Nicole

...don't ever buy a 2012 VW Jetta. It's hard to believe, but it has the weakest AC I've experienced in a long time! My R-134 converted 928 cools down much, much faster!

A few more observations:

- When taking off at traffic lights, the 2.5 liter 5-cylinder engine first appears really weak, only to pull super strong later - as if it had a looong turbo lag. The automatic doesn't help here, making it tricky to get off the line without over-accelerating later. It's the opposite of the Sonata I drove recently, which initially pulled like crazy and weakened-off gradually.

- The window frames of the rear doors swing-out so far, you have to pay attention that they don't hit you.

- That hard plastic dash with its boring styling is depressing.

- I got a touch-less car wash yesterday, courtesy of god in heaven. While the front wipers did a great job, it was hard to see anything through the rear window. It reminded me of another reason why I never owned a sedan, and never plan to own one... no rear wiper!!!

Otherwise, it is roomy, comfortable to ride-in, handles very well, and appears to be well made (despite some cheap materials). I think the Wagon with turbo diesel would be a better choice than the 2.5 SE Sedan.

IcemanG17

I always thought "sharky" had GREAT AC....no complaints once I got it working properly on R12....like it was designed....even thought it has rear AC I never used it....

Remember I live in the VALLEY....much much hotter than the bay area where Nicole lives....

However as good as the AC in Sharky was, probably still is (its in New Mexico now).....my truck is better.....did I say that...

Jim Morton

Nicole:

Not sure if this"Volksie" is yours, but we have owned many new era VW's and all cars as delievered from the dealer were undercharged when checked for a complaint on weak performing A/C. Once we learned this "dock side" vehicle prep wekaness, we have insisted on validating the A/C charge prior to delevery. With this "knowledge", all of our V-dubs" now have had great A/C.

It's seems a shame that the small savings from not delevering the cars with a complete refrigerant charge is done over having new owners report good A/C.

YMMV (disclaimer)

Nicole

No, not my own car. It's a rental.

But good to know about the weak charge in the AC.

tailpipe

I remember back in the day oh about 20 yrs ago when my friends and I were playing with the early VW rabbits some of them came with air it was a hard choice to make on a hot day because the engines only made barely enough power to drive or use the air but not both. You could be driving along and turn the air on it was like slaming on the brakes.

Leon Speed

That's why there's a defrost (ehmm de-rain in this case) button. And it dries the mirrors too

griffiths

I've owned 3 sharks in the past: 78, 84s, 89s4.
All converted to R134a.
Antiquated system.
Rear air was unnecessary in the later model.
But... all blew cold.

Imo000

One of the weakers AC are in the first generation Mazda 3s. They were under designed by a large margin. It's a known design flaw that Mazda never addressed and all the first gens have this problem.

On the other hand, the AC in my '00 Jetta is very good, and never heard too many ACC issues with new VWs either. Maybe there is something wrong with the one you rented.

Nicole

Just returned it and told them about the weakness. Here in the South you really need this to work!

I do wish, though, that my old Saab had the suspension and handling of the VW Jedai.

Chuck Schreiber

Nicole,
I just bought my daughter a 2007 Jetta, flew to Houston and drove it back w my son.
The AC froze me out, had to turn it down to lowest setting and about half on the temp setting.
The 2.5 in that car hauled butt for it's size. I got it up to about 110ish not even pushing it.
(I'll never tell my daughter that).

The brand new Jettas don't look as nice and maybe not built as good??!!

I thoght to myself as I drove it 260 miles back home, man, I wish I had a car even half as good as this when I was 16. I don't think I owned a car with working AC until I was about 20.

Nicole

Driving back from the airport, the turbo engine and old-fashioned 4-speed automatic of my 2000 Saab felt so much more in harmony than what I had experienced with the Jedai in the past days. What puzzles me even more is that I had driven a Rabbit with the same engine and transmission, and did not notice this lag of power.

I kind of hope (for VW) that this and the weak AC were exceptions from the norm.

namasgt

A friend of mine owns a 2010? rabbit with the 5 cylinder and automatic transmission. He complained how slow it was on take off, similar to what you explained on the first post.