The 2018 Jetta GLI is the enthusiast鈥檚 compact car. Gorgeous European styling with sport acceleration, braking, and handling plus fuel efficiency on top of it all. While the all new 2019 Jetta鈥檚 get ready to make their debut, if you鈥檙e looking for the sport version, this very well may be the car for you. DriveSoCal鈥檚 Professor, Clinton Quan, picked one up from our friends at Ontario Volkswagen for a complete analysis鈥娾€斺€奾ear it all in this iDSC Podcast. Clinton Quan: This car is for someone who wants a compact car but wants something that鈥檚 sportier, more fun to drive than your typical compact car. So if you鈥檙e looking for something that鈥檚 also fuel efficient but that鈥檚 fun to drive on the highway and on mountain roads, and you like going on scenic drives, this is the car for you. I think the three-spoke steering wheel is my favorite feature of the car.
Love the large, sporty gauges. It handles really well. And the power, 210 horsepower 207 pound-feet of torque. Tom Smith: Welcome to iDriveSoCal, the podcast all about mobility from the automotive capital of the United States-Southern California. I鈥檓 Tom Smith. And joining me for another vehicle review is our good friend 鈥渢he Professor鈥?Clinton Quan. Clinton Quan: Hi, Tom; it鈥檚 great to be back for another automotive review. Tom Smith: Always happy to have you, my friend. Today we are reviewing our first Volkswagen from our newest dealer partner, our good friends out at Ontario Volkswagen, and Clinton is going to review the 2018 Volkswagen Jetta but the sporty version, which is the GLI. Before I throw it over to you, Clinton, I want to give a shout out to Earl Reed, who is the general manager out at Ontari a Volkswagen. Thank you for coming on board. Scott Reed, who is the sales manager, thank you for coming on board.
And Randy Halcomb, who is marketing guru, thank you for coming on board. Clinton, I know you hooked up with Scott, and it was just a few days ago, and you went for a test drive. And tell us about it. Clinton Quan: I test drove the 2018 Volkswagen Jetta GLI. The Jetta is Volkswagen鈥檚 compact sedan. The GLI is the sport version of the Jetta. And there are six trims in the Jetta family and three engines. 21,000, and all three of those trims feature a 1.4-liter inline 4 turbocharge engine producing 150 horsepower, 184 pound-feet of torque. 26,000. Those two trims feature a 1.8-liter inline 4 turbocharge engine producing 170 horsepower. It鈥檚 also rated at 184 pound-feet of torque. And then you move up to the top of the line trim which is the Jetta GLI, the one I drove, and that features a 2.0-liter engine turbocharge inline 4 and that produces 210 horsepower and 207 pound-feet of torque. Tom Smith: Okay. Outstanding. Tom Smith: Okay. Another outstanding feat of granular recollection of detail. Folks, Clinton and I are just sitting here talking.
I, of course, have my pen in hand, notepad in front of me. Clinton is just going off the top of his head with these details of the vehicles, so that鈥檚 why we call him 鈥渢he Professor.鈥?Thank you much for all those details, as always. You drove the GLI, the sporty version. And to clarify, not long from now, the 2019 is going to be coming out, the 2019 Jetta. Clinton Quan: Yes. So I鈥檓 pretty sure they鈥檒l have a GLI trim. But it hasn鈥檛 been announced yet, so it鈥檒l probably come the following year in 2019 as a 2020 model. Tom Smith: Got it. Okay. So let鈥檚 talk about the drive. Clinton Quan: I drove out to Idyllwild. So it was a really nice drive up to the mountain community of Idyllwild. Clinton Quan: Yeah, it was a great drive up in the mountains, really got to test the vehicle in terms of acceleration, braking, and handling. And this is a really fun car to drive. It鈥檚 got plenty of power, especially with that 270 pound-feet of torque and 210 horsepower.
Tom Smith: Okay. So you drove everything, highways, byways, right? Clinton Quan: Yes. Yeah, it has a six speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters. Tom Smith: Paddle shifters, your favorite, right? Clinton Quan: Yes. Yes. It鈥檚 the only transmission. Tom Smith: Okay, cool. So let鈥檚 talk a little bit about the styling, the outside. Take us around the car. Clinton Quan: Well, I think this is one of the most attractive compact sedans on the market. It鈥檚 got really, really clean lines. It鈥檚 very well-proportioned. It looks great, I think, from every angle whether it鈥檚 the front, the rear, the side, three quarter front, three quarter rear. Overall length about 182 inches in length. So that鈥檚 a little bit larger than some of the other compact sedans. There鈥檚 really a good amount of space on the inside as well in terms of the interior design. That鈥檚 one of the things I like most about this car. It鈥檚 got the three-spoke on a flat-bottom steering wheel with the paddle shifters, as I mentioned previously, large, circular gauges, tachometer, speedometer.
