The 2019 Ram 2500 and 3500 heavy-duty trucks can tow up to 35,100 pounds and can boast a turbodiesel with 1,000 pound-feet of torque, but they do even more than those massive numbers indicate. The United Auto Workers union served General Motors a fresh lawsuit on Tuesday over its decision to idle four assembly plants in the U.S. Peugeot was last seen in the U.S. 1991, but next decade, the French brand plans to return to American showrooms. Volkswagen's new Jetta has been on sale since last year, but the enthusiast's choice of the compact sedan is will soon head to dealers. If it can鈥檛 climb up the hill, it鈥檒l just pull itself over the hill. Following the introduction of the Lexus NX F Sport Black Line Special Edition, the Japanese luxury brand has applied a similar treatment to its compact sport sedan. On Monday, Lexus released details on the 2019 IS 300 F Sport Black Line Special Edition, which is all about monochromatic luxury.
You can see that in the red accent line on the grille. It鈥檚 just orphaned there in the middle of it, like an afterthought. And inside, too, the Jetta lacks a little verve. With the black-on-black-on-black color scheme that is perfunctory on performance cars, the GLI feels a little dull. With no tartan seats or dimpled shift knob to distract from the ruthless efficiency of the Volkswagen production process, it doesn鈥檛 make you feel special. Sure, there鈥檚 a big screen (if you pay for it) and a bunch of colors to light yourself with, but that鈥檚 all lipstick on the boring porcine interior. Even its neutralness works against it. Whereas the GTI will let you feel like you鈥檙e getting into trouble by wiggling its bum a little off power, the GLI isn鈥檛 as eager to shake its moneymaker. The result is confidence-inspiring and impressive, like an interview suit, but it鈥檚 not flattering or mischievous, like your favorite pair of going-out jeans. But, maybe I鈥檓 being a bum. It is very good, and very affordable, and the spec sheet is amazing. The manual transmission is as good as you remember and the DSG is good, too. The wheels look nice (to my eye, anyway) and the car looks good (enough), and it does everything right. It doesn鈥檛 feel special, but it does feel right.
Volkswagen quotes a 0-to-60-mph time of 8.6 seconds. But it's the roadholding and handling that set the Jetta Hybrid apart from the rest of the hybrid pack. VW has managed to imbue the electric power steering with enough feedback and feel that most drivers won't be aware the wheel isn't responding directly to the road surface. And the hybrid Jetta doesn't feel notably heavier than the gasoline model, with a weight difference of just 229 lbs from the 2.5-liter automatic version of the gasoline car. And with the standard 15-inch wheels and tires, the car both holds the road and rides comfortably. The optional 17-inch alloy wheels and lower-profile tires, sadly, exact a significant penalty on ride comfort. They transit surface imperfections into the cabin, not to mention considerably more road noise. We'd ignore the larger wheels, as great as they look, if we were ordering a Jetta Hybrid ourselves. Best of all, the Jetta Hybrid doesn't "drive like a hybrid," which is to say with sluggish performance and an engine that howls under protest when pushed.
The use of a conventional 7-speed DSG transmission gives it a more conventional engine note, with shifts occurring even in E-Mode--an unusual thing for a car being driven on electricity. But VW has done a stellar job at blending the two power sources together seamlessly. We experienced almost none of the lurching and nonlinearity of some other hybrids, despite a high rate of switching the electric motor in and out. In particular, the Jetta Hybrid is significantly smoother and less obviously a meshing of two power sources than the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid, also a single-motor, twin-clutch design. While power delivery is smooth and seamless, we weren't as thrilled with the brakes, which weren't very progressive and tended to slow the car aggressively with just a little pedal application. VW could do with another round of refinement to the pedal feel. You'll have to look closely to distinguish the 2013 Jetta Hybrid from any other Jetta sedan model.
