The new Jetta seems fine to me...
OK. After reading all the reviews on this forum and on others, and on podcasts and some magazines I was expecting a horrible car with no redeeming values. A total misstep of ugly and cheap. So when I brought my Golf TDI (manual ftw) in for it's 10,000 mile service, I checked out the new Jetta. Expecting nothing but disaster.
It's actually a nice car. It isn't that much bigger, but it is just enough bigger enough where I can see a lot of people who would think the previous Jetta was too small liking it. The dash does have some harder plastics that don't look as nice as the Golf VI's, or the previous Jetta's but it's nicely done. I felt all around the dash and found some hard bits but they were all in places that honestly, you never touch. The dash did look somewhat big and empty, sort of like they took the Jetta V elements and put them on a bigger canvas, just spaced out a bit. The touch points all felt pretty good and had that nice german feel and look. The leatherette seats, well these are the same leatherette that we've always had, and if you told me it was leather I'd buy it. So that's fine. All in all, I had a rental Jetta V that day (sure it was a base model), and I preferred the Jetta VI. So yes, the new Jetta does look and feel like a low end VW, but a very nice place to be.
The trunk is huge and with a wide opening, making it usable. The goose neck hinges are a drag but whatever. I'd have this car over any honda or toyota. I did notice the drum brakes... which seems a drag but look at the price point. The GLI will come if you want this package with more performance....
All in all it looked and felt fine to me. Did it seem cheaper than the new Golf? Yes. I'd still have bought a Golf anyway since I need a hatchback. Does it seem like a disaster? Not at all. As the entry VW in the states it seems pretty good. Now if the new NMS is like this, now that wouldn't be so good.
The GLI should be a little nicer, and maybe they'll do something in the refresh in a couple years, but honestly, I don't see the fuss. The new Jetta looks and feels pretty nice.
