VW VW Jetta in the driving report
08/29/2010
A ls VW Jetta number one 1979 appeared, the VW- Strategists still want to sell it as dynamic. The only dynamic thing about him was the name, at least the official one. Colloquially, the VW Jetta already had the title of the Backpack Golf away - regardless of whether as an award or stigma.
VW Jetta on Golf floor pan
The fact is: the VW Jetta had to get by with the floor pan - including the relatively short wheelbase - of the Golf and still have to carry a decent satchel in the rear. Well-balanced limousine proportions look different. Nevertheless, the notchback Golf was not bad, offered plenty of space, a monstrous trunk and a calm image in all generations. Not even the years under the pseudonyms Vento and Bora could change that.
After 9.6 million copies have been sold, VW is sending generation six into the race - initially in the USA, and from January 11th also with us. Both here and there, nine centimeters longer than its five-year-old predecessor, currently the best-selling VW in the USA. So it's no wonder that the new one was developed with US customers in mind, as Ulrich Hackenberg emphasizes. The extra space in the VW Jetta does not go to pedestrian protection or cosmetics, as is usual elsewhere, but is noticeably beneficial to the occupants.
VW Jetta with seven centimeters more wheelbase
Seven centimeters more wheelbase improves both driving behavior and legroom in the rear. There, a comfortably shaped bench awaits everyone who appreciates the renunciation of heavily drawn-in roofs in favor of a decent amount of space including airy headroom. At the back it is almost enough to loll around and to be certain that the optically elegantly integrated trunk can carry up to 510 liters of luggage (predecessor: 527 liters) without squashing flaps and pressure folds. If that is not enough, the split rear seat backrest still offers expansion reserves.
In order to make traveling as well as everyday life pleasant, the spring elements were adjusted without annoying hardness, remained close to the well-known balanced golf style. Even the waiver of the otherwise common multi-link rear axle in favor of a more cost-effective twist beam counterpart (Golf IV, until 2003) is not seen as a shortcoming. For the European market, VW still considers the more complex wheel guidance to beindispensable, here the VW Jetta should be positioned higher than in the particularly price-sensitive USA, where it climbs into the ring with Toyota Corolla notchback and co.
200 PS - the most powerful engine for the VW Jetta
USA-exclusive also remains the particularly thorough diesel exhaust gas cleaning of the two-liter TDI using NOX storage catalysts - among other things because they are particularly low in sulfur Needs fuel. With this, the Clean Diesel manages to fall below all strict US limit values without any problems. With us, familiar things come under the hood of the Jetta manufactured in Puebla /Mexico. The in-line five-cylinder remains in the USA, while in Europe turbocharged four-cylinders from 1.2 TSI to 2.0 TDI mass the up to 18-inch front tires. The strongest is the 200 hp two-liter TSI, which starts off as powerful as it is cultivated and proves that it fits perfectly into a sedan.
At the other end, the two 105 PS basic engines save, for which there is the Blue Motion Technology package with start /stop function and recuperation. The larger petrol engines and both TDIs can optionally shift with six or seven gears using the DSG dual clutch transmission. Even the small engines should be enough to give the 4.64 meter long Jetta a relaxed sedan character, free of sporty attitude, but with finely usable torque. After all, it shouldn't be a Golf derivative, but a new car, as design chief da Silva emphasizes.
VW Jetta could compete with Passat
The VW Jetta consequently surrounds its drivers and occupants with the VW style
in the current family design, appealing thanks to its ease of use. The noticeably inexpensive hard plastic equipment for the USA gives way in Germany to surfaces that are appropriately foamed. Equipped in this way, the Jetta
in Germany could even hit the sheet metal of the VW Passat.
