[slider78]

Hi all, I'm an owner of a 2010 A3 TDI and am now looking at getting a 2004 Jetta for running back and forth to work 150kms/day. I am curious if anyone knows how to tell if it has traction control or not. It does have ESP but I'm not sure if the two go hand in hand on the older models.

Also any advice as to any reasons I should avoid this particular year would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[chittychittybangbang]

Yes, ESP includes traction control. ESP is yaw control/stability control. Electronic stability program. There are steering wheel sensors and yaw sensors. Traction control uses ABS to brake the wheels to get traction from a stop or low speeds. Both are very effective.

Why the other car when you already have the 2010 A3 TDI for mileage?

There are some issues that the 2004 may have, look through the mk4 new owner checklist/buying guide for some of them. Expect to put some maintenance into it.

 

[slider78]

Unfortunately with the snow and ice we ge here, they tend to use alot of rock in the road sand which does alot of damage to vehicles. I would rather spare the A3 that damage since most of my winter driving is on the highway.

I have looked through your checklist, it is very informative. I have checked for the coolant migration issue and see no problems there. The car has 174000 kms on it and body wise is in very good condition. I am currently looking into the glowplug recall and the car still needs the sunroof drain recall to be performed. I want to get the camshaft inspected, but unfortunately the car isn't local so arranging inspection is a little bit of a pain. Though I'm not overly concerned about it since I would be doing the work myself it would be nice to know for negotiating purposes.

What I am curious about is what sort of life I can expect out of this engine assuming it has been properly maintained. Also just to confirm with ESP, ASR is included? I read somewhere that they were two separate options on older Jettas, though I'm not sure what they meant by older.

I have been trying to find an 03 to avoid the PD engine, but I'm not sure if I really need to be as concerned about it as I am.

Thanks for the info!

 

[grizzly]

ESP includes ASR. If you have a button that says ASR you probably don't have ESP. The 03 will get slightly better fuel economy too.