WASHINGTON, July 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and California Air Resources Board on Thursday approved a fix for 326,000 Volkswagen AG diesel cars, the agencies and the automaker said Thursday. The fix will include hardware and software upgrades, including replacing an emissions catalyst but will reduce vehicle fuel economy ratings by as much as 2 miles per gallon. Volkswagen said in a statement it was pleased with the approval and that it means 98 percent of 2.0-liter diesel vehicles have been approved for a fix. In March, Volkswagen pleaded guilty to three felonies in a U.S. 40 times the legal limit. The September 2015 disclosure that VW intentionally cheated on emissions tests for at least six years led to the ouster of its chief executive, damaged the company's reputation around the world and prompted massive bills. Volkswagen agreed last year to offer to buy back up to 475,000 diesel vehicles with 2.0-liter engines that had been sold in the United States, including the vehicles that won approval on Thursday for a fix. Thursday's approval means that the automaker can now offer hardware and software upgrades and compensation to owners. The approval is also a key step toward allowing the carmaker to resell or potentially export tens of thousands of diesel cars it has repurchased and is storing all over the United States. As of the end of May, Volkswagen had 37 secure storage facilities around the United States housing close to 275,000 vehicles. Those places include a shuttered suburban Detroit football stadium, a former Minnesota paper mill and a field near a raceway in Colorado. 6.3 billion to repurchase 2.0-liter vehicles and compensate owners. The vehicles winning approval for an upgrade are the oldest of the models that came under scrutiny in the company's diesel cheating scandal. Volkswagen said previously that about 325,000 vehicles were in Generation One including diesel Jetta, Jetta SportWagen, Golf, Beetle, Beetle Convertible and Audi A3 cars. 25 billion to address claims from U.S. 500,000 polluting U.S. vehicles, including some larger 3.0 liter vehicles.
Safety features also add up at the scales. Among other passive keep-you-alive elements, there are six airbags, new crash-active headrests that tilt forward on impact, and foot pedals that fall away when the front begins to crumple, to minimize lower-extremity injuries. The foregoing, plus improved frontal- and side-impact performance, makes for heavier cars, whatever badges they may wear. Fortunately, VW mitigates the Jetta's mass with more muscle. 2.0-liter four that was better suited to maritime employment-as a boat anchor, for example-than to automotive propulsion. Although the five's 148 peak horsepower isn't particularly robust, 168 pound-feet of torque spread across a big fat curve gets the Jetta out of the starting blocks with better-than-average alacrity. The run to 60 mph might also be classifiable as better than average, with a manual transmission. However, our test car, like pretty much all the initial run of early-production Jettas, was equipped with a new six-speed Tiptronic automatic transmission.
This device operates smoothly and does a good job of making the most of the Jetta's lovely torque, but outside of a race for three-legged dogs, 9.2 seconds to 60 and a 16.8-second, 85-mph quarter-mile can't be called quick. We're sure the standard five-speed manual would chop a couple ticks off the total. Not to mention enhancement of the old fun-to-drive quotient. Speaking of fun to drive, we're ambivalent, with or without a manual transmission. On one hand, the new Jetta has the kind of taut, poised feel peculiar to German cars, and its everyday responses are reasonably brisk. On the other hand, when the driver begins to push hard in quick transitions, the Jetta becomes increasingly reluctant. At least the all-purpose tires don't hurt braking performance much-174 feet from 70 mph is decent-and ABS is standard equipment. However, the power rack-and-pinion steering, although nicely weighted, is totally numb on-center. On balance, the Jetta feels more like a small-scale luxury sedan than a compact German athlete.
That sense starts with the car's general sense of solidity, augmented by a classy-looking interior and nicely sculpted bucket seats, plus handsome exterior styling that's as smooth and flowing as previous Jettas were bull-nosed and blocky. You don't have to squint very hard to see a Phaeton that someone washed without reading the laundry label. That sense of luxury car extends to the window sticker. 18,500, which isn't exactly the compact bargain basement, and if you start adding option packages-not to mention about a grand for the automatic-you'll soon find yourself in mid-size-sedan territory. 26,740, a price that would bolt you into a well-equipped Honda Accord with a 240-hp V-6. More room, more zoom. Still, the Jetta has that Teutonic persona that only the Teutons manage to purvey. We're pretty sure we're going to be even more enthusiastic about the Jetta GLI, with its 200-hp, 2.0-liter turbo motor and more aggressive suspension. It's due this summer.
Maybe we'll just refrain from looking at the price tag. Base Volkswagens have never been terribly exciting or sporty. Promote yourself to a higher-powered GTI, GLX, or GLI version, and you'd be guaranteed fun. Cheap out, and you'd get a flaccid suspension coupled to a weakling engine. Even in the most basic trim, modern, upgradable VWs have always been luxurious and well built for their segment--they've just been slow. This newest Jetta, even in its most basic form, offers nearly sports-sedan-grade handling while delivering levels of refinement previously unseen in the economy-car class. It's a little faster than before, but still slow, so it seems that, aside from the small handling improvement, VW is sticking to its game plan. I was flying up the side of Palomar Mountain in VW's new slab of bread and butter, surrounded by the plateful of fancy treats for the comparo in this issue. While my colleagues were busily noting the workings of the pricey sedans at speed, I was feasting on simpler fare but enjoying it just as much.
