More specifically a MKIII jetta VR6.
Good, bad, ugly. I don’t know anything about them and would like to know your experiences and educated opinions.
More or less focus on the drivetrain, but overall common problems are good to know about as well.
an educated owner of a VW is one who sold thier VW.
or one who works at a vw dealer.
you don’t see MKIII VR6 on the road, maybe rare.
but it’s a nice piece of machine.
turbocharged though. 
Had a MK II vr6. I know it not exactly the same but they were similar enough to suffer from the same issues. The motor is a load of fun but not reliable. I had a coil pack and maf go bad(which are common). The final draw was the oil cooler seal going bad pouring oil all over while I was driving down the highway. Had that fixed and at the same time they replaced the T stat housing, which is plastic and can crack. The damage was done though I blew a lifter and F’ed it up. In its defense I drove it for a week Knocking like a 90 year old diesel. The guy who bought it from me drove it home too.
I owned a 98 GTI VR6 for 3 1/2 years, and drove it from 110,000kms to 240,000kms. To me probably the best sounding motor for the price, once chipped you rev up to 7,000 it sounds crazy and once you throw some cams, springs and retainers and get it up to 8,000rpm it sounds like the fuckin devil. But I will never buy a VW again. I went through three rack and pinions, 4 coil packs, blew the diff twice and the trann blew up, both window regulators, oil pump for power door locks, and LOTS of electrical problems and many more. I spent $20,000 in REPAIRS in that 3 1/2 year time. I know some might say that I beat on it, but only moderatly. Never gone through a Nissan or Honda tranny EVER and I can say the Hondas I’ve had I beat the fuck out of. The VW felt like it got hurt when you ripped it. There is a reason why you see only a couple vws when you go to the 1/4 track and tons of Hondas, cause they dont want to fuck something up.
My friend ended up buying the car off me even though I warned him off its past, and has owned it for the past 4 years. He has only put about 30,000km since its his beater since he has a summer car and a work truck but hes already put in about $20,000.
Its a love hate relationship, beware. It could have been a bit of a lemon, but do some research on vwvortex and www.msn.com and youll see that its pretty common.
They run forever, sold mine with 175k on it and still saw it around every now and again as of a few years back. Timing chains, so belts don’t need to be done. If the coilpacks have been done, wheel bearings don’t hum, and if you can live with electrical problems (like rear windows not working and shit) you shouldn’t have too much of a problem. Electric water pumps like to break draining the motor of coolant (ask me how I know) but there is an easy fix for that, if you have any specific questions shoot me a pm man, you know I owned one for years right?
They’re fun for a daily, I miss mine from time to time.
Is it local?
pm’d you, Jam
I had a 1997 GLX for a year,it was a 150K+ mile car with no maintenance history.
In the time I owned it,1 bad wheel bearing,thermostat,starter wire corroded away (free fix).It didnt have any electrical issues and never left me stranded.It was probably the best DD i’ve ever owned,would definitely buy another MK3.
how the fuck did you and your friend manage to rack up $40,000 combined in repairs on a vr6? thats just insane
first rule of vw’s are streched tires. Second rule is skinny jeans.
Plz don’t. Srsly.
I’m biased though. Nice sounding car though, have to admit.
- Apply inatimate and useless objects to roof rack.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen one on the road with two working brake lights.
LOL well lets see. They were over-revving a big V6 23% faster than it was designed to spin. They spent 8 times the car’s value in repairs. If it looks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, it’s probably a moron.
Here’s my story.
I had a MKIV VR6. 2001 that I owned from 2005 to 2007, 56k to 110k. Stock when I bought it, kept it stock other than a cone filter.
Had to fix/replace:
-Brake light switch $15
-Brake light switch again $15
-Rotory Crossover Valve Bushings $80
-JB Weld the coil pack $2
-Alternator $300 (yes, really)
-Radiator (because I broke it doing the alt, gotta drop the front clip to get at it and the alt’s quick disconnect fittings aren’t so quick) $100
-Wheel bearing $150
-Take apart the dash and cover a piece in tape that was meant to be in compression that compressed too much actually gained clearance and rattled like a mother fucker. $0.50
-Clutch $300
-Clean clutch dust out of the starter motor because it was sticking and screaming $0
-Idler Pulley $100
So I was fixing something all the damn time, but I probably only spent $700 in repairs. I autocrossed it a couple of times. Didn’t mod it. It was really a pleasure to drive. Sooo so so comfy. Sounded nice. Quicker than your average DD. My life just got busy and I got sick of piddly little nagging repairs.
If you’re looking to mod then you had better be willing to go FI. They push about 150-160WHP stock. NA you’ll be lucky to hit 200 no matter what you do.
Aside from 97240abcxypdq’s silly adventures, the VR6 is a pretty stout drivetrain.
It just happens, you keep thinking after these repairs my car will offically have nothing wrong with it. Then two weeks later something new starts.
By far my most favorite mkIII. Ya I know its not as good as most the times you ny speed put down, but fwd on street tires 11.0 is pretty good. Its got the mkIV 24v VR6 turbo’d
I loved my 12V VR6 and my 24V VR6 even more.
I put something like 110k on my 96 GTI over 5 years or so. I did have to do a lot of little maintenance to it, but to be expected having 140k on it when I bought it.
Probably the biggest common issues are (all of which I had to deal with) :
timing chains (really the tensioner), you have to split the motor / trans to swap them
coil pack
crack pipe (coolant crossover pipe)
electric water pump
serp belt tensioner
heater core (took fucking 11 hours to change that thing)
tps (have to swap the whole throttle body assembly to fix it)
If you dont mind fixing little things now and then a VW can be a ton of fun. I would totally buy it if the price is right and you have at least some maint history. Personally Id rather fix a vw and have fun driving it than be bored to death in some “reliable” jap car.
Dan
well here’s the lowdown… it’s a 1998 jetta glx with 87k miles on it, very clean carfax that shows 1 owner; it never once left south florida. . The pictures look immaculate minus a dime size dent in the hood. Interior looks as though it was never even sat in, especially the back. No rust, engine bay looks brand friggin new, not modified and coming from a dealer. I could have it for probably around 3k. The dealer has lots of general maintenance records.
I would have no intentions of modding it at all.
Id definitly rock that. Sounds like a great price if its in as good of condition as it sounds.
Dan
I think I’ll pull the trigger tomorrow, I could use a little bit of florida sun for a day or two, and a stop at my grandma’s for a feast…shit…her cooking makes the trip to florida about 10x more appealing lol
Make sure the timing/water pump has been done.