I yanked the misserable excuse for a car known as a VW Jetta out of the back yard today. Changed the cam seal, distributer seal, and timing belt.
What a POS I don't get what people see in these cars. Its like a cheap, horrible done MB or BMW. None of the German attention to detail or quality, just slapped together in an overally complicated way. The doors weigh like 1oz, the seats are designed for torture, the plastic is everywhere, the interior is a sea of plastic! A Civic or a Corolla would be a lot better. They drive the freaken distributer off the T belt, insted of off the cam like Toyota. Oh and timing marks on the crank? Could they make them any harder to see, they almost don't exist.
Its the same T belt set up as on the old Volvo 2.4L, but just not done as well. Not to mention it freaken leaks oil everywhere. The serp belt is a PITA to change, I'm doing it now and never again. The oil filter and drain plug are in a PITA location.
Want to change the spark plugs? 3 are under the freaken intake.
The air filter box doesn't even seal right because its half under the fender and has some BS plastic clips under their. WTF
If it was a diesel, it would be OK, but just OK. I can't beleive people actualy buy these things, and pay good money for them. It's got all the downsides of MB's and BMW's, pricey parts, oil leaks, ect. Just none of the positives.
So far I have $70 worth of parts into this thing, and it needs some tires. IMHO it wasn't worth more than that new.