Once of the main gripe I have with the car is the "incompleteness" of the product due to Volkswagen practice of implementing product updates on the car from time to time.
(This will be another story for another time).
My gripe with my car will be this. The boot hinges.
My car comes with "incomplete" boot hinge as shown below.
As shown in the picture, the hinge on the left is partially covered with a plastic cover and the remaining bare metal is exposed. The hinge on the right is totally naked. In my opinion, this makes the car looks "budget".
A closer look on the stock boot hinge.
The left boot hinge that comes with my car.
So what I did to fix this was to get a pair of complete boot hinge cover.
The part number for the boot hinge set.
During the installation of the boot hinge, do pay close attention to the retaining clips position as they can be quite fragile. I almost broke one of the clips. If you broke the retaining clips, do not worry as the boot hinge will install and stay in position even with a few broken retaining clips.
The D-I-Y installation took about 5 minutes. Its a simple fit and snap into position job.
The end result is as below.
The right boot hinge.
The left boot hinge.
The overall look.
Now tell me, with the boot hinge in place, it does indeed look better now right?
The cost of this "improvement"?
RM 350.
Satisfaction?
Priceless.
I once rented a Jetta MK6 in San Diego. I remember wondering why the lid hinge was so exposed. I thought the vehicle had been in a rear end crash once and the shop that put it together did a cheap job. The bolts holding the lid from the hinge looked so ghetto to me versus some welded connection. To realize this was how they were made is disappointing to realize about VW. All my German cousins only buy VW and those cars seemed solid and fun to drive. Looking back, the Jetta Mk5 had more expensive articulated units that took up less room versus the "resigned" Mk 6 goose neck arm hinges that swing inside the trunk when closed that take up 2 cu ft more vs. the last car. Also the interior of the truck used to be fully carpeted including trunk lid while the Mk 6 has exposed metal and plastic.. Cheaper to build but I suspect they charged more for the Mk 6. All the north American VW's except for I believe the hatch back are made in Mexico while the hatch back is assembled in Germany. I would get the hatch back for that reason, and having driven a manual hatchback once that felt really solid and tight on the road. North America gets the cheaply made VW's and it shows when you start looking at the details like trunk hinges.. Also the Jetta I drove had no guts, (i.e. no acceleration) didn't feel better then my 15 year old Accord. Granted it was a economy rental so it probably had the smallest engine they made for that vehicle, 1.6L I believe, but it was a big disappointment to drive. The rental was between a Toyota I had already driven before and the Jetta and figured I should at least try one, nope..
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