Jettas

I love VW Jettas! We got our first Jetta in 1985. It was a used 1984 diesel. It had 4by 60 air conditioning (4 windows down, 60 miles per hour), no turbo (0-60 by the time we'd gone a mile), lots of black exhaust and noise. I loved it! Especially when I would get going from a full stop and watch the driver behind me uselessly trying to wave the black exhaust away so he could see enough to drive. The car got 75 miles to the gallon on a road trip! There were downsides, such as not being able to leave it unplugged in winter more than about 2 hours because then there was little hope of getting it started again (gotta love Manitoba winters!). It didn't heat worth a darn once it was colder than 0 Fahrenheit. On a steep upward incline such as the Coquihalla Pass, the best I could do was drive in second gear and only highway tractor/trailers went slower. So embarrassing! But I did say 75 miles to the gallon? At about the 550,000 km mark, we sold this car and invested in a brand new 1996 Jetta turbo diesel. This was the last generation of turbo before the TDI. It was a beautiful car to look at - sleek and stylish! It had air conditioning (the real kind), and cruise control for a time and comfort. It also heated somewhat better in the winter than the first one did and could actually be left unplugged for more than 2 hours on a cold Manitoba winter day. The downside with this car was that it had huge electrical issues. It didn't take long for the cruise control to stop working, and various lights in the dash quit working. Repairs to the electrical system only lasted days or weeks before the car would self-destruct the electrical once again. It ate glow plugs. At around the 250,000 km mark, the odometer reset itself to zero -another electrical glitch. The clutch was extremely fragile/brittle, so it was incredibly easy to break teeth in the clutch, which we did and were told by the dealership that it was because we didn't know how to drive. I had to learn to drive without the clutch (except to start from a full stop.) I liked knowing how to do that. The car was somewhat of a lemon but still fun. German engineering makes the Jetta a superior handling car with lots of power. I could actually dare to pass a vehicle even if oncoming was less than 5 miles away! The electrical issues soured me for a time and so the next car I bought was a Honda. This was a functional car, but not economical where fuel consumption was concerned and uncomfortable to sit in on a long road trip. In the winter, I would get approximately 400 km to a tank of gas. Taking corners at a higher speed made it feel as though the body was going to slide right off the frame. The car forced me to drive like an old woman, because once again, I lacked the power to pass cars unless I had miles of room to do so. The best day was when I bought the 2004 TDI. What a wonderful car! Comfort, fuel economy, sun roof, heated seats and power to burn! I could pass vehicles with 1/4 the room needed with the other cars. Sweet! On a long road trip, even with a cross wind and running the A/C, I still got about 55 miles to the gallon. No complaints there. I now own a 2009 Jetta TDI. This car has comfort and a six speed manual transmission. However, it's a much bigger car and has too many politically correct features to suit me. I don't need my dashboard dinging me because it is now 4 degrees Celsius. I don't care! It has traction control for winter, which is a mixed blessing since I like doing power turns on ice. The car is rated at 60 mpg on highway, but I can't get much past 40. What is good is that the car has tons of power and sits higher, which makes it easier to get into and out of, handles well and is comfortable. I love German engineering and Jettas will probably always be my car of choice.