I'm really sorry I bought my 2009 VW Jetta. I bought it as a left over 2009 model on July 30 of 2010. Only 84 miles when I picked it up. It was the perfect well equiped mid level SE model in my favorite color combo -- blue over gray. I had been shopping Jettas for quite some time and this one seemed like the perfect deal at 18K.

First the good points : Good power, handles and steers beautifully, very comfortable seats, incredibly roomy trunk for a somewhat smaller car. Simple controls on dash. Decent gas mileage too, a bit better than what's on the sticker. Overall a much nicer car than the redesigned 2011.

But this car has been a real pain. (You're reading someone who back in the day owned the original model 1960 Corvair ! )

The original sattelite radio subscription promised on the window sticker was invalid because the dealer had demonstrated it before the car was sold and the time expired. VW corrected this by sending me a check for the cost of the subscription. Fair enough.

Within days the trip odmeter button would stick in the down position not allowing it to reset. This was repaired by replacing all of the instrumentation.

The brake pedal has a distictive "click" at the top of its travel that you can feel every time the brake is applied. The dealer gave up trying to fix this and says its "normal." I did drive another Jetta at the dealer with the same issue and in that sense the dealer is right. However my friend's 2009 Jetta has a perfectly normal feeling brake pedal. All my old cars, even my Corvair, did too.

The worst problems are intermittant buzzes and rattles from at least four areas of the interior -- left side of the dash, center of the dash, right rear door, and somewhere from the back seat. They are extremely annoying and make me feel like I'm driving an old yellow school bus not a new car. This "new" car had been in the shop for 21 straight days in an effort the hear, isolate and hopefully fix these noises that never seem to occur when a mechanic is driving it.

Who wants to buy a car ?