06/07 Jetta FSI 2.0 Reliability

[MEL744]

Hi all,

I am currently in the process of looking for a first car. The MK5 Jetta FSI 2.0 with an auto transmission is what I'm seriously considering. Inspected one yesterday, and was very impressed by it in all respects. I've heard some negative things, not specifically about the Jetta but Volkswagen in general, such as they're all "unreliable and over complicated" and I should "avoid them at all costs". Interested to hear what people have to say about the MK5 Jetta.

Cheers,
Michael

[Umai Naa!!]

2L diesel with DSG would be more reliable, in my experience. Cheaper to run and service too.

Like any European car, look for a spot-on service history, and have any potential purchase looked over by a European specialist.

[MEL744]

Thanks for the reply, is there any specific diesel variant/year that is favorable?

Sounds like some good advice regarding purchasing, will definitely stick to that.

[anthony]

The MK5 Jetta is a great car,I had one from new ,and it was feature packed.

Mine was the NON turbo automatic MY 07 version,and I had it from end of 2006 till mid 2010,when it got written off.

[MEL744]

Interesting to hear, cheers for the reply. What transmission did you have? DSG or the standard auto? Also how many Kms did you get on it before it was written off?

[Creampuff]

I have the '08 turbo version, brilliant, no dramas and approaching 90,000. The DSG is great! Just find a Euro mechanic as VW are too expensive. good luck

[VW Convert]

Interesting to hear, cheers for the reply. What transmission did you have? DSG or the standard auto? Also how many Kms did you get on it before it was written off?

2.0 NA Jettas were standard autos not DSG.

I had a MY06 2.0 TFSI Jetta DSG from new and loved the car, it is in essence a MK5 Golf GTI with a boot, a pretty solid car. I can't tell you about long term ownership as just like Anthony's car, mine was written off at three years and about 65,000 KM but to that point it was trouble free. I followed up with a MY09 EOS which was mechanically identical to the Jetta, had it for nearly 5 years and almost 100,000 trouble free KM before updating to a MY14 Eos which is an evolution of the same platform.

Most important is the service history and an inspection by someone who knows VWs, well looked after, the Jetta should be reasonably trouble free.

Cheers

George

[MEL744]

I have the '08 turbo version, brilliant, no dramas and approaching 90,000. The DSG is great! Just find a Euro mechanic as VW are too expensive. good luck

Interesting to hear! Thanks for sharing. Wish I could get the turbo but due to Victoria's restrictive P-plate laws that is off the cards.

2.0 NA Jettas were standard autos not DSG.

I had a MY06 2.0 TFSI Jetta DSG from new and loved the car, it is in essence a MK5 Golf GTI with a boot, a pretty solid car. I can't tell you about long term ownership as just like Anthony's car, mine was written off at three years and about 65,000 KM but to that point it was trouble free. I followed up with a MY09 EOS which was mechanically identical to the Jetta, had it for nearly 5 years and almost 100,000 trouble free KM before updating to a MY14 Eos which is an evolution of the same platform.

Most important is the service history and an inspection by someone who knows VWs, well looked after, the Jetta should be reasonably trouble free.

Ah yep, thanks for clearing that up. What a shame to hear another Jetta written off. Sounds like a good car though, excited to get one! Also, I appreciate the advice regarding inspections and servicing.

[jessv3]

The auto in the 2.0FSI is problematic. I personally would avoid it where possible. It is the same gearbox fitted in the 2.0FSI Golf and 1.6 Golf. Lots of owners on here have reported major issues which have resulted in a rebuild/ gearbox replacement often costing 5k+. Here are some examples:
Here
and here

It sounds outrageous but from my own experience the DSG in the Jetta is a more reliable choice, you just need to look out for DSG mechatronics issues, there are tones of threads on what to look for when test driving a DSG. For the Jetta the DSG was released in the 2.0T (turbo petrol) and 2.0TDI (turbo diesel) both are excellent engines, far superior than the 2.0 FSI and should be P-Plate legal.

[MEL744]

Thank you for that, was not expecting to hear the DSG would be more reliable haha. Will look out for some DSG cars I think. From what I can see the 6-speed wet clutch is generally better than the 7-speed dry clutch? Unfortunately the 2.0T is not P-Plate legal in Victoria without an exemption, meaning the only petrol Jetta variant I could drive with a DSG would be the 2010 TSI (this is when they changed the rules regarding what is P-plate legal). Will go and have a look for those threads now. Cheers.

[ozrcboy]

MEL744 - Like VW Convert said the Jetta is basically a Golf with a boot, and the MarkV is in general a very well sorted out platform with an awful lot of engineering experience gone into it.
The "overly complicated" comment is worth understanding - the VW/Euro philosophy is to pack the car with things that make driving better, easier, more fun, move convenient etc. That means they tend to have more systems, which means they have more systems to go wrong. But they aren't all critical
For example, our experience with two watercooled VW diesels is that in 300K of motoring they have a) never left us stranded by the side of the road and b) in total they have cost us about $1500 in exceptional non-maintenance costs.
Routine servicing can be expensive, but is also easy to do yourself. The MkV motors have easy access to the routine components - if you buy yourself a Pela oil pump (about $130 off ebay) you can do a basic oil and filter change in 20 minutes without getting on the ground. In fact, further to that well sorted out platform comment if it is a routine maintenance task chances are the car has been designed to make it as easy as possible. In comparison my SS commodore is a one hour minimum prospect to do a basic oil and filter change because I have to put it on car stands to get access to the filter (next to the sump plug).
Further - as you can see from here on this website and others there is a great community around the cars. And with respect to maintenance chances are there is a youtube vid that shows the exact procedures you need to do on your exact motor/car for most routine tasks.
The problem with the VW brand in Australia is two fold - one is the standard euro problem, exacerbated by the "Australia" tax, of parts being expensive and there being lots of systems so something somewhere will likely go wrong. The second part of the problem is that in Australia the business is run by monkeys who have no sense of the long term damage they are doing to the brand from their poor after sales service or as they stumble from one PR disaster to the next. Ironically this means VW is probably better value to buy than it was before - particularly in the second hand market where VW's callous indifference to after sales service had destroyed second hand values.
General guidance on buying any second hand euro is don't unless the maintenance records are in good shape. Even then you need to understand you are buying a vehicle where a major fault, potentially a third or more the value of the car, could occur at any time, but probably wont. I don't know much about the auto boxes before the DSGs - but I'd pay attention to the views of people here about warnings. That "risk" is already baked into the price - so if you are in the position where you need the car to be reliable with predictable costs then a VW might not be the right way to go.
So, that's some general thoughts on VW per your general question. They are good cars - nice to drive, lots of features, easy to work on, and when you look at it all up, not expensive to own - but you can be unlucky, and if you are VW in Australia are not likely to do much to help you, especially if you are buying a 8+ year old second hand vehicle.

[MEL744]

Thanks for your very detailed, balanced post. Really valuable information, and good to hear they are easy to service, as I would intend on doing at least some of it myself. Test drove a diesel DSG today and was really impressed, it does seem much better than the FSI with the standard auto.

[anthony]

My Jetta had the standard tiptrinic 6 speed automatic transmission,and I did 55600 kilometres in it.
It was repaired,and sold.
Is still on the road ,and is in Reflex Silve.

[jessv3]

Thank you for that, was not expecting to hear the DSG would be more reliable haha. Will look out for some DSG cars I think. From what I can see the 6-speed wet clutch is generally better than the 7-speed dry clutch? Unfortunately the 2.0T is not P-Plate legal in Victoria without an exemption, meaning the only petrol Jetta variant I could drive with a DSG would be the 2010 TSI (this is when they changed the rules regarding what is P-plate legal). Will go and have a look for those threads now. Cheers.

Yes this is correct, the Jetta's fitted with the 7spd gearbox are dry clutch and well known to be troublesome. Also the 7spd Jetta's were fitted with the 1.4tsi (twin charged) engine which was plagued with reliability issues. I read a lot of threads about owners requiring entire engine replacements. So given that the 2.0T is banned in your state it only really leaves you with the 2.0TDI which on paper does not look anything special but is actually quite a nice little engine, one which the dsg complements perfectly. Things to look out for: the dsg has had the fluid changed every 60k and that the engine had its timing belt + water pump replaced at 105k/ 4yrs.

[neil]

Not sure I would look at a used DSG in the vintage you are looking even in TDI unless the mechtronics has been replaced , still a heap
out there which could fail.

Had my MY07 mechtronics replaced just out of warranty for labour cost only , some serious $$$ if it needs replacement .
Always thought if I was to buy secondhand VW I would go manual only.