While the last Jetta was a ho-hum mechanical package, the finely balanced proportions of its exterior design did set it apart. Makeovers are not always improvements, and this one has done no favors for the Jetta. Most unsettling is the new grille, surely one of the largest chrome-finish surfaces on any passenger car made today. 100,000 when all the option boxes have been checked. There is a fine line between being fashion and narcissism, and the new Jetta's front end crosses it. The standard engine is a 2.5-liter in-line five-cylinder that produces 150 horsepower, a welcome replacement for last year's pokey 115-horsepower four-cylinder. A four-cylinder turbodiesel is also available, and a 200-horsepower turbocharged four joins the line to power the 2006 GLI . 1,075 to the sticker. Jettas with the diesel or 200-horsepower engine may be ordered with VW's six-speed Direct Shift Gearbox, a sport-oriented transmission that can be shifted manually or driven as an automatic.
The federal fuel economy ratings are 22 miles a gallon in the city, 30 highway, and VW says the 0-to-60 run takes 9.1 seconds with an automatic transmission. Inside, the Jetta is not drastically different from years past. The plastics are still soft and nicely grained, the various pieces fit together snugly and VW's signature red-and-blue lighting is still present. A quiet cabin and comfortable seats can easily lure you into traveling at speeds more suited to the autobahn than our Interstate system. 24,040 test car was any indication. 3,000 of optional equipment including an automatic transmission, sunroof, 16-inch alloy wheels and an upgraded stereo. This was in addition to a high level of standard equipment, including power windows and door locks, antilock brakes, stability control, side air bags and curtain air bags, dual-zone climate control, trip computer and six-disc CD changer. Eschewing its origins as an inexpensive sedan version of the hatchback Golf, the new Jetta seems in line with Volkswagen's corporate strategy of moving its entire vehicle range toward the luxury realm to better compete with Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
I am sure the executives in Wolfsburg originally thought this move upmarket would allow the brand to follow its customer base. This may be true, and there are likely to be many who will find the new Jetta desirable in ways the old car never was. But Volkswagen runs a serious risk of alienating its core buyers, those who felt the Jetta represented something different, and better, than the typical compact car. VW may have realized this. It unexpectedly dumped its longtime advertising agency this month and Automotive News recently reported that Volkswagen has created a market research team that is now traveling the country to better understand American culture. Known inside the company as Moonraker, this group needs to figure out exactly how Volkswagen should present itself to the American consumer, and do it quickly. There are plenty of competitors in today's market actively courting the urbane urbanites, and surely Honda, Mazda, Scion and even Subaru would be delighted to take a few '99 Jettas as trade-ins. Inside Line -- Dude, where's my car? We are continually improving the quality of our text archives.
For 2011, Volkswagen decontented the sedan's interior (as well as some of the engineering) to reduce costs, and now VW is still hearing it from the automotive press for the perceived lack of quality. New Car Test Drive reviewers have a mixed opinion on the new interior. Some feel the content that was dropped won't be greatly missed, and the new materials are still of high quality. Others say it's a shame to reduce interior quality with hard plastics while the Ford Focus, Chevy Cruze and Hyundai Elantra have brought theirs up. Whichever side you land on, the look and feel of the Jetta cabin is still better than that of the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic. It's clean, stylish and comfortable, while being accommodating and functional. The instruments, with clean white-on-black numbering, are handsome, too. Volkswagen has incorporated the small creature comforts. Comfortable driver armrests, convenient cupholders, good door pockets and grab handles: check, check, check, check.
Between the center seats there's an emergency brake handle, two cupholders, and a smallish console with an armrest. There's good headroom front and rear. Rear-seat legroom is first in class at 38.1 inches; compare that to the 38.4 inches in a BMW 7 Series and you can see that the Jetta makes great use of space. The wheelbase is stretched 2.6 inches compared to the last generation, and that translates to more legroom with no sacrifices; it's win, win, win: ride, safety, room. When the optional rear seat pass-through is chosen, it has a pair of cupholders in a fold-down armrest, and it makes the large 15.5-cubic-foot trunk even more useful. While we like the look of the navigation system with its 5-inch touchscreen, the nameless icons had us stumped, at first. The voice directions don't name the upcoming street on which to turn, instead saying things like turn right at the second street ahead, which leaves wide room for confusion especially as the distance varies.
