There was not a bodyguard in sight. Since claiming victory on Sunday, the leftist politician has promised transformative change for Mexico. That includes ambitious plans to stem the corruption and violence that have become the status quo, though Lopez Obrador has yet to provide details. Lopez Obrador's approach to security is one of the first signs of how he is breaking from the mold of the typical Mexican presidency. His plan to travel without armed guards has sparked worry in some quarters about his safety on the heels of Mexico's deadliest year since modern records began. Lopez Obrador said after meeting with President Enrique Pena Nieto, who he said offered federal protection. 35-minute back-and-forth that sharply contrasted with Pena Nieto's brief, tightly controlled appearances. Some audience members were skeptical. Lopez Obrador if he would change his strategy. At one point, Lopez Obrador's Jetta, which often snaked through Mexico City with the windows down, knocked a member of the posse off his motorcycle while making a right turn. The man appeared unhurt. Close-to-the-people campaigning has been the style of the former Mexico City mayor for 13 years during two prior presidential bids, taking him to the most remote and dangerous pockets of Mexico. Even in recent months, despite a surge of politician killings, Lopez Obrador has ventured into drug-cartel strongholds rarely visited by Pena Nieto, such as Chilapa and Reynosa. But Lopez Obrador's new status may compel him to make some compromises, said Vicente Sanchez, a professor of public administration at the Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Tijuana.
The 2019 Volkswagen Jetta GLI sits on U.S. Route 129, also known as the Tail of the Dragon. Standing front and centre in the forecourt of the Deal鈥檚 Gap Motorcycle Resort, the Tree of Shame鈥檚 trunk and branches are festooned with bent and broken pieces of steel and bodywork. Act the fool around here, and a dragon is going to chew you up and spit out the bones. To be precise, it鈥檚 the Tail of the Dragon that tears the unwary apart. A whip crack of a mountain road, U.S. 129 snakes through 318 corners in 18 kilometres, edged by steep drop-offs and unforgiving tree trunks. It鈥檚 the kind of place that鈥檒l shake a parts-bin car into its constituent pieces. On the face of it, this road should make the Volkswagen GLI nervous. With the latest-generation Jetta now riding on the company鈥檚 new MQB modular architecture, VW has thrown together an assemblage of go-fast bits in an effort to create a little excitement. The GLI now shares its engine and transmission with the Golf GTI and gets the same front-brake rotors as a Golf R. It鈥檚 got a 50-millimetre-longer wheelbase and is approximately 80 kilograms heavier.
In their base models, the Golf is frisky and fun, while the Jetta is a more buttoned-down commuter. In the Canadian market, the GTI and Golf R are far more relevant than the GLI, which barely makes up 5 per cent of Jetta sales. Further, VW - which relies heavily on sales of its Tiguan and Atlas to keep profits up - is planning to add a new small crossover to its lineup shortly and is preparing for a large push into vehicle electrification. The company could really have phoned in the GLI鈥檚 performance as an afterthought. On the approach toward the Tail of the Dragon, the GLI was smoother, quieter and a touch more mundane than a GTI would be. We stopped in to gawk at the Tree of Shame, then headed up the road. A sport bike zipped around us, crossing the double-yellows just before the first corner.
The GLI went after it like a cat after a canary. Its simple styling makes the GLI fly under the radar - which some might consider a feature, not a bug. In Sport, the most aggressive of the available driving modes, the GLI鈥檚 thick-rimmed steering wheel offers well-weighted, accurate steering. A brake-based torque-vectoring system on the front wheels is basically a cheat code for enhanced turn-in, and the Jetta鈥檚 longer wheelbase barely registers on these narrow roads. The new multilink rear suspension keeps the rear end planted on rougher sections of road. All GLIs are shod with well-balanced Hankook Ventus S1 evo3 tires on 18-inch wheels, and they dealt with wet patches of tarmac without upset. Road noise is much quieter than in something such as a Subaru WRX, but the GLI is still very quick. Along with its extra length, the GLI has a slightly wider track than the GTI; it鈥檚 less frenetic, but very eager all the same. On the Dragon, our knee-dragging motorcyclist must have been surprised to see a fairly generic-looking compact sedan cheerily keeping up.
