What do I do with a beat up but drivable jetta?

If your yard or garage or driveway can accomodate it, keep it. Do standard maintenance on it, keep dry gas in the gas tank if you don't use it often. Keep the battery charged. Keep liability insurance on it. Use it as alternate transportation for short trips, or when your new vehicle needs overnight or longer maintenance. My same year fox has 300K on it, one noisy lifter. I use it just as described above. A second vehicle comes in handy. And, its paid for. The money value is of no consequence, its what it can do for you that counts.

I hear they're crushing the A2's. Keep it away from a junk yard if at all possible. Just sell cheap (if you must sell) to someone who seems to know the brand and appreciate it. A lot of people who love their old run-down VW's sell them cheap hoping to find a good mechanically inclined home for them. I've been on both sides of this kind of transaction.

irv

Well, you could give it away on the vortex

Keep driving it.

Other than some wear out items your car isn't in any danger of falling apart. (125K?, Hah!)

Just concider replacing some of those minor rubber bits and so on (bushings, injector o-rings, etc) on an older car and keep changing your oil and as they say- "Keep on Truckin'"

TBerk

Papa, your plonk is trigger happy in this case.

Plonk who you want but your evangelizing, _in_this_case_, isn't a good fit.

Unplonk him, eh?

TBerk

But you can find a new owner; just in this thread were two or three easy ways.

If you fully disclose these issues to the (potential, and future) buyer then what is the trouble? I understand driving a car with it's particular 'quirks' but they seems fixable to me, and a 'new to you' car is often fixed a bit compared to the enduring of old issues the previous owner was putting up with.

To the original poster: Fix the little stuff and keep driving that old Jetta. When it's time to find it a new home you can come here, Craig's List, or the Vortex, and any number of low cost or free avenues to get the job done.

We are a consumer society, one based on "Growth is GOOD!" but we come from very frugal roots, most all of our historical backgrounds share this in common. Wear it, patch it and hand it down.

TBerk

In your opinion.

I know it is possible, but I have tried, and it isn't easy. There is nothing like putting an ad for a free car in craigs list and having people complain you wasted their time because there were too many problems and they don't know how to work on cars. Makes you wonder what they thought they'd get for free.

You are right, most things are fixable...but finding someone who wants an old car is hard enough...finding someone who wants it and wants to spend the time and money to fix it is another thing. Far more likely is someone is just going to take it, and run it regardless of any conditions that should be addressed for safety's sake. I don't want it on my head that I allowed someone to put a dangerous car on the road.

Dude,

You cannot save people from themselves. Personal responsability is not yopurs alone to bear, the other guy has his share also.

It's still better than junking a running car, let alone a Jetta.

TBerk spellchecking notwithstanding.