Vehicle report
1986 VOLKSWAGEN JETTA
This model year
What the record shows
The 1986 Volkswagen Jetta is a compact car, and the 3rd model year of a nameplate NHTSA records from 1984 to 2027.
The EPA rated four configurations: engines from 1.6-litre four-cylinder to 1.8-litre four-cylinder, front-wheel drive only, two transmissions and running on diesel and regular gasoline.
Combined fuel economy ranges from 22 to 35 mpg depending on which one you have.
The federal record holds 14 owner complaints, 1 investigation and 1 service bulletin for it.
Counts are reports, not rates. A complaint is something an owner chose to file; it is unverified and unadjusted for how many of these cars were sold, so the useful comparison is against other model years of the same car. Recalls and investigations carry more weight because a manufacturer or regulator acted on them.
Reading this report
Complaint counts are reports filed with NHTSA, not failure rates. A common model collects more of them than a rare one that breaks more often.