Volkswagen Jetta Reviews

But while it's stylish and, lowered by 15mm, has you feeling closer to the ground, the Jetta doesn't feel quite as sporty as it claims to be. Rather than appealing to young drivers, it seems to be better suited to an older, more sophisticated demographic — a car parents or grandparents are more likely to drive.A glass sunroof is available for an extra $1890, which might jazz it up and make it a bit trendier but its appearance is still more elegant than sporty.Given it is such a nice-looking medium-sized sedan, complete with a small spoiler, chromed-frame radiator grille, rear LED lights and a stylish shape, it seems fair to expect the comfort of the vehicle to be in the same class. But this is the Jetta's main problem.Even a 20-minute trip leaves your body a little sore, not helped by the bumpy ride, with the stiff sports suspension failing to cushion the driver from pot holes and dents in the road.The seats are too hard, as are the armrests, and no matter how much you try, you just can't seem to get comfortable.Perhaps spending the extra $2000-$3000 for leather upholstery would solve the problem.Space, on the other hand, is more than sufficient. The Jetta is longer than its predecessor, the Bora, and the Golf, on which it is based. There is plenty of storage space, with separate compartments under the front seats, and an impressively large and deep boot. Cabin space is also roomy and comfortable, although with three adults in the back, legroom can be a little squashy.The interior is dressed up with all the perks of a luxury car, including a leather steering wheel, leather handbrake lever grip and gear knob, cruise control, maximum-speed warning, reverse sensors, six-stacker CD, dual climate control and doors that automatically lock when you drive. The red and blue lights on the dash and stereo are a little too bright and distracting, and become irritating over time, especially on longer trips.Six airbags come as standard.The Jetta is available in three models, all 2.0 litre, four-cylinder engines, with six speed transmission. The first test car was the base model manual FSI, valued at $35,290.It handled quite well and gear changes were smooth with 110kW of power at 6000rpm and 200Nm at 3500rpm, but it wasn't until we tested the Turbo FSI that the excitement really kicked in.It is a little pricier, at $39,990, and available only in automatic, but it's worth every cent for that extra boost in power. Once you accelerate and feel the torque of 280Nm at 1800-5000rpm, and the power of 147kW at 5100-6000rpm, you won't want to turn back.There was a bit of a lag, with the torque coming on abruptly, which actually made the ride more enjoyable as the car flew once the turbo kicked in.Apart from the hard seats, the only complaint came from a passenger who shall remain nameless, who claimed the driver was "hooning". Hard to resist, though.The turbo is also available in diesel and starts at $37,790. Braking is good, with ABS as well as electronic stability.Overall, the Jetta is an impressive car, but because of the comfort factor, it was hard to feel truly satisfied.

After a little delay, the DSG punches the front wheels into action and the Jetta squeals away, stability control fighting the turbo FSI motor and the super-slick double-clutch auto.Torque steer is minimal, thanks to VW's driveshaft setup that is aimed at counteracting the differences between the left and right wheels' driveshafts.There's still a little tug at the steering wheel – to be expected – but it doesn't detract from the experience, and the electronics don't completely kill the speed off in a straight line. Turning corners under full power can prompt some wheel spin but the electronics temper it. The six-speeder is a great automatic, with the shift-direction being the wrong way the only issue – one day uniformity will be found, or car makers will allow drivers to choose which way they want to shift.It's a dual-clutch automatic, although VW likes to call it a "manual gearbox in which the gearshifts are controlled electronically".Either way, the DSG is quick and smooth, with two separate gear sets operated by two wet multi-plate clutches, one gear and clutch driving the vehicle with the second lot waiting to kick in on the gear change, which is completed in four one-hundredths of a second, according to the manufacturer. Hill starts can catch the driver out as it will roll back a little on takeoff, but it's only a small complaint about an otherwise effective and enjoyable substitute for a manual.Combined with the smooth, well-spread and considerable torque of the two-litre Golf GTI engine, it's an attractive package – particularly given its relatively low thirst.Volkswagen says its combined average Australian Standard figure is 8 litres/100km which, according to VW's figures, makes the sports model more frugal than the naturally aspirated petrol base model.The trip computer showed 10.9 litres/100km at the end of our time in the car, with most of that time spent on metropolitan roads – and the rural road trips often included some more enthusiastic stints.The two-litre turbocharged 16-valve four-cylinder produces 147kW and the peak torque of 280Nm is available between 1800rpm and 5000rpm. It is an entertaining engine, with some of the sporty throatiness carried over from the GTI donor car, but it's that near-flat torque curve that provides the Jetta with quick, yet efficient cross-country abilities.The Jetta flagship has plenty of in-gear acceleration on the back of that torque, which allows sixth-gear cruising on the open road, when trying to drive frugally, as well as the ability to maintain speed in top gear on the hills as well.Jetta has grown significantly when compared with the Bora it replaces, with better rear leg room the most noticeable in-cabin improvement. The cabin space is good, allowing four adults to travel in comfort, although three in the rear seat might struggle in terms of width. There's also no shortage of in-cabin safety gear, with dual front and side airbags as well as front and rear side-curtain airbags.The occupants are well looked after, with a decent 10-speaker sound system and dual-zone climate control, as well as a sports suspension system that doesn't tighten up ride quality beyond the realms of comfort.Some of Adelaide's nastier bits of bitumen aren't ideally suited to the Jetta's sports-tuned MacPherson strut front and multi-link rear end, set 15mm lower than the rest of the Jetta range, but it's a small price to pay for the cornering capabilities that see the sedan easily hustled through a set of corners with nice balance and decent cornering behaviour.The front buckets are comfortable but supportive enough to keep the driver well located behind the reach-and-rake, adjustable leather-wrapped, three-spoke sports wheel, which has audio and trip computer controls. The boot has a claimed capacity of 527 litres and is cavernous. Falcon and Commodore offer 504 and 465 litres respectively. The Jetta receives plenty of kudos for clever packaging given it's 300mm shorter in overall length with a wheelbase that's 200mm shorter than the full-size family offerings from Broadmeadows and Elizabeth. The tallish rear end makes the standard rear parking radar worthwhile to prevent parking mishaps.As VW makes a concerted effort to price sharply and grow its volumes, those in the market for a medium-sized sedan should have the Jetta near the top of their shopping list.SMALL TORQUEVW Jetta 2.0 Turbo FSIPrice: $39,990Engine: Two-litre DOHC 16-valve in-line turbocharged four-cylinderPower: 147kWTorque: 280Nm between 1800rpm and 5000rpmTransmission: Six-speed DSG only, front-wheel driveFuel consumption: 8 litres/100km combined. Test 10.9 litres/100kmSuspension: Independent, MacPherson struts with lower A-arms, anti-roll bar, sports-tuned (front); independent, four-link with coil springs, anti-roll bar, sports-tuned (rear)Dimensions (in mm): Length 4554, width 1781, height 1459Brakes: Four-wheel disc brakes, front ventilated, with anti-lock braking system with electronic brake-pressure distribution and brake assist

That's why the Jetta — a Volkswagen Golf with a boot — is VW's mainstream US market small car. Americans wanting a hatchback VW get fobbed off with the old model Golf, still on sale in the US. In any other country — including here — the Jetta is well and truly medium sized.The Jetta replaces the Bora in Volkswagen's local line-up. It's based on the Golf 5 as the Bora was based on the Golf 4, which means it's got bigger as the Golf has grown.At 4.55m from stem to stern it's a significant 18cm longer than the Bora and 15cm shorter than the superseded Passat. Most significantly, it's 35cm longer than the Golf on which it's based. The result is a 527-litre boot, comparable with that of many large cars, as often happens when a hatchback is redesigned as a sedan.The Jetta's hefty boot symbolises some marketing baggage. It sits a little higher on the prestige car totem pole than the Golf, not offering that model's entry-level petrol and diesel engines and carrying a little more equipment. The most important inclusion is electronic stability control, the system that recognises the beginnings of a skid and takes partial control of the throttle and brakes. Other minor niceties include standard reversing sensors (much appreciated because the boot is invisible from the driver's seat), optional Xenon headlights — for a hefty $1890, they must be an insurer's nightmare — and a neat little inverted T-handle in the boot to hold plastic shopping bags.The view from the driver's seat is identical to that in a Golf. There's the same agreeable combination of textures, lights and colours giving the impression of expense and quality although there were a couple of rough road buzzes in the test car. For ease of use many of the controls are better than those of Volkswagen's sister marque Audi. But having no radio tuning button as part of the steering wheel audio controls is a puzzling omission, and the old-fashioned indicator stalk mounted cruise control is not the best.The diesel emits an industrial sound for the first few seconds after start, but once under way is hard to tell from a petrol engine. At freeway speed its muted drone is covered by road noise and a little bit of wind roar.It drives either a six-speed manual or Volkswagen's Direct Shift Gearbox twin-clutch automatic. The TDI's abundant torque and the DSG's smooth and efficient action are made for each other. It's the only auto-clutch gearbox that really does work as a substitute for the less efficient conventional automatic transmission. The only criticism might be how the first burst of torque can come on a little abruptly from very low revs, although once you get used to that it's a nice way to drive.On the open road the 2.0-litre TDI showed an unexpected ability to rev every bit as well as a typical petrol engine from not so long ago. Part-throttle and overtaking response was very impressive — by the seat of the pants it feels like a V6-engined petrol car of about 3.0-litres. Only a purist — and a hard-driving one at that — would complain about its speed and throttle response.Back-roads driving took a toll on fuel economy, which at 7.4 litres per 100km was not as good as VW's advertised 6.2l/100km for the DSG TDI, although there's little doubt the TDI would do at least that well on a constant speed highway run. It still beat the best figure for a petrol engined Jetta of 8.2l/100km and would give a range of 750km.The Jetta shares its fine handling with the Golf. Roadholding is impressive with a stable feeling at all times although Jetta feels more like a big car rather than a nippy hatchback. ESC, while standard on the Jetta, is unavailable on the Golf — a difference that would instantly put the booted version ahead of the hatch on our shopping list. Briefly switching it off revealed plenty of part-throttle wheelspin on damp surfaces as the front driving wheels struggled with the diesel's 320Nm. But even then torque steer was never intrusive. The electro-mechanical power steering on both cars is one of the better examples of its type, with accuracy and reasonable degree of feel.Considering the Jetta's role as the main US market Volkswagen its firm, at times almost harsh, ride comes as a surprise. American cars are usually at the other extreme: soft and flabby as a fast food-fed stomach. US road tests mention no concerns with the ride on their version. But Australia's Jetta has a typically European feel with disciplined compliance, but little plushness, over bumps. Its noisiness over coarse or broken road surfaces is also typically European.Combined with hard seats the result can be less than luxurious. In their favour the seats have more side support than some found in more overtly sporting cars, but they are not an ideal place to spend a day — particularly in the optional leather trim, which seems to emphasise their firmness. They let down a car which in other ways makes an excellent long-distance tourer.Range, luggage space and a roomy cabin are among its assets. There's plenty of back seat headroom for adults although realistically there's only room for four full-size occupants.The Mexican-built test car had a couple of minor quality problems. One of the radio tuning buttons stopped working and looseness in the transmission selector meant the key could be hard to remove from the ignition. Minor glitches sure, but they raise the nagging suggestion that more might be in store.However, two petrol models driven later had no obvious quality flaws. When the Golf 5 arrived here in 2004 every press car we drove had some kind of flaw so with two chances in three of getting a good one, the Jetta seems to be a better gamble, if not quite an acceptable improvement.But driving those petrol Jettas sowed the seeds of confusion. The 2.0 TDI is an excellent diesel engine but so are the 2.0-litre FSI direct-injection petrol engines. They make the petrol or diesel question a difficult one. Low fuel consumption, excellent touring range and a desire to commune with the authentically European version of the Jetta might tip a buyer towards diesel. However, the FSI models are better for refinement, top-end power and have better than average fuel consumption for petrol engines of their size.The 147kW turbo FSI engine shared with the Golf GTI makes the Jetta genuinely lively and while the 110kW non-turbo feels almost slow, even by comparison with the diesel, it's both torquey and nicely refined.But if diesel's your thing the Jetta is the cheapest diesel sedan on the market and by no means nasty. Although we hate to agree with advertising copywriters it does indeed feel more expensive than its headline price. However, selecting from a costly extras menu soon fixes that. If it rode a little more loosely and was screwed together a bit more tightly it would be outstanding rather than merely very impressive.