My Volkswagen Jetta has been a champ! I purchased this car in 2009, so at the time it was four years old. I love the five-speed manual transmission, the front seat heaters, the sunroof, and the ease of driving, turning, and parking due to the compact size. Despite the compact size, the trunk is very spacious, and the rear seats fold down to offer more cargo room. This car had just over 30,000 miles when I got it, and I'm now almost up to 173,000 miles, and it's still going strong! There is definitely normal wear and tear, but what still impresses me is how shiny the paint still looks every time I wash it.

It is embarrassing to say this, but what drew us to this car was the desire to have key that flicked open almost 8 years ago. Since then, we have been very pleased with the value that this car has delivered. We have accumulated 78k miles so far. We purchased this car via lease and then bought it in cash at the end of the lease. The vehicle came with a 39month/30,000 mile warranty and I was terribly worried that at the end of the warranty there would be a rash of issues that I would encounter. The car is friendly enough for the weekend mechanic to maintain (oil changes, spark plugs, brakes) or for the driver who needs to use the dealer. There are many services I still do myself (cabin air filter, engine air filter, windshield wipers, headlights, and spark plugs). The two services that I previously performed on other vehicles done but now have the dealer perform are brakes and oil changes. I was pleasantly surprised that oil changes are only needed once a year and only run $100 with synthetic oil (only about $20 more than doing it myself). I’m not a drag racer any more and have only had to change the rear brakes. We have changed the tires, but they were reasonably priced at $110/tire (compared to $225 for other vehicles). In total, we’ve spent $1500 over 8 years in maintaining this vehicle, which is a big plus! Though we were sold to this car for the key, I would buy it again for the value!