CD Article: 2007 Volkswagen City Golf & Jetta

[safristi]

...well put u downLATER....after the HONEYMOON PERIOD.... ...... ...don't forget to wear protection....

[Mitlov]

Walter, congrats on the new purchase!  It sounds great.  Brigitte is also a MkIV owner here, and I will almost certainly be one within a month or so.  They're very nice cars, and it seems like VW has ironed out the quality control issues that plagued early MkIVs.

[schaste]

Sigh... just drove my City from Montreal to SW Ontario and back, with both good news and bad. First the good: I managed to get 7.2 litres per 100 Km on the way back, just 1 mpg less than the official highway rating, so she seems to be well broken in now. Of course, this was at 105-115 kph most of the way, but most of the rest of the Labour Day traffic was cautious enough of speed traps that I didn't impede traffic on the 401. And this was with A/C running most of the way. Now the bad news: the rattles. Oh, the rattles.... I took highway 40 from Chatham down to the 401, and that's a pretty bad stretch of road. Now, my folks' 2004 Focus took the same road 2 days earlier and though we could hear and feel the bumps, their car sounded solid inside. My City? Well, let's just say it sounded like the whole right side of the interior was falling apart. The dash around the glove box; the console and radio section; and both right doors sounded like they were full of little plastic parts or screws which had decided to come loose all at the same time. It sounded OK again on most of the 401 and 407, though a particularly bad stretch of back-road from the 407 into Pickering made me stop to see if the right rear inside door panel was still attached....

I have less than 500 Km left on the 20000 Km comprehensive warranty. This week, the car goes to the dealer, and I will demand that their service centre FIX it. I don't care about the mileage any more, how well it drives or handles... the rattles are driving me nutters. Everything looks and feels screwed down on that side, so either I've developed a looser screw than I already have, or parts inside the dash and doors really are working themselves loose. Funny thing is, the left side of the car doesn't make a sound...

[schaste]

By the way, I really want to like this car. I like the way it drives, it handles great, seats are good, and mechanically it's very reliable so far. But this rattling really spoils it for me. I've had plenty of cars, most used and a couple new, and never have I had something sound like it was shaking itself to pieces over bumps like this one does.... not even my old Datsun 310 GX, and that was a BAD car

[Mitlov]

By the way, I really want to like this car. I like the way it drives, it handles great, seats are good, and mechanically it's very reliable so far. But this rattling really spoils it for me. I've had plenty of cars, most used and a couple new, and never have I had something sound like it was shaking itself to pieces over bumps like this one does.... not even my old Datsun 310 GX, and that was a BAD car

It can happen with any car.  One user here, mmret, had a similar experience with a new TSX.  Sorry to hear that your City Jetta has turned out to be a rattletrap.

A coworker's MkIV Jetta has 44,000 miles and had one minor rattle, as far as I could tell.  So I don't think it's anything inherent about MkIVs.  You might have just drawn the short straw.

[BlackS40]

Sorry to hear that your City Jetta has turned out to be a rattletrap.

Not that it makes much difference, but it's a City Golf.   

[onearmed]

By the way, I really want to like this car. I like the way it drives, it handles great, seats are good, and mechanically it's very reliable so far. But this rattling really spoils it for me. I've had plenty of cars, most used and a couple new, and never have I had something sound like it was shaking itself to pieces over bumps like this one does.... not even my old Datsun 310 GX, and that was a BAD car

I wish I could get my hands on your car, I've fixed like 7-8 different rattles on my Golf.  One rattle that still makes an appearance on various days is the noise on the door seals.  Unless you have some sort of moisturizer for the rubber seals on the door, it seems to come on those cold dry days/mornings.  I can also bet that a lot of the rattles are coming from your hatch cover. On top of that, if you don't have a passenger in the seat beside you, the seat will give off some nice noises. 

It's a pain.  Mine are now 95% gone though. 

[schaste]

>>On top of that, if you don't have a passenger in the seat beside you, the seat will give off some nice noises.

Heh heh. I just thought of a really bad pickup line: "Hey there, wanna ride in my new car? Your extra weight'll help stop the seat from rattling."

[gotak]

>>On top of that, if you don't have a passenger in the seat beside you, the seat will give off some nice noises.

Heh heh. I just thought of a really bad pickup line: "Hey there, wanna ride in my new car? Your extra weight'll help stop the seat from rattling."

You forgot "But if you want we can rattle the suspension a bit wink wink".

[Julie]

>>On top of that, if you don't have a passenger in the seat beside you, the seat will give off some nice noises.

Heh heh. I just thought of a really bad pickup line: "Hey there, wanna ride in my new car? Your extra weight'll help stop the seat from rattling."

You forgot "But if you want we can rattle the suspension a bit wink wink".

 

[Mitlov]

You forgot "But if you want we can rattle the suspension a bit wink wink".

Any pickup line involving the phrase "your extra weight" won't leave you alive long enough to make follow-up quips.

[whimsy]

Sigh... just drove my City from Montreal to SW Ontario and back, with both good news and bad. First the good: I managed to get 7.2 litres per 100 Km on the way back, just 1 mpg less than the official highway rating, so she seems to be well broken in now. Of course, this was at 105-115 kph most of the way, but most of the rest of the Labour Day traffic was cautious enough of speed traps that I didn't impede traffic on the 401. And this was with A/C running most of the way. Now the bad news: the rattles. Oh, the rattles.... I took highway 40 from Chatham down to the 401, and that's a pretty bad stretch of road. Now, my folks' 2004 Focus took the same road 2 days earlier and though we could hear and feel the bumps, their car sounded solid inside. My City? Well, let's just say it sounded like the whole right side of the interior was falling apart. The dash around the glove box; the console and radio section; and both right doors sounded like they were full of little plastic parts or screws which had decided to come loose all at the same time. It sounded OK again on most of the 401 and 407, though a particularly bad stretch of back-road from the 407 into Pickering made me stop to see if the right rear inside door panel was still attached....

I have less than 500 Km left on the 20000 Km comprehensive warranty. This week, the car goes to the dealer, and I will demand that their service centre FIX it. I don't care about the mileage any more, how well it drives or handles... the rattles are driving me nutters. Everything looks and feels screwed down on that side, so either I've developed a looser screw than I already have, or parts inside the dash and doors really are working themselves loose. Funny thing is, the left side of the car doesn't make a sound...

City Golfs are built in Brazil, City Jettas built in Mexico.  I've read that the Brazil factory had been experiencing more quality-control issues overall.  I think maybe one of the guys assembling your car must've been having a bad day, with the rattles only on one side.  One of the minor differences between the City Golf and Jetta are that the Jettas include the locking tabs for the Monster Mats.

My City Jetta now has about 13k.  Although I have not yet calculated it, I think the last tank got better mileage than usual when I filled up this morning (farther range indicated on the odometer, and more fuel remaining in the tank).  If anyone's interested I may share the fuel consumption figure after it gets calculated....

EDIT:  38.77L / 564km = 6.87L per 100km or 41.09 MPG, best tank yet!

[sirAQUAMAN64]

The Golfs were made in Brazil, the Jettas Mexico. But now I'm not so sure. Are City Golfs now coming from Mexico? Far more profitable if they can avoid the Brazilian currency. JSCC, can you check a VIN or window sticker?

[walter_wpg]

My City Golf was definitely made in Brazil.  It has a Transport Canada sticker saying that "Volkswagen dos Brasilia" (sp?) was the manufacturer.  My VIN starts with 9BWE...   The 9 means "made in Brazil", the B means "made by Volkswagen Brazil".

The owner's manual was printed in Brazil, too.

[sirAQUAMAN64]

My City Golf was definitely made in Brazil.  It has a Transport Canada sticker saying that "Volkswagen dos Brasilia" (sp?) was the manufacturer.  My VIN starts with 9BWE...   The 9 means "made in Brazil", the B means "made by Volkswagen Brazil".

The owner's manual was printed in Brazil, too.

Okies, thank-you! 

[schaste]

OK, so one last note on my rattly ol' City Golf. I took it to the dealer today, and took the mechanic out on a really bumpy road (which the local public works must keep prepared for them to test the cars on), and he identified the rattles in less than 5 minutes.

It was the door seals, as well as two insufficiently tightened door strikers. He adjusted the strikers inward a bit and lubed the heck out of the silicone seals around the door jambs, and when I picked it up tonight, the majority of the noises are gone. Now I know, for the next time the car sounds like it's shaking itself apart over bumps, that it's time to lube up those seals with some Goo-Gone!

[airbalancer]

I do not think you should use Goo-Gone on seals

[mmret]

I've had good luck with just Canadian Tire Silicone Spray on the door / sunroof seals.

[Mr KO]

About to take delivery of my new City Golf. Unlike some, the had the exac specs I wanted on the lot; black, a/c heated seats and electrical pkg. The cost of heated seats seemed like quite a bargain to other cars I have purchased in the past. Cost was determing factor and cars such as a Yaris, Fit and Ion were considered. When i first looked at Golf, knowing the design of new Rabbit, My reaction was how "retro" it looked. Did they have used cars in their showroom? I've never owned a VW and always had a rule of thumb that I would never buy one, just lease. I've had too many friends have them turn into money pits with their reliability and quirky (read expensive) features. Like the time a buddy had to drop the transmission of his Scirroco to change a leaky gas tank. Add to this that the warranty in the past was 2 years and it helped keep me away. Also, dealer financing was never ever a bargain. Now though I'm getting 3.9% lease on 4 year lease.
My major concern is the made in Brazil sticker. Wasn't the Fox made there? Or was that Mexico. I figured car has been around long enough to make it right, but concerns of rattles etc scare me a bit. Engine idles a bit rough too, but has nice pick up for car with that hp. No armrest was a major turnoff, mainly because of my driving habits and positioning, if anybody has bought the ones off ebay and can provide feedback it would be appreciated.
So whats right? Like the size, how solid it feels, driving feel. Another question, while I have no problem turning it in at end of lease and walking, does anybody know how reasonable the 50% residual is? Could I turn around and sell it, pay off my lease and make a profit? Also, I'm not sure, but this might be the first car I've had that has hubcaps....not that there's anything wrong with that...

[walter_wpg]

Well, it has been about 950km, and 5 weeks, and I'm still on my "City Golf honeymoon".  No problems, issues, squeaks, rattles, scratches, dents, or leaks. 

I will mention a few nice-to-haves:
 - A light in the rear cargo area would be handy.  (I'll have a look to see if there is a stub of a wiring harness back there somewhere.)
 - An indicator light if you have the side-mirror heaters turned on.  Although I have only used them a couple of times, it's easy to turn the mirror heaters on and then forget about them.
 - An indicator light for the seat heaters, for the same reason.

This past weekend, I visited a pick-it-yourself wrecking yard that has imports, and there were some Mk4 Jettas in there.  I found a black centre arm rest, and also the little storage pocket that can presumably replace the blank panel over the radio.  $25 for both.  A little bit of clean-up needed.  I probably won't get around to installing them until next summer.  My previous Mk2 Gti did not have a centre arm rest, so I can't say that I miss it.  The two blank panels over the radio come out very easily.  Pull out the top skinny one first by carefully pulling the left or right end.  Then, you'll have access to the larger blank panel, which has a couple of easy-to-release barbs.  There has been talk about possibly moving the radio up one "slot" for better visibility, but that'll also have to wait until next summer.  Need to confirm if the current radio position and the one above it are both identical as far as mounting the radio, wiring access, etc.