In the space of 48 hours last week, I saw a first generation Jetta crisscrossing his way down the rust middle lane of a highway near Columbus, Ohio, and I saw a little hippie girl with spiky hair, driving a fourth generation Jolf on Interstate 75 north of Lexington, KY. It was a reminder of the bad position comfortable Volkswagen Jett a in the hierarchy. On the one hand, it is the uncoolest of VWs, water the special US market hated by the kind of Euro-fanatics who constitute the vast majority of the companys loyalists in the US. They consider that the existence of the Jetta as an open expression of contempt Baconator German-Americans eat and the net difference between Jetta and Golf, which took place in the sixth generation has not exactly poured oil on water .
... on the other hand there was the VWs best selling in this country most often it does not. It is the official VW of sorority girls, single mothers, adventurous empty nests, and rental fleets. It is the Volkswagen we deserve, because we sign on the dotted line for more often than we do and the Golf GTI and Tiguan combined . As such, it deserves a complete list of TTAC journals. Our editor, Mark Stevenson, had nice things to say about a Jetta TDI charged-up, and our good friend and collaborator itinerant Blake Z. Rong was less complimentar y about the GLI. That leaves just the infamous base model "of 2.slow" 115 horsepower and newly remastered 1.8 TSI mid-ranger.
I chose the latter for a little getaway gay 514-mile, the other night, a little south of Asheville, North Carolina to northern Columbus, OH. It rained for much of the workout. There was fog. I witnessed the aftermath of three massive accidents, including a tractor trailer that had skidded sideways on one of the most dangerous of Interstate 40 segments, then left over in the median. I had some considerable time pressure and I had already been awake for fifteen hours when Im in the car to begin the journey. Lousy circumstances, to be sure. So how do the Jetta?
Over the past forty years, VW has become infamous for its Brokeback Mountain esque inability leave its old platforms. The Beetle stuck around until 03, the Golf Mk1 was produced until 09, the second generation of Passat (Quantum for us) continued to dazzle Chinese buyers until, uh, the year before -Last. No surprise, then, that the decision to pursue the VW Golf to the seventh generation has yet to be applied to the Jetta. Instead, there is a mild facelift inside and out for 2015. Perhaps the most significant change came in 2014, under the large flat bonnet: the 170 hp @ 60 rpm / 184 [email protected] 1.8 TSI shining in the Golf TSI is now standard on the trim level sE. There is $ 20,915 as I drove with the six-speed auto, or $ 19.815 with a manual transmission
For two or three cheaper than Camry or Accord, and you . ll still get heated cloth seats, Bluetooth capability, alloy wheels sixteen inches, start button and speed controller for money. What you not get is the bedroom furniture and interior of even the most basic of Japanese midsize car brand. The Jetta is roomy enough and front to back, and VW managed to do a decent job with the steering wheel and center console, but no premium feel here. Everything is bolted together pretty solid, however, and if some of the details (like the seat adjustment) deliberately cheapened feel there is nothing that requires an apology to this price level.
As I headed north to Asheville, I thought I had an average of just over 70 mph for the entire trip to avoid being late for work the next day. Unfortunately for me, that section 40 runs through the mountains, and there was heavy rain mixed with sections of thick fog. Traffic was light, but it was not infringed the double nickel in most places. Immediately, the 1.8 TSI won my affe ction as he chugged a succession of climbs four thousand feet, usually without requiring the transmission to select fourth. The direction of this car is the so-called power electric assistance and is pretty light, but I find that emerging scrub against the wet was pretty well telegraphed, allowing me to run remarkably quickly through the long wet curves. Sometimes I got a little too excited and feel late slip before, but it was not too alarming. Simply reducing gas caused the car to find his line again.
down long hills, I use the Tiptronic selector indifferent to maintain speed, but once I realized how the brakes stood up I stopped being deliberate about of displacement. In addition, the Jetta has a reasonable quality of logic built and it will prevent upshifting all the way if youre on a new hill percent or similar.
In circumstances like these, the Jetta has obvious advantages compared to something like an agreement. It is a little smaller, a little more manageable, it has tires that cut width 205 standing water fairly well, combining turbo / six-speed feels more enthusiastic and more flexible than the big-bore four setup / CVT you get with a Honda or Nissan. I do not think I could have done the same kind of time in a Camry or even (Shhhhhhh) something like a 535i. While the flattened route and saw the signs for Knoxville, I felt good on the compact VW-Hecho En Mexico.
On a straight highway and dry, however, absolutely miserable stereo Jetta threatened to erase much of this goodwill. The climate control in an area that seemed unable to make subtle adjustments did not help either. And although there is very little wind noise in this car, theres no shortage of tire rumble, mechanical noise, and resonance booming at different rev ranges. Suddenly, the extra money for something like an Accord EX seems to be a solid return on investment. But the Jetta is no penalty box; its just not quite with standards established by greater competition, more expensive.
Over the next three hundred miles I came to respect this car, despite the above-mentioned defects. Ergonomics is correct. The controls respond with appropriate weighting and feedback. The cruise control allows adjustment in both age and a five-mile per hour, and although its not quite as smooth as the way Mercedes-Benz is at least the feature is present. The seats look like an experiment in the use of recycled garbage bags to wrap around low density foam molds, but they failed to aggravate the back injury I suffered in Laguna Seca last few weeks. Compared to the seats much more expensive in the brand new Porsche 911 driving earlier in the day, these cheapo buckets were positively delicious. Such questions of substance, yo u know. As my old Fox in 190, the Jetta has the right foundation and that shines through, despite running at low cost.
I would be remiss if I did not mention another special excellence of this vehicle: fuel economy. In the mountains, with full power to the agenda much more often than would occur in normal driving, the Jetta TSI reported 34.5 mpg. In the long term from Lexington to Columbus, he reported 38.9. These figures were confirmed about when I refueled during the trip. Since I was running a flat 85 mph most of the time, it is positively parsimonious. No agreement or Camry will turn in numbers like that, unless it has the word "hybrid" somewhere on the rear fascia. I would be surprised if the Golf TSI could match; there is something to say for aerodynamics three inches longer wheelbase and a little chest to smooth airflow at the back. Keep in mind, too, that I consciously leads to fuel economy. Operated in the same way, my Accord V6 six-speed typically returns about 25 mpg. Hell, my Honda VFR800 can not go much better than 40 mpg at 85 mph stable. So this is a big deal and if gasoline returns to four dollars a gallon outside of California -. You will see people taking into account
Thanks largely to long-range Jetta on a single tank, Im home a few minutes earlier than I had anticipated, let me catch a small nap before work. I felt r easonably rested and despite the length and conditions of the travel painless. I could not think of another twenty-largest vehicle that would have done better in this task - but I do not feel even a twitch of joy or pleasure regarding 2015 Jetta TSI SE. I prefer having a new GTI, but there are six big difference between a stick-shift TSI Jetta and GTI. At that time, if you are willing to spend real money, you might as well go all the way to import a new Phaeton in a container, and the rivet on the 05 NIV Basketcase W12 some junkyard. Am I right? Of course Im right.
If we get a Mk7 Jetta, if there even is such a thing in the works, it will be definitely a better car than it is. For now, however, the price is right and the performance is more than enough. So what if the "American VW". This is America. And for my trip on the American road, this Mexican VW was fine.
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