Volkswagen Jetta long term review, first report

VW’s Jetta reeks of old world charm, but what’s it like with just a 120bhp 1.4 engine under the hood?

Published on Jan 14, 2016 07:00:00 AM

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Volkswagen Jetta long term review, first report

Absorbent, well damped and very silent, the suspension is super.

Manual gearboxes don’t get much slicker; a delight to use.

Audio system looks old fashioned and functionality is limited.

The first part of the journey home included a decent run off a ghat, approximately 20km long. First impressions: this car could do with better lights, especially when the beams are dipped. Yes, the spread is good, but there seem to be pockets of darkness that need illumination. The cornering lights, however, do work well, and they helped quite a bit on the drive down.

What I also felt immediately comfortable with were the grown-up driving manners. The high levels of grip, the poise around corners and the effortless way in which it handled the challenging conditions left me clearly impressed. The brakes did a sterling job bleeding speed many times over too. The Jetta also proved it was more than up to the job of soaking up the rough patches of road encountered on the way into the town of Lonavala. Big holes, deep ruts, sharp edges, it took all of them in its stride.
The wide expanse of the expressway was likely to be a bit more challenging, especially for the 120bhp engine. But here too, it proved to be well upto the task, as long as the slick gearbox was used in an intelligent manner. Yes, more oomph would certainly have gone down well, but the smooth responses of the engine and its willingness to rev allowed for decent acceleration. And high cruising speeds were also relatively easy to maintain due to the tall gearing; 2000rpm in sixth equates to 100kph on the clock and that means progress is relaxed and stress free.

The Jetta is also settling nicely into the daily grind. You do miss a bit of grunt in the city, especially when you want to overtake someone in a hurry, but otherwise it seems just the right size for city use; big enough to be comfortable yet compact enough not to be unwieldy. It isn’t flashy, it isn’t hugely entertaining and it isn’t attention-grabbing either. It, however, is extremely capable and scores really well at every given opportunity. And, like Rahul Dravid, is always dependable and solid.

They still make some of ‘em like they used to.