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Sat Jun 03, 2006 12:15 pm

I've got a 67 bug and a ford minivan, the ford mini is getting the boot (poor high school student-70 bucks to fill up the tank) and I'm bringing a Jetta into the family instead. The vans got 164,000 miles and failing, but the Jetta I'm looking to buy has around that too. How to Jetta's hold up under high milage?

Its a 1995, 2259.

Here's the description:

"Black Jetta GL, 1995
160,000 but runs great
New plugs
New wires
New cap
New rotor
New axles
New valve cover gasket
New timing belt
New rear brakes
4 good tires
nearly new front brakes
Clutch is good.....lets out a little high but no slipping or anything at all
Sunroof
A/C works good
Suspension is less than a year old
TT catback-less than a year old

Exterior has alot of minor scratches, a couple dents, and some scuffs on the bumpers.....but is very presentable."

Sat Jun 03, 2006 1:01 pm

risky or not, I'm getting excited about this mother fucker :D

Mon Jun 05, 2006 2:43 am

I have a 92 that I wouldn't be scarred to drive cross-country in, and it has about 160k miles on it. I've already drove it a little more than 400 miles in one day and didn't have any problems at all.

Mon Jun 05, 2006 5:51 am

My 85 Jetta just rolled over 696,000 km on it's way back from a 600 mile road trip and it's going again in a couple weeks. I'm not sure about the mk3 Jetta's but the old ones are certainly reliable. It had 363,000 km on it when I bought it 10 years ago and I wondered about the high mileage when I bought it but I'm glad I did.

Mon Jun 05, 2006 7:24 am

So I guess the door could swing both ways.

Mon Jun 05, 2006 10:03 am

If the car has been maintained well, 160K is what I call 'break-in miles.' My lowest mileage A2-platform Golf or Jetta has been at about 190K.

Mon Jun 05, 2006 7:26 pm

Sounds encouraging, I think I may jump on it.

Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:15 pm

Just me here, and I offer no more than my own personal ramblings. My mom drove a 94 GL she bought new for nearly seven years, amassing 134k and some change. Everything went wrong after 100k, and my mom is meticulous about maintenance, and upkeep. CVS both went out, strut bushings, MAF, developed some sort of injection problem, fuel pump quit, Radiator cracked, water pump quit. Main fan quit. Door locks (two) fell out. Side molding fell off. ECU malfunctioned, and nothing electrical would work (dunno how the dealership fixed that or what it was). Vaccum locks quit. Wiper motor quit. Developed a short to the left headlight. Alarm quit. Starter quit. Transmission began to grind, and was traded in on a Toyota.

Sure most of that was maintenance items, but it just sorta fell apart all within 30k.

I owned a '97 Vr6, and it just nickle and dimed me to death. I love the cars, but they have lots of little problems. Power window regulators quit (although the GL has crank windows right?) door locks fell out, moldings fell off, wiper motor quit, strut bearings went out after only 60k, vaccum locks quit, etc.

I still like the Mk3 cars, what do they want for it? That will decide if its a good deal or not.

Fri Jun 09, 2006 4:09 pm

Any high mileage car will nickle and dime you, but the basic mechanical design of the car is sound. It is a good platform. There is always a lemon out there in any make. Some air cooled fanatics hate anything watercooled. If you are looking at this car and are a vw fan then get it knowing that you might have to put money into it. If you don't love vw's it is just another used car to you. Get whatever flips your switch if that is the case. I think if you love vw's you probably have already purchased it because you could smell it's potential.

Sat Jun 10, 2006 6:23 am

xiqtem wrote: Any high mileage car will nickle and dime you, but the basic mechanical design of the car is sound. It is a good platform. There is always a lemon out there in any make. Some air cooled fanatics hate anything watercooled. If you are looking at this car and are a vw fan then get it knowing that you might have to put money into it.

I agree; there are lemons out there, and then there are older cars that need a few things done to them. I say it beats a car payment. 8)

Tue Jun 13, 2006 1:33 pm

Don't know if you bought this car yet but, I'll add some encouragement if you need it. I have a '98 2.0 and it's got 257k on the clock, driven daily since mile 1. The only BIG problem it ever had was the transmission. I had to replace it at 67k. The 2.0 motor is pretty bullet proof. Things to watch would be the tranny, window regulators, and sunroof motor.
Good Luck.

Tue Jun 13, 2006 7:12 pm

Modblujetta wrote: I have a '98 2.0 and it's got 257k on the clock, driven daily since mile 1. The only BIG problem it ever had was the transmission. I had to replace it at 67k.

Automatic, most likely; those things suck. The standard trans in the A3 is very durable, as long as it hasn't been drag raced.