Down to San Diego and back in the Jedi this weekend, and though pretty much a freeway blitz, VW's anon-o-pod continues to impress. Rear seat room in this four-door might kindly be described as adequate, but like Dr. Who's phone booth, the trunk seems impossibly large. A nearly perfect car for jaunts like this, of the platform's 4-door iterations (Golf, Jetta, Jetta Sportwagen), why do I feel more comfortable in the Jetta when people can see my wife in the car as well? ("Is that a dude driving that..., oh, okay, it must be his wife's car.").
Though I'd rather be motoring around hauling mountain bikes in a (soon to be TDI) Golf or the Jetta wagon, the latest Jetta sedan has an appealing solidity to it that is almost (dare it be spoken?) Benz-like, and which its Asian competitors lack. Of course, on the scales, the Jetta would likely lose out, but it fights back with the TDI mill, which provides swells of torque that make this thing a long-distance maven, with fuel-economy that easily matches some of the penalty-box competition (33.5 mpg on this trek).
Probably due to the Jetta's less-sporting mission, in this application you tend to think of the DSG automated-manual as more of an automatic. On this front, it works seamlessly, and better than most low-buck slushboxes. Leaving the tranny in "S" (Sport) mode definitely livens up the zip around town, but be sure to pop it back in D for the highway slog, as it won't grab top gear (6th) without it.
Friday evening's southbound run was a slog fest, with little forward movement on the 405 for the first 90 minutes. Great seats and the killer DSG tranny made this relatively painless, though our intrepid publisher Kevin Smith had to rub it in, lane splitting past on his loaner BMW K-bike while we were parked in the carpool lane. Once moving, the diesel mill easily delivers the thrust to run with extra-legal weekend escape traffic, and without aural drama. The Jetta's slightly soft but supple suspension did its best with the wavelike action of SoCal's concrete freeway joints, though the reasonably quiet cabin does little with the woeful audio quality delivered via satellite radio.
With the sun setting, and the drive extending into a cool California night, we went from A/C, to A/C-less vent, to a little heat split between the dash and defrost vents with the with the sunroof open, to a closed cabin with a little heat on the feet. Though it's not a unique idea to VW or the Jetta, to have the air-routing rotary dial labeled along where you want the air to head makes for a wildly intuitive interface. Detractors might point out that it takes too much motion to move between settings, but the detents make it easy to manage in the dark without your eyes leaving the road.
The northbound run back to L.A. on Sunday was far swifter, and the sense of heft, great three-spoke wheel and turbo-diesel torque kept us happily in the swift lanes. Nearly home, we were again strafed by our publisher, this time in the opposing carpool lane heading southbound on the BMW, perhaps making better time but likely equitable fuel economy. If your commute includes some serious daily miles and you've always wanted a solid German sedan, keep the Jetta TDI very high on your list.
Paul Seredynski, Executive Editor @ 14,348 miles
nealibob says:
02:48 PM, 04/27/09
Are there only four positions, or can you put it between the four indicated positions? It seems like there are not enough options if not.
jerome81 says:
02:55 PM, 04/27/09
yeah you can put it in any location between the two.
I actually kinda like this setup. Not as easy as just pushing a button like on most cars but you can get a little more on the face or a little more on the feet if you're splitting the two. Cars with a vent/feet button often have too much air coming out of only the vent or only the feet and you can't adjust the mix.
Could be a little better design (does seem to be a big dial for only 4 detents) but it works.
dldave says:
03:28 PM, 04/27/09
I have an 08 Wolfsburg and I like the way it can be dialed in between sections. My old G35 was just button pushes and I could not get that in-between setting. Manual control is so much easier. I also agree that the stereo sound kind of stinks, and I got the "premium", non nav sound system. Missed the TDI release by a few months...oh well.
e34bmwlover says:
05:45 PM, 04/27/09
BMW makes an excellent setup for heating/ air con controls. You can choose any mixture you want, possibilities are endless.
cwc1 says:
06:29 PM, 04/27/09
"the TDI mill, which provides swells of torque that make this thing a long-distance maven, with fuel-economy that easily matches some of the penalty-box competition (33.5 mpg on this trek)."
This is why diesel is better suited for the driving demands of more consumers than actually realize it.
pezzy669 says:
09:35 PM, 04/27/09
"the latest Jetta sedan has an appealing solidity to it that is almost (dare it be spoken?) Benz-like, and which its Asian competitors lack"
This is what I LOVE about my '06 Jetta 2.5, VW really put themselves out with some of the over-engineering that went into the MKV Jetta/Rabbit.
Better to spring for an '07 or later though. '05.5 and '06 still had issues with interior soft touch peeling and came with the less powerful and less refined 2.5 5 cylinder.
pengwin says:
11:36 PM, 04/27/09
Jetta wolfsburg edition is the only model to buy. 2.0T 200HP 200 ft-lb DSG.
tryan says:
03:47 AM, 04/28/09
When I bought my 2008 GTI late last summer, I first scoured the dealer lots for a leftover '07 due to the fact that that was the last year they offered Dual-Zone Climatronic in the MkV GTI. I'm not a big fan of VW's Manual 'Climatic' HVAC controls, but it was more that I got used to just having to press the 'Auto' button in my Passat GLX...=)
Regardless, one of the reasons I love VW's (and German cars of all makes/models for the most part) is the solidity and substantive feeling of the vehicle. It's a feeling that would be best described as if the car had been milled from a single billet of metal.
With that said, I usually don't recommend German cars to people whose primary mission is overall low-lifecycle costs (post-warranty), since while the chassis and construction is solid, less can be said of the many minor (and usually expensive) things that can go wrong. It's ironic though, because personally, I have had nothing really go wrong in 7 years and 3 cars worth of VW ownership.
crowb says:
06:29 AM, 04/28/09
Nice write up, Paul.
zcalvert says:
12:09 PM, 04/28/09
As a MkV GTI owner, I'll also concur that these cars have an extremely solid platform. Yes, annoying little things may go wrong (as with a lot of VW's & German cars generally), but the overall vehicle engineering is at a level way above the price-point.
Oh well, that's what extended warranties are for...
...and yes, the base stereo systems are useless if you care about such things.