Drove a 2011 Jetta as a service loaner from dealer and wanted to share thoughts for folks who might be considering this car...
Car:
Jetta SE 2.5 liter. 6 speed automatic. Convenience group with sunroof. Edmunds TMV price $21,990
Liked:
1) Style looks very good and very BMWish to me, especially rear pillar
2) Handling and ride. Felt really good for an everyday car (i.e. car without any sporting intentions). Light but responsive road feel. Note it should not be compared to a car with sport handling IMO which is fine for this type of car.
3) Mid-end grunt of the 2.5l was very good
4) Tranny shifting was very smooth
5) Interior space was good
Disliked:
1) Low-end torque is very anemic. I'm used to the VW 2.0 turbo wanting to spin it's tires from stop signs so I may have a biased view here but this car felt extremely sluggish off the line to me.
2) "gruff" character/noise of the 5 cylinder. Every 5 cylinder I have had has been this way. I think it's a byproduct of the naturally unbalanced 5 cylinder design. Probably no big deal for a lot of people. Doesn't feel smooth to me.
3) Perforated plastic seats. For plastic seats they are good actually but cloth would be much better IMO. Sat in a 2011 golf with cloth and liked it much better.
4) Cheap feeling interior compared to other VW products. This has been talked about all over so no need to waste time here on it. Actually much better than some of the similar class import vehicles I've driven as rental cars but cheap by VW standards so it's all relative.
Conclusion: For $22k I would cross shop lots of other vehicles for comparison as that seems like a lot of money to me for what you get. For only a bit more I would prefer a golf TDI 4 door or of course a GTI but I'm biased as I love the GTI.
I would like to drive a base model which can be had as low as $15k. This car may make a lot more sense at that price point despite the 2.0 non turbo of the base car. I would prefer this car to many of the lowest end Japanese and Korean imports I've driven from rental companies. Some of those feel extremely cheap. It's all relative I guess. I like hatchbacks so there are a lot of cars I think I would prefer over this car but if you really want a sedan it might be worth looking at and the best way is to drive lots of different cars in the class/price point you are looking at.
Car:
Jetta SE 2.5 liter. 6 speed automatic. Convenience group with sunroof. Edmunds TMV price $21,990
Liked:
1) Style looks very good and very BMWish to me, especially rear pillar
2) Handling and ride. Felt really good for an everyday car (i.e. car without any sporting intentions). Light but responsive road feel. Note it should not be compared to a car with sport handling IMO which is fine for this type of car.
3) Mid-end grunt of the 2.5l was very good
4) Tranny shifting was very smooth
5) Interior space was good
Disliked:
1) Low-end torque is very anemic. I'm used to the VW 2.0 turbo wanting to spin it's tires from stop signs so I may have a biased view here but this car felt extremely sluggish off the line to me.
2) "gruff" character/noise of the 5 cylinder. Every 5 cylinder I have had has been this way. I think it's a byproduct of the naturally unbalanced 5 cylinder design. Probably no big deal for a lot of people. Doesn't feel smooth to me.
3) Perforated plastic seats. For plastic seats they are good actually but cloth would be much better IMO. Sat in a 2011 golf with cloth and liked it much better.
4) Cheap feeling interior compared to other VW products. This has been talked about all over so no need to waste time here on it. Actually much better than some of the similar class import vehicles I've driven as rental cars but cheap by VW standards so it's all relative.
Conclusion: For $22k I would cross shop lots of other vehicles for comparison as that seems like a lot of money to me for what you get. For only a bit more I would prefer a golf TDI 4 door or of course a GTI but I'm biased as I love the GTI.
I would like to drive a base model which can be had as low as $15k. This car may make a lot more sense at that price point despite the 2.0 non turbo of the base car. I would prefer this car to many of the lowest end Japanese and Korean imports I've driven from rental companies. Some of those feel extremely cheap. It's all relative I guess. I like hatchbacks so there are a lot of cars I think I would prefer over this car but if you really want a sedan it might be worth looking at and the best way is to drive lots of different cars in the class/price point you are looking at.