Volkswagen Jetta 1989Change

VW has a cult following and many people will overlook the problems of 85-94(?) era of VW cars. I had Jetta Trophy which was limited edition, fully loaded for that year. Drove well and it was speedy which I loved. It looked great with a spoiler and tinted windows. Recaro seats were comfy.

Alright the car looked good and was fun to drive, so what's the problem? Well, have you drove behind a VW from those years and seen a huge plume of smoke coming out of exhaust? Well that was one of the major problems with these VW, the company knew about these junk engines and they kept producing these cars that burned oil and polluted the air. It wasn't just few VW that had this problem, it was many!!! By the time I got rid of the car, it burned at least 6 liters of oil every 5000km. In winters if the temp dropped to -20 you could forget starting it if it wasn't plugged in. Exhaust system? Rubber "holders" that kept the exhaust attached to the car were simply too flimsy and broke more than I would like, mind you the car had duel exhaust so maybe the problem was with the designers overlooking the additional weight on my model.

Would I buy a VW from those years? No way! I haven't seen newer VW models burn oil so they must have improved but after VW dealer at the time telling me that the cars didn't have engine problems I was turned off VW and have been driving Hondas ever since.