Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General Passat and quality mirage

I don't know, I would give my GF's 1.8T jetta the nod in the quality department over my SVT by a long shot. The interior of the Jetta is More refined IMHO, there is far less cabin noise with the windows up, and the car just seems to be better engineered.

Compare that with my SVT Tour, which has some ratteling going on inside, the pastic parts look and feel cheap, the seats feel like they are comming lose even though I have had that repaired under warranty (new power seat track), the paint ford used doesn't get any cheaper, and should I assume they only used one pass of clear coat on the car??

Mechanically my SVT has been ok, only in the shop about 5 or six times, and it still starts kinda hard on muggy days....all this for a car with only 17,000 miles on it.

The only really annoying thing about the Jetta is that when you have just the back windows down it will make this god awful fluttering noise.

Personally I think my next car will either be a Mustang, as with the power I can live with the Imperfection....or I will have a Used 3 series BMW.

Looked at the Foci SVT to save money, but IMHO not worth the hassle of the cheap interior, and overall construction...most of the time the phrase "you get what you pay for" is true unfortunately.

Yes you should. The only time I've seen more than one coat of clear on an OEM paint job is when it is reprocessed (partially repainted) at the factory. I don't know the specifics for the KC plant where the SVT's were built, I'm just speaking from general experience working with automotive paint shops.

Just because the car is mechanically built well (i.e. good thud when you shut the door) doesn't mean it's exempt from wiring gremlins. Most people I know with late model VDubs have had at least some issues with the wiring. IMHO, I'd rather have a well wired car over one that "feels" built well. OTOH, I'd take a car with both (ala BMW 3-series), money aside.

Paging JonnyX, your POSsat is ready to be lemon lawed...

Every single person I know that has owned a Jetta built anytime in the last 15 years, has had a nightmare ownership experience, whether the vehicle was purchased new or used, and regardless of the age of the vehicle. This includes friends, family, old girlfriends, etc. probably close to 20 Jetta's total I am speaking of, every last one was utter crap.

And of course, a tribute to JohnnyX and his POSsat. Which I believe has gone back to der fatherland.

What's wrong with Mexico's quality? :p

Rara, your friends must have gotten into a bad batch of Jettas.

I have two cars in my garage, a '98 Jetta GLX and a '96 Contour SE. My (Mexican built) Jetta has been one of the most reliable cars I've ever owned. Maybe I'm just lucky?

My wife's '96 SE has been pretty reliable, but it is definitely inferior with respect to longevity of a lot of those little PITA things that suggests a lack of engineering and manufacturing attention to detail. Things like why did the plastic clips holding the bottom of the back seat fail? Would it have taken that much to bolt the damn seat in place? How about that stupid fuel filler door? Why does the blower fan rattle on the lowest speed, but not any of the others? There's more, but I won't go on.

I've owned three other Fords ('89 Mustang LX 5.0, '92 Taurus GL and '96 Probe GT) and the same can be said of all of them. Basically they're fine for the first two years then all of that little PITA crap starts to fall apart. Only the 'stang had major failures that stranded me in addition to those little irritations.

FWIW my brother has a 2001.5 Jetta TDI and that thing is a dream. It cost more than my Tribute due to his being loaded with leather and mine's loaded without leather. The sunroof control is just genious compared to my, well..., garbage control...cheap is the word. Don't get me wrong I love my Tribute but he has yet to have a problem with his and I have a couple of issues with mine. Nothing near like my Mystique.

On another note. We we're either going to purchase a Passat 1.8t MTX or the Trib. Most of it finally came to the cost coupled with ride height and the 4x4. In order to get all of these things in a much weaker engine wagon we would need to pay nearly 30K$.

I like the VWs to death and I think it has quirks just like many vehicles, just nowhere near the amount 'merican cars have.

John

Well, the batch must have spread over the last 15 years or so then . . .
I of course do realize that at least some of hte Jettas must be good cars, because they sell to well to not be, I was simply stating my experiences with them through my friends and family.

im sorry to say, but my sister bought a brand new passat 2002, on dec 16, 2001. 2 weeks later. the speedo, and the radio went out. and my sister really takes car of her cars. she had a 87 oldsmobile cut less, for 7 years with out it having any problem at all. b4 she bought a kia sportage, 2 years later she bought the passat. to find out that after 2 weeks, the damn speedo cut off, and radio blew out or something like that.

hey it happen to the best my uncle bought BMW M3 and they forgot to charge the AC You shuold see the face od the sale man when my uncle went back to the dealer.