Used 1997 Volkswagen Jetta GL for Sale Nationwide

Performance- From factory: nothing to brag about. Great low end torque. Good gas mileage, VERY dependable. Build Quality- Its a VW, so its got its quirks, but a well built car IMHO Appearance- The Mark 3 Golf/Jettas are one of my favorite generations of VWs design history. Stays true to previous generations "look". Everything else afterwards was a big change Cost of Ownership- Get past maintenance, and its pretty cheap to own. Low insurance rates, and great MPG Fun Factor- My favorite car I've owned so far... ad some mild mods to it, and its a blast to drive.

My precious Jetta. My sister bought this many many years ago. I have always loved this car and it has NEVER let us down. Every other MKIII Jetta or Golfs are nightmares. This is a diamond in the rough. It just hit 106,000 miles and it runs and drives like new. I just put a throttle body, valve cover gasket, intake gasket, cooling fan switch, brakes, and a tune up on her. The paint is not the best quality. It is the VW toranado red that always fades. It handles pretty well, it isn't the fastest car but I would take reliability over speed now. The gas mileage has gotten pretty bad and I don't know what it is that is causing it yet. It is the GL trim package, do no crazy electrical issues, I just lubed the sunroof so it closes and opens great again. The only issue I have with it is the intermittent wipers have never worked. Its no big deal though. No crazy squeaks or rattles to speak of, nice cd changer (factory) good sound. tight shifting still, the side trim always comes un-glued though.

This car overall is a pretty good car. For only having 115hp it is quite peppy. But that is because it has higher gear ratios in the transmission compared to most other VW's. The motor is running as strong as i could ask it to. Although the motors are really strong in these cars, the transmissions are not that good. Although it shifts smoothly, i feel that the transmission could have been built beefier. The lack of sway-bars on the car is also a problem to me. My car does have a cat-back exhaust from Magnaflow. And if anyone has a MkIII jetta or golf i would recommend getting it because it sounds amazing and it definately makes the car drive more spirited. A list of parts to go on the car: cold-air intake, high-flow cat, header, tuned ECU, KONI Special D struts, Eibach Sportline lowering springs, aftermarket wheels, short-throw shifter, bigger throttle body, and possibly a new, bigger camshaft with adjustable timing sprocket.

My car may be falling apart, but it's fast and handles great, I love my two ton paperweight. Plus, it's a standard, so people who don't suck at life can drive her. Compared to my folks '06 VW Passat, it's a rattletrap, but that's perfect for me, I can feel the speed.

This was my first car my mom bought it for me for my 18th birthday for 6,000 dollars. I had very minimal problems with this car I had to replace the distributor cap and eventually the transmission gave out on the car. But other then that an all around great car.