J W Drew

Hey guys, just bought my Daughter a 2003 VW Jetta GLS Auto 2.0. Seems to be well maintained with 130K.
What do I need to be concerned about with this make?

White Out

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I've been servicing an '00 1.8T/5spd Beetle for the past 5 years. Most of the maintenance is common stuff. Not common: door locks are semi mechanical/electric so when they go bad you have to replace and it's a PITA, if you have a suspension rattle, drive around with the brake depressed to make sure it's not a rattling brake pad.

1.8T common issues that I've dealt with: secondary air pump will fail (simple repair & re-install), coolant Y pipe will fail, coilpacks will fail, oil pick up has to be replaced, dip stick tube will fail (replace before it does) and coolant temp sensor will fail. Most of those are cheap & not time consuming to repair. If you do work on your own, find the jacking points online as it's a PITA between jacking & jack stands if you don't know where to put them.

J W Drew

Thanks White Out. I was hoping to hear this was a well engineered, dependable Car

White Out

Overall, it's a good car and the GLS Beetle is peppy for being a small car. Just stay on top of the maintenance. This is one of those cars that I would spend more money on one that was well maintained than getting the best deal possible.