressure to show higher fuel economy numbers, and aerodyamics are part of that. But as the population gets older, I can’t help but think people won’t mind going back to more comfort-oriented
cars maybe with a bit higher seating (and better visibility to boot)
For what it’s worth, I still find the newer Jettas and Passats to have very good visibility and door openings. Of course, this leads magazines to call the styling “bland” (personally, I like the simplicity).
I found the same with the 2.0. But the VR6 GLX model really hauled (~7 sec to 60, still punchy by today’s standards), and it sounded great–a very happy marriage of engine and transmission.
Too bad that speed only highlighted the awkward chassis. Way-too-light steering meant you were always chasing the front end, and the cars felt really tall and tippy in corners, like you were sitting up on a balance ball. Never understood how VW did so well marketing these as ‘sporty’.
I had a 1997 Jetta VR6, with the 4-speed automatic. Yes, it was very nose-heavy and had lots of body-roll.
The old VW was nearly dead by 1993, they started building cars in Mexico and trying to build volume but got really cheap and now their cars are cheap. Everyone that I know with a Pueblo VW always have a lot of problems.
I guess I can understand first-timers getting seduced by low-cost German engineering, but after enduring VW quality control, I’ll never fathom repeat buyers, and am mystified as to how they manage to stay in business (in the US, anyway).
I have mixed thoughts on these. I briefly owned a very beaten 97 Jetta. Which I intended to fix up and sell. It was rife with electrical problems, only one of it’s 4 power windows would work without falling out of the track, and the vacuum powered door-locks had issues. On the other hand, it was comfortable for a small car (lots of leg room), and got great gas mileage with the 5 speed. I can see while people like them, but I wouldn’t own one as a driver. The Jetta that I had was one of the few cars that beat me, where I never got all of it’s electrical gremlins fixed. In the end, I only broke even on that one.
I do agree with your feelings on buying a brand new car though. I have bought both new and used vehicles and have had good and bad experiences with both. I think there is a very good reason to buy a new vehicle. That reason is you know how it was driven and cared for from day one. While new cars depreciate, an off-lease car that someone beat up like a rental, that is “certified used” on a dealer’s lot, costing almost as much as the new model is also not ideal. It depends on the circumstances, how long you keep cars and how much driving you do.
For me, I drive a lot, so I have to accept the fact that I will always have a car payment as long as I have this job. If I do keep my daily driver for the entire term of it’s loan, it will have 120,000 to 140,000 miles on it. So at best, I might get a year of not having a payment until it’s time to buy another. If I were to buy used, or certified used, it means that I’m buying a car with less time on the clock before I need to replace it.
‘I’m not sure if it had anything to do with that or, more likely, it was just VW’s “engineering”, but the car certainly had more issues than I was used to or would have expected from a new car.’
Engineering of the car sounds ok, but it seems to have been plagued with problems at the factory level. (Or, it was designed without much thought put into assembly?)
I imagine that the people who run Toyota plants would have looked at Puebla in 1994 and said, “This place should be ready in three years or so.”
I disagree with you here. Engineering was certainly a major contributor to the lack of quality in these cars from my experience. Here are some of the issues that I recall from owning a ’96 Jetta GLX from new in 1996 to trade in 2003 (at just over 36K):
– failed alternator in first year. I’ll attribute this to a bad part
– failed window regulator. I attribute this to poor engineering specifications (VW wasn’t alone in this problem, BMW was also plagued with the problem)
– glue failure on body side trim, despite unused physical attachment points on the body (trim parts did not have a provision for using the attachment holes). I attribute this to poor engineering
– complete failure of the alarm/mobility system resulting from a pinched wiring harness at the driver door (tow the car in for repair). Puebla has to share the blame for this issue, but a properly designed harness pass-through would minimize the chances of this happening.
– broken shift linkage as the author describes (tow car in for repair). Engineering failure substituting weak plastic components in linkage where it connects to the transmission.
I like the styling and utility of current VW products. The ones I have driven have been comfortable and pleasant to drive. However, I’m going to have to see long-term evidence that VW is offering a well-engineered and reliable vehicle before I’ll consider owning another one.
It seems like every other Jetta of this vintage I’ve ever seen is missing some of the moldings on the doors.
A neighbor had one of these that was built in Mexico which had numerous problems including, he claimed, an incident where the front bumper fell off while he was driving through an intersection.
’94 was about the last decent year for ‘old’ VW. I still miss our blunt-nose 94 Passat sportswagen…that thing hauled and was dead reliable till the relays started all going out. Dead gas gauge, dead tach, and intermittent ECM stalls made us give it up in ’08 or so. The longest run we ever had on any new car in our family (aside from my ’89 e30). Replaced with a new Beetle, which made the lil’ issues of the ’94 look like a carb rejet…that monstrosity of cheap engineering wound up getting returned to VW under the lemon law.
Your piece reminded me of me around that age. My first new car was a VW (85 GTI). I too knew I would keep the car for a long time, certainly through the four year loan. Then I also found that I was unready for a long term commitment to a car (and a payment book) and sold the car after two years.
I have no experience with that series of Jetta/Golf, but have not heard much good about them.
I use a Tornado Red 1998 Jetta diesel as my long-haul car (I commute in a 1971 BMW Bavaria). No doubt, the Jetta is cheaply made — lots of fiddly, brittle plastic tabs where screws should be. Mine is holding up fairly well probably because I don’t use it every day, and when I do use it I take long highway trips, set the cruise, and point the car straight. It left me stranded only once, when the bearing that turns the accessory pulley self-destructed 70 miles from home. The diesel engine routinely nets approx. 44 MPG between fill-ups (I keep a log). Zero-to-sixty times can be measured with a sundial, although the torque is great. I have a vegetable oil system ready for install.
In sum, I love mine. Despite the indifferent build quality, the Jetta III has a different “feel” than concurrent Japanese or domestic econoboxes. Although they’re starting to become thin on the ground, a sizable boneyard should have a couple.
FWIW, the Tornado Red paint on my 1998 is clearcoated.
I wondered about VW diesels they do seem slow compared to my Citroen diesel which if driven properly can leave most gas 4 bangers behind,even turbo versions, However we dont get a Jetta its called something else and slapped together in Germany, its unusual to see one with all the trim still attached so that isnt solely a Mexican assembly problem. I had always thought these were ok and VW had solved its quality issues. I enjoy driving, thats why I buy European not Japanese and can put up with minor niggles but if you want everything to still work 10 years down the track maybe Citroen is where you should shop. The onl;y thing that doesnt work on my car is the automatic wipers some fool fitted the wrong new windscreen b4 I bought it..
Forget about the new Beetle saving VW in the US it was the Jetta Mk III that did that. It wore its chunky styling well and no other car looked like it. Can you say that about the current Passat or Jetta? Women loved it.
When these were new nothing felt better during a test drove in this price range, which was a bit higher than Corolla and Civic but not much. They were super quiet and the 4-speed auto made them peppy. The handling was good and so was the ride. The interior material quality was near-luxury level.
I looked at a few of these used and found that they tended to get loose and rattley with age.
I’ve never put much credence in the “new cars are a terrible buy, they depreciate” theory, for four reasons: one, what DOESN’T depreciate the minute you walk off the floor with it? Two, who cares if it depreciates if you drive it until the wheels fall off? That only matters if you trade it in before the useful life has ended. Three, my family has always had terrible experiences with used cars. Four, you don’t save as much as you think you do, particularly with rebates, etc. Example, the last new car I bought was a 2006 Caravan, with rebates etc came to 17,000. I plan on keeping the car 10 years total (perhaps longer) but 10 years minimum, then the cost averages to $1,700/year. When I was looking, the used (generally off rental ones) had about 30000 miles, which equates to 2/3 years of use, and were listed about 14,000- I suppose with some dickering they might be cheaper but . . . if you take 2/3 years of use at $1,700/year, you haven’t saved anything. And we have never had a used car that did not give constant trouble . . . just one example, 4 year old Thunderbird, $6000, beautiful, clean, and the minute we drove it off the lot, it turned out the dealer had hidden a salvage title . . . it had been in a flood and had myriad electrical problems. We would never have found out had we not purchased a Ford protection plan. End of story we did get them to take back the car and return our money but, it’s not worth the hassle, and fie on Dave Ramsey.
Very, very few new car buyers drive their cars until “the wheels fall off.” Most are traded off at 5-7 years.
Speaking as a Mopar service advisor, I would also recommend a new Caravan over a used one.
Finally, if you have never had a used car that didn’t cause cause you a lot of trouble, you are not doing your research before you buy. A Thunderbird, in my opinion, is not a good used buy, for example.
It doesn’t sound like the problems he had were any way related to the fact that it was a Thunderbird and all about a shady dealer that didn’t disclose the fact that it was a flood vehicle. On the other hand the fact that it was a shady dealer who sold an extended warranty on a vehicle with a salvage title helped him in the long run since Ford like many mfgs won’t do warranty work, regular or extended on a vehicle with a salvage title and don’t authorize the sale of an extended warranty on such a vehicle. However a car fax or similar service might have shown that it had a salvage title and most of those services will buy back those vehicles that fall through their (huge) cracks.
Good points, Eric. Here, anyway, it is very easy to track the origin of a vehicle that has only been in this province. If the car was out of province, it is practically impossible. Hence, I only buy in province, one owner cars with complete service records, from the original owner. Then then go to the dealer for a pre-purchase inspection. By doing this, I haven’t had bad used car in my life, although my upfront cost was certainly more every time I have done it. That said, I think doing one’s research and shopping carefully is the way to go.
I have never purchased a new car, have usually paid cash, and have seldom had any problems that one would not expect with a car of its age / mileage.
The key is to know what you are buying, and not just walk on a lot and buy what looks good. That seems to be how most people buy used cars.
Like I said above, a new car may may sense, but it depends on your circumstances, such as you financial position, how long you are going to keep it, and how many miles you are going to put on it in that time. I put about 35,000 miles on a car in a year, so I need to buy a car that I think will outlast the term of the 60 month loan, or trade it in before it starts to have problems. I am not opposed to a used car, but most of the certified stuff costs almost as much as a new car and I’ll get less time out of it if I get a car with 30,000 miles already on it. Plus, you can generally get better financing terms on a new car. Take for example the wife’s Mazda 2 which we are financing at 0% interest.
As far as my luck goes, I had a used Thunderbird, and it was one of my favorite cars. I have had issues with cars that I bought new and used.
Again, Carlo, it depends on the model. We recently had a Focus Titanium for a week and for fun, I checked the price. The 2013 sedan went for $32,000 new and the hatch $34,000. A used 2012 hatch with 20,000 km on it can be had for $20,000 around here. Much better to buy used.
An employee recently was shopping for a Cruze LS. Retail new was $26,000, one year old used $17,000. She bought used.
Last year, sister needed a good city car/stuff hauler as she is a property manager. She liked the Honda Fit. New Fit DX in Canada was $17,000 with a/t and a three year old Fit DX was going for $12,500. She bought new.
So, it depends on the resale of the used car.
Like most Volkswagens from this era onwards, I love everything about them… except their tendencies to crumble apart in strange ways and have rampant, hard to diagnose, electric/driveability issues. I’ve never owned one, but if I did I’d probably be more than willing to put up with those annoying quirks. I do often wonder, as rudiger mentioned above, how VW has been able to stay so successful in the US while building cars that should be, according to popular opinion, revolting to the general populace: frequent issues, horrible dealer experience, not-so-cheap service and parts, extreme attention to maintenance required…
I don’t really know what the answer is, but I do think that mainstream, non-car people probably do appreciate the subtleties of a well-designed (though somewhat poorly built), fun to drive car with a certain air of sophistication, like this, waaaaayyyy more than they, or we, are really willing to let on. Or maybe their marketing is just way more effective than anyone wants to admit. On the road of life, there are passengers and there are drivers… but I can’t tell whether or not there’s more closeted, self-loathing drivers trying to lay low in a passenger world, or full-blooded passengers trying to sell themselves as road-owning intellectuals.
The secret is the “Fahrvergnugen”! 🙂
Most of the problems are due to the “superior” German engineering or the German overlords at the Puebla plant. A friend and former co-worker worked at the Puebla plant for many years and has told me stories about how they were not allowed to fix problems, keep the line moving or loose your job if you admitted there was a mistake. The management used that fear of being fired heavily since they were the best paying jobs for miles. So when all of the screws wouldn’t line up on a piece you put as many in as you could. Headlight came through with cracks or broken mountings, stick it on anyway. When the automatic lug bolt installer cross threaded one you grabbed your breaker bar, that you brought with you to work every day, and forced it the rest of the way on. The fact that they rotated shifts so that you could end up having a second shift assignment one night and 1st shift the next morning didn’t help either. He hated that job yet his first cars when he came to the US were VWs. He has since seen the light and drives a Ranger and his wife an Escape.
Since Mexicans are usually hard workers, I’ve had trouble believing VW’s Q/C problems there have been anything but mgmt’s fault. That was Deming’s thesis anyway.
Two things I forgot…
1) If I’m remembering correctly, this (and the Golf) were the first VWs in the US to have those awesome gauges that lit up blue at night. That was so unique and different at the time and briefly spawned a whole aftermarket industry of replacement gauges and overlays that has, thankfully, seemed to have died off these days.
2) I know many CC comments lament the lack of interior color options from the 90s through the current day… but does anyone really think this car would look good with whorehouse red upholstery and plastic? No way. Most modern cars resemble this more closely than they do the inside of a 1970s Mercury, so I see it as no loss that green, blue and red interior colors are, mostly, no longer offered. Bench seats and strip speedometers suck, and that’s why they are deader than dead. I enjoy the wild palette of Brougham tones (one of the few things I do enjoy about those cars) too, but they have their place, and the 21st century ain’t it. Black isn’t boring, it’s beautiful!
Your modifications likely hurt overall performance rather than help it, mainly due to replacing the factory cold air intake with an aftermarket hot air intake system.
i see lots of that big flow filter in the engine bay huge induction noise and you go slower loud bigbore exhaust no backpressure, you lose torque. The best used to be a straight thru pipe on BMC minis, the Factory exhaust was tuned to length and worked.
Back pressure it bad no matter how you look at it. It is all about the flow rate, keep the pipe small enough and it will have a scavenging effect more completely clearing out the cylinder. However the best flow rate depends on the desired point of operation. Too small of a pipe and you kill the top end, too big and you kill the low end.
The biggest issue with the ricer set is that they put a huge muffler and/or tail pipe on the car killing the velocity as it nears the end of the system. A properly designed exhaust system actually gets smaller the farther it is from the engine to account for the fact that as the exhaust travels through the pipe it cools and contracts so it needs a smaller pipe to keep the velocity and scavenging effect happening. If the area gets larger then the velocity slows and actually causes back pressure and a reduction of flow up stream in the system.
So yes the net effect is you kill the low end power production. The hot air intake reduces the mass of air flowing through the system and the large tail pipe slows the exhaust velocity down leaving more of the exhaust in the cyl so even less of the superheated air can enter for the next combustion event, in the bulk of everyday operation. I remember the first time I drove a customer’s car that had been fitted in that manner and I couldn’t believe the loss of usable power compared to a stocker, but it sure sounded fast, at least to him, as it was revved to the redline, which was now necessary for it to get out of its own way.
I don’t disagree with that, I think best case it remained the same. Sounded better, but hey, I was a young’un!
The Thunderbird was just one example in a long history of woeful used cars. Cutlass convertible, Accord Hatchback, Sunbird . . . wasn’t just that particular car. Oh, and ex recently purchased an 04 Acura TSX from a buy-here pay here lot against my fervent disapproval) and last week the engine seized . . . I remember having done the CarFax on the Thunderbird and nothing showed up, Consumer Reports gave it decent marks. Ford did some research after we bought the extended warranty and lo and behold, the salvage history showed up. Thunderbirds of that generation were reliable common used cars- I think this was a 96. Most people don’t keep cars longer than 5-7 years, some fewer, but we keep them FOREVER. Point being that “new cars are a terrible waste of money” is often quite false.
I never understood the “buy used instead of used because the new car depreciates the minute it is driven off the lot” thing
First off not many folks are driving their brand new car off the lot and making a U turn and driving back on the lot to trade it in. my folks only buy new cars. They refuse to buy a used car because they don’t want to deal with somebody elses problem. My folks also keep their cars for 10-15 years before replacing them so after the car is 15 years old who cares if it was new or bought used as depreciation is not a factor.
Secondly there are a lot of folks keeping their cars longer(at least in the USA). The average age of the cars on U.S. road is about 10 years old so there sure are a lot of folks keeping cars longer ether due to choice(car looks good, works well and no car payment) or by necessity(cannot afford a new car or don’t want a car payment).
Thirdly, buying new is actually a smart thing to do over buying used nowadays. The used car market outrageous right now with prices and sometimes buying a new car is just the same price or a little bit more
Very true; the irony of the soft economy in the USA is that used car prices have been driven up. With the lease/finance ads I see when I travel in the USA, I would almost definitely buy new were I resident there.
Canuckistan is quite a bit different, though.
Well, I think it depends what you are buying, how old you are looking, and what you are willing/able to do as far as front end repairs.
I can get a fleet of Park Avenues and Lesabres for the price of a new Lacrosse.
I’ve had to practically rebuild my Bonneville (which obviously is not an option for everyone) and it still cost me less than a year’s worth of payments on a new Turbo Regal.
I never owned, drove, or even rode in one of these, but when I was in high school in the late 90s/very early 00s, and also early on in college, a lot of people had these. I recall a great many in green.
I’m struck by how very few I see around today; at the time they seemed almost as popular as the the boxy Toyota Camry advertised by the “TV Guy”.
A couple of points on the discussions above-
1. Years ago when we acquired a “new” car (company car off-lease) I purchased the Factory Service Manual (FSM). In it was a detailed form listing all the required items for “Pre-Delivery Inspection”. This included a wheel alignment, emissions test, some specific engine adjustments, and a road test. Subsequent work I did on the car proved that none of this had been done. Basically they just take the plastic off the seats, install the mirrors and wipers, and wash it. You pay big bux for that, and get ripped off.
2. In Canada (Canuckistan) cars start to dissolve on being driven in winter due to road salt. This tends to drive down the value of used cars as the lifespan is limited by body rust-out.
3. One of the big costs of driving is the transaction cost of changing vehicles. The longer you drive the same car the less this costs you. These primarily consist of dealer markup and profit and taxes. Most of these are hidden costs so you aren’t aware of them. Selling a car to avoid paying for some maintenance item is false economy. Depreciation on a new car is of the order of $5000-$10000 in the first year. You can buy a lot of repairs for that, save for a new engine or transmission. Almost all of my cars have gone to the wrecker with the original engine and I have never lost a transmission in 44 years of driving. A good used engine can be found for under $1000 and they aren’t that difficult to change. I keep good records and know that service and maintenance will be $0.06 and $0.12 per kilometer. You need to spend that to keep your car on the road. Even a new one has some maintenance cost.
I used to buy new cars a long time ago. I stopped when I realized I was being stripped of my wealth by a car dealer. I bought VW’s. It is an addiction. I found myself having a temper tantrum in the service lobby because of the “You broke our beautiful car!” attitude and the laughable VW “Warranty”.
I owned one of these (a ’97 Trek edition 5-speed with 14′ alloys and a wing, sweet) and I quite liked it. It wasn’t fast, but I loved the stick and it was lots of fun to drive. Great seats, too.
On the downside, there was no force on Earth that could keep the exterior door trim from falling off the body. I never see these things rolling without missing pieces.
My first brand new car was also a Mk3 Jetta GL, very similar to this one but a 1994 model. I loved and hated that car. Great style, very solid, very German, different from the Japanese competitors. However, mine also had A LOT of gremlins that were unacceptable for a new car in the 1970s, much less the 1990s. It remains the only car that has ever left me stranded on the roadside. The water pump blew at about 40,000 miles. Other problems included:
* Horn that blew on left turns (bad contacts)
* A/C switches that repeatedly failed
* Paint began peeling on the hood within 18 months (mine was the one-year-only turquoise).
* Glove box latch broke within 6 months.
* Vacuum-operated power locks failed repeatedly.
* Trunk lid was misaligned and tapped the taillight eventually allowing water to seep in and blow the bulb. The dealer replaced two taillights before I figured out what was up.
* Chewed through tires like mad.
* Electrical short in the steering column.
A friend of mine had one of these, a tasty black 96 GLS with the manual, it was great for about he first year or so, he loved it, it too was his first new car, he was really into the whole “german” thing, bragging about how superior this car was, blah blah blah, etc etc etc….even though I told him it was Hecho en Mehico, then the troubles started….
Clutch cable snapped leaving it dead in the water
Mysterious ignition issues
The entire shift lever and boot coming out of the console in his hand
Another clutch cable
a/c problems
Central locking problems
Radio died
Power window problems
Mystery water leak
By the time it was close to 100K, it was junk, NONE of the windows rolled down, on a black car, in Florida, thankfully the air still worked, until it broke, again….all of the central locks didn’t unlock anymore, except for the right rear door, and you could only unlock the car form the passenger door, so getting into the car involved a special ritual of going to the passenger door, unlocking the right rear door and then reaching in and unlocking the passenger door, so you could climb in and hop over the console to the driver seat.
The final straw was when he went over a row of about 4 railroad tracks at a large crossing and ALL 4 windows fell down into the doors at the same time. With no way to get them back up, since none of the power windows worked anymore. He sold it to a mechanic and leased a cheapo Accord after that.
This description of woe almost perfectly matches the 90’s Jetta experience of an employee of mine back in the day. She finally called it quits (I think the car was 2 or 3 years old) when driving on a 100+ day in the Valley here in SoCal and the A/C failed the second time. She had her young children in the car and at that point none of the power windows worked (locks also had stopped working). At the time so many of my employees had much older Japanese cars with higher mileage that had none of these problems. Why in H could VW not make A/C (my ex’s new Rabbit’s A/C failed again and again) and power accessories that functioned? My employee immediately bought a Nissan mini-van and never looked back.
Of course, I could write a small chapter on my last VW – a 69 VW bug bought new that started having problems within three days of purchase. The decline in VW quality – related to me by many VW owner friends and colleagues over the decades – was related to more than just the plant in Mexico and keeps me from buying their cars to this day.
Fun fact: this generation of Jetta (1993 to early 1999) is the only car I can think of that began its generation with “passive restraints” (i.e. door-mounted seat belts) and finished with front and SIDE airbags!
Not having clear coat was pretty common, especially with black. Toyota didn’t use clear coats on black even on Lexus well into the 2000’s. I don’t know if they do today or not.
I feel this was the generation where the Jetta came into it’s own, as opposed to “Golf with a trunk”.
Nothing in the price range drives like a VW. And until recently (fingers crossed for them), nothing breaks your heart like a VW. In a few years I plan to replace the Saab, and my two lead candidates are the new Mustang and Golf convertibles.
In the new v. used discussion, both sides are valid depending on circumstance of course. If you are someone who has to have a new car every 3-4 years, buying new is a complete drain on your money unless you get a huge chunk off of MSRP….but that also will probably be reflected in the resale down the road.
Personally my daily driver I always buy new since I keep them 10-13 years and 200k+ miles. Once I paid off my current car, and spent $8-10k the last 3 years on maintenance, I still have come out nearly $30k ahead of game not making payments. And the last $4k I spent was mostly preventative maintenance at 200k because I knew I plan to retire the car to our summer place.
OTOH, I got a screaming deal on the Saab….50% off, 3 years old, 15k miles off lease.
I work with a number of folks who come to me for car advice. If their intent is 3-4 years and not high mileage, I nudge them in the 2 year old Corolla/Camry/Impala direction. Tremendous values out there.
How does VW stay in business in the US? People always dislike dealers but the pure hatred that your hear from VW owners about their dealers is astounding. They do drive nice but the stories your hear about endless problems and hostile dealers are enough to keep me away. Too bad. They are pretty and nimble just pieces of crap now apparently.
My very first car was a VW Golf of the same era. It was Tornado Red and I had the same issue with the paint. Its like everytime I would wash and wax it, the pad would be completely red as if the paint was coming right off of it. I always wondered why it did that so thanks for clearing that up. Oh yea, did I mention that it was a total piece of junk. I was only a teenager then, but my god, it seemed like every little thing broke on that car. First the heater core, then the starter, then the A/C, then the wheelbearings, then the headliner started to come off, the sunroof leaked, the odometer stopped after 104xxx miles, it was just one thing after another with it. My parents sold it after I graduated high school because my graduation gift was a brand new Mitsubishi Eclipse. I was ecstatic!!!!
I swear VW designs things to ensure they break. Case in point, the hatchback on my 1995 Golf. Instead of a handle they had this push button arrangment where you put the key in, turned it, and pressed in. This activated a solenoid that popped the hatch. There was also a button under the driver’s seat. One day, the whole key/button arrangment fell off into the hatch. Later, in true VW fashion, the button under the seat broke too. What was wrong with a handle?
My only new car VW experience was when the beetle came back in 1998. I thought they were pretty cool and had been seriously thinking of getting my first new car.
All was going well at the local dealer until I asked if they had any deals on financing. At that point the salesman looked down his nose at me and I quote ” This is Volkswagen. We don’t HAVE to offer special deals to sell cars” That ended that conversation quickly. I did buy a Jetta later. Used..from a private car lot.
I’ve yet to experience a VW dealer encounter that hasn’t had something off-putting go down. Two weeks ago I went with Dad to get new tires put on his Bug. Appointment was made for that Saturday morning, days in advance. Super friendly staff. The service advisor informed us “Hey, we have free shuttle service. We can take you anywhere here in Tuscon and call you when the car is done and pick you up!” That should have been a lightbulb moment. We said sure, and went to the mall. Four hours later we get the call the car is at the wash, are you ready… What was the point of making an appointment if you are going to take that long to just replace tires? Absurd.
I had an ’87 Jetta Carat, the last model year when they were still imported from Germany. Admittdedly it was 10 yrs old when I bought it, but it looked brand new inside and out, and even the a/c blew cold! Everything went wrong with that car and was excessively expensive to repair. However, the 3spd automatic and manual-crank sunroof were the only two things I never had any problems with!
Jetta lease rates still haven’t changed much.
Currently you can score a Jetta S for $109/mo with $2999 down or $259/mo with nothing down, no security deposit and no first month payment.
Of course, we are talking about the unrelentingly cheap Mk VI. The next gen Jetta is due for it’s reveal at the Detroit show in January.
This article just serves to remind me that it’s been several years now that I haven’t seen one of these cars on the road. Granted, the newest ones are now 18 years old, but seeing American made and Japanese cars from the 90’s on the road is common, Mercedes and BMW’s aren’t uncommon, and every once and a while I’ll still see a Korean car from back then still driving around. But these things? Nope.
It’s too bad because I’ve driven one years ago (I think it was a ’97) and it was hoot, even with over 100k on the odometer. It was falling apart otherwise but the power-train still seemed solid.
Even the next generation Jetta’s are pretty thin on the ground. They must be a bit better screwed together than this generation, though they must have some electrical gremlins as my general observation from sitting behind them at stoplights is that it’s rare to see one with all the brake/taillights still working.
I like the LTD photobombing in the top picture.
My little brother’s ’84, I it was my Dad’s before that. It looks SO old compared to the Jetta…
I assume that smell smelled like crayons or candles.
I’ve really enjoyed your posts and stories about the West Coast in general, and Bay Area in particular, as my daughter is an undergrad at Stanford now. So I can identify with a lot of your locations and the 101 traffic, etc. I wondered what used to be in the big vacant lot on El Camino, and now know it was the Cadillac dealer!
Thanks! I was sort of curious where she ended up when you mentioned something along those lines in your S550 COAL. She did well, congratulations! I haven’t been back in a few years now but used to spend a lot of time around the Palo Alto area back when Gordon Biersch was still “new” and I was living in San Mateo and Burlingame on the Peninsula with a couple of places in San Francisco thrown in. I may have moved almost as often as I changed cars back then… 🙂 As a car-related aside, Tesla’s old HQ was in San Carlos in one of the little industrial streets between 101 and El Camino, my company used to do the printing for them back when they only had the original Roadster. We did the owner’s manuals along with some marketing materials. Fun times.
My parents and I have had some great VWs and a couple of duds. The worst might be the 90 Jetta that my mom bought new…kept cracking windshields. The glass guy finally said as far as he could tell the body had been built out-of-square so the windshield opening was misshapen and putting stress on the glass. I don’t recall what they did to rectify that. I had a 90? Cabriolet I bought used, the digifant fuel injection(digifart as I’ve heard it referred to) couldn’t be made to work right…my mechanic suggested a Weber carb. 2000 Beetle Turbo that had all sorts of electrical gremlins from day one…thank heaven it was leased).
My parents had a 64 Beetle that was bulletproof, a 68 Squareback that gave a decade of good service, 86 Jetta, 87 Golf that were terrific. I drive a ’17 Jetta SE that is a lovely little car, gets amazing fuel economy, comfy seats, no issues so far.
VW historically has been hit-or-miss as far as US market cars. My wife is chomping at the bit to replace her ’16 CR-V with a VW Alltrack or Sportwagen as soon as her lease is up, so we may be an all-VW household one of these days. Wish me luck!