Is it any good? I heard that Volkswagen makes poor auto-transmissions. Hence why most Jettas are 5-speeds.
A fluid change might help, you can drop the pan and filter, then there is a plug on the side of the tranny to fill it up, but I dont remember how much fluid it takes, or what kind of fluid it is. Those transmissions were very troublesome, good luck!
The automatic transmissions have had a fair reliability record; the oldest ones like the ones used in the air cooled models were by far the most trouble prone, however, having said that, it is true that the automatic transmissions until recently have been below average in reliability (in my opinion anyway). The worst of the bunch was the French designed four speed overdrive automatic transmission used during the early to mid nineties, it had a seperate filter outside of the automatic transmission and was prone to jerky shifts and slippage way too often. Part of the issue was that people didn't change the fluid and filter often enough, but even so, it wasn't a very transmission. The next generation, designed I believe by ZF, was much better and was in use until the new generation that just out. Far more reliable, smoother shifting and (late models anyway,) not prone to bump stop shifting. Most of the issues of delayed engagement, hard shifts have been delt with thru software updates and improvements in the box. Still, its probably not as good as the Asian/Warner automatic transmissions now used by many Japanese/American and some european makes, such as Volvo. The latest generation of automatic transmissions are based upon (supposedly anyway) of Asian/Warner design. If its true, then this generation of automatic transmission should be trouble free for the most part. Time will be the judge on these new generation automatic transmissions in the current models(Jetta/Rabbit (Golf)/Beetle). Hope this helps, a car nut.
I have an 07 jetta. Good car so far. I got it in Apirl of last year so just from that I can say that I have not had any problems with it. Love my car (RED) and the only draw back is that my oil changes are $80
