Re: The VW Jetta GLX Mailing List Digest V4 #94

[Khan Klatt <khan@mediaaccess.com>]

>I'm about to buy an almost new Jetta VR6 and I was wondering what you all
>thought the best year was to get. I hear that little things like window
>motors and trunk poppers break and I wanted to find out what you think the
>best year between '95-'99 is.
>Thanks,
>Mackey

It depends on which factor you are trying to optimize.

For example (and I may be slightly off on the years, don't refer to 
this as an authoritative document on the differences), the 95's don't 
have a locking button on the console, it needs to be retrofitted. Yet 
the 95's also came with BBS "mesh" style wheels that some people like 
better than the 7 spoke wheels.

Some people like the 7 spokes better (like me) because it's easier to 
scrub the wheels.

The 95's (and perhaps 96's) came with a locking gas door. Somewhere 
between 96 and 97, the locking pin was removed, but the vacuum tubing 
still ran past the rear gas door.

In the 98 and later models, the vacuum tubing didn't run near the 
back right side of the car, which means that you have to use some 
tubing to stretch under the back seat shelf to the gas door, making 
things a little more difficult.

On the other hand, I presume that the 98 and 99 models are "more 
wholesome" so to speak because VW may have fixed little issues with 
reliability of window motors, or with side stripping on the doors of 
the car, etc. with later models, but I can't confirm any such issues. 
Also, with 98 and 99 models, you'll probably get a car with lower 
miles, and less wear and tear in the interior.

In my opinion, the 97-98 GLX is probably the best Jetta GLX buy these 
days, because the price is reasonable (IMO, if I was out looking for 
a value in a used Jetta), many of the initial issues were probably 
ironed out by then, and adding a fuel door is not very difficult.

So, figure out what you want. I think that the price/value 
proposition will be dependent on how well the car was cared for, what 
condition it is in (inside and out) and how new the car is... the 
rest of the stuff can be worked around. The 97 is one of the easiest 
to do the gas door mod on, but then again, you might not care about 
that...

-Khan
-- 

Khan Klatt                                         khan@mediaaccess.com

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Media Access Internet Solutions, Inc.		      888.750.0777 tel
http://www.mediaaccess.com			      425.519.3741 fax
-----------------------------------------------------------------------