I had just got on the freeway about 5mins. On the car shut down and then there was a back fire then I seen a symbol of a car with a key under it lit in the dashboard, the car would not start back up I had it towed to the house and then the car started but now it has a putter noise I changed the spark plugs the wires and O2 sensors and it still has the puttering noise.

- Columbus, OH, USA

2000 VW Golf 2.0L engine; driving to work on freeway (65-70mph). Heard "pop" and a hissing noise from front of vehicle. Slowed down and pulled over to shoulder, saw coolant leaking. Engine would not restart. Towed to dealership, found internal engine damage to valves and pistons. Cause was a faulty water pump: VW uses a plastic impeller on the water pumps which frequently break and cause the engine to overheat very quickly. After the damage, a simple google search on VW forums revealed numerous other people had the same problem I had. The end result was that I had to replace the engine, radiator, timing belt, water pump ($6000 repair bill). Sadly, VW put in the same type of water pump with the plastic impeller, so I have little confidence that it will last longer than another 60000 miles. I would have changed it with the timing belt, but VW says the belt is not due to be replaced on this vehicle until 105,000 miles (just outside the 100,000 mile warranty, conveniently!) car had only 60,000 miles on it, VW claims it is not covered under warranty due to age of vehicle.

- Columbus, OH, USA

The vehicle stalled while driving. The vehicle was taken to the dealer on nine occasions but the problem still exist.

- Rahway, NJ, USA

While driving the vehicle intermittently engine light and heavy vibration force to pull off the road. Due to a faulty engine coil pack. Dealer changed the faulty coil pack. After coil pack was changed vehicle suffered sudden acceleration.

- Cleveland, OH, USA