[fluidicjoy]

Introduction
This writeup is all about the car which induced me into the car culture. It’s been one of the finest teachers, and has introduced me to all of the traits that I now seek or look out for in a new car. It has spoilt me beyond limits, by offering me simple yet elegant features, whilst always cocooning me and my family.

It’s funny I had to wait a good 8 years, till I could finally feel this beast for myself, and so it’s only fair, I take you to the very beginning. This is how immaculate the car was when it was factory fresh. The cameras on our phones were not so good as they are today, but this photo still manages to capture the true elegance of our Heavenly Blue metallic Jetta.


I was a TeamBHP reader even back in 2009, when I was 10 years old and I really loved the level of details on the official reviews on TeamBHP, but I could never find a review of this vehicle then, and I’d love to take this chance, to write a little about this beautiful car which has been my ship for just shy of over a decade! I'll try my best to recollect most of my moments with this car, since it really is a special one for me. It happens to be the first car I've officially owned, and it'll always be special, since it's been a beautiful companion.

Likes

• Robust build quality standing tall even 11 years old!
• High quality interiors.
• Supreme stability at high speed.
• Confident and glued to roads.
• Ultra safe car :- 8 Airbags, ABS, ESP, Front and Rear Disc Brakes
• Fuel Efficient Diesel Engine.
• Feature Loaded by 2009 Standards :- Cruise Control, Auto AC, MFD, Auto Headlamps, 8 Speakers, Rain Sensing Wipers,
• Fantastic, enthusiastic and reliable DQ250 Wet Clutch DSG Gearbox.
• Simple, elegant design language.
• High retrofit potential.
• Massive Boot Space with a Spare Alloy.

Dislikes

• 1.9 TDI PD Engine is not the most refined.
• Stock Power felt a little lacking - Now Remapped!
• Heavy steering to drive around the city.
• No Bluetooth Module.
• No Parking Sensors (Outgoing Laura had 8 Sensors)
• No Sunroof (Outgoing Laura had it)
• Low Ground Clearance.
• Rare Volkswagen Spares are expensive, often hard to procure.
• Mixed Volkswagen After Sales Support.

Purchase Details

Why A New Car
My father drove a 2004 Honda City, GXI CVT, which was a comfortable and enjoyable city car. However, it was plagued by low ground clearance, for which we’ve paid dearly quite a few times, considering Pune roads were barely as good as the roads we are used to today. Enroute a trip to Mumbai in 2009, we were rear ended by another car on a flyover and the rear of our Honda City was nearly done for.

A 2004 GXI Variant was bare bones safety wise, and luckily, my sister and I were belted up, and nobody was hurt, but looking at the sight of our Honda City, which was 5 years and 72000kms old, my father was not comfortable at getting the vehicle repaired, and back then, most of his colleagues would end up changing vehicles at the 5th year mark anyway, with the hope of preventing obscene expenses (since I was a kid back then, and my father is the guy who likes to sit and drive, and trusts the service guys to do their thing, we had no idea if this was a bad decision).

Cars Considered
Thus, began the hunt for a new car. We started looking at most of the popular sedans back then. The Corolla Altis was a top consideration since it was comfortable, spacious, had a decent feature set with Dual Airbags and ABS, Automatic AC etc. A reverse camera was very low on the priority list back then. There was nothing wrong with the Toyota Corolla, but the 1.8L Petrol CVT just lacked that agility. The Civic was also considered, but quickly ruled out due to an even terrible ground clearance compared to the City.

Somehow, a huge discount on the Skoda Laura 1.9 TDI caught my dad’s attention, and he began enquiring about it in his circles. Luckily, a fellow doctor had been using it for a few years and gave a really positive impression about the vehicle, especially the build quality and fuel efficiency but he was quick to inform us about the terrible dealer support which he was facing back then, and it’s no secret that Skoda dealers have been notorious in their early years. Pune barely had a steady Skoda dealership, as quite a few had been published in newspapers for termination of dealerships. Another friend who was using ta Passat, suggested driving to Mumbai to have a look at the newly launched Jetta, but we gave this opportunity a pass, since there was no news of a Volkswagen dealer for Pune then.

We were strongly considering the Laura, and it was very well kitted. To my fascination, it also had a Sunroof and 8 Parking Sensors, and it was easily trumping the Corolla when it came to the equipment on offer. We soon came to know that the Laura was being discontinued and was going to be replaced with a Facelift, and that was the reason the dealerships were offering healthy discounts of 2-3L rupees on their Laura. My father did not want to buy a car which was being discontinued, because he was worried about the terrible support we had heard about. He was instead, interested by the Skoda Superb, which was longer, and felt more comfortable and luxurious, but it was way beyond our approved budget, and so the wait was on.

Dealership Experience
It was then that an opportunity knocked at our door and we heard that Volkswagen had appointed a dealer in Pune, Vidyut Motors, Shivajinagar as Volkswagen Pune, and so we enquired and they were already ready with their first lot of Jettas for sale. Again, since it was a new dealership, there was no designated test drive vehicle and my dad drove the dealership owner’s personal Jetta. I remember the test drive only vaguely, but I recall that we needed to have two test drives, to get the boss’s approval, you guessed right, if it was my mom. My mom fancied the Beige interiors and my father liked the Heavenly Blue Metallic shade. The newbies at the dealership promised us Heavenly Blue Metallic in a Beige interior, but shortly after the vehicle was received, we were told that the Heavenly Blue Metallic was not offered with Beige, but with what Volkswagen called an Anthracite Leather upholstery. This just shows the level of unpreparedness by the sales team, and my mother was not impressed since we had a much better experience with Kothari Hyundai, who were prompt to tell us the details of every variant. A few years later though, I frankly don’t blame Volkswagen since they have just too many things to worry about internally. In fact, I have a strong hunch, not everyone even knows the next thing they’d be doing with feature additions and what not, so with all due respect, the sales team should be spared this obligation.

Delivery Day
I accompanied my parents to the dealership where our beautiful new car, our first German steed was ready waiting for us. The basic rituals were completed and here’s a picture from a decade ago, where I was given the honour of holding the keys. A big thanks to my father’s student for dropping us to the dealership. It was a very special day for all of us, and I still remember it very vividly.

Attaching a few photos of the delivery day and the feel of the keys in my hand sure seemed to delight me. I was also given the honour of breaking the coconut, before we drove out shortly. You can tell how non-existent the Volkswagen facility was at the time of delivery, from the construction work going on in the background.

[fluidicjoy]

Index to this thread

As per an official thread, would be wise to leave the 2nd thread to compile our Index Links here!

The Outside

The Inside

Features and Electrical Equipment

Engine and Gearbox

Tyres, Brakes, Driving

Service and Upkeep, Dealership Service Jobs

Niggles, Common Stuff

DIY Service

DIY Cataract Surgery

DIY Brakes, Degreasing

Miscellaneous Maintenance, 45F2

DIY Feature Additions

Wrapping Up

[fluidicjoy]

What Its Like On The Outside

Coming to the looks, I’m particularly a fan of the Front and Rear Three Quarter views and I feel those are the 5th Generation Jetta’s best angles. Most of the clicks on this post were clicked on the Sony A6300 with no edits. They've just been squeezed to fit into our file limits. The design is fairly simple and there are only a handful of bits which distinguish it from the Golf which is its parent car.

The front face has plenty of chrome but I like how artistically its done. The centre grill and the fog light housings are lined with chrome and I feel it complements the chrome Volkswagen logo very well. Since this is the Comfortline variant, we also have chrome along the Window Strips.

The front is unmistakably a lift from the iconic Golf 5, while the rear takes after its elder sibling the Passat. I’m a huge fan of the LED taillight assembly.

The rear bumper houses a Plastic body panel which also houses the two Reflector Strips. Notice the downward facing exhaust tips which are neatly concealed for the most part and also observe the Rear Axle negative camber. This is a multi-link independent rear suspension after all and it is on vehicles like these that it is possible to attain a true 4-wheel alignment.


The rear boot lid came with the JETTA and TDI badging, but the I from the TDI and the J from the Jetta fell off 4-5 years back. Now there’s a funny story with the rear logo. We had taken our car to Mumbai two times, and each time, we lost something on the rear Logo. 
The first time, we lost the chrome covering the circular housing. And the second time, we lost the entire logo, and both these instances took place during our Mumbai trips.

It was quite a pain to look at the logo less car and it really looks terrible without a logo in place. It lacks the elegance and comfort of the Volkswagen logo. We did try sourcing it a few times from the dealership, but we were quoted exorbitant prices but they never bothered to source the logo for us.

The doors open nice and wide and have a satisfying thud to them. Unlike the MK6, the doors on the MK5 Jetta have outer skins which can be replaced. As per a repair manual, this makes the repair job a little simpler, as most dings and dongs won’t dictate a door replacement. The door handles have a tiny indent for your thumb and its very ergonomic and well thought out.

When the car was brand new, it looked so good. The factory paint was addictive and the body panels were consistent all around.



The car does not sport any shark fin antenna since the antenna is built into the rear windshield. It uses what Volkswagen refers to as a diversity antenna, which is much superior compared to a single antenna reception we find on few other vehicles, and I’ll shed some more light on this later. The rear windshield also houses an electronic defogger.

All of the window glasses are heat insulating and tinted from the factory, and this is again, a very beautiful touch. The rear quarter glasses allow great visibility from the driver position and I feel the Chrome lining lends a very subtle yet premium touch to this variant.

The ORVMs feel proportionate considering the overall geometry and design nuances on this car and they offer a good view and a bonus is that the Driver side is Aspherical as per Euro-spec. The ORVMs are heated and this is a blessing during foggy drives. The ORVMs do fold electronically. However, back in 2009, when I had no knowledge about VCDS, I couldn’t check and enable Auto-Folding mirrors from the Key-Fob, which is a very nifty feature. To add insult to injury, these Mirror motors are not India friendly. There have been numerous occasions when they were brutally dashed by bikers and sometimes even parking attendants, and this has resulted in a kinda bricked mirror assembly. At Volkswagen, these cannot be repaired, and need to be replaced, and the prices are nothing to write home about, so we have been managing ever since.

The ORVMs house Turn Indicators and also have a very welcome Puddle Lamp to greet the Driver and Passenger. Coming to the Headlights, we get a Dual Barrel Halogen setup, and its a shame Volkswagen did not bring its Projector Housing with AFS to the Indian market, despite the car coming in along the CBU route.

The headlights themselves, have been fair and the car hasn’t disappointed even on the remotest and darkest of routes, but there’s no denying the fact that the headlights aren’t the best, but I still find the reflectors nice and classy.


The High Beams in particular have a tendency to fly high into the sky, and this is something I had read about even on Europeans TopGear reviews on this car. For my urban commute, I’ve managed to live with these headlights, but after a few years, the headlight needed a Cataract Surgery due to the heavy oxidation of the Headlight Lenses, and there’s more on this ahead.

The boot opens high and there's a neat reverse camera retrofitted in the license plate assembly besides it. The hinges have been robust but the boot wiring harness grommet is on its last leg though.

The rear LED taillights seem to be inspired from the Passat which was already on sale in India when the Volkswagen Group started expanding their footprint. Notice the original Jetta lettering and the original J had lost its way fairly early in our ownership.


As it gets closer to sun-down, the blue metallic starts feeling a light grey now and this wasn't the case with the stock factory paint.

[fluidicjoy]

Interiors and Space


I really like this cabin inside, and its because of the quality of the cabin. It's a real nice place to be in and the hospitality starts from the well-cushioned premium Anthracite Leather seats.

The choice of soft materials on the door pads, the soft touch dashboards, red-ambient lights extending all the way to the roof as well, all add to a sense of luxury. I find the leather and interior quality to be better than the materials on offer on the T-Roc and Tiguan too. Somehow even my retrofitted perforated steering wrap blends in.


It is very hard to find signs of cost cutting in the interiors on this vehicle. It has everything you thought you’d like and more! The radio and AC units are not inclined towards the driver like modern designs today, but ergonomically, everything is right where it should be.



We have a total of 5 Ventilation vents on the dashboard. One each on the driver and passenger side, two on the centre console, and one passive ventilation directed towards the windshield. The vents have managed to hang on tight, and haven’t given up due to usage yet, but they are definitely not as firm as they once used to be.


There is plenty of storage in the car. There is a folding and sliding armrest with storage spaces with sliding compartments, there are a pair of drawers hidden neatly under the front seats, a glovebox with a dampened opening and a light and a lock as well.


It’s beautiful that all of these mentioned storage spaces, even for the bottle holders in the doors, are felt lined with fabric or rubber to prevent those nasty rattles.



The handbrake cover is also finished in leather. Coming to the seats themselves, there is plenty of room for adjustment. Both the front seats can be adjusted for Height and have an Electric Lumbar support.

I really wished the driver seat had a Memory Seat function though. The seats have a great cushioning and hold you very well. I feel the under thigh support could have been a tiny bit better, but they’re still miles ahead of the seats I presently have on the Polo. I have been tempted to consider swapping them many many times.

That being said, the Seat Angle adjustment knob is a little out of place and tough to use in comparison to most simpler levers I’ve seen on other car makers. It also has a tendency to break and snap and I could luckily source a replacement online at a fair price. Thanks to the rear quarter glasses and a fairly usable Auto-Dimming IRVM, the visibility from the driver seat is very assuring.

The Jetta’s seating allows me to sit nice and high in the car, and gives me good all round vision. That one time when I sat in a G20 3 Series, I felt like I had entered a mine, considering how much lower the G20 felt.

The car comes with a very usable Dead Pedal and the Brake and Accelerator Pedals are very ergonomic. There has been zero foot fatigue even on long drives. The Organ type Accelerator pedal also greatly adds to the comfort factor on this vehicle, and its a shame Volkswagen has moved away from this assembly on their other offerings like the Tiguan and the T-Roc.

The interiors are generously illuminated with Front and Rear Dome lights and Footwell lights, and like most cars from back in the days, these are all Yellow Halogens. What is also neat is cleverly located Bag and Coat Handles, and the Grab Handles are also spring loaded and they are dampened too. Notice the refurbished headliner. I think its a 9/10 match.



While I find the front seats nice and supportive, the rear seats are average at best. There is fair legroom, but taller people like me won’t prefer the back bench. I find it a tad too firm and find the underthigh support lacking. Since the vehicle has 8 Airbags, notice the frequent AIRBAG tags on the Genuine Leather seats. The carmaker also offers 3 Point Belts on all 5 Seats.

The boot space is also fairly usable, and the 60-40 Split seats are a blessing. We have transported a hell lot of stuff in this car by using multiple seating combinations. In fact, two people can comfortably sleep with a mattress inside the boot with the two seats folded. It’s that accommodating and before handing over the car, I did try sleeping inside the boot The loading lip though feels a little high and narrow, but nothing out of the blue considering this is a sedan.


The rear AC vents though, have not been so lucky and this is due to the intrusive and massive floor hump. The odd passenger having to shift seats from Left to Right in the rear seat ends up knocking and thwacking the AC vents and cup-holders. It was fairly cost-effective to buy a new rear AC vent and so I promptly ordered one, but the cup-holders hasn’t been so lucky yet.

I feel the cabin insulation isn’t the best, and with the audio off, you might just not appreciate the roar on highways. For our normal commute, the Goodyears have been fairly good, but the last set I had was not as good as the first one. It started flaking quickly, and was fairly prone to punctures, and so for the first time on any car we had at home, I chose to have better tyres and upgraded to Yokohama BluEarth and I really enjoy how much better the car rides now!

[fluidicjoy]

Electrical Equipment (Radio, Headlights)

Coming to the Equipment, I feel barring a few terrible omissions, this is a very well equipped car. I have never believed in having a sunroof on this car, but I seriously judge Volkswagen for omitting 8K OPS, which Skoda was offering on the Laura. For a car of this size, OPS makes life a lot easier. The second glaring omission was the handicapped presence of RCD510 on this car. Volkswagen shipped 8 Beautiful Speakers but omitted the 9W Bluetooth module in this car. In fact, I spent so much time as a kid trying to make the greyed out Bluetooth Audio work, but I miserably failed, because it just wasn’t there. That isn't the case today since this headunit is now fully specced by 2021 standards.

Let’s talk about Safety, where Volkswagen did not cut any corners on in this car. 8 Airbags, ABS, ESP and EDL. You can see the Airbag label on the side seat bolster. This implies No Seat Covers and thanks to how good the leather is, we've never ever considered any.

Front and Rear Disc Brakes, and that fantastic build quality, which is not just about the thud associated but with door closing, but a build which makes passengers feel cocooned and safe. I think for a car under 17L in 2009, this is a great equipment list on the safety front. So Volkswagen did good there.


My Jetta also came with Auto-Dimming IRVMs, Automatic Headlights with Coming Home and Leaving Home lights, Interior Lighting Dimming Rheostat, Rain Sensing Wipers, and Cruise Control, a feature we barely used in the car’s early years.


They gave an RCD510, which has been one of the best sounding radios I have experienced in a Volkswagen, complete with a 8 Speaker setup. The RCD510 had its own intrinsic tricks. It could gobble 6 CDs at once, and had an AUX in and an SD Card Slot. USB was a glaring omission. We sorely missed bluetooth though, and back then, I wasn’t able to figure our what the missing link was, to enable Bluetooth on this car. When I got the car in my hands, I swapped it out to an RCD330 and subsequently an RCD340 and suddenly, my car became a lot modern. A Reverse Camera View and Android Auto were the icing on the cake, but I lost that rich and distinct sound which I once enjoyed on the RCD510. You win some, you lose some. Notice the door tweeters.


We get some beautiful touches like a Mirror Dipping on Reverse, Seat Belt Warning with a weight sensor for the passenger too. I personally am a huge fan of this Red and Blue instrument cluster and I feel this is a timeless design considering how many digital trends we see today.

In other equipment, we get a Dual Zone Climatronic AC and its surprising the facelift car was sent with a Manual AC unit for the first few years. Truly a surprising move.

[fluidicjoy]

Engine and Gearbox

Yes this Jetta came with a Hydraulic Strut in the Engine bay and this car was onlyoffered with a Diesel Automatic drivetrain, and for my dad, it had to be an Automatic, and so after a string of petrol engines, we brought home our second Diesel car after Indica (something we wish we could forget). The Jetta Volkswagen got to India came with the 1.9 TDI PumpDuse engine with the BXE Engine Code, and there’s plenty of good and bad things on the web about this engine. This engine was also offered on the Laura. Google searches tell me this engine has been notorious abroad for throwing con-rods.

Power wise on paper, 105 BHP seems on the lower side, while the rated peak Torque is 250Nm. This is a heavy car, about 1400kgs, which made 105 BHP, but it never felt slow. In fact, it always felt like a beast! Even as a kid, I was exhilarated in the passenger seat each time my dad floored the pedal and the car just took off!

The engine has been fairly vocal, and I’d say the 1.9 TDI not only idles like a Tractor but also roars like one. There’s no complaints about the efficiency as it gave a consistent 10km/l in city traffic and that figure always leaped to 18+ on long drivers, regardless of how many people were on board.

So yeah, for me, the initial impression from the 1.9 TDI has been a reliable fuss-free engine, which is not on the silky side. If you’ve driven the 2.0 Common Rail Diesel engines, you’ll instantly feel the difference in refinement. However, this engine has been bulletproof throughout our ownership period. Most VAG owners don’t believe me when I tell them the car is still on its stock water pump, and the coolant bottle has never seen any discolouration or contamination either. I took a few trips to the dealership and checked the service history, but there has been no instance of this vehicle needing a coolant change.

The vehicle has a Fixed Service Interval of 1 Year or 15000kms whichever is earlier, and this engine conforms to the VW 505.01. I am one of those people who believe in the manufacturer’s approval for crucial things. Here's a still from my home service experience.

The Jetta came with a DQ250 DSG gearbox, and back then, little did we know that this would be a massive leap as automatic gearboxes go. The DSG on this car has been absolutely brilliant. I love the shift quality and the shift speeds, and in 94000kms, we’ve never had a problem with this gearbox. In fact, I feel sad to hear about how bad the DQ200 experience has been for quite a few users, but this Wet Clutch unit has worked like a charm and I’m sure the timely Gearbox Oil changes have helped. The leather draped DSG Leather Knob. It had a shift release button on the right unlike the Front spring loaded buttons we see on present automatic gearboxes.


The shift quality is still creamy smooth despite being majorly run in the city traffic. Its just as competent in the city and shows its true glory on the highways where it feels at best and gets to stretch its leg. It's so good at delivering power that you barely need to use the paddles for effortless inter-state cruising.

[fluidicjoy]

Brakes and Tyres

The car came with 205/55 R16 Goodyear Tyres from the factory. I don’t love the Toronto alloy wheels, but its lovely to have 5 Alloys with the car. Yes, we have a Full Sized spare, while the Tiguan, 2x its price, does not come with a Full Sized spare and yes, this car got an anti-theft spline security wheel bolt from the factory.

Since this car has primarily been city driven, we were never on the lookout for better tyres. The Goodyears offer a good dry and wet grip, but they were never comfort oriented. On our Mumbai trips, the tyre noise was really annoying but thankfully, we only had rare highways drives in the earlier part of our ownership. Post the remap, these tyres were doing plain terrible at putting the power down on the road. The first set from the factory lasted us for 55000kms until they started flaking, while the second set was voluntarily changed by me to a much better Yokohama BluEarth AE50.

The change was so good to have and the car started feeling a lot quieter on the highways. I feel the BluEarth is a softer compound compared to the Goodyears we had used in the past.

The alloys on this car have fared most bad roads just fine and it was only last year that I experienced my first tyre pressure loss while I was driving back home in the rains. I missed a puddle and the front right tyre crashed and hit into a real deep pothole in heavy rains. I noticed an instant change in the steering pull and managed indicate and pull over to the service lane of the Pune-Bangalore highway.

I am lucky I decided not to brake and let the car slow down to a crawl, else I have a bad feeling I would have lost control over the vehicle. The first thing that came to my mind was a tyre burst since I had experienced one before, but it was only when I got home that I realised I had not lost a tyre, but had bent the alloy with the road force.

That very week, I had removed the Widow Maker Volkswagen Jack from the boot and left it at home, and sadly I didn't have a jack to replace the tyre. I met a few good men who stopped by in the rain and helped me with their jack and I got home with the full sized spare from the boot. Shortly, I had the spare wheel repaired and balanced to get back to duty. Having a full sized spare is a real boon and its simply terrible that companies are cutting on these essentials for fancy gizmos.

Coming to the brakes, I really like the Dual Disc setup and the brakes have been relatively drama free over the years. My father has been able to make a few emergency stops and has never had any complaints with the car's braking performance either. The good composure on braking can also be attributed to the SACHS suspension the car came with. The brake pedal has a healthy bite, but I felt it had a hint of softness sometimes. A pressure bleed at the dealership and some Brake Assist tweaking in VCDS improved the pedal feel for me.

Driving and Riding Experience
So this car has only been driven by my father for the majority of the ownership period as his daily driver to work and beyond. I wouldn't classify my father as a super enthusiastic driver, but even then, the turbo kick in daily driving is insanely addictive. This definitely has to be the first car which threw me into my seat and somehow the kickback in the seat was diminished in the rear seat. And for this very reason, I always competed with my mother for the front seat.


Our Jetta has been an effortless car to drive around town despite being fairly long in length. The 6 Speed DSG has been creamy smooth and rewards in the right places. The steering is on the heavier side and there's no two ways about it. In fact, I feel the MQB steerings have lost a tiny bit of feel for favour of comfort. The Jetta's steering has never been a matter of concern, but it definitely can be a bicep workout moving around town. That being said, I have taken it to all sorts of places and managed to park and make U-turns fairly comfortably and this could probably stem from its derivation from the iconic Golf 5. However, the story takes a complete turn as we merge with the highway. The steering gives an incredibly amount of feedback and all that extra weight which is a nuisance in the city is put to good use and adds to the car's great handling. There's a hint of body roll from the front and this could be due to the front sway-bar bushes, which sadly are not replaceable. To replace them, you need to either chop the fixtures and clamp the sway bars back down or replace the entire sway bar assembly. This is just stupid in my opinion. I'm glad this is not the case for the rear axle sway bushes.

The front seats are the best place to be in this car and here the car feels nice and tight. The rear seat passengers feel a considerably amount of road undulations and I refrained from being here for prolonged periods of time. This could perhaps be a consequence of the ageing of the rear-link axle setup which could use with a bushing overhaul soon.

The ground clearance on this car has been a subject of worry especially when fully loaded with 5 passengers and luggage, but we've had no problems with this car. It can easily take a few beatings and scrapings and the underbody metal guards at the front are a strong reason for this assurance. However, this car has taken us to outskirts of town and on bad rounds with a lot of grace.

[fluidicjoy]

Dealership Service Jobs and Experiences

Our ownership has been relatively fuss-free, with most initial services performed at Volkswagen Vidyut Motors, which is no longer existent as we speak. Contrary to popular belief, our first 5-6 service bills have never crossed the Rs. 11k mark, thus making this a really happy purchase for my dad. We have mainly had only positive service experiences with Volkswagen but have faced the odd instance of a niche part not available, or found some parts unreasonably expensive and in these cases, we have resorted to doing nothing or managing outside. A lot improved on this front when I took charge of maintaining and working on this car and my knowledge and parts base has been steadily increasing thanks to this vehicle.

The car has been bulletproof till date, and it was only the 8th service which was frankly a little disappointing and expensive, since they performed an entire suspension overhaul. It was near about this point that I had just started to drive the Jetta. Prior to this mark, my father ensured the car was serviced but he has been too busy to go and inspect and take interest in what the service folks have been upto. For him, if the car feels right, there’s nothing more to be worried about. It has been my newfound interest and curiosity which led me to understand the things that should and should not be done in service.

Nevertheless, this hefty suspension overhaul surely did cause a huge improvement in the ride. Earlier, the car would scrape quite frequently on moderate speed bumps, but after the partial suspension overhaul, the car stopped scrapping most of those bad bumps. Sure, it does still scrape when loaded, but it's still been an improvement. Then, I actually took an effort to look into how the folks have been maintaining the car, and discovered some slight anomalies in their practices. It turned out that the folks at Vidyut Motors had missed out quite some things as per Volkswagen’s Periodic Schedule and Jetta Repair manuals. They never admitted it and maintained that the work was always performed perhaps off the record, which sounds like a cock and a bull story to me. Here's a click from the last time my Jetta went to Vidyut Motors.

For instance, there was no record of a Brake Fluid change in their entire history, and neither was there any record of the DSG Oil Change at the timed mark. I brought this to the notice of the Dealership Head, and he tried to convince me that some of the records were misplaced due to digitalisation of their service platforms, but I still was not convinced. They were also unable to diagnose and rectify my non-working Cruise Control, and despite multiple complaints, they were unable to give me a verdict. They tried to cite fancy stuff, like the aftermarket Exide Battery being incompatible with the car’s electronics, but the joke of the moment was that the very same aftermarket EXIDE battery was being provided by the dealership themselves.

From the next service, I moved to the other side of town, to VW BU Bhandari, which has been my go to place for everything VAG till date and I’ve had a much better experience here. Sure, like every place this one also has its share of problems, but that’s more like a personnel problem than a core dealer problem in my opinion. At BU Bhandari, I replaced the car’s timing belt kit and DSG gearbox oil and filter, and this service me back by Rs. 42000. Here's a routine picture from BU Bhandari's porch.


A few months later I enquired why the dealership did not replace the water pump at this same instance, but the senior technician smiled and told me as per their experience, the water pump on the 1.9 TDI is not as prone to fail as the notorious water pump from the 1.5, 1.6 and 2.0 TDI, and so they only replace it when the coolant shows signs of contamination. He told me that they have 7-8 cars who have crossed the 2L kilometre mark and were still going strong on their stock water pump. True to his words, the coolant on this car, is still pink, and the viscosity and hygrometer also didn’t say otherwise.

They could not identify the Cruise Control fault either, but to their credit, they requested for more time to try and diagnose it, but I had other plans for this fix and this Cruise Control fix was how I became friends with Nikhil, who taught me and ignited the automotive fire within me.

Meeting N2Autotech
This short story dates back to early 2017, and I heard about Nikhil Patil (N2Autotech and undoubtedly one of the most talented and knowledgable VAG group individuals in India) for the first time from a fellow YouTube creator based in Mumbai and I requested for his phone number. I called him and told him that my cruise control is non-functional and the folks at Volkswagen have not been able to solve it. Nikhil informed me that he can try but also told me that he had not worked on too many Jettas before. My friend Kartik (a fellow Vento head) and I decided to go and meet him and take our chance. He first made a list of possible causes for a non-working Cruise Control and quickly ruled out the Brake Switch. Then, using VCDS, he tested the Cruise Control stalk and determined there was an issue with the contact switch as he found traces of corrosion. We then procured an electrical connector spray and tried to see if the contact could be corrected.

Later, it was determined that there was still an underlying wiring issue, and so the Steering wheel was removed for the first time in the history of the car and the stalks were accessed and our culprit was right in front of us. The wire from the cruise stalk was broken and fixing it with a repair wire and shrink wrap instantly restored the cruise functionality in our car. It was such a happy moment and when I felt it was time to pay him for his time and effort, he simply refused to accept any payment and thanked me for trusting him to work on my car.

[fluidicjoy]

Known Niggles and Fixes
The MK5 Jetta is often referred to as a Golf with a Boot and its niggles are no secret. There are plenty of known niggles which is no surprise considering how many vehicles the Volkswagen Group sold and they are well documented by popular YouTubers like the HumbleMechanic. I was amused since 7/10 things I read about have been true about my car.

List Of Issues We've Faced

• Sagging Headliner
• Window Door Lock Actuators
• Window Regulator Rope Breakage
• Some Trim Breakage, Rattles.

Sagging Headliner
Sagging headliners have been characteristic of many Volkswagen sedans sold in India and my car's headliner gave up around the 10th year mark. It started sagging from the C-pillar and started obstructing visibility, which was when we decided to have it fixed. Consulting Volkswagen was obviously a bad idea, and they quoted a ridiculous 65k bill for replacing the entire headliner. Through my father's circles, I found out about a garage who had fixed an Audi A4's headliner at a fair price. So I got into touch with Mr. Amin Tehrani, from Federal Auto and the gentleman gave me a quote of around 10k with taxes for the entire job and said the job would take 2 days.

I received an incredibly positive vibe after speaking with him and actually meeting him and I left the car in peace. Frankly, not many even realise the headliner has been redone. It's been done that immaculately.


Rear AC Vent Trims
The rear AC Vents on this car are susceptible to frequent damage especially if you frequently ferry 5 passengers. It particularly doesn't help that these vents protrude and eat into the 5th middle man's space. And it certainly isn't nice to have that hump in the middle. Many times as rear passengers need to shift to the right most seat in the rear, they've ended knocking the AC vent trims and damaging the vents. For a very long time, I did not bother to have these replaced since I drove alone or with a friend, for the most part. However, I really missed the directional vent when I was sitting at the rear seat and when my father was at the wheel and so I promptly sourced a new rear AC Vent set for about 1.3k, courtesy Aliexpress. Here's a look at the old and the new part.


The rear drink holder has also been victim to such 3 person seating damage in the rear, and to prevent it from getting stomped to pieces, we had it dismantled and kept it aside entirely.



Window Winder Job
I've seen quite a lot of Volkswagen Jettas with broken Window Winder cords. The window motor continues to run, but the pulley cords happen to break or get jammed. This could partially be due to dust and dirt ingress but in quite a few cases the part fails due to poor quality of plastics used to make the cords and winding gears. We've had 2 window winders go bad in 10 years and both of them were replaced at the dealership at a hefty price of 10k each. This time, the driver side winder rope broke and I could hear a cracking grinding noise as if something was broken. You can hear it and tell something is off. The driver window somehow is the most important window in a car. We need it to pay tolls, give guidance while parking, to communicate and so on. For the majority of 2 years, I was driving this car without a working driver door window and it made my dad really furious once while he was travelling out of town. It was then that I enquired about this part at a part store and to my surprise, they had a reputed brand window winder in ready stock at a really good price of 3.5k. I instantly picked it up and decided to replace it.

I started the work at home and the work began by taking out the inner door pad. Removing the inner door pad gives a great insight at how solid the doors are. The speakers, window motor, and other cables are very well affixed with cable clips. The material of the door pad is also very neat and there's quite a lot of feel good materials on it, both inside and outside. These have surprisingly fared well over the years.

The door design on this car is kinda unique. The door has a removable outer shell and is meant to be removed and replaced if needed. The entire door need not be replaced for minor dings and dongs. What sucks about this design is the fact that the entire outer door skin needs to be taken out for servicing door latches, window winders etc.

Notice the crash sensor on the driver door. The hinges are really well built and this is an excellent reflection of the minor things which constitute this well built machine. The door crash bar needs to be removed for accessing the winder, which is bolted onto the window motor from the inside.

Honestly, the window winder rope can definitely be serviced. It is similar to a cycle mechanical brake wire, but folks who repair these winders charge 2k while a brand new winder costs 3.5k. No points for guessing which way was more convenient and reliable.

Intermittent Door Lock
Another common problem in the MK5 cars I had read about was the failure of the electronic door lock actuators. Again, these can be repaired but the micro-controllers for these locks are a tough find, making it imperative to go for a full door latch assembly replacement, which retails for 15k and is not readily stocked by the dealer. In my car, only the Rear Left Door lock actuator failed after the 10th year mark, and I was lucky to find an aftermarket spare which wasn't breaking the bank.

Heater Coolant Elbow
I was noticing a very slow coolant leak somewhere, but the typical spot for coolant leak in a VAG diesel, the water pump assembly was bone dry. In fact, the car is still on its stock water pump as we speak. I have heard similar stuff from a few other 1.9 TDI PD engine owners, so they were probably built robust unlike the 2.0 TDI horror stories which we've heard about. The reservoir was losing coolant every 10-15 days, but not to the extent that it would empty itself.

I purchased a VW approved coolant and topped the reservoir. All for good for a few weeks. The car wasn't overheating, the coolant level wasn't dropping and so I stopped worrying. But I still felt there was either a coolant consumption or a leak. I was hoping it'd be the later. I started looking around hoses and finally noticed a leaking pair of elbows near the engine firewall. Turns out that they were hoses leading to the interior heating coil. I looked up the part numbers 1K0122291H and 3B012291B and started finding them online, but I found nothing. I looked for them in local stores, but nobody seemed to have them. I found them on Aliexpress, but they were expensive and Aliexpress wasn't delivering back them. So, I kept topping up till I found a solution.

Ultimately, Volkswagen came to my rescue and sourced the same pair of parts within 2 days and handed me the car after the 3rd day after a bill of 3k, out of which the hoses accounted for 2300, the rest being coolant and labour for pressure testing. This was yet another pleasant dealership experience with Volkswagen BU Bhandari, Pune. And its been a year since then, and I've never had trouble with the coolant. The car's coolant bottle is also surprisingly crystal clear and hasn't withered like other vehicles I have seen and heard off.

[fluidicjoy]

DIY : Annual Engine Service

I really wanted the experience of servicing my Jetta on my own, and I saved and ordered common hand tools and basic equipment I'd need for this task. I invested in a 3 Ton Floor Jack, a pair of jack stands, a Stanley 1/2 inch drive kit, and few other miscellaneous bits like wrenches, spline bits, torx bits and it is only the Jack has let me down, since it just collapses instead of softly releasing itself. Again, this could probably just have something to do with the jack hydraulics, but I don't want this to hog my first service experience, which was a lot of effort, but insanely satisfying at the same time! This car was happily being serviced at the dealership, but the last two dealership service bills for Suspension, DSG Oil, Timing Kit, Brakes was pushing my father closer to consider selling this car. He had happily moved onto a preowned Evoque further giving a secondary status to this work I for one, loved this car, and was waiting to drive it ever since I was a kid, and so I convinced him to keep it for a little longer and promised to find ways to reduce the service bill. Now the only way to reduce costs on a German car was to maintain it yourself, or find an aftermarket garage and since I had the itch to try it myself, I took tons of inspiration from ChrisFix and the rest as they say is history! Another strong reason was trying out the magical LiquiMoly TopTec 4100.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBL5meI9pIg&t=3s

To pen down my after-thoughts about this job, it was tough servicing this car at home for multiple reasons. The car is insanely heavy and built like a tank. It even has a 15 kg underbody shield made of metal protecting the engine bay, which needs to be taken off for changing the oil. Balancing this engine guard for a slim person like me was a month's gym workout with added the added risk of smashing my face. But yeah, I managed to complete the job. The parts were sourced from Boodmo, SparesnCare.com but the later isn't functional anymore. It's a shame such sites have not been able to sustain over time.

[fluidicjoy]

DIY : Cataract Surgery : Headlight Lens Replacement

Headlights are an important aspect concerning road safety, and with time, the headlights on my car had become fairly opaque. The headlights of cars constitute a unique character and identity to the vehicle, and somehow, after nearing the 10 year mark, I felt my headlight lenses were in terrible shape. I found this synonymous to the Eye Cataract. The yellowing and deterioration of the headlight lenses had also reduced the light output to a great extent, which was my primary motivation to try this out.



I tried following popular headlight restoration tutorials which revolved around using mild abrasives like toothpastes to buff the surface off the oxidised layer.



However, I believe this only works great if you put in a lot of effort and if the damage is more localised to the outer surface. I believe in my case, the lenses were clouded from the inside. Still, I did give it a shot but wasn't satisfied with the result. I tried searching for entire headlight bulb assemblies but they were way out of my budget. Beautiful Bixenon headlights from the Golf 5 sold abroad were crossing 60k without accounting for duties, and this kind of sum was out of question for me. I tried enquiring about a new pair of headlights here, but quickly realised the ones in my budget would be 20k a pair, but they were not OEM, but were aftermarket headlight units from Taiwan. After a little more scouting, I found something I wanted to try, a pair of new headlight lenses/shells which were for 1200 rupees, off Aliexpress and I ordered them right away. To seal the headlights in the OE way, I saw experts recommending Butyl based sealants, but I wasn't able to source this, so I kept this problem for the last.



Replacing the headlight lenses requires removal of the headlights, which in turns involves removing of the entire front bumper since one of the long bolts is housed behind the front bumper on each side. Stupid design in my opinion, but it was good fun to remove the chrome grill and the front bumper on my own. Using a Stanley Heat gun, I heated the headlights gradually and cut through the stock sealant. I tried making an oven like most people around the world have, but I guess I was too impatient to wait for the makeshift cardboard oven to do its thing. Nevertheless, I succeeded in taking out the cloudy lens.

The new shells were a perfect replacement part and it was amusing how crystal clear the replacement part was. What is even more fascinating is how these made it to India by Indiapost in top-notch condition, albeit in 40 days. A big shoutout to India Post for their good work.

Let's have a closer look at the OE reflector bowls and special points if you notice the beautiful Volkswagen logo in the Low Beam. Every aftermarket assembly I saw was devoid of this elegant touch, because it was aftermarket of course.

I put everything together with a thick beading of clear silicone gasket and it frankly did a really good job. I had to baby-sit the headlights for 15 mins each and I tried clamping each corner from time to time. It was my first time using a Silicone gasket maker, but it was a fun exercise. It gets a lot easier once you find the right bead size. To reseal the new lens, I was hoping to eventually find the OE spec butyl glue, but it was not easily available here back then. Secondly, it was fairly expensive too. So, I kept faith in silicone, and managed to seal the headlights fairly satisfactorily.

I hate to admit, but silicone worked out to be a great gasket. I won't go on record to say its perfect, but its been just for from the last few years! If I had another chance, I’d do a much better job at the whole thing, but wouldn't mind sticking to silicone. Putting everything back, this is what it now looks like! I’m very satisfied with the increased light output and suddenly, it feels like a brand new headlight at a fraction of the cost.

The headlight output overall is still average in my opinion and its funny how the High Beam points way higher into the sky right from the first day we got the car. Coincidentally this is something I had read in a 2009 TopGear magazine, when I was subscribed to it. From the last 3 years, I have been using Osram Nightbreaker H7 Bulbs in this car and that did improve the road lighting to a considerably extent. I feel the headlights could use a Beam Alignment to further improve the road lighting pattern.

[fluidicjoy]

DIY Brake Services

As my first brake job, I accidentally chose the most difficult axle, the rear one. I added to my own difficulties, since I was working on merely a jack stand and a hydraulic jack, while doing this work merrily calls for a hydraulic lift, considering the limiting space and leverage on a ground jack stand. You can watch this video if you need to do this yourself. I believe this procedure would be similar on a number of Volkswagen Group vehicles with a rear disc brake. The key things to take home, M14 XZN bolts are not meant to be retightened and I needed to order them from Europe, since the Volkswagen dealership did not have these in stock. They supposedly placed the order, but they never made it to them for weeks, and I ended up importing them at a hefty premium, but I was happy I was doing the job right.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miOLBFWIV7o

I'll try and share some extracts from this brake job. It was a pain to break the M14 XZN Triple Square bolts free. The part number of these bolts is N 91006802 and you'd need two bolts per side. I couldn't find the OEM bolt so found an equivalent made by FEBI, which was just as good. These need to be torqued down to 90Nm with a half extra turn as per the owner's manual and there was no way I could have tightened these down on a floor jack considering the limited space.Moreover, tightening these M14 XZN bolts requires a special Wobble Extension and a Torque wrench and I did have a torque wrench, but I did not have a wobble extension nor did I have the budget to invest in one. So, I tightened the assembly as much as I could and headed to my Volkswagen dealer to tighten these bolts down to spec. At the dealership, they were deemed to be loose, as I'd expected. Notice how little room there is to insert an extension bit. This precisely explains why the Wobble Extension is prescribed. This is also a good opportunity to see the factory condition multi-link independent suspension in its glory.


They had to search a lot, but finally found this wobble extension, verified the torque spec and tightened down these bolts on the lift. The master technician told me that this was the first time they had torqued down the rear calliper carrier and installed new bolts on any Jetta. This leaves me wondering about why the dealership is not proactively following every protocol in the book which the company prescribes with utmost sincerity. I mean there's a reason they say the things they say right?


Front Brake Job

Everything looks splendid on camera, but this is what the off-camera scene is when I'm working on something in our garage. I actually did this second, but it was a lot easier and less technically exciting compared to the rear one. This front brake system is made by brake giant ATE and I've had no complaints from the Front braking system. However, the left brake disc had developed a lip and I felt mild shudders on the steering wheel making me want to replace the front brakes on this car. On opening the front left caliper, I noticed a badly worn out pad while the driver side calliper and brake pads had a near perfect brake wear. Another quick observation that I remember now, is that the passenger side disc rotors were badly stuck onto the hub while the driver side rotors came out with a light tap. I wonder where this preferential corrosion stems from. Probably our road drainage patterns?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5bPy6dMFbs

Engine Bay Degreasing, Glowplug Wiring Repair

Another activity I recall doing was an engine bay degreasing. The engine bay had gotten all dusty and dirty and I thought it'd be a good idea to give it a little wet wiping. So I used an air-blower first and cleaned the engine bay. Then, I sprayed some water on the engine bay, after isolating all of the electronic connectors and started the moping work. By the time I was half-way done, I noticed the glow plug wiring harness boot cracked in a few places.

I wanted to inspect the harness and tugged at it a little, but it would just crack and disintegrate further. The rubber had cracked and become brittle and the heat and dirt accumulated over 11 years can be blamed for this. Since it wasn't feasible to replace the harness immediately, considering it was 6k and a rare part to ask for, I ended up rejuvenating it with some tape.

[fluidicjoy]

Windshield Wiper Motor Replacement
One fine day, I noticed the windshield wiper jets wouldn't release any fluid. In fact, the mechanical motor noise vanished altogether. It was time to get into diagnose mode and I started by inspecting all the fuses.



To know what fuse corresponds to what, it was necessary to refer to the Owner's Manual and I dare say the Owner's manual of this vehicle is pretty damn good. My Polo on the other hand doesn't have the corresponding Fuse Diagram and I had to dig it out from the web.



Nothing related to the Wipers was fused and now the only thing left was to inspect was the Wiper Motor itself. This is what the old Wiper Motor looks like. It is a fairly simple device which clamps onto the Windshield Fluid reservoir and has just one exit valve since this car doesn't have Headlight Washers and doesn't have a rear wiper as well.

I replaced it with an OEM part by MEYLE which I purchased from Sparesncare.com which is sadly no longer in service. It was a nice site which I would regularly use back in those days.



Removing the old Wiper motor revealed a lot of contamination which probably caused failure of the Wiper motor over time. I replaced it, refit all the electrical connectors, tested the new part for water leaks and topped up the windshield reservoir with a fresh windshield cleaner and distilled water, since I had some lying around.


Since I had to take the foglights out to access this part, I also took this as a chance to clean the dirty foglight lenses with a mild abrasive toothpaste.


45F2 ABS ESP Recall
The 45F2 Recall is a very notorious recall campaign conducted by the VAG group worldwide. A quick Google search will give you a run-down of how much agony and financial trouble this particular problem has caused a number of users. If you're not interested to look it up, I'll brief you nevertheless. You can read more about it on the official document here. After examining numerous instances of brake failures in Volkswagen MK5 cars, Volkswagen determined that they had built quite a lot of faulty ABS ESP modules in a substantial number of their vehicles made in 2009-2010. The ABS ESP modules would fail and would render helpless. To determine if a particular vehicle had a faulty ABS ESP module, Volkswagen was calling vehicles for a software update where the module would inform the dealer if it had a tendency to fail. The module would sent a particular approved fault code "Implausible Signal" at a particular address and only then, was the module to be replaced. I came to know about this recall through an email and a letter sent by Volkswagen Group Sales India explaining this action. I had promptly sent our car for this software update and the car came back the same day. After 2-3 days, conspicuously, the ABS-ESP Module failed and I had the ABS-ESP lights flashing on the instrument cluster.



I connected VCDS and discovered this exact same implausible signal fault code at the said address and noted it down in the auto scan. I cleared the fault, drove around and the fault came back in 3-4 days of driving. I sent the car back to the dealer informing him to replace my module.

They took the car back, cleared the fault with ODIS and sent it back saying the problem was finally rectified. Then, I was about to head to Ahmednagar with my mother and my friend and half-way into the journey, the brake pedal feel changed and the ABS ESP lights lit up. I knew for a fact that the same thing had happened again. This time I was furious. The dealership had plainly acted incompetently and not done their part but since I was midway, I had no choice but to head ahead. I inspected the braking system and the car was still braking perfectly, but there was no doubt that the brake felt different and the brake assist settings I was used to were definitely not active. The pedal travel had also increased, but the hydraulic brake servo seemed to be just fine, so I went forward and completed my journey and returned to the Pune dealership the next day. The problem however did not dampen any spirits and it was still an amazing and safe drive, even without ABS and ESP working. I probably had a taste of what the good old cars from back in the days were like. I ended up using Cruise Control to modulate the speed in the absence of my improved Brake Assist and it was quite an experience in itself. So yes, Cruise Control was still functional when the ABS-ESP was down.

I told the dealership to read the 45F2 bulletin properly and sent copies of the same to the Dealer Service Head and also attached photos taken on their own ODIS device to highlight that it was indeed the same fault code. As per VW Global, the dealership was to replace only the electronic module as part of the recall, but it turns out the dealership was not technically confident to perform only an electronic module replacement. They started putting the blame on me and said this recall is not applicable to my car and asked me to replace the entire ABS-ESP Hydraulic Pump Assembly which was north of 1.4L rupees. I was furious since this issue only began after they updated the software as part of the safety campaign. I refused to take the car back and asked them to do the needful. Since my car was out of warranty, I had just serviced it at home with my approved oil of choice, LiquiMoly TopTec 4100 and had duly changed all filters - Air, Fuel, Oil, Cabin. Ultimately, after a verbal battle, the dealership caved and agreed to solve the fault by replacing the entire ABS-ESP Module free of cost, under goodwill warranty, but under one condition. They wanted me to service the car with them again, and for the greater good, I paid 15k, and got my car serviced at the dealership again. So for all those who have faced a similar problem, do make a note of what error the vehicle throws up, and don't pay for things which are covered under a recall. In my case, I had to compromise to get a major problem solved, but I'm still grateful for Volkswagen's help nevertheless.

LiquiMoly Diesel Additive
Right before the lockdown, when I was chilling in Camp area in Pune with my friends, I found a MANN Distributor and picked up Air and Fuel Filters for my steed. MANN is the Oil, Air and Fuel Filter OEM for a number of international Volkswagen TDI engines and MANN was the brand I found listed on the OE part when I performed the Engine service at home. I got a sweet deal and so picked up a few parts and introduced myself to the owner of the firm, who was excited to meet someone who wanted to maintain his car himself. When the lockdown kicked in, I found myself with nothing to do, and decided to change the Fuel Filter, since the service was almost due.

I wanted to try the LiquiMoly Diesel additive to see if it made any difference. This Diesel additive is not to be confused with a LiquiMoly Diesel Injector Purge. The diesel additive is to be added to the Fuel Tank directly and is supposed to last a few thousand kilometres. I thought I'd try it after I changed the Fuel Filter and so the job was underway. The first time I changed the Fuel Filter, I took exactly 15 minutes.

This time, owing to funny circumstances like slippery butter fingers and dropping bolts deep inside the engine bay, I took close to 2 hours to do everything right. Long story short, everything turned out to be great but I did not find the Diesel Additive to do any wonders to the refinement of my noisy 1.9 TDI PD. So I don't think I'd spend on it ever again.

Engine Mount Replacement

My car which was serviced with Volkswagen dealers for majority of our ownership was never suggested an engine mount change. It was my friend Sushant, partner at The Mechanix Automotive, Pune who suggested I replace the engine mounts on my car to dramatically reduce the harsh vibrations. I was open to this improvement since the vibrations had become worse after the remap I had got done the year before. I started hunting for parts and discovered the MK5 Jetta has a total of 5 engine mounts. An engine side hydraulic mount, a transmission mount, a dog-bone mount and two subframe bushes which need the subframe to be taken down.

Here's a few pictures of my older mounts and yes, my engine mounts almost served me for 12 years, which is just incredible!


The Volkswagen part cost for these was crossing Rs. 45000 and so I opted to source ZF-Lemforder engine mounts which are reputed spares and are OE to the Volkswagen Group. I made a short video on this job and I'll leave a link to it here.

https://youtu.be/0QhT1MNfIlU

Couple of things worth mentioning about this task. Volkswagen advises replacement of the Mounting and Subframe Bolts with brand new ones and advises torquing them to the right specification and true to that, the bolts indeed should be replaced else the sub-frame is susceptible to creaking and the mounts do not get as tight as they should. Unlike the Polo Vento, the camber on this MK5 Golf 5 platform is adjustable and will most certainly change after the sub-frame is removed for reinstalling the sub-frame bushes. Adjusting the camber is highly recommend along with a full wheel alignment to prevent stray pulling after this major suspension work. Would also advise you to have a look at the Engine Mounting packing and manufacturing date. I was in touch with the technical team from ZF-Lemforder India and the product engineer insisted I demand only the newest possible stock for long life of the newly replaced engine mount and this makes perfect sense since rubber as an engineering commodity doesn't like to sit around.

[fluidicjoy]

DIY Stolen Trunk Logo
So yes, back in 2010, the Volkswagen badge was indeed a novelty and its funny our rear badge was stolen twice. The first time, it was stolen in Mumbai at a fairly reputed restaurant. When we returned back to Pune, we had it replaced from the dealership at a fair premium of 6000 rupees. And within a few months, it was stolen again, this time in Pune. It's funny, both of the times the logo was stolen in different capacities. The experts at Mumbai stole the entire logo and cleansed the parameter thoroughly, while the Pune folks could not remove the entire badge and had to leave the logo frame behind.



The badge less car was an eye-sore and we tried to procure them a few times, but the dealer just didn't have the part in stock for a really long time. My father was not a fan of the recurring expense and decided to let go. When I started doing things to the car, I started finding a logo and that was probably my first encounter with Aliexpress, 5 years back. I found a genuine logo at a really good price of 1200 rupees and ordered it.


The adhesive was great and the quality was brilliant as well. I installed it and the car was suddenly back to its former glory. It's funny how much elegance a single chrome badge adds to this car.


DIY : RCD510 to RCD330 to RCD340

So the Jetta came with a sweet sounding RCD510 but it was barely a relevant head-unit by 2016 standards. To add insult to injury, Volkswagen had given the RCD510 without the 9W Bluetooth module. For a really long time, right from 2012, I tried getting the BT-Audio Tab to work, but it was only later that I realised that the 9W module was just absent. That is when I stumbled upon RCD330 made by DESAY and figured it was a straight fit for the Jetta which came with a Quadlock Connector. I ordered it from Aliexpress and the total came to be around 10k inclusive of duties and shipping. Now it was time to install it and to prepare myself, I binged all Golf 5 Radio Replacement videos. I fished around for old hotel key cards and gift cards to use as a pry tool.

What sucks about the MK5 Jetta's radio trim, is that its necessary to remove the top ventilation panel entirely to access the radio screws. Nevertheless, I was so excited that I decided to do this job at night, like a fool, but it all turned out just fine in the end.



If you've hunted for an RCD330 yourself, you know how many different versions and sellers these units had on Aliexpress. Some were made by Desay, while a few newer ones then were NONAME branded, which could support CarPlay with a firmware flash. Sadly, the one I purchased only added Bluetooth, OPS and Reverse Camera provision while taking away the CD Drive, something my parents dearly love using, even today, but this was still a big upgrade in what was now starting to feel like an older car. I made a thorough YouTube review on the pros and cons of this RCD330 and even though I had a Galaxy S7, one of the very few platforms to support MirrorLink, I quickly realised how terrible and incompetent it was, the very same day.



A few more months down the line, we started seeing RCD340s in China which were firmware flashed 187B radio units but they added a very valuable feature which is ubiquitous in most 2020 cars. Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, and so I placed an order for it and paid about 18k including customs. It was nearly twice as expensive as the RCD330, but luckily I could sell the RCD330 at cost, to prevent a big hole to my meagre savings. Post RCD340, I've been really happy with the car's feature set. I would take pride and tease my dad that the Jetta was now even more feature rich than his preowned Evoque. The sound quality of the Chinese origin RCD340s leaves a lot to be desired, and I really miss how good the Bosch made RCD510 would sound in this car. Next up, was the Reverse Camera, and I headed to my go-to-guy Nikhil for installing it. I had procured everything I thought I'd need and drove to his house to get things underway.

DIY License Plate AV Camera
Installing the reverse camera was quite a lot of effort on this MK5. I did not find one that fit in the Boot Handle, and the other license plate options that I found online were not matching the dimensions of my license plate light.

Finally, after an extensive hunt, I found something which was close enough to work. Now I expected everything to be bolt on, but I was so wrong. It was coincidentally Nikhil's first MK5 camera retrofit, and so it was a new adventure for both of us.

We hit our first speed-bump when we saw the there was no clearance for passing a reverse camera because of a metallic plate which shielded the boot lid buttons and license plate lights. The sheet metal was not very thick and so we tried using a flame to make a suitable opening to pass the camera wire. Finally, everything was wired in suitably using a Delay Timer and a fuse tap in the front of the car, and it was time to test, and we were faced with a Black screen. We traced every connector, double checked power using multimeters and 12V test bulbs and still didn't know what was wrong. Then Nikhil suggested trying a different camera and voila! The camera came to life and it was my camera kit that was the culprit. The resolution was pretty good too and the camera proved really useful to me.

There was still one more issue that we wanted to solve with the RCD retrofit on this MK5 Jetta and that was the Steering Controls. Previously, we had tried a couple of different Steering Wheel Emulators, but still couldn't get the Audio buttons to work with RCD330. After a few months, Nikhil discovered that I'd need a newer version of a Steering Wheel Control Module to make the new radio work with my old buttons, and I was really excited about this. I had learnt to live with dead left side buttons, but his finding solved this issue for me partially. The Volume Up and Volume Down would work, but the track controls were still not functional. Solving this, would require a newer steering wheel, and so the hunt was on!

Passat Steering Wheel Upgrade + DIY Leather Wrap


Since I've had the stock steering wheel for close to a decade, the original leather had become bald. It was still very functional, had really nice and tight paddle shifters and it was still not torn anywhere, but it wasn't so exciting to hold anymore. There was no extra contour or meat to hold at typical clock positions, and it was a proper round wheel. It was then that an opportunity knocked my door, and I got to know Ajeesh, from GermanDNA wanted to sell his stock Passat steering wheel since he was moving onto something better and beefier. I was skeptical about buying a used wheel, but the price was tempting so I bit the bullet and paid for it. On receiving it, I found out that it had an Airbag from TAKATA, and I was crazy paranoid since the name TAKATA had become a synonym for fear considering so many recalls and issues being associated with that brand name globally. I wrote to Volkswagen India, sent them the part number, manufacturing sequence and other shop codes of the TAKATA Airbag, and received an answer from them promptly that the listed Airbag was not a part of any Warranty/Safety recalls as per Volkswagen. With this piece of information, I decided to move forward and install this steering wheel in my car. It was the first time I'd be changing a steering wheel on my own and I was super precautious.

I read each shop manual twice, removed the battery terminal, pumped the brakes to discharge static electricity, touched ground straps, and even used a mirror to get a neat view of which locks I was to disengage. Looking back at these things today, I realise a lot has changed in 3 years, since I've replaced at least a dozen steering wheels and airbags now. The airbag design on these cars was really robust. The clips were built to last and the airbag removal was frankly a breeze. Volkswagen switched to a different style of airbag clip for the Polo Vento Jetta Tiguan in India, and it frankly is a lot more complicated and requires a lot more finesse to avoid damaging springs, housings, clips etc. After about 15 mins, the new wheel was back in place, and it was time for a test drive!

The new wheel was not in the best condition leather wise, but this was not unexpected considering its age. However, I really had a good time with this wheel and it fulfilled its purpose really well. I could now control everything on the radio with this upgrade and had a slightly better wheel to hold. Here's a still from my quick highway spin with this new wheel installed.



I was next on the lookout for a perforated leather wrapping kit to improve the aesthetics of this wheel, and again, Aliexpress came to the rescue and I found a kit with red stitching kit. If I remember correctly, I believe I received this kit just just during the start of the 2020 lockdown and could not find a skilled artist to have this wrapped elegantly. However, I was determined to try and eventually managed to complete what I started. For 900 rupees, the material and the kit was really neat. The whole thing could have been done better had I taken the paddles out and back then, I did not know how to, but today I can and I hope to mention it on my Polo thread.



I admit its not the slickest job in the world and I've been incredibly lazy to cut the loose and free ends. It's far from it to be fair and I'm definitely not proud of my efforts, but I'm glad I tried and it was actually a lot of fun. For what its worth, I actually started getting better towards the end of the job.



DIY 0K to 8K OPS Retrofit
So the MK5 Jetta Volkswagen brought to India, was without any kind of Parking Aid, and this sorely sucked in my opinion. For a car this long, which had the rest of the pre-requisites like a compatible radio, this feature would have been a boon to have from the factory. In fact, Rear 4K Parking Assist was the least Volkswagen could have done for this car, but I guess fate had other plans for this car. We enquired multiple times with Volkswagen, but the Volkswagen Genuine Sensor Kits they were offering were standalone units not integrating with the stock radio. My father found an accessory guy who promised to match the body panels, and so we got parking sensors installed a year later. These sensors were spliced to the Reverse Light, but Volkswagen never made a big deal about warranty for this aftermarket install. With Nikhil’s help, I upgraded this MK5 Jetta to support 8K OPS. I had to rework the entire parking sensor system and it seemed like a tough job but I was determined to do this myself yet I felt technically handicapped at the same time. I had not reworked any stock electrical connector on any car before and I was under-confident to access the CAN-GATEWAY, one of the most important components on these PQ35 Platform vehicles. For the Polo, the OPS system connects to the BCM directly, which has an incorporated Gateway. So, I sourced the kit and headed to Nikhil’s place to understand how the kit works.



Nikhil is very fast at his work, and within 15 minutes, we had already gotten the OPS Kit bench tested and up and running, without moving even a single bumper. Then, he left the Gateway in place, and challenged me to complete the rest of the work myself.



Little did I know back then, that it would take me a day and a half, to take out both bumpers, interior trims, lay the harnesses along the vehicle, drill holes in the bumper and then reconnect the sensors. I did not have a drill machine and so I called a friend for help, who happily came by to help me with some muscle power, which I thought I’d need for taking out the Rear Bumper, something I had never done before. I also had to order a pair of drill bits for cutting an appropriate sized hole on the bumper.



With the help of my bestfriend Ashutosh, who not only brought his father's drill along but also helped me test the sensors and fit the bumpers, and of course under my darling Kuki's supervision, the car was put back together. It was during my testing phase, that I realised I had placed the rear OPS sensors slightly lower with respect to the ground. This was causing a portion of the road to pickup sometimes, but thankfully, I have rear OPS in conjunction with a reverse camera, and I think this should be fine for the most part. What has been brilliant though, is the front OPS and I love how much simpler it is now to parallel park this beauty. So you win some, you lose some I guess.

Aftermarket Painting for Bumpers

The old aftermarket sensors were thrown out and I temporarily filled the spot with white cement to prevent water ingress till I got the bumper fixed for good. I wanted to get the bumpers properly painted and fixed up since I was finally done with a full-fledged OPS, and a family friend working with Volkswagen recommended a garage to me to get it done at a fair price. I wanted to get it done from Volkswagen, but they were not interested in repairing my older bumpers since replacement is more their thing, as one would expect.



After the job was done, I thought I was staring at a beautiful new car, which was looking back at me without even a number plate, and I was really happy with this decision to get the car bumpers painted. However, I was not happy with the way they had dealt with the body lines. They were a lot loose compared to how good it was before, but nevertheless, I decided to ignore it and enjoy the shine of new paint.

I was happy and so I even clicked a picture with their entire team for their effort. The first few months were good, but over time, I have come to believe that I should have had faith in another team considering how badly the new paint was chipping off at a few places. Again, one learns from experience, and sometimes, the hard way.

DIY: A Stupid Battery Drain
While I was collecting the car, the folks at the garage were concerned about my car alternator or battery since the car was continuously dying, and so I knew I had to take care of that. The EXIDE battery in the car was nearing the 4 year mark, and so I thought it was something that needed replacement first. I had a new AMARON battery installed this time but the car still would die on me every 2-3 days and I knew something was wrong. I read about electrical systems and studied how alternators and car Electricals work, and started finding out my culprit. Somehow, I was never convinced the alternator was at fault since it was still managing to power the car to about 13.8V with full load. I checked voltage drops across the casings and never found a leakage current further strengthening my verdict that the alternator was just fine.



Nikhil felt the OPS was perhaps incompatible with my stock Gateway since it was indeed leaving a CANBUS Extended Feature Unavailable warning on VCDS. So, I ordered an MK6 Jetta CAN Gateway ending in AJ and swapped the Gateway. I had to code in all of the modules present in the stock car, but in the end, I could not code in the Vehicle Anti-Theft unit and couldn't get the Airbag fault to go. This probably implied incompatibility with my older unit and so I went back to my old Gateway. Then I tried the good old ways to test a battery drain and started singling out fuses to identify what was leaking current.



There was a definitive parasitic drain visible on the ammeter, but I was still unable to determine which system was causing the issue. I checked the fuseboxes and for some reason was receiving continuity in quite a lot of interconnected fuses making me suspect an internal short somewhere. Till I found a solution, I decided to undo the battery negative each time I parked the car and I have literally even done this on public roads. I have opened the hood, locked the car, undone the 10mm negative terminal nut and then banged the hood shut. Well, a guy gotta do what he gotta do. Quite a lot of my professors have stopped by and asked me if I'm an electrical engineering student working on a project, and all I could do was sheepishly smile hiding the inconvenience I had been subjected to.

It was one evening when I was about to start for home that I found the culprit. I unlocked the car and noticed the Reverse Camera LED light-up. Now my OPS and reverse camera were wired to the same fuse-tap, but none of them were supposed to power on with a constant source. This precisely was the problem. The fuse tap had been moved to a constant voltage source causing a constant drain. I moved the fuse tap to a verified ignition switched power source and then checked if the leakage current vanished and it indeed had!


DIY : ORBIZ IND Style Number Plates
Gel plates and fancy number plates have been popular from many years and with the new paint job I had given the car, I really wanted the Jetta to look a little special. I enquired locally and found prices touching 3000 for a pair of plates and decided to look elsewhere. I found a few exciting designs at a reasonable price on ORBIZ, a popular plate maker probably based in Kerala. I placed the order online and was waiting for any updates on the parcel tracking etc. To my disbelief, I received no communication for over a week. I tried calling their contact numbers but got to speak to a new guy each time, who had no idea about my order. Then I probably realised the website backend information is not available with these local folks who run the show in Kerala and wrote an email to the web team to enquire. I did not receive any reply for another few days, but I received the plates and brackets by then.

The material looked promising but I realised the plate frames were smaller than the plate size, and this was something which should not have happened since the sizes were properly mentioned on their website. I was sent a single replacement shortly and I decided to swap out my older dented plates. Using my new Black and Decker Cordless Drill-Screw driver, I unscrewed the old plates.

It was nice to see a piece of foam sent by the factory which was still in impeccable condition.



I screwed in the new plate bottom frame by hand and tightened it with the electric screw-driver. The new number plate was to be simply press-fitted between the two brackets. For the front, I decided to screw the plates directly onto the bumper board. In European countries, this is perhaps an adhesive. The end results have been fabulous and well within my budget of 1500 rupees.



TuneOTronics Remap
I've never felt the stock power and torque of this 1.9 TDI DSG Jetta to be inadequate, but at 105BHP, it was definitely not on the beastlier side. Over the years, the car had started to feel a little lazy and remapped 1.9 TDIs belonging to my friends sounded a lot better and definitely were a lot quicker. That was how I got the remap itch and coincidentally, a lot of tuners were coming down to Amby Valley for the annual Valley Run. As a driver, I like to boost upto 100-120 km/h and I stay there. I don't think I commonly have it in me to drive any faster though I believe the cars I have are definitely capable of a lot more. So its not like a remap was a must for me, but I was open to experiencing this improved power that everyone wants today and so I started asking around. Nikhil had an excellent opinion about ToT's VAG Diesel remaps, and so I gave them a high preference. I knew the car is old, and quite a lot of things could go wrong in what was turning out to be a reliable high mileage car, but I decided to be brave and drove to Amby Valley, where my car was mapped. When the map was being sent, I requested for a real modest map, and reiterated that I was no speed demon and wanted a little more improvement at best.

The ECU Read write on the 1.9 TDI ECU took quite a long time and by the time the map was flashed, the old Exide car battery had just dipped to 12.04V. Vivek from ToT who was flashing my car insisted I get a new battery as soon as possible. When the map was flashed, it was time to head to the actual airport strip where the real action was happening. ToT had a team participating in the event, and they were kind enough to lend me a Team badge so I could enter and watch pristinely tuned vehicles from across India. The Valley Run was so much different in non-covid times. Coming to the map itself, I was driving in my normal style, with part throttle and we were Enroute Amby Valley. I was asked if I notice any difference and I frankly said there was no difference. Then Vivek peeped from the back seat and noticed I drive around at practically 20-25% part throttle. He asked me to push it and I did and I was blown away! The difference was unreal. My lazy car was a lot more strong and I could feel the surge. In fact, in the short 20-25 kilometre course, I noticed the traction control lighting up as I accelerated on corners and this was something I had never experienced before. I was still fairly conservative in my driving style and it was only on my return journey that I drove the car the hardest I've driven it in my life. The Jetta has always been a cruiser on beautiful highways, but it has never felt like a beast. Whenever we've wanted more from it, we always had to try shifting to Sports or use the Paddles for an instant downshift. On my return journey, I didn't have to touch the paddles even once. The car was pulling so strongly even in the 4th and 5th gear that I was easily cruising past other graceful sedans. I've never been able to overtake this effortlessly before and it was all thanks to the remap. I was told the performance would be even stellar with a performance air-filter. When I reached home, and parked the car, the gearbox felt noticeably worked up, for the first time. I literally grunted after I shifted to P, and it was frankly not a nice feeling. I noticed this a few more times after a series of long drives, but it somehow settled after 300kms. I guess this has something to do with the gearbox adjusting to the added power of the remap. I liked the remap in general, and my engine hasn't been smoking or hasn't ever felt abnormal at any point of time. However the remap did hasten the weak engine mounts which perhaps were already about to throw in the towel. My older tyres weren't doing justice to the car and so for the first time ever, I opted for better tyres than going for the stock Goodyear replacement.

[fluidicjoy]

Places It's Been To
My Jetta hasn't travelled too much beyond city limits and it went to Hyderabad for the first time only recently, while going to its new home. Here's a series of some of my favourite places which I've often taken my car to. To give you a small list, my internship places, my college, my go to garage The Mechanix, Amby Valley, Mumbai, Lavasa, Mahabaleshwar, Kolhapur, Pavana, Mulshi, Sinhagad Fort and these are all local places you can lookup and visit if you haven't already.












The Little Things
Most of the upgrades and maintenance work performed on this car has been done under the supervision of my favourite supervisor Kuki. In fact if I consider the plant date of this vehicle, then Kuki and the Jetta are nearly the same age.


My Jetta has never let us down on a trip. And each time after a good comfortable, spirited trip, I’ve come home and written in my diary. “Jetta never disappoints.” and this is really true about this car.

At 12 years of age, it sure has its share of niggles which can be a buzzkill, like a random rattle or something which has dictated attention, but once you cruise past 2000 RPM and hear the throaty growl of this PD engine coupled with this fantastic smooth DQ250, you can easily forget all about it. Playing some good music and setting your destination using Android Auto or CarPlay is a cherry on the top!

What's Next?
Present times and life developments have led to less transit and more work from home for most of us. We have been a family of 4 drivers, but my mother prefers to drive our i10, so that only left me and my father with our Jetta. He has very happily transitioned onto a Tiguan, which is a lot more luxurious and comfortable to him, offering him a better driving position, and with a Masters on the horizon for me, there was only so much this gem would have been driven. It's been graceful, but old. And it hasn’t been super demanding, but its crazy how good it is, that you naturally end up spending your energy, money, love and most importantly your time with it.


My father has never kept cars in India beyond 6-7 years, but this Jetta changed his perception. Had he had more time, he says he would have loved to keep and love it, but he winks at tells me there will be bigger and better things after this one.

I for one have always felt that this beast can touch the magic figure of 100000kms and and quite a lot of individuals effortlessly have. Some naturally have higher running, but our family never did. But that being said, thanks to having a Jetta, I drove around a lot. Made a few extra trips happen, just to experience the DNA of this robust Diesel engine.

And many times, I did feel frustrated, or annoyed, because some things don't remain the same in a car which is old after all, but the moment the engine crosses 2500, the Jetta just plants itself and glides and all that frustration and negativity just dissolves. That has been the magic of this vehicle for me.

I have often felt, that I hated it for a brief second because of something slightly off, or not so perfect considering its age, but all it took for me was a kick down on that accelerator pedal, to forget all my worries. Considering my present usage pattern of driving to my internships, I could have crossed 1L on my own, had the pandemic not been around, but I know for a fact, good cars don’t like to sit. They perform best when they are driven, loved and cared for.

And with a heavy heart and a few weeks of slow but steady compilation, I complete this thread with a photo to defocus all of the memories that have been swarming in, since our Jetta now belongs to another BHPian and I wish him many more happy, spirited and safe miles with it!