MkIII Jetta - are these any good?

[L_Sludger]

I'm looking at trading my Lexus for my co-worker's 1996 Jetta 2.0 5spd. Are these cars any good, in general? Are they difficult to maintain? I am only looking for the most basic transportation from that car - just driving it a mile and a half to work each way daily, with a 40-mile round trip maybe twice a month.

Thanks folks,
Sludge

 

[sicko]

We've had two Jettas in my family from that time frame, one '96 and one '95 Jetta, both 5spds. I don't recall them having any major problems during the time they had them (had one for maybe 5 years, and the other for about 8).

I'll check with my family to make sure I'm not mistaken about them

 

[Ken42]

I had a 90 for 8 years lots of exhaust problems.
Ken

 

[Kaie]

I have a 94 2.0 with 235k. Nothing super major. Ive owned it for 8 years.

Things ive HAD to replace.

ONE halfshaft
starter
all four wheel bearings
Motor mount clutch at 160k
PO trashed the sunroof assembly so i had to get that fixed.
Water pump Heatercore

Things that could use replacing and are getting replaced next month,

Control arm bushings
Tie rod ends
Sway bar endlinks
strut bearings
ignition coil
o2 sensor

the 2.0 [ABA] engine is pretty decent as far as reliability. Not much power out put by my standards. Its nick named '2.slow'. However ive never had getting up to any sort of speed from any speed.

Oh i have an exhaust leak too but its after the o2 so im not terribly worried about it at this time.

I also get AMAZING MPG. Even with a trashed 02 sensor i get 25-28. I usually get a combined hwy/city @ 33-36. Ive gotten as much as 42 coming down the pass between Oregon and California on I5.

As far as advice i would go through and flush all the fluids. Just like Hondas. I notice parents by these cars for their teenagers who dont take car of them. Who knows what the have going on in there. VW as much as i love them don't take the abuse a Honda will. But when taken car of [like mine] they last a LONG time. Ill probably rebuild mine come 280K.

ps. Out of all the oils ive used Shell Rotella T 15w40 has worked the best.

Originally Posted By: Ken42
I had a 90 for 8 years lots of exhaust problems.
Ken


This is a different generation of Jetta. 90 was a MkII. 93-99.5 is a MkIII

 

[crinkles]

Dad had a 93 jetta with 1.8 carburator, only made it to 120,000 miles before the bottom end fell apart. clutch hasd to be replaced once, had an intermittent stall problem for YEARS that not even VW could fix - would leave you stranded in reallybad places. AVOID!

(when working it drove pretty nice though)

also had bad motor mounts that had to replaced a number of times.

 

[scurvy]

The mk3 (A3 or B4 platforms) are very well known for rusting away into oblivion at an amazing rate in the salt belt. On a quiet winter night, you can hear them oxidize.

They also have a very goofy shifter linkage at the transmission end that's a complete PITA to deal with.

Even an early mk4 is a big step up with respect to corrosion protection & longevity, not to mention parts availability.

 

[Spazdog]

The shifter on those can take some getting used to. Especially finding 1st

Nope that's 3rd. 3rd again. Oops pushed down and now I have reverse. Nope, 3rd again. To [heck] with it! I'll just start in 2nd.

You eventually get it. But if you're used to the "snick snick" of a Honda, it'll take awhile.

 

[Autobahn88]

Well, I had a 98 K2 edition that was fully loaded. Drove it for about 4 years and never had any issues with the car other than a starter. I know they have issues with window regulators and rust if not taken care of. I will admit though it was not as well built as my old 88 jetta coupe. That car was a tank.

 

[Spazdog]

Originally Posted By: Autobahn88
Well, I had a 98 K2 edition that was fully loaded. Drove it for about 4 years and never had any issues with the car other than a starter. I know they have issues with window regulators and rust if not taken care of. I will admit though it was not as well built as my old 88 jetta coupe. That car was a tank.

Oh, I wanted the Trek edition so bad. I couldn't afford it(thanks ex-wife) when they were around and couldn't find a decent one when I could afford it.

I looked at the Kona edition Focus but it just wasn't the same.

 

[L_Sludger]

This particular one has issues with:
1) The clutch, needs to be changed
2) The bodywork is in awful shape
3) The engine leaks oil like a sieve
4) The engine has oil pressure issues, including a very noisy buzzer in the cabin warning of same
5) The power locks don't work
6) The windows don't work

The owner wanted to offer $2100 and his car in trade for my car. I countered with $2500, he declined, so I'll keep my Lexus for the time being.

Thanks everybody for a lively discussion.

 

[scurvy]

The oil buzzer is a known problem with the two oil pressure sending units. And if you think the bodywork looks bad now, wait until the brown rot starts.

I wouldn't have bothered with dude's car in trade for anything had it the issues you mentioned... if he threw it in for free whilst buying yours outright it might be a consideration if you wanted to tinker.

 

[Autobahn88]

^^^ Agreed. Way too much work to make the car worth it. Keep the Lexus..

 

[JDD]

The first new car I bought after being married was a 1995 Jetta GL 5-spd. Without a doubt, it was the worst car I've ever owned. Spent 4 months out of the 27 I owned it in the shop. Unfortunately, it only had a 24 mo warranty, if you get my drift. Knowing what I know now, I should have made a lemon law complaint on it. You can probably guess that it is the last VW I have owned. Side note: the VW jetta loaner car that I had for a while was a wretched pile of steaming pig .... as well.

 

[L_Sludger]

Okay guys, the plot just took a huge twist here.
We changed the oil pump, oil pan and oil pan gasket (as well as the oil and filter) because he insisted that they were causing the buzzer issue. They didn't fix a darn thing. I drove him to AutoZone, had him buy a $6.99 oil pressure switch, and voila, the buzzing is gone (and so is one of the causes of the car's legendary oil leakage)

Two days later, I see the car getting towed to the office. uh...oh... Turns out that the clutch is fried - I think. It won't move in any gear, it just freewheels, and the clutch pedal engagement has moved near the floor. The car has the cable type clutch.
Co-worker is done with the car and wants to have a junkyard haul it away. He's under the impression that they'll give him $250 for it. He offered it to me for $250 if I want it.

Should I take it?

 

[L_Sludger]

Well, I've taken it and have gone knuckle-deep into the engine bay. The design of this car is very different from the Japanese cars I'm used to working on. In some ways, very clever. In other ways, asinine.

 

[calvin1]

Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
Well, I've taken it and have gone knuckle-deep into the engine bay. The design of this car is very different from the Japanese cars I'm used to working on. In some ways, very clever. In other ways, asinine.
I found that at least back in the 80's VW was king of the factory tool. I can't imagine what a toolbox looks like at the dealer but the shop manual practically read like a tool catalog.


EDIT: HAHAHAHA! I just reread the thread and saw the post about the oil pressure switch. Oh that brings back memories! When mine went bad it took the import shop three hours to get my buzzer to shut off. It turns out that VW had two senders on that engine - front and back - and one is normally closed while the other is normally open. I guess the wrong one ended up in the box at the shop. I do remember that buzzer though. I've never heard any other car noise that could make my blood freeze and all hope vanish away like that awful thing.

 

[Thorzdad]

We have a 97 Jetta. Lots of electrical bugs. It seems to eat starters and alternators. And then there's that pneumatic central locking system. We had the air pump go out in the thing. It's not easy finding a used and working replacement for cheap. And the air tubes are prone to cracking and breaking, rendering the whole system inoperable. It's real fun tracking down a leaky tube in the system.

 

[Audi Junkie]

No, get an old Passat instead. My Mom's 1996 is amazing.

 

[JDub8]

Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
Well, I've taken it and have gone knuckle-deep into the engine bay. The design of this car is very different from the Japanese cars I'm used to working on. In some ways, very clever. In other ways, asinine.

Don't let the others get to you. I owned a 96 Jetta GL. Some people seem to get ones with electrical gremlins, or ones built by a low quality Jose... My mexico built Jetta was good.

Any carbureted ones would be MKII's ... the MKIII's were all fuel injected. I suspect anyone with persistent alternator or starter problems is buying cheap non oem parts. Power windows had regulator failures. Somehow VW went 2 whole generations (1993-2005) with [censored] glovebox designs (I think they left design of that to Han's special cousin). The seats exacerbate about half of their users old man back.. I think its up to how in shape you are.

Only problems mine had were oil cooler seal going out and for some reason every 10K or so it would spit out a starter bolt. Probably could have gotten that fixed with a heli coil but it only happened twice in my ownership.

I'd expect 31 mpg for mixed highway/city driving. Never saw any deviation even when accelerating hard for a tank. Manual that is. Automatics were bad for VW's in all generations. ALL of them are going to fail or require rebuilds before 200K. Stay away from VW Automatics.

My impression of the cars is this - they're like any older car and will have problems, probably a little more than a honda/toyota of the same year. The upside to this is a car that feels a little better overall. Handling/interior are just a step up if you ask me.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: JDub8
Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
Well, I've taken it and have gone knuckle-deep into the engine bay. The design of this car is very different from the Japanese cars I'm used to working on. In some ways, very clever. In other ways, asinine.

Don't let the others get to you.

You're responding to a 4-year-old thread. The OP has since moved onto to a different vehicle.