The first Jetta was way back in 1979, and stayed a trunked Rabbit through the last generation in 2005. But in a bid to market a different and less expensive Jetta to folks who might cross-shop a Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla or Chevrolet Cruze, the sixth-generation model becomes a stand-alone model redesigned for the American market. And to make sure it gets noticed among other compacts, there’s a base U.S. Jetta that starts at around $16,000, with power windows, air conditioning, AM-FM-CD stereo and remote keyless entry – more than $2,000 less than the 2010 version.
The result is a clean-sheet design with more room and the new face of VW, unveiled recently in Times Square. So let’s getta gander at the new Jetta.
* VW vision – The redesign means a 182.2-inch-long, 57.2-inch-tall, 70-inch-wide compact sedan with the new chiseled face of VW. At first glance in white, it looks a bit plain. But a closer look reveals some serious Audi-esque touches.
The grill is three lines simple, flanked by slightly lidded trapezoidal headlights, no longer getting the black or chromed shield look of the last generation. A simple bumper sits above a lower air intake with neatly integrated foglamps in black fascias, for a wide lower mouth with a slight air dam. Design lines V off the grill to add some tension to the hood before sliding into more raked windshield pillars, while subtle flat fenders flares add an Audi A4-look. Another design line adds some flare as it connects the fender flares at the lower door sill, while gloss black accents the B-pillar. More Audi can be seen in the upsweep of the rear fender line under simple, large taillights and a short deck. The side mirrors get LED turn signals. Both ends get a chrome VW emblem, seemingly smaller than in the past, while two small exhaust tips peek out of the reflector-accented lower fascia. The alloy and black-painted 15-spoke wheels with Michelin 17-inch radials add a final sporty touch to the sedan, a look I warmed up to as I drove. But no one gave it much notice, although I noticed it seemed almost as big now as a neighbor’s Passat.
* Jetta living – My wife had a Jetta 1.8 turbo a few years ago, with a very German interior full of precision controls and padded and soft-touch materials. But while the new Jetta’s appears to be an updated version of the past, it’s been economically trimmed. Instead of a padded dashboard, VW made it a semi-gloss hard plastic with a leather grain that helped drop the bottom line. Soft-touch spots on the door and dash are gone, replaced with harder plastic, while the delightful stitched leather-look on the 2010 Jetta Sportwagen’s door handles we saw earlier this year aren’t there either. The entire design is clean and nicely updated, a gentle hooded cowl hosting a 160-mph speedometer and 8,000-rpm tach flanking a white LCD clock/odometer/trip computer over arcing digital bar gas gauge – nothing else. It’s smooth in looks and legible, but not sporty. A manual tilt/telescope steering wheel with a grippy leather-clad rim has stereo and Bluetooth phone/music voice command buttons accented in chrome and back-lit in red, with trip computer and cruise control buttons on the stalks as usual. The dash center is also cleanly designed, twin air vents over a compact LCD touch screen for navigation and the decent AM-FM-Sirius Satellite-CD stereo, with single-zone a/c under that. The audio system gets a volume knob, with all 18 station preset buttons on a novel rotary touchscreen display spun by the central knob, easy once you do it a bit. A storage nook underneath has a 12-volt outlet and a padded rubber base to hold a cellphone or MP3 player that can be patched into the stereo’s audio input – the iPod adapter is on the dual-level locking glovebox. Twin cupholders and a usable storage area under the low center armrest are about it, along with hard plastic door map pockets with room, even water bottle slots.
The leather-look V-Tex leatherette (no leather offered) front bucket seats were comfortable, with manual height adjustment and a bit of manual lumbar for the driver. The extended wheelbase means a much nicer backseat area. I never wanted to ride back seat in my wife’s Jetta due to lack of adult knee room. But the bench seat in back of the 2011 model gets 2.7 inches more legroom, resulting in a very comfortable area for two adults, with a power door lock switch at the back of the center console. The seatback splits 60/40 and folds, with trunk-mounted pull tabs, adding to a very deep and roomy area that can be expanded.
All controls are Audi-like back-lit in red, with decent feel, a red LED spotlight on the center console. We also had (and I have always liked) the Audi-style select-a-position rotary sunroof control. For safety, driver and front passenger airbags, side airbags in front and side curtain airbags in front and rear. But our horn didn’t work.
* VW vroom - The North American 2011 Jetta revived an old friend for the base model – an adequate 115-hp four first seen years ago. You can also pick soon from a torquey 2-liter turbodiesel direct injection clean diesel with 140 hp and 236 lbs-ft. of torque, quick but thrifty based on the last versions of it I tested. A 200-hp turbocharged gas engine is coming, or you can get the 170-hp in-line five we had in our Jetta SEL. The turbo-diesel and turbo-gas engines get a dual-clutch automatic that’s a precision-shifting dream. Our 5,500-mile-old test car had the basic 6-speed automatic with sport shift option, a combo that resulted in gentler launches unless you are in sport. Do that, and the gearing stays in the meat of the rev range and launches us to 60-mph in a satisfying 8.3 seconds with that distinctive in-line five’s thrummmm. Passing power was nice, with clean shifts, and we managed a good average 28-mpg on regular. But the in-line five is a bit noisy when cold, and there is no temperature gauge on the simplified dash.
For 2011, all Jetta sedans get a torsion beam solid rear axle, the result a bit less of that German stiction my wife’s Jetta and others had. In general, the 2011 Jetta isn’t as much fun to play with. The ride was comfortable, maybe a bit less responsive than the last Jettas I tested with the more complex (read more expensive) independent rear suspension. That said, it still has good road manners, handling curves and off-ramps well, bumps and lumps absorbed with fine suspension control, just taut enough. We did detect a bit of ripple at the edges on rougher roads, but with two on board, it was fine. Our Jetta was also fairly quiet at highway speed, just a bit of wind noise. The traction/stability control is on all the time, and can’t be turned off or even backed off a bit, so it tapped in at the low edges of understeer and took some fun out of playing harder. The SE and SEL levels of trim get rear disc vs. drum brakes, so our brakes had a decent pedal feel and minimal fade after hard use. The power steering had a nice feel, a bit overboosted at speed. In general, the 2011 Jetta still had most of the German refinement I looked forward to in the past model, but I didn’t grin as much when driving it.
* Jetta jingle – So what does a slightly simplified, slightly larger, dare I say it slightly more Americanized Jetta go for these days? That base 115-hp version starts at $16,000. Our almost top-of-the-line SEL starts at $21,395 and gets fog lamps, chrome accents on the grille, chrome trim on the side window sills, machine-polished 17-inch alloy wheels, keyless access with push-button start, touchscreen navigation system and a trip computer on top of all the other standards like cruise control and power windows/mirrors/door locks. Our sunroof boosted the price to $22,295. We didn’t have it, but a Sport Package adds $795 and a sport suspension, sport bolstered seats, aluminum sport pedals and door sill accents.
For comparison, a 138-hp Chevy Cruze LT with leather is around $24,685; a 173-hp Kia Forte without navigation is a bit under $20,000; a 140-hp Honda Civic EX-L with leather is a bit over $24,000, and a Toyota Corolla XRS with 158-hp is just under $24,000. A Mazda3, with 167-hp, can be a few thousand more. Surprisingly, while the new Jetta is longer and roomier than its predecessor, many compact competitors are just a tad longer in length and wheelbase.
* Bottom line – The 2011 VW Jetta has a more mature personality, one that still gives me a grin when I drive one. The new Jetta ends up as a roomier compact family car with good engine, ride and handling package that has some edge to it. But a Mazda3 is more fun to drive; a Forte looks edgier; and the Honda and Toyota have value added to their names.
2011 Volkswagen Jetta SEL
Vehicle type - 5-passenger compact sedan
Base price - $21,395 ($22,295 as tested)
Engine type - DOHC, 20-valve in-line five
Displacement – 2.5 liter
Horsepower (net) – 170 @ 5,700 rpm
Torque (lb-ft) – 177 @ 4,250 rpm
Transmission – 6-speed automatic w/manual shift mode
Wheelbase – 104.4 inches
Overall length -182.2 inches
Overall width – 70 inches
Height – 57.2 inches
Front headroom – 38.2 inches
Front legroom – 41.2 inches
Rear headroom – 37.1 inches
Rear legroom – 38.1 inches
Cargo capacity – 15.5 cu. ft.
Curb weight – 3,109 lbs.
Fuel capacity – 14.5 gallons
Mileage rating – 24 mpg city/ 31 mpg highway
Last word – The Jetta grows up
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