VW Jetta?

I know we usually talk about about Speedsters, but I thought that since many of the people on this website are knowledgable about VW's, why not ask. Regarding my daughters Jetta: Would anyone know if a 2001 Jetta w/ 5 spd and 1.8 Turbo engine has an adjustable clutch? If not, does anyone have a clue what it would cost to have it replaced?

849......we are the last generation that should be allowed to have a clutch

Thanks. Costly, but not entirely unexpected. I just bought this car for my college age daughter, with 54k miles, and my only concern was, how long will the clutch last. Seems like about 2 months is all I got.

At least I got it at a price that a $850 repair is still okay.

Robert,
The last VW I had (a rabbit convertible) had an adjustable cable clutch. Check your manual on the Jetta, if it is adjustable it should be relatively easy.

We have a chain of stores here called Clutches R US. They can generally put a clutch in a front wheel drive car for about 100 bucks more than I can buy the clutch for outright... The last clutch price they gave me for a front driver was a Suzuki SWift. New clutch was $360 installed and warrantied. The parts were going to cost me $400 on that car (suzuki's have notoriously expensive parts).

How long should a clutch last? On a stock engined production car - a long time. The last clutch I had put in a personal driver was in our Mazda MX6. Stock clutch went 276,000 miles. If you are getting 2 months out of a new clutch, you have a DRIVER problem.

If you have to replace the clutch, don't go rebuilt. I've had really bad luck with rebuilt pressure plates. I had a rear drive vehicle that I put a clutch into that was rebuilt. The pressure plate failed in the 1st 50 miles. The 2nd pressure plate failed 2 weeks later. The 3rd pressure plate lasted a couple of months. The parts house kept replacing the parts under warranty, but I got REALLY tired of yarding that saginaw 4 speed out in the dead of winter... Learn lessons from my stupidity. Buy all NEW parts...
angela

Biggs: Listen to Angela - makes a lot of sense, especially THIS part:
"How long should a clutch last? On a stock engined production car - a long time. The last clutch I had put in a personal driver was in our Mazda MX6. Stock clutch went 276,000 miles. If you are getting 2 months out of a new clutch, you have a DRIVER problem."

Amen....

When my Dad had school buses, two people, in particular, stand out in my mind; One driver would get 130,000 - 150,000 miles of stop-and-go driving on a stock, factory installed clutch. She was a terrific driver. The other driver was a hot-shot (we found out) and I was replacing clutches at 12,000 - 16,000 miles. Not a fun job on a school bus - tranny's weigh over 150 lbs. The "good" driver was with him for almost 20 years, while the "bad" driver lasted through 2 clutches and was shown the road.

Proper clutching is not an art, but the clutch is not a "hill brake" like in an automatic, either.

Thanks Gordon. The car was used and had 54k miles (or there about), we bought it from someone else. No way to know how they drove, but cluthces in Atlanta probably don't last as long as some places, not just the driver but the traffic issues as well... I was was just saying that I bought the car two months ago (used) and the clutch needs to be replaced, and I have no doubt that my daughter helped the process along.....The car was in very nice shape and the only thing I had concern about really (that might need to be replaced) was the clutch. I got the car at a favorable price, so replacing the clutch is not a killer, just now the deal was not as good as I hoped.