Eight problems related to power train have been reported for the 2003 Volkswagen New Beetle Convertible. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
When this car shifts into third gear, it is very hard and violent with an awful lunge, making it difficult to keep the car in control. I am still driving it, but waiting for an accident to happen.
At 70,000 miles, my vw starting shifting hard causing it to be difficult to drive. Vw states that this should not happen this early but that they can't do anything about it.
I was driving on the highway and as I was exiting the highway, my car shifted down very hard and the steering wheel jerked causing me to hit a gaurdrail. I took my car to a shop and had the body repairs done ($3910. 00), and upon taking my car, it did the same thing again. I had it taken to a mechanic and he stated that it was a known problem with those vw's and they had a recall on it. My local vw dealership stated that they would not do anything for me because the warrantee on the vehicle was up. I was hoping that someone there could help me resolve this issue. The estimated cost of the repair is 5900. 00 for the transmission and the body damage was 3910. 00. Thank you, rossi norris.
I purchased my 2003 New Beetle Convertible brand spanking new in Dec 2002. The car had 32 miles on it when I bought it; the car now has 77k miles as of today. I have been experiencing a major tranmission problems that vw is acutely aware of. The car is a 6 speed auto transmission with trip tronic. The car hesitates upon acceleration and before shifting into 2nd gear. Instead, the transmission lurches from 1st into 2nd, causing the tires to screech. When the car lurches forward it causes the front drive/steering tires to lose grip on the pavement which is a safety issue. There have been a few times when it jumped so hard it almost hit the car in front of me and sometimes the lurch is so strong it feels like another car hit me from behind. The transmission works fine when it is cool but gets worse as the car warms up - after about 5 miles. The other gears have shifting problems too; just not as harsh as going into 2nd. This happens when the car is downshifting as well. I have also experienced the car getting ¿stuck� in 2nd gear while traveling in traffic which created a danger for me and others on the road. The only way to ¿cure� the problem is to safely make my way to the side of the road, turn the engine off, wait a few minutes, then turn it back on. This doesn¿t completely make the lurching go away but it gives me several travel miles before getting ¿stuck� in gear again. I contacted my local dealership who looked up my VIN. They told me I was over my ¿years� for the recall on the valve body ¿ which is what should correct my transmission problem. I have lived at the same address since I purhcased the vehicle in 2002 and never received a recall notice for this item. I am very dissapointed in vw of America! I waited several years for the convertible version to come out and this was a birthday present to myself (this is how much I love this car!).
Vehicle would lurch when down or upshifting between 2nd and 3rd and 3rd to 4th at just over 90,000 miles. It would also stick in neutral for a few seconds before engaging. We took it to our local shop for repair in December 2010. This is a well known issue with the transmission valve body causing a number of accidents. While the our bug was in the shop we received a letter dated November 2010 from vw about extended warranty to 100,000 miles or 7 years from date of purchase. Our bug was purchased August 2003 putting it out of warranty. Considering the number of incidents vw should have been doing a general service recall on the transmission long before November 2010. .
The car has a transmission that is needing replacing after only 60,000 miles.
My transmission valve body is faulty, but vw's extended warranty only covers vehicles after 7 years or 100,000 miles. My car was just 4 months too old to qualify and they refused to replace anything, despite it being a major issue affecting drive performance. Other cars in my same model year qualified, but mine did not. How is this fair?.
I purchased my vw 2003 New Beetle Convertible new in 2003. I have kept vehicle maintained- mostly at dealership according to the schedule. I have about 115,000 miles. Over the past month it has begun "revving up" or "jerking"- especially when slowing to a stop or accelerating from stop. This happens very sporadically, but is very scary when it occurs. I am not sure what the problem is, but have an amateur guess that it is transmission related.