Hello,
I apologize for not lurking at all before posting but needed an answer to several questions.

I just bought a 2005 Jetta GLS with a 2.0 Liter engine with 4 speed automatic.

The car seems to run fine but as i moved from an E350 12 passenger bus and a GMC Truck i just wanted to clarify a couple of items. I have always wanted a Jetta, several friends at work have them and have almost no issues with them, one had 220,000 miles when the person gave it to his dad in nice condition. However I now see most of these guys very rarely as I have moved to another dept. in a different location.

When I am cruising on the highway at about 80 mph the car is turning about 3500 rpm's. Is that normal or should it be lower? Does the car have an overdrive switch? I am missing only section 3.1 of my manual and that deals with those issues.

Fuel economy, my wife drives downtown in heavy stop/go traffic and is averaging 19-20 mpg. Is that normal?

Thanks for your time.

 

Seems as though nobody else will bite so I will. I actually asked the same question in Beetles and so far no reply. I would say that is probably normal as I have a 2002 Special Edition Beetle that is a Turbo 2.0 and Automatic that revs to about 2800 rpms @ 60 ish mph. Haven't had it up to 80 (bought it for my daughter) but was alarmed about the rpms and like you, looked for a overdrive switch but found none. I have also looked in the book and found nothing about such.

Maybe being a 4 cyl. and auto. has alot to do with the high rpms but one would think they could be alot lower, like in the 1800-1900 range. Gas mileage would be a ton better.

Our engines are the same (so I have heard) but not sure about the tranny. Hope this helps some.

 

Hello,
Thanks for the response. I did see your question on the Beetle also. I have only owned two four cylinder vehicles, both bought new, prior to the Jetta. One was a manual '84 Ford Escort and the other a HORRIBLE '87 Mighty Max.

I sold my 2001 GMC SIERRA SLE the day I bought the Jetta. It was a great truck that I bought with 7miles and put 105,000 trouble free miles on it. It still looks new today and I sold it to a friend for 7000.00. He got a good deal. My current vehicle was my wife's '06 E350 Super Duty XLT12 passenger van (family vehicle). We still owe on it, thankfully we got it for 19 grand with 19000 miles. It is a great vehicle but the dpreciation from it's original 34000.00 price tag is unreal. She is now working for the State Attorney and Vans and large SUV's are not allowed to park in the building because of security. Hence, we decided to downsize one vehicle an go German. We used the truck to finish paying our place out in Colorado.

I just wasn't used to the four cylinder, but it turns out that it is normal. Not to thrilled with mileage (full City driving @ 20mpg). BUT DEFINITELY better than the "Big E" at 9.5! On the highwaythe E350gets a little over 16 and my drive to work is all highway. I live two blocks from the Sawgrass Xway and work right off of SR 826 in Dade County.

Thanks again for the response. She loves the Jetta!