How is the Mk5 Jetta wagon "Sportwagen" 2.5 in terms of reliability?

[dogisbadob]

Supposedly, the 2.5 is the only decent engine VW made, but it's still a VW, which means things you take for granted on real cars that never die can fail regularly on a VW

Any small 4-cylinder cars with a big sunroof that are reliable? (Yeah I know the 2.5L VW is a 5, but that doesn't matter

The only other cars like that I know of are:

• 2011+ Forester (when they switched to the FB, when they actually fixed the head gasket problems, and they started using a timing chain instead of a stupid belt)
• Saturn Astra (they didn't make too many of them, and has a timing belt, but should still be better than a VW, and still a good price, and the 1.8L is now common in the Sonic and Cruze). A total sales failure in the US but one of the most popular cars in Europe. Even though it's a German car, I still trust GM more than I trust a "real" German nameplate car.

The Jetta/Golf wagon is more plentiful than the Astra but cheaper than the Forester.

So how is the Mk5 wagon in terms of quality and reliability?

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Get the 2.5 L-5. Very durable and reliable, based on my limited anecdote. My SIL got her '05 Jetta to 200k miles before trading it in for a '13 Passat which is still going strong, both with the 5-banger... bonger.

[dieseldub]

@dogisbadob the 5 cylinder is a stout engine.

Not terribly efficient or powerful, but definitely torquey-er than most NA 4 cylinders in class. Makes good noises. Most common thing seems to be an oil leak from the vacuum pump.

What might give you problems is that big, beautiful sun roof. No matter who makes those big panoramic sunroofs, they seem to be very leak-prone...

[dogisbadob]

@dieseldub said in How is the Mk5 Jetta wagon "Sportwagen" 2.5 in terms of reliability?:

@dogisbadob the 5 cylinder is a stout engine.

Not terribly efficient or powerful, but definitely torquey-er than most NA 4 cylinders in class. Makes good noises. Most common thing seems to be an oil leak from the vacuum pump.

What might give you problems is that big, beautiful sun roof. No matter who makes those big panoramic sunroofs, they seem to be very leak-prone...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I heard some of Hyundai's sunroofs are prone to exploding, and of course VW doesn't make the best cars, but I don't think they're inherently leaky, or worse than a normal sunroof would be, which I never had problems with, either.

Do you know about widespread problems in the Forester with the big sunroof? Because that seems like the best bet if the Jetta wagon sunroof has the problems you say it has.

[dieseldub]

@dogisbadob I'm pretty well-connected with ear to the ground in the VW world, but not as much for Subaru. I couldn't say.

At the same time, when speaking to a technician like myself, take things with a grain of salt as all we see are problems, but we don't have the percentage of failure numbers for perspective. Plus, if you have one that has been properly repaired, it might not be a problem ever again...

[spacekraken]

@dogisbadob They don't explode but MK6s and MK7s are very leak prone. And sunroofs on VWs are like 4 for 5 failed for leaks or jams among my family and friends. Don't think the subarus have the same issues (though C&D shattered the little normal sized sunroof on an obk somehow) and the forester sunroof is big, but tiny next to the VWs. Sunroofs in general seem really fussy but I get the appeal...

I will say, the jetta wagon is about 10x more fun to drive than the forester, and generally a much nicer place to be... and while VW isn't known for reliable, they beat boxers+CVTs any day.

[jminer]

@spacekraken it's one person but the panoramic sunroof on my MK6 has been trouble free. I've had it for 2 years and it's 6 years old.

[spacekraken]

@jminer It does seem like they either are a pain from new or are fine/get fixed and don't have issues after that. My aunt and uncle have the MK7 twin on your car (black, TSI, sunroof) and it leaked a tiny bit... did the drain plug delete thing and it's been good, but wouldn't trust it here with a ton of rain.

[beefchips]

@dogisbadob small, reliable with a sunroof... how about a kia forte? IMO quite a handsome car. No hatch here unfortunately.

Or if you really want a wagon, maybe a recent impreza? My friend has an impreza sport that's a hoot to drive. Not as outright fast as a WRX but more comfortable and still quite quick.

Edit: How big a sunroof are you shooting for here?

[dogisbadob]

@beefchips said in How is the Mk5 Jetta wagon "Sportwagen" 2.5 in terms of reliability?:

@dogisbadob small, reliable with a sunroof... how about a kia forte? IMO quite a handsome car. No hatch here unfortunately.

Or if you really want a wagon, maybe a recent impreza? My friend has an impreza sport that's a hoot to drive. Not as outright fast as a WRX but more comfortable and still quite quick.

It has to be a big sunroof, like that the Forester has

And yeah, a hatchback/wagon with a rear wiper. It won't be new or close to new, most likely a 4-digit price.

So far, the best bet seems to be a 2011-2013 Forester, 3.5 gen, the SH refresh when they started using the FB25.

The Astra is cheaper but less common, but is being considered.

[Jb boin]

@dogisbadob said in How is the Mk5 Jetta wagon "Sportwagen" 2.5 in terms of reliability?:

Even though it's a German car, I still trust GM more than I trust a "real" German nameplate car.

This generation has German reliability with a GM interior !

[dogisbadob]

@jb-boin said in How is the Mk5 Jetta wagon "Sportwagen" 2.5 in terms of reliability?:

@dogisbadob said in How is the Mk5 Jetta wagon "Sportwagen" 2.5 in terms of reliability?:

Even though it's a German car, I still trust GM more than I trust a "real" German nameplate car.

This generation has German reliability with a GM interior !

Wait, you're saying the Astra is actually worse than the Jetta?

[Jb boin]

@dogisbadob while i think that MK5 Golfs were not great, the Astra G were definitely worse.

And i would definitely take a more powerful and torquey inline five over a 1.8 NA (the 2.0T would have been another story but you didn't get it).

[dogisbadob]

@jb-boin said in How is the Mk5 Jetta wagon "Sportwagen" 2.5 in terms of reliability?:

@dogisbadob while i think that MK5 Golfs were not great, the Astra G were definitely worse.

And i would definitely take a more powerful and torquey inline five over a 1.8 NA (the 2.0T would have been another story but you didn't get it).

We got the Astra H, not the G. Is the Astra H a decent car?

And yeah, I wish we got the 2.0T Astra too.

[Jb boin]

@dogisbadob meant the H, my bad

Honestly, give it a try if it's cheap but it's not a very interesting car.

[zipfuel]

So I've had an '09 model Mk5 2.5L Jetta Sportwagen since 2012, here's my experience:

Engine: at 160k km now and no major problems. Worst we had was the crank position sensor fail mid road trip. Also had an emissions sensor recall, an O2 sensor go out and the vapor purge valve sticking.
It's a normally aspirated motor so all the usual VW horrors of sludge and turbo failures don't seem to apply. Its punchy enough and does growl nicely. There's an intake manifold/chip kit to boost it to ~200hp but it'd cost more than my car is worth at this point.

Transmission: mine's manual, no issues although the shift bushings need replacing. Really could use a 6th gear, it's turning at 3k rpm at 110-120kph. Generally returns 10L/100km

Sunroof: I wanted a manual sporty wagon but the roof wound up being one of my favorite features. They don't leak per-se but if the nozzles that drain into the rear wheel wells plug up with silt then water will flow into the trunk and turn the spare tire well into a pool. (Couldn't figure why my rear window kept fogging)
This is pretty easily fixed by taking the trunk trim off, cleaning out the nozzles and re-siliconing the hoses to the top connectors while you're at it.
The sunshade is another beast however: if the shade is sagging at all when you test drive it that means the glue to the track is giving out and it'll come off completely in short order.
Replacement shades are available on AliExpress for ~$80 CAD but changing it means removing the rear roof glass and at least the back half of the headliner, which in turn requires removing most of the interior trim. Plan to take a whole sunny day and buy a trim tool and magnetic screwdriver.
The moving panel sometimes sticks ajar in v. hot weather as the combo of heat expanded parts and sticky seals creates enough resistance to trip the overload. Turning the car off and on again resets it and then I give it a push, also grease the seals occasionally.

Rust: all mk5s rust from the inside out but VW do actually honor their corrosion warranty (in Canada YMMV). I've had all 4 corners fixed plus the rear hatch replaced. Unfortunately it only becomes visible when it's bad and there's now fist sized holes under my rockers. I'm waiting to see if they'll fix it; the dealership submitted the warranty claim right before my 12 years was up but nothing's getting processed because pandemic. If they won't fix it I'm gonna have a hard time justifying putting much more money into it - I've heard oil spraying voids the warranty but I wish I'd done that instead.

General reliability: there's jokes about VWs for a reason, I've had some odd gremlins: drivers door lock solenoid failed and I only found out when someone nicked my GPS. Turn signal stalk replacement requires removal of airbag and steering wheel. Swapped the battery and the radio forgot it has an aux input.
Parts and repairs have generally been reasonable so long as you're not relying on a dealer and there's a huge knowledge base online.
Buy an OBD scanner or better a pirated version of VCDS.

I remember seeing screaming deals on Astras a few years back, however the Sportwagen is a bigger car and probably much nicer inside (this is the last gen of Jetta before they decontented for 'murica).

All in all I am very fond of mine but it's not for everyone.
Shit this was an essay.
TL:DR ¯_(ツ)_/¯

[beefchips]

@dogisbadob

big sunroof, like the Forester has

Did they make a Forester XT with a big sunroof? That would be pretty rad

[dogisbadob]

@beefchips said in How is the Mk5 Jetta wagon "Sportwagen" 2.5 in terms of reliability?:

@dogisbadob

big sunroof, like the Forester has

Did they make a Forester XT with a big sunroof? That would be pretty rad

they did indeed make the Forester XT with the big sunroof, but the XT didn't get the FA until 2014. The non-turbo got the FB starting in 2011.

[Sovande]

I wish I could give you my sunroof. I will never understand the appeal.

[Hanshot1stt]

+1 for the Forester, they are great cars if you can get one that has been maintained well. As everybody here probably already knows, Subarus in general can be a little more maintenance sensitive than a typical Japanese car.

The FB series engines are usually free of the head gasket issues that the EJ253 predecessors had problems with but both engines are prone to burning oil, especially as the weather gets cold. This is one of those cars where it is crucial to get into the routine of checking it once a week, even more so if you live somewhere that experiences a true winter season. The FB and EJ will basically perform the same as far as actual driving goes, with the FB having slightly better fuel economy. The EJs can still be good engines if you find one that has been maintained well. If you should look at an EJ equipped Forester be sure that it has had it's 100k mile service done, this generally includes the timing set, water pump, headgaskets, spark plugs, and if your lucky a clutch. This is a fairly expensive service that is more or less required to ensure the reliability of the car moving forwards so you'll want to budget this into a purchase if it hasn't been performed yet.

My 09 Forester has the EJ and it required a partial engine rebuild which cost a few bucks, but despite that it has been an excellent car with few other troubles. As your research has probably already indicated Foresters are some of the best "appliance" cars out there, and are really great cars to live with if you don't need a rocketship. The availability of three pedals and the big sunroof are definite pluses, and the XT models will give you a little more oomph at the cost of a manual transmission.

A buddy of mine has one of the newer Alltrack wagons, which he says has been very reliable and VWs in general are definitely a step up as far as interior quality and NVH is concerned from a Subaru.

As far as other cars you might look at pretty much any of the modern hatchbacks are out there with sunroofs, but many of them are packaged in bundles with other junk you may not want, or specific transmission/engine combos. Most of the major car searching sites actually have an option to search by sunroof if you can't seem to find anything.

Happy hunting!

[ST80MND]

@dieseldub When I bought my e30 about 10 years ago, I tested the power sunroof to make sure it works, which it did. It was the 1 and only time I opened it, have been scared shitless of using it ever since. It may cease being functional without warning at any point, but it does not leak.