2000 Jetta VR6 (auto) - what should I do with it?

[axjo1]

Hi everyone,

First post. I have had this car for 8 years (bought it new) and after 175K miles (most highway), it "died" on me. It is currently at the shop and they have not found the exact problem yet but it is either my transmission or something that interacts with the transmission.

Symptoms: It is an automatic by the way.
1. If it is in P,N,D,3,2,1 the car acts like it is in N and will roll freely.
2. When I start the car and put it in any gear, there is a not so pleasant
sound (metal clacking sound)
3. No power to the wheels when gased.

Regardless, it will probably be at least 3K to fix and I think I'm just going to get a new car. Its too bad though as the interior (leather) and exterior (silver) is very clean and I took care of it and I put it some money in the last two years fixing various things (i have paper work for every thing I have done to the car and i'm afraid of adding it all up )

Anyways, since I'm pretty sure I'm not going to fix it. What do I do with this car? Who would by a car that has a bad transmission (i'm assuming)? Is it better to sell it for parts? Where would I sell such a thing?

Sorry for the long post but I'm really not sure what to do with my broken Jetta.

Thanks!

a

[sdhelzer]

You could have the tranny fixed for the $3K+ but with 175K miles on it you might just be starting down a long hard road of break downs and repairs.

You could try selling the Jetta whole... might get $1000 or maybe a little more or you could part it out and I am sure you would get a whole lot more money; but, what a hassle.

I think you ought to consider donating the vehicle to a charitable cause, take a tax deduction and get another Jetta.

[axjo1]

Originally Posted by sdhelzer

You could have the tranny fixed for the $3K+ but with 175K miles on it you might just be starting down a long hard road of break downs and repairs.

You could try selling the Jetta whole... might get $1000 or maybe a little more or you could part it out and I am sure you would get a whole lot more money; but, what a hassle.

I think you ought to consider donating the vehicle to a charitable cause, take a tax deduction and get another Jetta.

I agree with your first statement. I do like the car but I think I reached an end point where financially it doesn't make sense. The charity thing I considered and I was thinking of parting it out...but I would need some help in that area. It sure does suck. I spent some money on it in the past year so there are some parts that are new. If I did part it out, would I post something like that here?

[sdhelzer]

If you ever really get to be a real, true, blue car enthusiast you will discover that you will keep / restore your babies without regards to cost.

Sounds like you have already made your decision and are putting it into action.

Regarding posting "for sale items on this forum"... I think the place should be "The Trading Post".

Good luck and hope you get another good ride soon.

[TTTurbo1.8T]

Another thing you could try are people around where you live that buy totaled out/old cars (a guy around here is specifically VW's) and they'll give you a chunk of change and part it out themselves. Not sure what your car would fetch though, never know they might drop in a newer tranny and polish the engine up and sell it for 4 times what they gave you, I'd look into it.