I met a guy who is selling a 2003 Jetta 1.8t with every option and only 32k miles for $8k. Car has never been in a wreck and is a one owner vehicle.The catch? Well here is what all he told me:

electrical gremlins...car has only been dealer serviced to figure whats going on, but always come back clean, it is not throwing any codes, but traction control light will come on and blink, it's been thru two of those vw key things, but it's got a brand new one that works fine, it's had a problem with clogged fuel injectors, it's had the "motor vac" service twice, she only runs premium in it. Also it only gets 275 miles a tank. He said it surges sometimes whe nyou drive it, but the dealership has looked at it a few times and the injectors and fuel lines are clean.

So there it is, would you still buy the car? How "BAD" are these issues? It will be my DD, but only because my Jeep is becoming more of a weekend toy. I figure if I start having issues I could always sell it and atleast break even?

 

Or maybe you could take it to someone who knows something, and fix the little things in it, then you have a really nice vehicle. On the other hand, you get yourself a book, and you could try and fix it yourself. I'm a mechanic, and know a few people who are VW smart, so I would get it, but it's me...