When the car was about two years old (and just a couple of months after> the 40K service), the check engine light began to turn on occasionally.> Eventually, I started to notice what seemed to be a misfiring /> sputtering of the engine at low RPMs (when first starting from a> traffic light or whenever i accelerated aggressively enough to make it> downshift). It would seem like it wanted to stall, but when the RPMs> got higher it would be fine. Felt a bit like when a spark plug is> mucked up... This problem only happened on long rides (longer than 45> minutes)>

I took it to the dealership and they diagnosed it as a "random> misfire", which they allegedly fixed. Lo and behold on my next long> ride, the exact problem happened. A few months later (unfortunately,> it's a royal pain for me to spare the car for a day), I took it back.> This time they told me that there was a faulty temperature sensor that> was causing the car to inject the incorrect fuel mix (???). They> replaced the sensor and declared it fixed. The shuddering of the engine> stopped, but the car felt very sluggish for a couple of weeks, at which> time, the original problem came back (shuddering, engine light on...).>

Before I take it back to the dealership so that they can try their> random theory of the month, I'd very much appreciate any insight that> any of you might have into the problem because I'm starting to feel> like I'm being taken for a ride by the dealer, who is either unable or> unwilling to really solve the problem.>

On a related note, I am a bit intrigued by the whole story of the> ignition coil recall that VW had for 2001, 2 and 3 cars. I know that it> mostly applied to 1.8L engines but the description of the symptoms is> pretty compatible with what I'm experiencing...>

Again, any thoughts and advice would be most welcome.>

Regards,>

Sergio.>