general problems of the 2003 Volkswagen Beetle

I bought my 2003 vw Beetle a few months ago from a private seller. In the past week, the shifting has gotten really difficult and it very often will not accelerate easily. My husband drove the car and reported having no problems, so he didn't believe me. Yesterday, I was driving on the highway and couldn't get the car to accelerate past 50 mph. It was especially scary when I tried to cross the highway and the car didn't want to accelerate at all. That could have been a horrible accident. After crossing the highway, I was unable to accelerate past 20 mph. I parked the car at a relatives home and had her drive me home as I was afraid to drive the car again. I started doing research and was blown away by the number of people facing the same problems. This is a dangerous situation that needs to be resolved.

The vehicle starts up fine and accelerates normal at first. Just before the vehicle switches to second gear it gets stuck. The only way to get it to properly shit to second gear is to give it more gas, which makes the rpms go up to 7,000. At this point the vehicle changes to second gear and lunges forward. I have almost rear ended multiple people do this this problem. Once the vehicle gets into second gear it accelerates normally again, just until it changes to third gear and does the same problem that I described above. This problem is not only dangerous, but also financial hurtful. I have read hundreds of reviews on this problem and they all describe the same thing, along with their vehicles being very low in mileage.

My 2003 Beetle has been violently jerking after about 10-15 minutes of driving (when it warms up). If I'm at a stop sign or red light and accelerate - it violently jerks into gear !! if I baby it and barely move (where traffic is practically running into me from behind), it is not soooo bad, but still bad and it is very dangerous. Vw also extended the warranty until 2010 or 100,000 which ever came first, and unfortunately 2010 came first and they refuse to extend the warranty to be used under the 100,000 miles rule. This is extremely expensive to fix, I've read thousands of the same exact complaints in this car -- thousands, the very same thing and vw will not take responsibility to change it to 100,000 miles and not just 2010 (which obviously has past 2 years ago). This is dangerous and expensive. It is a defect and vw should pay for this. Do people have to get killed before they offer the extension up to 100,000 miles??? thank you.

Over the last couple of years my 2003 vw Beetle has been in and out of the garage. It seems to have trouble changing gears (it's an automatic) and has gotten stuck in 3rd gear. It will jerk and lunge when slowing down. Each time the mechanic has "reset the codes" and the test drive showed no signs of anymore trouble. It has gotten much worse and now after driving for about 25 or 30 minutes it begins the jerking and lunging. After researching, I see that this is a common problem with this car. I love my car, but no longer feel safe driving it and I certainly cannot rely on it. I now feel that I am stuck with a car that I cannot drive nor can I sell.