First Drive Assessment
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The automobile the Jetta has usually wanted to be.
Rowing by way of the gears of a 2015 Volkswagen Jetta S TDI’s 6-speed manual transmission as we roll along the scenic 2-laners of Virginia’s horse country, we marvel at the reality that we’re actually having enjoyable. Yeah, enjoyable. In a Jetta.
By no means would we have predicted this back when VW initial introduced the present Jetta for the 2011 model year. Even though it boasted enhanced space, son-of-Audi styling, and a more competitive value, the Jetta was soundly criticized for its utter dearth of character, relentlessly low-cost-feeling cabin, gruff 5-cylinder base engine, and chassis that had regressed into the Dark Ages with rear drum brakes and a torsion-beam rear suspension.
Since then, VW has created incremental and important improvements to its North American bread-butterer, and by 2014, all U.S.-industry Jettas featured 4-wheel disc brakes and an independent rear suspension. Also for 2014, a new EA888 1.8-liter turbocharged base 4-cylinder engine forced the cantankerous 2.5-liter 5-cylinder into retirement. Enter the 2015 Jetta, with its midcycle update that brings new front and rear styling, upgraded interior supplies (including—at last—a soft-touch dash top), and a new EA288 diesel engine in TDI models. Alas, it appears that the Jetta has now turn out to be the automobile Volkswagen ought to have been building since the beginning.
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Usually, the most considerable elements of a vehicle’s midcycle refresh are revised lighting and fascia components, but in the 2015 Jetta’s case, these are arguably the least interesting of its updates. A new grille emphasizes the car’s width, as does the new rear bumper, although new headlamps offer far more extensively accessible LED daytime operating lights and the taillamps evoke its Audi-brand cousins. And for the first time, even the least pricey Jetta rides on aluminum wheels. To what extent the revisions increase the Jetta’s looks is up to the observer, but arguably it has turn into ever tougher to tell the distinction among the Jetta and the 1-size-up Passat.
The interior, after one of the Jetta’s worst attributes, has become a convincingly nice location to spend time for 2015. It is nonetheless Teutonically austere and the door panels are challenging plastic, but the dashboard appears far classier, dressed as it is with tunneled gauges and reflective piano-black trim panels. Higher-finish content such as navigation has trickled down from greater trims to low- and mid-grade levels, and interestingly, an accessible touch-screen infotainment technique with out navigation is in fact larger than that of the navigation-equipped cars. And the seats of the S, SE, and SEL models we drove have been firm and supportive.
The 1st factor we noticed out on the road is the Jetta’s rock-solid structure. Considerable adjustments have been created to the structure, primarily to assist the vehicle pass new crash tests, and the benefits are palpable. Even with the diesel S model’s modest 16-inch wheels, the Jetta has confident handling, tidy body handle, and heroically low noise levels. The steering really communicates a measure of road feel to the driver—not a lot, but some—and is fast and linear in its response. In other words, the Jetta feels German. As it should.
VW did not supply us with a single of its new price-leader base 2015 Jettas with the wimpy 115-hp 8-valve naturally aspirated 2.-liter 4-banger, a version most likely greatest left to rental-automobile fleets. Our time was divided evenly among an SE model (with the silky 1.8-liter EA888 4-cylinder paired with VW’s 6-speed automatic transmission) and S and SEL models (both with VW’s fabulous new EA288 diesel, one particular with the 6-speed manual and the other with a 6-speed dual-clutch automatic). As we mentioned in our initial review of a 2014 Jetta 1.8, the turbo 4-cylinder gas engine is a honey. It’s EPA-rated at 25 mpg in the city and 37 on the highway, regardless of regardless of whether you decide on the 5-speed manual or the 6-speed automatic transmission.
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The new diesel idles with a creamy smoothness and revs with enthusiasm all the way up to redline with so small attendant noise that we discovered ourselves checking the tachometer to confirm that we have been actually driving the diesel. Making 150 horsepower from 3500 to 4000 rpm and 236 lb-ft of torque from 1750 to 3000 rpm, it is down just 20 horses on the gas engine but boasts 52 lb-ft much more twist. Redesigned in nearly each respect compared with the diesel it replaces, with an intercooler integrated proper into the intake manifold, the engine has grunt all over the location and reduces turbo lag to virtual irrelevance, delivering its energy with that intensely satisfying shove-in-the-back feeling we adore so considerably with oil-burners. The 6-cog manual shifts cleanly and effortlessly, but the accessible 6-speed DSG dual-clutch automatic is a specifically eager partner in play, generating self-shifting all but unnecessary in its intuitive Sport mode. The reality that the diesel nets impressive EPA fuel-economy estimates (31 mpg city/45 mpg highway for the DSG 31/46 with the manual) is extremely sweet icing on the cake.
Pricewise, the gas-fired versions of the Jetta commence at $ 17,035 for the aforementioned, special-order stripper model, with the 1.8 SE model beginning at $ 19,815 and rising to $ 26,200 for a Jetta 1.8 SEL. TDI models start off at $ 22,460 for the TDI S manual and rise to $ 28,330 for the SEL with the 6-speed dual-clutch auto. GLI and Hybrid models will be added early next year as late 2015 models. The actual coup for the Jetta remains a couple of years away when it is scheduled to jump onto VW’s superb MQB platform. But in the meantime, the Jetta has gone from becoming a single of our least preferred compact automobiles to taking a really close second location in a 5-automobile comparo behind the effervescent, 10Best-winning Mazda 3. Will the 2015 model’s incremental improvement finally give it the chops to unseat the Mazda in the next go-around? We shall see.
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