Everyone always rags on VWs, but all cars have their own issues. I can tell you a bad story about EVERY type of car ever made. Buy something you like. Learn the quarks and work around them. Also, the 2.0 isn’t exactly the strongest modding platform, but it all depends on what you want. You can drop a cam in it and get a chip for it for like $220 and pick up something like 10-15whp between the two. Not to mention toss exhaust on and intake etc etc. They can have some pick up. You can get head work done for cheap as they’re simple heads. There are parts for them everywhere and they’re by far the cheapest VW to mod (staying w/the stock platform). Hell, if you really want to get deep into it you can get a turbo kit for it and make whatever power… of course that’s pending built bottom end etc etc. The 94 and OLDER ABA 8vs had a better platform for FI due to the fact they had oil squirters and factory forged pieces - they can hold something like 280whp or something IIRC. But they also had forged cranks. You can get a 20v head for a 2.0 and make a 20/20 as it’s usually referred to and then have all options that 1.8ts have (tuning is a PITA though).
Moving out of power mods, suspension stuff is everywhere as well. And they can be modded to handle pretty damn well. Try mjmautohaus.com for pretty much anything. They’re usually the best price. Toss a bulky RSB on and make it tight and you can take some understeer out of it. I could tell you plenty of things to mod. If you enjoy the car don’t buy into people telling you VWs suck. Just my .02.
every car has quirks and at least a few issues/known weaknesses, if you like the Jetta then you like it, as others have said at least the 2.0 is a pretty reliable platform even if you won’t make a ton of power…remember how much more respect you can get with clean, quality mods - anyone can blow a motor.
If your car has some problems hopefully they are relatively small and you get to learn a little from it. Good luck!