Broken power steering rack on Jetta 2001

Get a life, the place you purchased the car from didn't know what the warranty was so they lied to you, 2002's have the 4/50k warranty! Sometimes, things just go bad a little too early in life and we just have to live with that. It can be anything from one whose TV last 10 years and your parents TV only lasts 5 years... and they both are the same model and were purchased the same day! VW sometimes offers a goodwill gesture if you are the first owner and the car is under 3year/36000miles on pre 2004 cars. From your post it looks like you purchased the car used and if so one has no clue how the first owner treated the vehicle. Maybe the first owner had a minor accident such as slid into a curb, slid off the road, or hit something else minor and the result it took 34K miles for the steering to fail. Now I'm like you and don't like to spend money on my car, but if it breaks- I fix it!

Sorry to be so rough on you. Wish you luck with the Toyota

I'm not certain you could have avoided this unfortunate situation had you purchased the car from a different dealer. It's likely the rack had problems from a previous owner that wouldn't have been found when the dealer prepped the car for resale. I can also envision the same thing potentially happening on a Toyota or any used car for that matter -- the money saved on a used car is traded for additional risk. My experience tells me that Toyota does have the edge over Volkswagen in the overall quality of it's products, but there's no guarantee you won't have a big repair bill now and then with a Toyota.

Having said that, one cannot excuse the salesman for being less-than-truthful about the warranty. At best, he made a mistake and failed in his responsibility to the customer. Unfortunately, you have to go into these negotiations assuming that every word out of the salesperson's mouth is a lie, even though this of course is not the case. These folks are under tremendous pressure to sell, and they often leave their integrity at home. As they say, a verbal agreement is not worth the paper it is written on.

But you already know all these things. And you're justifiably upset with such a pricey repair on a relatively low-mileage used car. Who wouldn't be? The good news is that you are using the right medium, the internet, to share your experience so the widest possible audience can learn from it. The word-of-mouth also forces businesses to be more accountable for their practices. I, for one, appreciate that.

Kent

1987 VW GTI 8V, original owner

Another thing about Toyota's - how many people do you see driving their Toyota "enthusiastically"... I lean on my steering pretty hard on the corners around where I live, and have only had to replace some bushings so far (I knew this repair was coming) the car has almost 100K Kms on it. It was driven as a company car for 4 years, I worked with the guys who drove this car (and the 3 other VW's) and we didn't drive them lightly... No major problems on nay cars except the standard VW problems of the era - MAF sensors, and window regulators... Hell the one 5 speed Jetta TDI that apparantly at least 8 people learned stick on, with 100+ K kms on it now has its original clutch!!

When we changed the steering rack after 10 years in my mothers Volvo (hardly a rough driver) he said the main cause of hydraulic leakage in the steering system is - impacts from accidents, slow wear and tear from turning the wheels when the car isn't in motion (my mother was guilty of this - it really stresses the pump, just think about the days when you didn't have power steering, how hard it was when the car wasn't rolling, and how easy it was when the car was rolling, this is the frequent cause of steering rack/pump problems after so many years of use), or the system was defective (rare). He said aggressive driving would wear out the bushings and possibly bearings before anything else.......

I liked your replies to my problem. These are the kind of things I am looking for, when using this forum.

Kent, thanks for the words - I think they were indeed very true. I agree with your point of view regarding the dealer. The condition of the car is not really the dealer's fault. The only thing I am angry about is the way I was lied to and that the owner seemed like he had never heard about the salesman that sold it to me (we are talking about a business with approx.

4-5 salesmen). I was choosing between a 2000 and 2001, and I ended up choosing the 2001 because it came with the 4 year warranty - paying an extra $1,000 for it. I just came to the states, when I bought the car, and just all the paperwork was quite confusing to me. At that time I had to sort out a lot of information and I was stupid to rely on the word I got about the warranty.

Rob, you are definitely right about the Toyota thing. They might make quality cars, but it is also a kind of a boring car. Today I actually talked with a girl who had the exact same problem with the steering rack...and she has a Toyota Camry. I take my words back on what I said about the Toyota.

Frustrated is just how I feel about this. I have talked with VW customer service today, and I think they gave me a very good service, although they were not able to help me. As I do not know how the car was driven before I got it, it is a possibility that the previous owner had a minor accident, hidding a curb, hole or something like that. And like Kent said - the money saved on buying a used car is traded for an additional risk - unfortunately. On the other hand my car is not a certified pre-owned, but I probably saved a couple of thousand dollars buying my car.

I have a 2001 2,0 GLS 31,500 miles, manual I bought for $10,400. I used to have a 1984 Jetta with a 1.6 engine that came from Switzerland - single carburator, no power steering. I loved this car, and I really felt it was a quality car, although it was 19 years old when I sold it in December last year. It was quite bigger than the Jetta I have now.

-Carsten