I believe suspension costs nearing Rs 1 lakh and clutch/flywheel costs close to 1L.

BHPian Dinesh Chengalp recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello fellow bhpians,

Have a similar query so replying to your post.

My 2013 Jetta TDI recently got the 1.2 lakh km service done @ PPS Hyderabad. My odometer is at 81K. Got the service, timing belt, brake pads (all 4) and battery replaced at close to Rs 90K. The dealership gave an estimate for further repairs:

• Link rods (suspension)
• C Mounting, Rod bushes
• Front stud oil leakage
• Clutch Kit (I hear a slight clutter only when starting to press clutch)
• Flywheel

When asked for an estimate he quotes around Rs 2 lakh figure. I believe suspension costs nearing Rs 1 lakh and clutch/flywheel costs close to 1L.

Are these reasonable? Does anyone get these done at an FNG in Hyderabad reliably? I really want to get it done in the authorized centre as have never given the car out but 2L seems a bit steep and was wondering if there are qualified FNG folks in Hyderabad who can do the evaluation. I live in west Hyd. Really love the car but am worried it doesn't turn into a sinking pit for repairs(though I doubt it as I've not spent on anything other than regular service). Also battling with the quandary of replacing the car... Sorry for the banter and appreciate any leads on FNG and suggestions on the way forward...

Here's what BHPian sunikkat had to say on the matter:

2 lakhs is very steep.

Bilstein B4 suspension (only dampers) which is better than OEM will cost around Rs 48k. And I am sure Monroe / Sachs etc. will cost much lesser too. If you go to a good FNG, I am sure you will save a minimum of 40 to 50k on suspension.

Again 1 lakh for clutch and flywheel seems high for me. When I changed the clutch for my Octavia TDI a couple of years back it cost me only 25k at Skoda. I guess Skoda had reduced the spare parts cost then. Though I did not change the flywheel, I was quoted 45k for the same. So a total of 70k in Skoda service centre.

So I am sure if you go to a good FNG you will definitely save a minimum of 70 to 80k.

Here's what BHPian blogslogger had to say on the matter:

Hey Dinesh,

I live in Gachibowli and had the same quandary. I was quoted 60k for the timing belt, water pump and general service by PPS. So I got them done at Varma Motors at Madhapur for 25k through Geomechanics. And I feel it was decent. There are many German car specialists near Khajaguda. So your best bet would be them.

PPS tends to take 'liberties' while providing an estimate.

I had my headlight washer flap a bit lose. They quoted 8,000 for the plastic part replacement. So I used a bit of plastic glue and stuck the flap to the washer stalk and it has been fine since then.

Here's what BHPian androdev had to say on the matter:

Stick to A.S.S and try to defer the items that don't need immediate repair. I heard good things about this place, though I have not used their service: Man & Machine

Just go window shopping for a car to replace your Jetta and you will happily pay 2L for the service. Consider selling only if the cabin and the car in the general beginning to look worn out. As long as the car looks almost new, it's a lot cheaper to pay for occasional expensive service instead of buying a new car.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

The 2.0L TDI engine is silent & smooth. I get a fuel efficiency of 8 km/l in the city & around 15 km/l on the highways.

BHPian speedracer recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

2nd January marked the 12th birthday of my precious German beauty: the Volkswagen Jetta.

This car is the best car I've owned to date with few to no problems except the occasional ABS sensors going off. In the past, I've owned a BMW 523i, Hyundai Elantra (currently being used alongside the Jetta), Toyota Corolla and the lovely HM Ambassador, but none of them was so easy on me. I remember sending my BMW to the service center every weekend for some or the other issue and ended up selling it at a loss after 3 years, but that's what you get when you buy a second-hand car.

Coming to my ownership experience, the Jetta was purchased for 19.99 lakhs on the 2nd of January 2011. This is the top model, the Highline, with the 2.0 TDI engine which is truly a magnificent beast. So far I've managed to clock 81k kms on the odo, with many more to come. My driving involves a daily 35-40 km commute to my business and the occasional Mumbai-Lonavala drives with the family on weekends.

Likes

• Silent and smooth engine with good fuel economy (gives 8 kmpl in the city and about 15 on the highways).
• Good quality and plush interiors with a wide range of features.
• Properly insulated cabin.
• Huge boot for luggage.
• Comfortable suspension that does not compromise on handling.
• Small steering wheel, weighs up nicely in dynamic mode.
• Automatic headlights and wipers are truly a blessing!
• Strong and sturdy build quality, as expected from a VW.
• 6 airbags.
• Quite feature-loaded - 8-inch anti-glare display with phone connectivity and navigation inbuilt.

Dislikes

(Keep in mind that this car is 12 years old and was way ahead of its time with all the features)

• No rear-wheel/ all-wheel drive.
• Strictly average sound quality from the 10-speaker system.
• Car is front-heavy. Can be easily felt at high speeds if the boot is empty.
• Gearbox is slow in the regular drive mode. Changes to fast shifts in the 'S' mode, however, you can take manual control with the gear lever or paddle shifters.
• I feel the paddle shifters are a tad bit small for my liking.
• Small horn is hard to reach and requires a hard press to work.
• Space is pretty good at the rear, however, a 3rd passenger would be uncomfortable due to the central hump.
• Alloy wheel design is nice but would've preferred bigger wheels.

Just wanted to share my experience with my baby. Attaching a few pics too, enjoy.

Here's what BHPian tilt had to say about the matter:

I know the feeling. Mine's only half as old as yours but has done a lot more kilometers and still feels as good as on the day I bought it.

Here's what BHPian AKSarkar1 had to say about the matter:

Thank you for sharing this occasion with us! IMHO this was one of the best overall offerings by VW in India. All cars age but not many age with grace, the ones that do are called great and that is the case with cars like the Jetta.

Wishing you many more miles ahead with this gem of a car, very happy to see that you have held on to it for 12 years! As a fellow VW owner, I too understand just how hard it is to one-up these cars.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

I've previously owned cars like the BMW 523i, Toyota Corolla, Hyundai Elantra and even the HM Ambassador.

BHPian speedracer recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Today is 2nd January, marking the 12th birthday of my precious German beauty: Volkswagen Jetta

This car is the best car I've owned to date with few to no problems except the occasional ABS sensors going off. In the past, I've owned a BMW 523i, Hyundai Elantra (currently being used alongside the Jetta), Toyota corolla and the lovely HM Ambassador but none of them was so easy on me. I remember sending my BMW to the service centre every weekend for some of the other issues and ended up selling it at a loss after 3 years, but that's what you get when you buy a second hand car

Coming to my ownership experience, the Jetta was purchased for 19.99 lakhs on the 2nd of January 2011. This is the top model, the Highline with the 2.0 TDI engine which is truly a magnificent beast. So far I've managed to clock 81k km on the odometer, with many more to come. My driving involves a daily 35-40 km commute to my business and the occasional Mumbai-Lonavala drives with the family on weekends.

Likes

• Silent and smooth engine with good fuel economy(gives 8kmpl in the city and about 15 on the highways)
• Good quality and plush interiors with a wide range of features
• Properly insulated cabin. Outside noises sound far away.
• Huge boot for luggage.
• Comfortable suspension that does not compromise on handling.
• Small steering wheel, weighs up nicely in dynamic mode.
• Automatic Headlights and Wipers are truly a blessing!
• Strong and Sturdy build quality, as expected from a VW
• 6 airbags
• Quite feature loaded with an 8-inch anti-glare display with phone connectivity and navigation inbuilt.

Dislikes (keep in mind that this car is 12 years old and was way ahead of its time with the features )

• No rear-wheel/ all-wheel drive.
• Strictly average sound quality from the 10 speaker system.
• The car is front heavy. Can be easily felt at high speeds if the boot is empty.
• The gearbox is slow in the regular drive mode. Changes to fast shifts in the 'S' mode, however, you can take manual control with the gear lever or paddle shifters.
• I feel the paddle shifters are a tad bit small for my liking.
• A small horn is hard to reach and requires a hard press to work.
• Space is pretty good at the rear, however, a 3rd passenger would be uncomfortable due to the central hump.
• The alloy wheel design is nice but would've preferred bigger wheels

Just wanted to share my experience with my baby, attaching a few pics too, enjoy.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

The Mk5 Jetta unfortunately is a car where you can't do a lot.

BHPian Varun_HexaGuy recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

After close to ~ 2-months of time, effort and ₹₹₹₹ thrown at it, here's how Natasha has turned out. Still, a few finishing touches left (new ORVMs are a pain to source for instance) but it's almost there.

For starters, the car has been completely repainted in Glasurit Base and Glasurit High Solids Clear. The finish turned out nice. The job was done at Krithi Car Care and a ground-up thread on the Jetta is in the making and I'll cover all of it in detail. There's a slight bit of waviness on a couple of panels, but for the most part, the panels turned out straight. I've asked the guys at Krithi to not polish the car to perfection since I plan to detail it in the future. So, there's an orange peel that's obvious. But hey, I've got a significant part of the clear coat left at my disposal which I can use to correct the paint in the future. Overall, for the paint job alone I'd give the guys a good 9/10. With some areas for improvement of course. Also, the bug to play around with the aesthetics of the car had bit me, big time. The Mk5 Jetta unfortunately is a car where you can't do a lot. So after a lot of back and forth, I'd decided that I'd swap the alloys and call it a day. Chose the OE Atlanta alloys from the Mk6 which were actually available on the Mk5 outside of India (US and EU both). The alloys were picked up used and were handed over to the guys at Krithi for refurbishing them. I'd also decided to get the PPF done for essential parts like the front bumper, hood, mirrors, door edges and door handles.

The steering was refurbished and door pads were redone. The central air conditioning duct has to come from Germany (long wait periods for the parts with these VWs is a thing for me now). Once that's done, the interiors would be free of broken/missing trim pieces. After going through a ton of Mk5 scrapped Jettas, I found quite a few missing bits and now finally my car is near completion.

Next up, the annoying creak from the front end has to be sorted. This only comes for the first drive of the day/drive after a long break (say >3-hrs). Pretty certain it's the front ARB bushes that have aged.

My options are:

• To replace the bushes but finding these is a pain and I'll have to settle for the bushes from Laura etc (slight variation in size; 20.95mm for Mk5 Jetta vs 21mm for Laura)
• To replace the entire front ARB. This is gonna cost a bomb. But is a long term fix. Gravitating towards this only. Yet to finalise though. Will do it soon.

Signing off with a few pics for the viewing pleasure.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

All in all, the car is a treat to drive on all sorts of roads. The only thing I would change in a suspension setup like this is to probably put stiffer dampers.

BHPian vishy76 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

92,000 km update

It hasn't been very long since I updated this thread. As they say in German car ownership, no news means good news. Unfortunately, I have a lot of news to share. However, I will share the minor updates first before moving on to the major ones.

LED DRLs

I have always found the idea of halogen DRLs to be lame. Of course, something is better than nothing, but when you are equipping a car with DRLs; lights that only serve to be fancy (majorly), then why not go the whole hog and put LEDs. In fact, I recently discovered that a close friend's US-spec Jetta comes with LED DRLs integrated into the double barrel halogen setup! Us Indians only got the LED DRLs on the Highline with the bi-xenons.

With the intent to spruce the car up a bit, I decided to explore the idea of putting LED DRLs. I only had two criteria:

• Shouldn't be the cheaper variety which has a whitish tinge to a blue shade rather than being icy white with a hint of blue.
• Should be having an inbuilt resistor so that the bulb monitoring system of the car doesn't cry foul.

The second point needs some explanation for those lucky few who don't have to contend with this feature. Most cars have the ability to monitor all electronics including bulbs and whether they are fused using the CANBUS (essentially a communication line for all electronic modules and components on the car). This makes it easier to find electronic faults instead of testing them manually. A simple DTC scan will tell you what bulb has fused.

Many cars like the Jetta and above take it one step further. If a bulb has fused, an orange error light comes up on the instrument cluster with a corresponding message on the MID stating "check XYZ bulb" or "XYZ bulb fused". How does the car know the bulb is fused? Using internal resistance! If the resistance of the bulb is zero or less than what the system knows it should be, it's assumed the bulb has an issue.

For an LED bulb, the internal resistance is far lesser than a halogen bulb (also the reason why it produces far less heat for the same amount of current and running time). This means the CAN will always throw up an error on start-up as it will think the DRL has fused due to the almost negligible internal resistance of the LED bulb. Hence, it is paramount that the replacement LED has an inbuilt resistor (some resellers call it a chipset too). As the name suggests, the resistor is added in series to the LED so that the final resistance is the same as the halogen it is replacing. The CAN this way will not throw errors. Do note that this applies to all types of factory fitted halogen bulbs on the car.

I casually posted this want of getting LED DRLs on the Jetta owners group, and a member gladly offered his spare set that was lying around unused (he had originally ordered it from the USA, but had ended up putting locally sourced DRLs from Amazon). It turned out later that he was a BHPian too and we ended up chatting about a tonne of Jetta related things. You never know when you get to make some great friends while bonding over cars. Thanks a tonne for the DRLs Akshay. They look smashing!

Fitting the DRLs

Procuring the DRLs was a piece of cake. Fitting them not so much. I knew how tough it would be so I went down to the car, popped the hood open and got to work.

These were sourced by Akshay from desertcart.

The first order of business is to get the dust cover off. The dust cover on the outer side of the headlamp is made of plastic. It simply needs to be rotated like a jar lid and it comes off. I started with the driver side first. The dust cap came off easily:

The next step is tricky. Insert two fingers into the hole where the low beam and DRLs sit. You will have to feel for the DRL connector and shake it a bit while looking at the headlamp from the front. Once you have ascertained it is the DRL connector you have gripped, you will have to twist the connector anti-clockwise. Once it rotates by about 120 degrees, it will come free and you can pull the holder out.

With this done, simply twist and remove the old halogen bulb and install the new LED in the same fashion. Before putting it back in, flick the key to 'on' and check if it lights up. If it doesn't, you might need to reverse polarity and try again. Fortunately, it worked well for me on the first try:

The CANBUS gods were also quite pleased with no errors on the cluster:

Installing everything back is easier than taking it apart. Just seat the connector in its slot and rotate it about 120 degrees clockwise till it clicks into place. DO NOT force the connector in or misalign and twist it. In my case, the VW ASC had done the exact same mistake while changing the passenger side DRL. The holder just wouldn't come off. In the end, I had to take it to an FNG who resorted to brute force and finally retrieved the bulb holder the next day. This is how the car looked with one LED and a halogen DRL.

Driver's side LED DRL in place. Was a 5-minute job at best. The passenger side was 2x more difficult. Firstly the lack of space, and secondly the wrongly installed bulb holder made life hell for me.

With the LED DRLs finally in place. One step closer to being an Audi A4:

I did have apprehensions on how blue DRLs would look on the silver. Though they don't stand out as much as yellow DRLs on a very sunny day (basic physics at play here, unfortunately), they do outsmart the halogens in every other scenario! All in all, these are available on Amazon for around 2.5K and are a worthy investment in my opinion.

IND Style Number Plates

The stock number plates on my car were dealer supplied ones. VW Downtown, Mumbai had a rather chic looking font selection for its number plates which polarized opinions. I was expectedly the only person who got used to seeing them. Nobody else liked them.

That was until a very kind friend and fellow Jetta owner Parth Ahuja decided to have a set made for me in Nashik and send them down. Fitting the plates was a very simple procedure, but it had transformed the overall aesthetics and how! The front and rear end now look the business. The font gels in perfectly with the clean lines of the car. I thought this would be the end of updates to the car, but I couldn't have been more wrong.

RCD 330G HU Upgrade

Those who have religiously followed this thread will know I have shared somewhat of a love-hate (more of hate no doubt) relationship with my car's head unit. Sure, it goes about doing its job without a single complaint, has "acceptable" sound quality and of course, as my dad says, is a good no-nonsense stock HU that doesn't need to be fidgeted with.

However, I just couldn't contend with the way it looked. The dated monochrome LCD screen, the button layout etc. gave it a very mid-2000s vibe. Mind you, I do like my songs to be from the mid-2000s, but my HU? Nope.

Old Desay SV Automotive RCD 300+ HU. No USB or Bluetooth. AUX, SD Card, CD and FM/AM. Was a letdown in terms of aesthetics:

Some more digging reveals this HU does support USB (via an adapter). VW being the cheapskates they are never offered it:

The input to the left (yellow plug) is for the USB adapter. One on the right is the radio antenna input. Coming to the radio antenna, an interesting piece of information is that the Jetta's sharkfin antenna is fake. There are no cables that run to it. The antenna is built into the rear windscreen (the vertical lines you see on the rear windscreen are not for the defogger. They are the radio antenna bands):

HU Quadlock connector at the back:

Managed to fire this unit up at home. Takes in around 15-16A of current on a 12V line so had to use a salvaged PSU from an old PC to do so:

Akshay once again offered his RCD 510. His HU had been swapped out for a Blaupunkt Key Largo and was lying unused. He is one of the fortunate souls who doesn't have an OCD with retaining stock looks, but unfortunately, I am not. I was dead sure that I would only replace this HU with another RCD. I had always shied away from swapping to a 510 or 340G because I was under the impression that my car came with the ancient ISO harness rather than the Quadlock connector that the 510, 310, 340G and even the 330G use. The RCD 030 (The very first HU seen in the Vento/Polo), the RCD 320 (Seen around 2013 and up to 2016 on almost all variants of the Polo/Vento) use the ISO harness. Getting an adapter to convert from ISO to Quadlock isn't a huge deal, but there's always the proverbial if that comes up, especially when you have been asked NOT to fidget with the stock wiring.

I still decided to have a look at the harness aboard my Comfortline. Went down, removed the centre fascia trim, removed the 3 T20 Torx screws (yes one was misplaced by the FNG or ASC who worked on the car) and pulled the HU out slightly. A peek at the rear of the HU revealed something quite surprising. As basic as this RCD 300+ looked, it used a Quadlock harness! I wanted to take the deal forward with Akshay but was forced to weigh my options once again.

RCD 510

Pic Source: Gannu_1's RCD 510 thread

Pros

• Stock HU for the Highline and looks far better than the 300+ any day.
• Colour screen with a touchscreen.
• Should have slightly better sound quality (300+ was a Chinese Desay. 510 was by Bosch Portugal).
• Adds USB functionality (albeit with an adapter).
• Supports OPS functionality (at least that's what I assumed).

Cons

• Bluetooth isn't built-in. An entire Bluetooth kit including a mic would have to be sourced, wired and attached.
• No Apple Carplay or Android Auto. Does show its age in that regard quite badly.
• No reverse camera support.
• Would need a double to single antenna connector adapter.

In the end, it might seem the 510 has pros outweighing the cons (by a very small margin), but I concluded it wouldn't be worth the hassle. All I would gain after installing the 510 is a touchscreen and USB.

RCD 330G

The 340G is an HU I have always loved. I have had my eyes set on it for quite some time (I do even now in all honesty). It's got everything I need, has Apple CarPlay and Android auto and even a sleek user interface. If there's one thing I don't like about it, it has to be the price. Used units retail for as high as 17-20K, while brand new ones are quoted by local resellers for around 27-30K. I wasn't allowed to spend this much money on an HU upgrade.

I was almost about to drop the entire idea when BHPian fluidicjoy mentioned he had a 330G lying with him. It once did duty in his friend's Polo which now had a 340G. The price of the HU was pegged at around 6K. I made an offer of 5K + shipping and he agreed!

Before moving to the installation, here are the pros and cons of the 330G.

Pros

• Stock and contemporary looking HU
• Has a touchscreen with physical buttons as a bonus
• Has very good sound quality since it's built by Harman India
• Supports a reverse camera and OPS*
• Supports USB, AUX, Bluetooth telephony and streaming music, SD card and even CD
• Priced quite attractively in the used market thanks to the hype around the 340G

Cons

• Lacks Android Auto and Apple CarPlay
• Touchscreen is one size too small for my liking
• Not a very well known unit on RCD forums. No software updates are available
• Is known to be a bit buggy at times

Fluidicjoy sent me plenty of images before packing the HU and sending it over to Vadodara. He also made it a point to give me the security code without which the HU is virtually useless.

Unfortunately, when the unit arrived, the antenna connector had damage to it. The courier guys had thrown it around undoubtedly, and HU had hit something. Anyways, I was assured it wouldn't affect the functionality and I decided to go down and see if it worked.

Installation

Installation is fairly straightforward but one thing is to be kept in mind. The centre console trim houses the airbag deactivation light at the bottom. The light itself is held onto the console by two clips. Just pry the clips gently and separate the light console from the centre console trim WITHOUT disconnecting the coupler to it. The reason for not disconnecting the light entirely is to prevent the airbag warning light from popping up which can only be cleared using a scanner.

The rest of the steps are fairly simple and I had no hiccups. Here is a video for reference.

HU fired up for the first time and asked for the security code:

Playing songs. Did face an issue with speakers not working on some corners. Found out I hadn't seated the Quadlock perfectly:

Gets this classy looking clock as well. Comes on when the HU is shut off. Can be disabled as well if you so wish:

The time displayed here is synchronised with the MID. The music volume also decreases when you engage in reverse or switch on the parking sensors manually.

Sound quality was a pleasant surprise! This is a Harman built unit and it shows. The inbuilt amp is far more capable than the one onboard the older Desay 300+. There are two very minor issues I faced with the HU.

• The volume knob is imprecise. Overall button quality isn't as good as the 300+. The knobs and buttons on the 300+ are very well weighted and damped. Won't call the 330G cheap, but it isn't as good as the Desay. The volume knob has a very light feel to it and rotating it by X clicks doesn't always increase volume by X levels. It is a bit imprecise and you will have to rotate the knob a fair bit to reach the desired volume. Not a huge bother since I generally use the steering mounted controls.
• There was this one instance where I went down to the car and found the music system on in spite of the car being locked. The HU always goes off once the key comes out of the ignition slot. In this case, it had frozen. Only the screen was on. It wasn't playing music. No matter what button I tried to press, it wouldn't respond. Had to do a hard reset and power it down, post which it started working. This only occurred once in almost 5 months of usage and hasn't repeated. Hopefully, it won't happen again.

Barring these two minor setbacks, I found the HU to be very snappy and the touchscreen to be very responsive. Overall UI is also excellent with everything laid out neatly and easy to find. It also has mirror link, but I am sure it's useless considering how many phone makers support it and the advent of AA and AC. I don't use it. The inbuilt microphone has a very good reception, and I have had no complaints wrt call quality. Having said that, phone book integration with the MID, or track name display is something that is missing with this HU (More on that later).

Conclusion

For 5200 bucks, I don't think I could have bought a better HU (OE or aftermarket). Yes, the lack of AA and AC does pinch me sometimes, but I go back to the first sentence again and convince myself that I at least now have a contemporary looking HU with Bluetooth streaming and calling with USB if the need arises.

An added bonus is the superior inbuilt amp aboard this HU, which even the 340G (Made by Visteon India) cannot boast of. I still toy with the idea of getting a 340G, but I would say it's more of a want than a need in all honesty at this stage.

Suspension, mounts & clutch + flywheel overhaul

I am in the mood to create a separate thread for this so I will just leave the bill here for the job and buzz off. If I start typing out the specifics, I will need another 8-10 posts.

To sum things up, a lot of cash went in, a lot of work was done but the output wasn't what I would call very satisfying. A few niggles still remain. The new flywheel has developed what I believe is an abnormal shudder, the clutch and the GB input shaft seem misaligned to me and there are two to three other loose ends that I will have to sit and correct. Last but not the least, I do believe I have been overcharged heavily.

VCDS cable & tweaks

I have always wanted a VCDS cable but kept delaying it for some reason or the other. Once again, Akshay offered to buy it and lend it to me so that I could do all sorts of experimentation on it. I did agree but then came the question of where to procure the cable from. After a lot of back and forth, we zeroed down on N2 Autotech Pune after a recommendation from a friend. Another Jetta owner also decided to get one for himself and even offered to lend it to me first before he even had a chance to use it! Mr Vakku Joseph, if you are reading this, thanks a lot for the offer. It's things like these that really make the Jetta owner's group an awesome place to be. In the end, I decided to borrow Akshay's cable since he was located closer to me (Pune) and his laptop had issues with the USB port meaning he couldn't use it for the time being at least.

With this, I pinged Nikhil Patil from N2 Autotech and placed an order for 2 VCDS cables. Each cable came to about 6500 bucks incl. shipping which although higher than Chinese resellers, is still reasonable considering it was being sold by (who I believed) was a reputed reseller with good ratings. The cable reached me within the next 3 days. Nikhil also installed the VCDS software on my laptop using TeamViewer. All in all, the purchase experience so far was very smooth.

Here's what I activated using the VCDS cable on the Jetta:

• Needle sweep: Success. It's under the "indicator_celebration" option in adaptations in the instrument cluster. Have attached a video of it.
• Auto folding/unfolding on lock/unlock: Success. This is one feature I missed terribly on the Jetta and so did many others. Most said the door control modules would need to be changed to enable this setting until BHPian sarfraz1997 posted a proper solution on the official Jetta review thread. I will link his post below for reference. There are zilch hardware changes needed for this to work.

Sarfraz1997's post (Volkswagen Jetta : Test Drive & Review) on the same.

A video showing the feature at work. After closing all doors, press and hold the lock button. This will fold the mirrors automatically. After unlocking, opening the driver door will unfold the ORVMs. Perfect!

• Indirect TPMS: Success. BHPian fluidicjoy helped me with enabling the indirect TPMS on my car using TeamViewer. First, he enabled a module named TPMS-II in the CAN gateway installation list. He then enabled the TPMS installed option in the ABS control module long coding helper and that's it.

Do note that this isn't the more conventional direct TPMS found on most modern-day cars, which has a separate sensor monitoring the pressure on each wheel and displaying the exact pressure rating. The indirect TPMS we activated uses the rolling circumference of the wheel to judge whether a given tyre is flat or not. It's not the most accurate system out there, but again, something is better than nothing, especially when it's not even coming at the cost of any hardware changes.

The system has thrown an error in my car though probably because I didn't calibrate it. I will update the thread once I flush out all the errors and calibrate it after pumping the tyres up to the appropriate pressures.

OPS functionality on the Comfortline

There are numerous reasons for having a VCDS cable but one of the major reasons why I wanted it was to enable OPS on my HU. I thought it would be a fairly straightforward job since even the connector on the Comfortline and Highline was the exact same. What could possibly go wrong?

I went to the Park assist module and also discovered it's the superior module which supports visual feedback along with audible beeps (some modules only support the latter). I went to adaptations again and enabled the module to display the OPS screen visually too. I then fired the HU up and slotted reverse. Nothing! I tried several permutations and combinations but nothing would work.

Fluidicjoy once again came to the rescue. First off he noticed that 56-radio didn't exist in the gateway installation list at all. Manually enabling it would throw up an error saying the radio wasn't communicating. For some reason, the 330G wasn't able to communicate perfectly over CANBUS. I checked with BHPian sangam_mm93 who is running the same HU on his Comfortline. His efforts to have the HU display the OPS or even the camera failed due to the same reason. After consulting Nikhil again, it was concluded that the Comfortline variant has different wiring to the Highline. He also said he would have to look at the car in person to gauge what was wrong, which was fair enough. I decided to give up on this idea altogether. It's very unfortunate, but it is what it is. No matter what HU I install, it's going to behave the same until I figure out what the wiring anomaly is and fix it.

My driving impressions

I managed to finally (properly) get my hands on the Jetta! The large bill and the amount of trouble (and incompetency) I had to deal with while overhauling the Jetta had really taken its toll on me mentally. I didn't like going down to even see the car. I had left it alone.

That was however until I was handed the keys and finally given permission to drive her. I will list down my driving impressions below. Do note that she's running (what I think) is a Quantum Stage 1 Blue remap.

Engine

Slot the key in, depress the clutch pedal (which BTW, has gotten very light after the clutch overhaul) and fire the TDI up. You will notice it settles into a fairly silent idle. Even on a cold start, there's little to no vibration on the steering wheel. Having said that, there is always a very feeble thrum audible inside the cabin at all times. It's not intrusive, but it's there.

Slot the shifter to first and slowly let your foot off the clutch. Don't be surprised if you stall the car. The presence of a heavier dual mass flywheel means the engine does need some extra revs to keep up the momentum. The same applies while lifting off of speed breakers in second gear too. You either baby the clutch pedal out slowly, or you give it a few extra revs and lift off. Failure to do either will again lead to the car stalling. Once you get used to it though, it's not a huge deal.

Within the city, the TDI is a fairly tractable motor, typical of large displacement diesels. She won't mind if you try lifting off of speed breakers from speeds as low as 5 kmhr in second. Throttle response is crisp with the motor responding well to part-throttle inputs without acting overtly jerky or sluggish. 3rd gear is also extremely versatile, with speeds as low as 25-30 kmhr possible without a downshift. It's a vital tool while commuting in moving traffic. Coupled with the light EPS (not one finger light like some of the Koreans and Japs), fairly tight turning radius and acceptable visibility (barring the ORVMs which are two sizes smaller than expected), the Jetta TDI is a fairly easy car to drive in traffic. As said before, the sensitive clutch and small ORVMs are two things that one needs to mind while piloting it in traffic.

Out on the open road is where she comes into her own. Floor the A-pedal in 2nd and the tyres beg for mercy with the traction control wanting to intervene ever so slightly. The motor starts coming into its stride post 1700rpm with a strong surge. Performance is healthy, with the 2.0 TDI revving almost all the way till 4700rpm post which power tapers off gradually. The explosive mid-range means overtakes are a piece of cake if you are in the right gear. Before you know it, the Jetta is doing silly speeds. The outstanding chassis behaviour (more on this later) and the punchy TDI motor are a tantalising temptation or a menacing paradox. The Jetta is a car that can play the Dr. Jekyl or Mr. Hyde card to perfection. 6th gear is a proper overdrive ratio with 100 kmhr coming in at a relaxed 1650rpm. The upside is excellent fuel economy. The downside is that you can't let speeds drop below 80, else a downshift is the only way to get a quick move on.

The gear shifter housing bushes in my car are running a bit dry (will need replacement a year or two down the line), but the GB has a very sure slotting feel to it with fairly short throws. It's not Japanese gearbox smooth (I would rate the Suzuki and Honda petrols to still have the best gearbox feel), but it isn't a letdown for an enthusiast in any way either.

Coming to the proverbial Indian question, the TDI on an average manages to deliver somewhere around 13-14 km/L in the city and easily delivers up to 20 Km/L or beyond on highways depending on the duration of the journey and even driving style. Do note these are indicated figures. Subtracting around 1-1.5 km/L from these figures in my experience is what the real world fuel economy looks like. Plenty good for a 180hp and 400nm car!

Overall NVH levels are what I would call above average. The motor is well insulated from the cabin with only a thrum being audible inside at all times. Even as the revs climb, the thrum assumes the form of a muted growl, but never does the engine sound harsh or clattery. On the other hand, wind noise could have been controlled better even at legal speeds of 100-120 kmhr. You can hear the wind cutting through the pillars at these speeds distinctly, not something one would expect from a D-Segment sedan. Road noise control is above average with only the roughest of tarmac leading to some intrusion of tyre noise into the cabin.

Suspension, ride and handling

The Jetta uses a McPherson strut suspension for the front coupled with a multilink suspension for the back with twin-charged dampers on all corners. The multilink suspension at the back allows for independent movement of one wheel from the other on the same axle as opposed to a torsion beam where they are both connected. An anti-roll bar is also used at the back (just like the front) with link rods to keep wheel articulation in check during hard cornering and prevent body roll.

Low-speed ride quality is typically European. Set on the stiffer side. It's not jarring or too discomfoting, but larger potholes (especially ones with a sharp edge) will filter in at speeds below 30-40 kmhr. Pick up the speed though, and the ride improves drastically. The suspension dismisses off all road imperfections with the only bother being the fact that it doesn't go about its work in the most silent manner. It can give out discomforting thuds above speeds of 30-40 kmhr.

The handling is yet another Jetta trademark. The EPS might not be the most feel-some (doesn't have any feel at all frankly) but it weighs up quite consistently and inspires a lot of confidence. Most importantly, it's pinpoint accurate. Point the nose into a corner and the Jetta dives in with aplomb. The stiffly sprung suspension now pays dividends. Outright grip is superb with the car feeling composed all throughout. Bodyroll is minimal and what adds to the sense of security is the multilink suspension at the back, which ensures the rear end always remains composed, even when the Jetta encounters potholes in the middle of a corner. High-speed stability is solid and leaves no room for complaint at all. Long sweeping corners or even tight bends are both a speciality for the Jetta. The presence of EDL and ASR means you can simply pick a line through a corner and power through it. It's also reassuring to know that ESP is watching over you as you go about all this.

All in all, it's not only the amount of power the Jetta puts down that impressed. It's also the way the chassis puts it down and holds its own that really makes the car a treat to drive on all sorts of roads. The only thing I would change in a suspension setup like this is to probably put stiffer dampers, though I personally think the stock Sachs dampers offer the best balance of comfort and handling on the sort of roads I do daily.

And on that note, it's time to end this update. The next thread by me in all probability will be documenting the midlife overhaul and unsuccessfully trying to justify the 2L bill attached in the post above. Until then, stay safe folks.

A few parting shots of the car (all chrome deleted) for your viewing pleasure. Do excuse the dusty interiors. This was immediately after work was done and before detailing.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

Volkswagen has confirmed that the new Jetta will go on sale in the US market in the fourth-quarter of 2021.

Volkswagen has unveiled the 2022 Jetta and Jetta GLI models for the American market. The 2022 Volkswagen Jetta now features a bunch of subtle design and styling updates, along with a revised engine as well.

The 2022 Jetta comes with new front and rear bumpers, a revised front grille with additional chrome slats and new alloy wheel design options. The GLI trim further comes with a modified rear diffuser with a honeycomb pattern, dual exhaust tips and sporty red accents all around.

On the Inside, the 2022 Volkswagen Jetta features updated seats, fresh upholstery choices, a new steering wheel with touch controls, a new gear shifter design and a fully digital instrument cluster. Volkswagen also offers the 2022 Jetta with a bunch of driver-assistance features and equipment. Some of these include automated emergency braking, rear traffic alert and blind-spot monitoring, among others.

The 2022 Volkswagen Jetta now comes with an updated powertrain. This is in the form of a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine producing 158 BHP and 249 Nm, paired with either a 6-speed manual or an 8-speed automatic transmission.

The higher Jetta GLI trim comes powered by a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol unit. It produces 228 BHP and 349 Nm and is mated to either a 6-speed manual or a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

The 2022 Volkswagen Jetta comes in 4 trim levels, including a new 'Sport' variant, which is positioned above the base 'S' trim and replaces the 'R-line' from the previous iterations.

Prices for the 2022 Volkswagen Jetta are yet to be announced. Volkswagen has confirmed that the new Jetta will go on sale in the US market in the fourth quarter of 2021.

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.

BHPian fluidicjoy recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Introduction

This write up 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 Team-BHP reader even back in 2009, when I was 10 years old and I really loved the level of details on the official reviews on Team-BHP, 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 later!
• 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 a 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.

Index to this thread

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

Continue reading fluidicjoy's thoughts on his Jetta and BHPian comments for more insights and information.

It hasn't been very long since I updated the thread and a sudden impromptu update on a Team-BHP thread means something isn't quite right. Here goes the story.

BHPian vishy76 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

85,000 km Update

It hasn't been very long since I updated the thread and a sudden impromptu update on a Team-BHP thread means something isn't quite right. Here goes the story.

Yokohama BlueEarth AE51s

Immediately after the previous service, I was quite happy. The car was doing well, and I also swapped out the 4 year old Michelin P3STs (Served me impeccably for 45K km) for a new set of Yokohama BluEarth AE51s.

A lot has been said on the forum about these tyres, so I won't go too much into depth. Having said this, I will say they are a good compromise considering the lack of options I faced due to the import ban on tyres. The only ones available were these and Goodyears, and there was no way I was going back to the crappy NCTs. They aren't as silent as the Primacy series and nor do they offer leach like grip levels associated with the Pilot Sports, but overall, they are good VFM and tyres I don't really mind having on the car at this point.

The reduction in road noise and the decrease in steering weight was evident right off the bat. Overall ride also felt a tad supple, but the change wasn't day and night (goes to how the Michelins had aged very well).

The Oil leakage saga

It had been about 2 months since the car had been serviced at the FNG. I had very elaborate plans for the Jetta including a clutch and flywheel change followed by a headliner upholstery change immediately after, post which I hoped to write off my expenses for the year. Little did I know what was to come.

October and November were tough for me personally. So much so that I even failed to keep track of the Jetta. The car kept serving my dad well enough with no issues. December 7th, 2020. I had done the usual chore of feeding the street dogs in the locality when I decided to check the oil levels. This was a completely out of the blue ritual, but something inside me told me I just had to. I am generally very lazy when it comes to going down and doing it, but this time I didn't faulter. I did the usual job of opening the bonnet and going for the dipstick. It was around 9 in the night so all I planned to do was pull out the dipstick, give it a wipe, put it back in and use a torch to check levels.

I did exactly as mentioned and to my horror, what came out of the hole was a bone dry dipstick. Not a smear of oil on it. I did know that oil levels fluctuate with engine temperature and the engine was at about 80-85 degrees, but I had never seen a completely empty dipstick. I flashed the torchlight on the engine bay and saw something I had never seen before. Everything around and below the oil cooler area was covered in oil. All the way down to the sump guard. In fact, the sump guard itself was drenched in oil around the edges. I had a can of Castrol Edge lying in the boot with about 700ml of oil. Assuming the car had leaked even a litre in the worst case, topping up all of this should have ensured that at least a smear of oil would make it to the dipstick. I hastily poured it down and pulled the dipstick out. Nothing.

At this point, I knew the issue was getting out of hand. I asked my dad (who couldn't understand how serious the issue was) to not drive the car for the next few days. I contacted VW who wanted to tow the car in straight off. I was still confident it wasn't a fast leak and decided to get in touch with an FNG a known had suggested. The guy was kind enough to send in a mechanic with a can of oil 4 days later. The 4 days had also given me enough time to do a proper physical inspection and conclude that the leak had originated around the oil filter housing. I also turned the ignition on and off multiple times (obviously without starting the engine) to see if I do get an oil level low warning (the Jetta has a sensor in the sump to detect low oil levels), but nothing came up.

The mechanic topped up around 1.5-1.7L of oil, and it was only then that the dipstick finally indicated the oil in the sump had reached the top. He then fired the car up and almost immediately, a very small spurt of oil started emanating from the periphery of the filter housing. He was confident it was a very slow leak and with the amount of oil topped up, the Jetta would easily make it to the garage. I gave him the go ahead.

I received a call the same afternoon, claiming the oil filter had not been installed correctly by the previous FNG.

There are 3 O-rings that are a part of the filter assembly. Two sit inside, while one sits on the periphery of the filter cover. It appears one of the inner rings had not been installed correctly, leading to oil accumulation inside the housing and excessive pressure buildup, pressure the cover ring was not designed to take. It eventually gave up and oil started leaking out of the cover and onto the oil cooler, sump guard, the oil sump itself and also reached the compressor below.

Finally, all of this was cleaned, a brand new filter installed, and new engine oil poured in. Total bill was around 5.5-6K and I was satisfied that the issues had been left behind. (I was wrong again)

Around Jan, I again started noticing oil deposits on the oil cooler and sump guard. This time however, the leak was caught on time and was very minute. Barely 300ml of oil was lost before it was attended to. The top cover seal was changed and a new drain plug gasket was put in. This marked an end to the oil filter leakages and did give me a lot of relief.

The car did well enough for the next two months with no incident, but in March, I had to send it to VW to get the radio unlocked. The FNG who had worked on the car in October 2020 had disconnected the battery, leading to the HU going into security mode. My dad was also complaining of some clatter emanating at idle from the engine bay.

With all these complaints, the Jetta went over to VW. Since I still had very little confidence in the FNG which had worked on my car in October, I asked the SA to do a complete inspection and tell me what all needed replacing. The estimate as expected was quite a large one with a number of issues being highlighted as below:

• The biggest issue was a tappet cover leakage. The entire cover would need replacing which would cost around 20K
• Both lower control arm bushes and link rods at the front had worn out completely. Total estimate was around 4K for the link rods and 14K for the control arms
• The timing belt rollers had some play in them and the kit would need changing. This would come to around 12-13K
• The serpentine belt tensioner had gone bad leading to the sqeauking noise at idle. Replacement cost would be about 4.5K
• A wiper washer nozzle had gone bad. Would cost around 1K to set it right

The S.A also advised I switch back to VW spec Shell 505 01 5W40 oil instead of the Shell Helix Ultra 5W40 505 00 I was using, apart from a complete service. He offered to change all filters and fluids for around 9K which I felt was fair. I gave him the go ahead for all these and the car took a week to come back since the link rods, control arms, tensioner and tappet cover weren't in stock.

As the timing kit was anyways being changed, I also gave the SA the go ahead to change the water pump (around 2.5 years old now) as a precaution and the brake fluid (3.5 years old and well overdue). I have attached the bill below. The total came to about 85K post a bit of haggling, with the Tappet cover making up a massive 20K+ of the total amount.

This is a lesson learnt the hard way. A badly tightened oil filter gave me nightmares for 2 months (Not once mind you, TWICE). It just goes to show how lax certain FNGs can get when it comes to servicing cars. All said and done, I wasted a grand total of 17K undoing what the incompetent FNG had done to my car. I have decided to get all routine servicing done at VW henceforth and major wear and tear (suspension, clutch etc.) at another trusted FNG.

I am not very happy with how VW directly replaced the control arms in their entirety (instead of the bushings only), but I guess its company policy end of the day. Part costs are high, but in all honesty, I genuinely don’t mind paying up the extra for quality imported parts as compared to the cheap localised crap VW resorts to using for the Polo and Vento. All said and done, my stock suspension needed touching at 85K km, an achievement considering the condition of the roads here.

All the parts replaced in one frame. This is by far the most expensive service done on the Jetta:

The timing kit consists of 2 rollers, 1 idler pulley, and a tensioner bearing. Kindly note that the water pump is NOT included in the kit. It has to be changed separately. The rollers had some grease oozing out of them and had developed play. The belt was slightly frayed at the edges. Tensioner bearing was in almost perfect nick. The idler pulley was not returned to me for some bizarre reason:

The serpentine tensioner pulley. Again, the nylon bearing is missing from the returned part. The newer part has a metallic bearing. The serpentine belt has also been localized now and costs around Rs. 400:

The link rods. As you can see, the outer boots have split exposing the ball joints inside. I was also able to move the rod ends by hand, something that should be virtually impossible:

Control arm bushings could have gone on for another 5-7K km, but I didn’t want to wait for them to start making noise. You can clearly see they have split. If the arm itself is intact physically (very rarely does a control arm suffer structural damage), you can get away with changing only the bushing. A quality bush kit from Febi or Myle costs around 4-4.5K all inclusive:

The piece de resistance of the entire saga. The tappet cover. As expected, it’s made of plastic. A total of 5 seals are a part of the cover. 4 seals are for the injector periphery (1 for each injector) and one seal outlines the tappet cover perimeter and seals it to the engine head. The latter is available for 3.8K on boodmo, but the former are not supplied separately by VW. Most FNGs resort to putting in OES seals:

The water pump. Was a pleasant surprise seeing little to no corrosion on the pump. The previous one that came out of the car felt like it had been salvaged from a shipwreck in comparision. On a related note, VW has also switched to G12 EVO coolant from G13. G12E has a purplish tinge to it as compared to G13:

The choked washer jet. Mercifully, this one is shared with the Vento and Polo instead of the Passat. The Passat uses heated jets which cost 6K a piece. This one was much cheaper at 1K:

The Jetta feels a lot tighter to drive now. The front end used to be all over the place before after encountering a pothole or speed-breaker. Changing the link rods and control arms has brought that firmness back to the front end. The overall NVH levels remain more or less the same, and I don’t expect any difference until the flywheel is changed. I do have complete peace of mind now that the timing kit has been changed though. Better to spend 15-16K proactively on a new kit than to spend 10x that rebuilding the engine head.

Things that will need looking into:

- The sagging headliner cloth has decided to come off entirely now. It has to be changed compulsorily. Have received quotes varying from 5.5K-12K for setting it right.

- The flywheel continues to create a racket when the clutch is held at the biting point. No slippage has been observed in the clutch itself though, so I think it should hold up till the 90K km mark.

- The rear suspension and the front dampers are surely on their way out. My guesstimate says they will hold up till the 90-95K km mark provided I put up with the harsh ride quality.

- The gearshift linkages and shifter tower are two things I am keeping an eye on. Notorious for failing on the MK6 Jettas, the shifter linkage snaps and the gearbox gets stuck in third gear.

- Lastly, the primary radiator fan has been suffering (making a loud whining nosie) for the past 2 years, ever since the car was driven through flooded water. Might have to get the motor assembly overhauled and the hub cleaned.

Both me and my dad considered replacing the car and had a look at some options. The top two contenders were the Harrier and the Tiguan. The Compass was too small for the price it demanded and I didn’t even want to look at the Seltos/Creta duo. Here’s what I think about them.

Tata Harrier XZA

What I liked

• Striking looks and stance
• Good equipment list
• Excellent rear legroom and seat comfort

What I didn’t like

• Overall plastic quality and fit and finish on the inside were not upto the mark
• Reliability was a huge question mark
• Tata’s after-sales in this part of GJ is not the best

My dad wasn’t ready to even TD the Harrier. He walked out of the showroom and asked me to enquire about the Tiguan Allspace.

Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace

I would be lying if I said I hadn’t been smitten by the Tiguan. A lot of it felt unmistakably Jetta, and that wasn’t a bad thing at all. Also went for a short test drive.

What I liked

• Understated looks paired to solid build quality
• Excellent equipment list
• Great ride and handling balance, almost sedan-like
• The added advantage of the 4motion AWD system
• Spacious cabin, albeit a rudimentary 3rd row

What I didn’t like

• No 2.0 TDI. The TSI is an excellent engine, but my sort of running warrants a diesel only and the home ministry wasn’t too happy with the 9.8 km/l figure on the TD car’s MID either
• Part costs were unchartered territory considering this was a CBU
• Overall reliability of the 2.0 TSI and the DQ381 GB was again unproven
• Not what I would call a proper upgrade in terms of performance as compared to a remapped Jetta considering I would be paying 30+L end of the day

Contemplated on this one a lot, but it didn’t make sense buying a TFSI in haste and then regretting FE figures or buying the car itself.

A used Tiguan 2.0 TDI also came my way but again, I would be splurging 20+L into a used car which essentially had the same engine again, with more features thrown in and an AT gearbox. Didn’t make sense.

In the end, decided to keep the Jetta for another 2-3 years. The car is fundamentally sorted and most of the expenses that lie ahead are general wear and tear which shouldn’t be a huge issue.

Conclusion

I have said this many times over and will say it again, I have accepted the Jetta for the good and for the worse. She's not perfect, has her share of reliability issues (most of them minor thankfully), and isn't a car a non-nonsense man would want to own. Some have even said the car has brought bad luck to me with the oil leaks and the huge bills. The devil inside then is quite convinced that the Jetta is a troublesome companion to own.

However, the angel thinks otherwise. My car has not been a garage queen at all. Haven't detailed it, never showered attention on it and never really bothered about cosmetic upkeep at all in all honesty. The car sees industrial backroads meant for heavy duty trucks and lorries chiefly on a daily basis, has to make the annual pilgrimage to Surat, Rajkot and Ahmedabad several times a month, and has also covered the entire west coast of India taking us on several road-trips without as much as an electronic glitch. Granted, issues do exist, and the very people I marvel at for engineering this car are the ones I curse many a times and oft.

All said and done however, the current value of my car as it stands is determined by what can replace it. And this question is one which I don't have an answer to (unless members can come together and raise about 80L in funds following which I might book a 530D).

A parting shot of the interiors. They look as good as new if you excuse the sloppy headliner upholstery:

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Volkswagen has created a new budget brand called Jetta for the Chinese market. The new sub-brand will cater to the volumes segment, while Volkswagen will be positioned as a premium brand.

Jetta branded cars will be produced at China's state-owned FAW (First Auto Works) factory, as part of the FAW-Volkswagen joint venture. Initially, the brand will consist of three models including two SUVs and a sedan. The sedan is likely to be a re-badged VW Jetta, while one of the SUVs could be based on the Seat Ateca. The cars have a similar front fascia featuring a grille with chrome inserts and the Jetta logo in the centre. They have a dual-tone front bumper with triangular fog lamp pods. 

The company plans to set up 200 Jetta dealerships in China by the end of his year. It will also promote the brand through digital showrooms and mobile sales trucks as well as at shopping malls. 

Volkswagen currently has no plans to introduce the Jetta brand in other markets outside China.

Source: CarandDriver

Thanks to Milan Sali for sending this image in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts via this Team-BHP page! 

Volkswagen has recalled the Polo GT 1.5 and the Vento 1.5 equipped with a manual transmission for unspecified updates. The carmaker has also recalled all MY2016 Jetta 1.4 TSI cars in order to replace the carbon canister O-rings.

Polo GTs manufactured between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017 and Ventos built between April 1, 2015 and March 31, 2016 are affected by this recall. 

According to Volkswagen, it will take approximately 30 minutes for the upgrade process on the Polo and the Vento and the O-ring replacement job on the Jetta and will be done free of cost.

Customers can check if their cars are among those recalled by entering the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) on this website. Owners can also call VW customer care at 1800 102 0909 or 1800 209 0909.