>I would appreciate any experienced feedback from Jetta owners and the
>TDI in particular.
>
>My wife and I are considering the very short list of modestly-priced
>2003 model year wagon-oid vehicles as her new daily driver. She needs a
>new wagon.
>
>Can anyone relate their experiences with recent model-year Jettas and/or
>the 1.9 TDI?
>Are Jettas any good?

If you don't mind an utterly dull-handling car, get a new VW.
Probably unreliable too. If you want something utterly reliable, get
a Toyota.

A constant complaint in the Aussie car magazines is that VW doesn't
make a single can that handles well... a real turnaround from the
70s, when the Golf & Sciroccos were the handling benchmark. Note that
this complaint is about what you in the States would incorrectly call
"European" suspension specced cars... US ones are far worse. The mags
do say that manufacturing quality and fit & finish are very good
(another turnaround; however VW's plastics record is unbelievably
bad, so time will tell whether the new dashboards will shrink, sag
and break in half and window winder handles snap off), approaching
Toyota levels.
--
Andrew Grebneff
165 Evans St, Dunedin 9001, New Zealand
<andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut