One problem related to manual transmission column shift has been reported for the 2003 Volkswagen Jetta. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2003 Volkswagen Jetta based on all problems reported for the 2003 Jetta.
On four separate occasions, my car's manual transmission shifted out of gear . The first incident occurred July 7, 2003 when the car stopped moving in the middle of an intersection. This was "repaired". The second incident occurred when I was trying to shift the car into drive - it actually was in neutral (despite the indicator stating drive) and I rolled back in the parking lot. I needed to bring it it, again, because the problem persisted. The third time it would actually go into reverse, instead of park. When I tried to park the vehicle I had to park it in "reverse". I while I was driving it it shifted from drive into neutral. It is in the shop for the 3rd time. It has under 4000 miles on it.