Question about New Beetle, wife needs a car

[JettaGLI03]

Hey,

So I have a 2003 Jetta that I have had for about 4 years now, there are very few problems I have run into. Simple things, like coil packs, clutch replacement, and a damaged hose to the oil cooler, but these were all things I could fix.

We are looking into buying a 2004 New Beetle GL with the 2.0l and an automatic transmission. I would feel comfortable with this because I am used to working on volkswagens. There is one other car, a 2006 Ford Focus that we are also looking at, but she currently has an 01 Focus that has had so many problems since we bought it.

She asked her friends what they thought and they all seem to have a preconceived notion that volkswagens are super expensive to maintain and that the New Beetle's are prone to electrical issues.

For those of you who own a New Beetle, have you had major issues or am I only hearing about the people who have had the problems ?

tldr; Are New Beetles prone to electrical issues ?

Thanks for your help!

[Rockerchick]

The auto is going to be your biggest problem. The 2.0 is a great motor. Not super fast, but enough. I had the 2.0 and 5-speed in my '99 and it was a great car for the 6 1/2 years I had it. No real problems. Only electrical issue I had was the door microswitches, which is the same for any mk4.

[VWBugman00]

RockerChick is right, the 2.0 is a very reliable motor. The weakpoint, also pointed out by her is the transmission. However, it should be alright considering the limited power of the 2.0. Our cars seem to have an appetite for headlights, but the electrical issues that I've experienced have been limited to this, the doorlocks, and the comfort control module, which controls cruise control. I think she'd be happy with it.

[Berry03]

My fiancees 03, did'nt have to many electrical gremlins running around. So far to date that I know of, the door latch mech, and the fuel sending unit... The gas cap thingy was my fault, did'nt buy the OEM one, did the cheapo Stant, paid for it in the end.. but then again for a car with 106k miles, that's pretty good... She should be happy... Plus your buying it, that's a plus

[rayfinkle21]

I recently purchased my first VW, a 2000 New Beetle GLS 1.8T with 75k miles.
my wife has wanted one for years, but every time I looked up info on them all I found was "it's cute but it sucks" over and over, so I stayed away.
She got a new job and driving the truck a hundred miles day at about 14MPG wasn't cutting it. I knew she would love a beetle, so I dug in more, and found more of the same, "it's so expensive to fix"
well, yes it's expensive to fix if you take it to the dealer for everything. Other complaints were about the interior being easily scratched and looks like crap all torn up. True, but a little paint goes a long way to make it look new again.
then on to the electrical issues. Beetles, and some other MK3 and Mk4s may have a bad coolant temp sensor, that allows coolant to be pushed through all the wiring in the car. There is a TSB on this and they call it coolant migration. Basically, the coolant get in all the wires and corrodes, causing all kinds of random electrical problems. It is fairly rare, and is easily prevented by replacing the temp sensor, which I think was only found from 98 to around 01. since you are looking at an '04 this should not be a concern for you, but since it seems all beetles 98 to '10 are lumped together, you may hear about this in your search for info on them.

my personal experience. I have owned this NB for 2 months, I bought from a private party, knowing it would need some work, since it has 75k on it and is 12 yrs old. The front speakers don't work, i haven't fixed that yet. After 2 weeks the wire to the seat belt under the seat broke, and now the airbag light is on. I fixed the wire, and have spent $200 to buy a used vag com cable to reset the light. It started stalling when cold, I cleaned the MAF sensor and it's been fine for a month. I guess these are electrical issues, but I don't consider them to be a real big deal.
As a preventative measure I replaced the front brake calipers and hoses (they were rusty looking) it had all new pads and rotors all around and new rear calipers, that was the only part that was not new.
I bought a Panzer Skid plate, then broke the oil pan before I got to put it on. $250 fine for procrastination, the plate was in my garage for a week before the incident...
It has a vibration up front that doesn't follow the tires when rotated, I will be replacing the axles.
new spark plugs helped, they were about $50 for the OE plugs.
Here in the rust belt, cars usually don't last more than 10 years due to rust. And this one has some body rust, but is still solid. I looked at several NBs that had holes rusted through in these areas. Before winter I will be removing the fenders and cleaning and coating all rusted areas with POR-15 to make sure I get another 5 years out it.

I am sure I am forgetting some things, but overall I think these things are to be expected on a 10+ yr old car. I do all my own work, otherwise I couldn't afford to keep it. I have about $1200 in parts so far, labor would easily be over $3k if I were paying someone to fix it, so I see why people say they are expensive to maintain.

Since you already own a VW, you have a good idea of what it takes to keep it going. To be honest I am surprised at how cheap replacement parts are for these cars. The same parts on my '99 Pontiac cost over 50% more.

one more thing, if you are buying from a dealer, then all of the above should already be done if it's needed.

my thoughts on the Ford: Ford makes good cars now, and made significant improvements in their quality starting in 2008. I own a 2001 and 2008. I recommend staying away from the '07 and older.

[Rockerchick]

Unless you had other damage, $250 for a new oil pan is nuts. Pretty sure I paid about $100 for parts and labor for my mechanic to replace the one on my NB.

And the coolant migration comes from the coolant bottle wiring connection, not the CTS. At least from what I've seen. Never had it happen on any car though (through 3 Mk4's).

[rayfinkle21]

Yeah the coolant bottle plug, I thought it was temp, maybe level, I wasn't sure, these are pretty new to me.

$250 is very high for an oil pan repair. I got the oil pan online for under $70 shipped, but add a 30 mile tow home, losing 5 quarts of one week old oil, 5 more quarts of new oil, And an 60 mile round trip the next day to scrub a client's white concrete driveway, and it was every bit of a $250 mistake.

Moral of the story is, Pot holes are bad no matter how slow you try to go, and skid plates are awesome, but they don't work sitting in your garage.

I expect that this Beetle will be great car once I get through doing all the little things that have been ignored. I expect to spend about the same on this well used car's purchase + repairs, as I would on buying a re-conditioned one from a dealer, but I will do more, and use better parts than I think a (non-VW) dealer would.

Funny thing is, this 12 year old VW is probably the nicest car we've ever owned in the way of overall build quality, and 'luxury' features. Good power for a daily driver, leather, sunroof, heated seats, awesome handling. Overall it's has a better 'feel' than any of my other cars when they were only a year or two old. I see a lot with close to 200k miles, and this one isn't even halfway there yet, so I hope to get it over the 200k mark myself.