I bought the car new with 7 miles on it and have put about 120,000+ miles on it in 4 years. The car runs fine though I recently had to get the transmission replaced. There are no strange sounds coming from it other than when I plug in my mp3 player into the stereo while charging it. When I accelerate or use the blinkers a high whistle or static, respectively, will come through the speakers. It stops once the charger is disconnected. Its not a big deal, just weird.

My Jetta was the first manual vehicle I ever owned and I absolutely loved it. Although I had originally learned to drive manual on a different car my Jetta (Wolfsburg edition) is one of the easiest manual vehicles I have driven. I would recommend any first time manual drivers to buy a Jetta. The reason for this is that it is very forgiving, you could slow almost to a stop in second gear and still not stall out and be able to pick right up again, and for first time manual drivers this is a very good feature since figuring out when to shift and preventing stalling is the biggest tackle. It is also nice because you do not need to hold the clutch in in order to start the vehicle, which is really just added convenience. It shifts very smoothly and like I said before very forgiving if you don't have the RPMs where they aught to be.

I drove an fj Cruiser for quite some time before purchasing this Jetta, and my wallet has never felt better. Although it may not go as deep in the woods as the fj, the money saved and extra exercise have been welcomed. Even at my height(6'8") it has ample room and accommodates my legs nicely to boot. But I must harp on the money. The fj had to use premium gas, which is only a few cents cheaper than diesel, and now not only do I save $20 per fill up, going from $50 or more to $30. To add some icing to the cake, I fill up less often. My fuel costs have went from almost $200 a week to just over $75, which I have been putting in a savings account that has already topped $1000. So yes, I love this Jetta and would recommend anyone to pick one up.