2001 VW New Beetle 2.0L Gas Timing Belt

Thanks for the link. Pretty much says "time to get a new car."

I don't want to spend the money on this one, and I don't want to chance losing the engine.

Is the car so bad that it is not worth spending a few maintenance bucks on it? It IS about 8 going on 9 years old, but that is not a lot on some cars.

This car has been a pain since we bought it. It needs front end work, tires, it's got a oil leak from where mama ran over a piece of angle iron that bounced off a truck in front of her. it maybe needs about $1K to $2K of work and then we'll feel like we need to keep it.

Time to pick out a new car for Mama. She likes the Malibu's, I like the Accords and the Camry's.

Thanks for the info.

The reason I ask is that a friend had one of the new Beetles. She liked it at first, but there were niggling little repairs which finally became frequent and expensive repairs. She got rid of it last year. It sounds like you have had a similar experience.

snip

Constant "niggling" repairs.. and plenty of BIG niggling repairs, like a new radiator, ECM, alternator, just lots of stuff

I'd never buy another VW. My daughter had a 99 and it was even worse. POS

Buy Mama that Malbu.......

harryface

My father suffered with a 76 vw rabbit. It burned a quart of oil a week and the dealer's solution was to put a sticker around the filler hole "check oil". Any time it was below about 25 degrees, it wouldn't start. I remember ski trips where he'd be outside in the morning with a tea kettle of boiling water and rags that he'd soak to try to unfreeze the injectors.

I had a '71 superbeetle that was the worst piece of shit I've ever known. There wasn't a single system on that car that didn't have multiple failures. For example, front suspension: wheel bearings, idler arm (5" play in steering), steering u-joint; engine accessories: generator blew to pieces as bearings failed, carb with bearing around throtttle leaking enouh to reduce mileage to 16mpg, exhaust welds came apart; distributor bearings wore out; heat exchangers rusted through...

Father later bought an audi and got rid of it after two years when it started requiring monthly trips for service. I gave him a hard time "I can't believe you bought another VW!" and he's learned his lesson.

\ There wont be any Malibu around this house.

I have owned two Passats and both were fine cars, no trouble. But I really dont like the level of customer care that Volkswagen has given some of my friends and acquaintances.

As a follow-up on this, my local private mechanic searched his service database and found documentation that says 2001-2003 2.0L "Manufacturer suggests replacement at 105K miles"

It's not that hard to inspect the timing belt...just remove the upper timing cover. The belt on my '05 Jetta 2.0 with 60K miles looked pristine.

I would just inspect it for now...then if you really want to spend the $$ on a new car next year...

Belts usually start to show obvious signs of wear and don't just fail spontaneously. Check the belt tension too. You're more likely to find the tensioner worn (or needs adjusted) at that age than a bad belt. Inspecting this should be a 30 minute job if you pay someone to do it....could be more if there are clearance issues with the beetle or if tensioner needs adjusted or replaced.

As far as "time to get a new car"...the new car may have an interference engine too.

Don Byrer KJ5KB Power & Glider Pilot Guy kj5kb-at-hotmail.com

"I have slipped the surly bonds of earth; now if I can just land without bending the gear..." "Watch out for those doves..."

Fan belts - yes. Timing belt? Catastrophic failure is the norm & a belt that is about to fail can look just like a new one right out of the box. The only safe thing is to adhere to the mileage and age spec in the maintenance schedule for the car.