Rental review - '22 Jetta SE

[mclasser]

Was my first time behind the wheel of a VW. I drove it for about a week and 600 miles. Had about 42k miles on the clock.

Pros:

- Handsome exterior.
- Surprisingly responsive electric steering.
- Felt solid going 85+ down the highway. No wandering or instability.
- Little-to-no road or tire noise.
- Suspension took ruts in the road well despite the tire pressures being 40 PSI cold when I randomly checked!
- Responsive brakes with tight pedal feel.
- Good LED headlights.
- Nice trunk & interior space for a car in the same class as the Corolla & Civic.
- Easy to drive w/good visibility.
- Soft touch, quality interior materials. Loved the thick steering wheel.
- Good wiper performance during a freak rainstorm.

Cons:

- Noticeable turbo lag when accelerating from a stop.
- Transmission jerky at low speeds. Was really noticeable when stopping and going through a series of stop signs. Might be tied to the turbo lag...?
- Weird smells. Smelled like rotten eggs sometimes after extended driving. Also got a faint smell of coolant when standing near the car.
- The message "Travel assist is currently not available" would randomly flash on the instrument cluster. An annoying dinger would then go off every 20 seconds. The message would go away for a few hours or a day and then come back again.
- BSM would only do a visual alert on the side mirrors but no audible alert.
- Annoying LKAS. I disabled it because it'd fight to keep you in the lane even when trying to change lanes with the blinker on.
- Auto start / stop sucked, as it does in most cars.

 

[Cujet]

I don't mind renting them. Much prefer it over a Malibu. I find the Jetta gets good MPG.

 

[JavierH19]

What was your mpg during the road trip.

 

[skyactiv]

I think the BSM not having an audio alert is a good thing. I didn't like LKAS on a Corolla I once owned and I don't like it in my GLI. I think the Corolla did it better. But the few times I've played with LKAS, It made me inattentive.

 

[daves87rs]

Sounds like a pretty solid ride!!

 

[dgunay]

Current-gen Jetta really benefits from having the MQB platform used in pretty much all other Volkswagens, and all of them are more expensive. Therefore the ride quality and NVH are surprisingly good for a cheap economy vehicle. The only negative (compared to the GLI and other MQB cars) is the torsion beam rear suspension.

I agree LKAS is very annoying and auto start-stop sucks, both can be disabled permanently, auto start-stop needs a small module from Aliexpress that literally takes 10 seconds to install, of course - if you own one.

 

[barryh]

- Noticeable turbo lag when accelerating from a stop.
- Transmission jerky at low speeds. Was really noticeable when stopping and going through a series of stop signs. Might be tied to the turbo lag...?

The VW DCT transmission is known for being jerky when pulling away although fine at higher speeds. I can't say I've noticed turbo lag when driving one but there is a hesitancy when accelerating from a stop but I put this down to the DCT rather than turbo lag.

 

[wemay]

I drove one before getting the Malibu. It was a back-to-back comparison and for me, there was no comparison between the LS and Jetta S. The Malibu drove nicer, was more compliant over road imperfections and just felt more solid. It was also a hot day and the Jetta AC struggled to cool the car down on initial startup. Of course, it was just a test drive and nothing prolonged. The Jetta is still nice and not a penalty box by any means but just not for me, UNLESS we're talking GLi.

The Malibu returns 30 mpg in all city driving thus far.

 

[CharlieJ]

The VW DCT transmission is known for being jerky when pulling away although fine at higher speeds. I can't say I've noticed turbo lag when driving one but there is a hesitancy when accelerating from a stop but I put this down to the DCT rather than turbo lag.

A 2022 Jetta SE does not have the DCT, it has a regular 8-speed automatic. (In the US)

 

[930.engineering]

The VW DCT transmission is known for being jerky when pulling away although fine at higher speeds. I can't say I've noticed turbo lag when driving one but there is a hesitancy when accelerating from a stop but I put this down to the DCT rather than turbo lag.

You're based in the UK and you're certainly talking about the small DQ200 DSG with
dry clutches sold in Europe, Asia and Pacific regions. It was never offered in America.

'The VW DCT transmission'? There's no sole VW DCT (DSG). There's at least eight 'VW
DCTs'. Four of them for several PQ/MQB (transverse) applications and some more for
Audi/MLB and Porsche. Not to mention conventional ATs (Aisin and ZF) such like this
NA spec Jetta.
.

 

[barryh]

You're based in the UK and you're certainly talking about the small DQ200 DSG with
dry clutches sold in Europe, Asia and Pacific regions. It was never offered in America.

That's correct, the one I drove was a dry clutch transmission. The wet clutch is available here but only with the 2.0 litre engine which is mostly the 300 HP GTI model in our market.

Good to hear America got a better transmission.

 

[dgunay]

Dry clutch DCTs are really fragile and overheat quite easily. No matter who makes them, it's the one to avoid.

The wet clutch DCTs are the way to go.