Introduction: The Volkswagen Jetta was introduced shortly after the introduction of the Volkswagen Golf/Rabbit. The Jetta became the compact car in VW's lineup, bigger than the Golf but smaller than the Passat. One of the few things that has differentiated the Jetta over other vehicles is the always available option of having a diesel even though many North American vehicles dropped or never introduced diesel as an option.
When I first got the opportunity to drive a new model of Volkswagen, I was curious about whether there was any real difference between German cars and all the other makes since people always seem to place German stuff higher than everybody else. Is German engineering really worth the money you essentially pay extra for literally anything? Considering the Jetta is not the cheapest vehicle in the lineup I would think it would give a good indication of what at least VW is capable of.
Performance: This is a surprisingly different engine since unlike other car makers, VW actually uses a 5-cylinder and this Jetta uses a 2.5L 5-cylinder engine that produces 150 hp and 170 lb.ft of torque. Despite the odd number of cylinders this engine is actually reasonably smooth. Its not the most powerful engine, despite its displacement its actually not nearly as strong as 4-cylinders the same size. There was some noise but nothing really that memorable.
My Score: 6/10 - Neat cylinder configuration...but otherwise nothing special.
Handling: I heard this is where VW is supposed to shine. Due to its size the Jetta competes with cars like the Honda Civic and the Mazda 3. The Jetta actually does pretty well in this department. The steering wheel is reasonably well weighted, but it doesn't feel quite as right. When taking the corners the Jetta is actually quite stable and doesn't have the same amount of roll you expect from cars like the Corolla. Still...my problem with the Jetta this way is the Mazda 3 is a much better handling car. That car had pretty much everything to seem like the best handling car in the world, the Jetta is missing some of the feel.
My Score: 8/10 - The Jetta is very capable here...just not nearly as good as a Mazda
Interior: The Jetta has a pretty standard interior as far as styling is concerned. Most Jettas have a black interior which doesn't make it nearly as pleasent as it could be. The quality of the materials however are not all that great. This is not what I expected even from a company called "the people's car". The build quality in this car is not very good, the car is built in Mexico which might explain why trim is loose or sometimes flat out fails. I would hope that a car built in Germany would not have the same build quality issues I saw here.
My Score: 4/10 - An average interior but lacking in material quality and build quality.
Styling: The styling of this version of the Jetta is nothing special, the grille is a bit different but all it really is just a grille with larger amounts of chrome. The rest of the car is not nearly as exciting or beautiful. The Jetta really just looks pretty generic if it weren't for the grille.
My Score: 6/10 - A generic car with really mild differences
Value for money: The Jetta has not convinced me this car is worth $21,000. I thought the Honda Civic was expensive and that car does use 1st world country labour rates...the Jetta however uses 3rd world labour rates and still charges a fortune. The disappointing generic interior and the ho hum styling do not help. Last but not least, the item the car actually does well in that is handling is beaten by the very Japanese Mazda 3...which is built better, handles better, moves just as quick and most importantly several thousands cheaper. In this case being German meant you get overcharged for a product not nearly as good as a cheaper Japanese one.
My Score: 2/10 - The car is several thousands too expensive. 3rd world labour rates, not very good materials and doesn't exceed all expectations yet is nearly as expensive as a next level car is just too much.
Overall: 26/50 - I don't get why people think German items are better.
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