I purchased a Brand new 2003 Jetta on Oct. 2002.

The car has been at the dealership several times in Lasalle Canada. First it would stall out for no reason at all. Than wouldn't shift right... hard when going to drive (its an automatic tritronic 1.8T).2 to 3 gear it would jerk ...it started slow and got really Bad...Volkswagen WOULD NOT PAY FOR THE PROBLEM....the maintenance contract expired. The dealership changed owners...so was out of luck to get help from VW.

I could get you hundreds of complaints on this problem in the internet ...think I will start a FACEBOOK blog maybe...will see!!!

So, after reaching 111000 miles and on April 10-2011 replaced the transmission at my cost $2800.00. Easter Transmission in montreal were very helpful more than Volkswagen.

I bought the start of the line 2003 model, and 60,000 miles later the car was shifting hard out of second gear, shaking, and giving me whiplash every time. My warranty had just expired and I did not purchase an extended. So, I took the car to Aamco for a repair and 4 weeks later it is still in the shop! Vw said there was nothing they could do for me because of the warranty, so I am paying for everything out of pocket and had to find the cheapest fix. Sorry to say that I have had this car for 3 years and such "serious" problems have occured. VW will have to preform a miracle for me to buy another.

I HAVE A 2003 VW JETTA THE TRANSMISSION HAD TO BE REPLACED AT 40K IN FEB 06, IN JUNE 06 I STARTED HAVING THE SAME SYMPTOMS ROUGH SHIFTING, ENGINE LIGHT COMING ON I CALLED THE DEALERSHIP WHO TOLD ME NOT TO WORRY ABOUT IT IF THE LIGHT DID NOT STAY ON THAT THE NEW TRANS SENSORS HAD TO ADJUST TO MY DRIVING, I CONTINUED TO CALL SEVERAL TIMES WITH THE SAME ISSUE, IN DEC 06 WHILE ON THE INTERSTATE PASSING A VEHICLE MY CAR LOST POWER AND JERKED SO HARD IT SCARED ME TO DEATH. I CALLED THE DEALERSHIP AND HAD TO WAIT 2 WEEKS TO GET THE CAR IN. THEY CALLED AND TOLD ME IT WAD THE TRANSMISSION CONTROL MODULE AND THAT IT WAS NOT UNDER WARRANTY. I DID SOME RESEARCH AND FOUND OUT THAT THIS PART IS THE BRAIN TO THE TRANSMISSION, IT TELLS IT WHEN TO SHIFT. I CALLED AND ASKED IF THIS PART HAD BEEN CHECKED WHEN THEY CHANGED THE TRANSMISSION, AND WAS TOLD NO. MY FIRST ISSUE IS VW PUT A REMANUFACTURED TRANSMISSION IN AND I WAS TOLD NO MATTER HOW MANY MILES YOU HAVE ON THE CAR IF THE TRANSMISSION GOES OUT THEY ONLY PUT REMANUFACTURED TRANS IN? MY SECOND ISSUE IS THAT TO ME ONE PART HAS TO HAVE THE OTHER IN ORDER TO PERFORM, SO WHY WOULD THEY BOTH NOT BE CHECKED AND REPLACED? ALSO THE WARRANTY ON THE REMANUFACTURED TRANSMISSION IS ONLY GOOD FOR 1 YEAR!!!!!! IN MY REASEARCH I FOUND MANY PEOPLE THAT HAD THE SAME PROBLEM WITH THEIR 2003 JETTAS, AND IT SOUNDS TO ME LIKE THERE WAS A PROBLEM WITH THESE VEHICLES TO BEGIN WITH ALTHOUGH NO RECALL WAS DONE, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN. THE PART IS NOT UNDER WARRANTY THE COST OF THE PART IS $623.00, THE LABOR $250.00. ALTHOUGH I LOVE MY JETTA, I AM NOW LOOKING AT HONDAS!!!!!!!