It’s cute. It’s probably the cutest car out there, and nothing felt as good as the first night I drove my sparkling galactic blue Jetta down Route 30 to a town meeting in Ligonier. The sky was clear, the weather warm, so I opened the sun roof and smiled as I glanced over the glowing red lights in the interior.
I didn’t buy the car in 2002 only because is was cute. I did a lot of research and Volkswagens had one of the highest trade-in values at the time. Perfect! I keep the car for 10 years (Why not? My grandparents’ Hondas last at least that long.) and then I trade it in at 110,000 and still get a fat $6,000 for it.
Here’s the problem…
Jettas suck.
I’ve got 71,000 miles on the 4+ year old car. And it drives like crap. Everytime I go for routine service, there’s something else wrong with the engine. Cooling something. Oxygen mass something. Catalytic something. Etc. Etc. It’s never only a $300 routine maintenance. Nope, it’s that plus, $300-$800 for more nonwarranty repairs.
And when I have paid to get things fixed, it lasts a month and drives beautifully and then goes to crap again.
So it comes as no surprise to me when I read the Simple Dollar this morning and saw that Consumer Reports says Hondas and Toyatas rock; Volkswagen are lucky enough to roll at all. VWs are rated most unreliable.
So much for that great trade-in value. Makes me really miss my Saturn. Not at all cute, but at least it never left me asking why I bothered.
Luckily, I’m not driving the car much now since I take the Metro to work. And I have AAA just in case. But how I really miss the purring engine, and the new noise, continued clicking when the turn signal switches off, is still too new for me to have grown used to it.
I’ve refused twice to buy a Civic when going for new cars. I won’t make the mistake again.
