Question for you VW MK3 gurus...

[LilHearst]

I have a '93 Jetta. It has the bubble dash and all that early sh!t in it..... But why is it that when I go to the junkyard i see other '93s but no bubble dash, but with early steering wheels or no door latched seatbelts? I also have a buddy with a '94 that has early seats, seatbelts, but no bubble dash, but has an early steering wheel and glovebox. His car was bought unmolested from an older couple, so the the idea of someone swapping the parts is out.. Just looking for some info on what came with what on early MK3's... I thought i knew, but I guess i was wrong.

[98lowmorals]

pretty sure the bubble dash only came in the cabrio.

[LilHearst]

No your referring to the dimple dash... Two different dashes...

[speedjohnson]

The only interior I have ever seen in the 93 was that weird curved dash. Probably the one you have, and with the door seat belts. When in 93 was your car built? The early ones had your interior. Closer to 94 had the regular "square" dash. If that makes any sense

[I haz cheezeburgerz]

Many/most 93 Jettas had early dashes, but not necessarily all of them did. Same goes for the automatic seatbelts.

Mk3s were very diverse in their interiors throughout the generation - upper glovebox/lower glovebox/no glovebox is another one. There's a few different center consoles out there. The nice thing is everything is compatible with pretty much everything else.

I transplanted an early dash from a 93 Jetta into my GTI. I love it. Others have done this as well.

[VDub2625]

All Jettas had bubble dash in 93/most of if not all of 94. Golfs had the "normal" dash. All cars after 1990 needed some kind of passive restraint in the USA... VW didn't offer airbags on the Mk3s right away, so they got door belts instead. If it has airbags, it does not have door belts. if it was sold in Canada, it could have come without both (no SRS law up there then).

VW is a giant company. They don't do things half assed, and the workers on the line don't just install what they feel like on that day. Yes, some things are oddly split up, but (with a few certain notable exceptions) everything is identified down to the VIN what it came in.

Also, people are dumb. No offense but the date on the door jamb doesn't directly corrospond to the model year. SO if it says 8/94, for example, that makes it a 95, and different parts apply. VW uses the serial numbers (last 6 of the VIN) to identify what parts go to what range of cars.

[LilHearst]

Thanks for the info guys, that explains the differences I have seen between Jetta and Golfs. I do know and understand the whole vin and date on the door jamb. Just needed that little extra info to piece it all together. My buddy has an early '94 Golf and my Jetta is an early '93. Thanks for the info, really helpful.

[VDub2625]

No prob. They call it a "Vento" dash because, like front ends, it's specific to each model (as are bumpers, and lots of other details, in Europe). They switched to the same dash in 95 probably for cost reasons.

[I haz cheezeburgerz]

NO 94s had early dashes. The information above is false. Not even all 93s had them.

[sic_null]

All Jettas had bubble dash in 93/most of if not all of 94. Golfs had the "normal" dash. All cars after 1990 needed some kind of passive restraint in the USA... VW didn't offer airbags on the Mk3s right away, so they got door belts instead. If it has airbags, it does not have door belts. if it was sold in Canada, it could have come without both (no SRS law up there then).

VW is a giant company. They don't do things half assed, and the workers on the line don't just install what they feel like on that day. Yes, some things are oddly split up, but (with a few certain notable exceptions) everything is identified down to the VIN what it came in.

Also, people are dumb. No offense but the date on the door jamb doesn't directly corrospond to the model year. SO if it says 8/94, for example, that makes it a 95, and different parts apply. VW uses the serial numbers (last 6 of the VIN) to identify what parts go to what range of cars.

This^ Vin's don't lie. Speaking from experience (work at a major OEM/Aftermarket parts vendor) I have seen many odd Vin splits from VW. most times, There seems to be no logical explanation or reasoning for it.

NO 94s had early dashes. The information above is false. Not even all 93s had them.

Correct, my 93 (built 09/92) and my 94 (11/93) had the "newer" dashes in them.

[LilHearst]

Here we go again..... Can you see were my confusion comes from? So I take it its just random?

[vw_dubi_mk3]

Let's see some pics of this bubble dash!

[VDub2625]

Here we go again..... Can you see were my confusion comes from? So I take it its just random?

Yes. Larry the lineworker decides whichever dash he wants to install that day, depending on which one he feels like lifting. Never mind that the dash electrical harness, headlight switch, plastic trim etc is all different.

In case you didn't get the sarcasm M-R025321 (10/93). That's the last Jetta with a "bubble" dash. R is 1994. So a few did sneak out as 1994 models. ETKA confirmed. Don't see any bubble dash in the 94 GLX. So the above information is in fact correct, and the above statement that I was wrong is in fact incorrect

Also, Euro cars had it to W-R368005, built until 12/93. So they kept it a tad bit longer into the 1994 model year, but not by much.

[speedjohnson]

Yes. Jaun the lineworker decides whichever dash he wants to install that day, depending on which one he feels like lifting. Never mind that the dash electrical harness, headlight switch, plastic trim etc is all different.

Fixed it.


I think thats exactly what they did half of the time and then just called the cars "special editions."

[sic_null]

Here we go again..... Can you see were my confusion comes from? So I take it its just random?

no. It is just not a question that gets a very simple answer. It is all dependent on your VIN.

[salamander1983]

Looks like I missed getting a bubble dash by less than 200

[VDub2625]

Fixed it.


I think thats exactly what they did half of the time and then just called the cars "special editions."

Lol

no. It is just not a question that gets a very simple answer. It is all dependent on your VIN.

Exactly. I think the confusion stems from VW often going with "running changes" recently. Back in the day (Mk1/2 era, and older), VW often waited until the end of the month to change things. So the parts program would list build months as the final change point. In the late 80s and early 90s, they started going with running changes, which can seem random. They would plan a specific car to start a change with, and thyat car and all following that one would get the new part. VIN based changes became much more common in the 90s.

But no matter when they do it, there is always a fixed point on the line, where the changes were applied. It's never a back and forth sort of thing. I get upset when I hear people say "oh they just wanted to run out old stock". No, they didn't. They plan for these changes to happen at specific times so it can be well documented which cars have what, for service purposes.

[sic_null]

. I get upset when I hear people say "oh they just wanted to run out old stock". No, they didn't. They plan for these changes to happen at specific times so it can be well documented which cars have what, for service purposes.

Except in 98 with the Drivers Edition leftovers. im pretty sure that was to run out of overstock.

[VDub2625]

Except in 98 with the Drivers Edition leftovers. im pretty sure that was to run out of overstock.

They have to make parts for spares, even after they finish a model line, no matter how special or rare. They plan extremely exactly, how many they will need for production, and how many they'll need for spares. They probably did the same thing they did with the Mk2 big bumpers: "Hey, let's make it a more expensive special edition when we initially release these parts, and then let's give them out on all the models after we've made a bit of extra cash on the early adopters". It's much more likely they planned the release in that way

[sic_null]

I can agree to this! I was quite happy with my DE leftovers in my 2.0 daily.

It was always amusing when people would tell me I had a DE