The current Volkswagen Jetta,
the sixth generation since the Golf with a trunk was introduced in
1979, arrived for the 2011 model year as VW grudgingly acknowledged that
its brand was not seen in America as the gateway to the German
luxury-car makers, but rather as just an alternative to the traditional
midbrow carmakers—Ford, Honda, and Toyota. As a result, the Jetta was
thrifted both mechanically and visually to facilitate a lower sticker
price.
The strategy failed to bolster sales, however, and many of the
mechanical downgrades were ameliorated during the car’s seven-year run.
In 2011, Volkswagen sold 177,360 Jettas in America—almost 63,000 fewer
cars than Toyota sold Corollas and good for fifth place in the segment.
This year, VW is on track to sell about 120,000 Jettas and is mired in
eighth place in the segment, while the class-leading Honda Civic will
sell some 375,000 examples.
Aimed at America
With the upcoming, seventh-generation Jetta, which will debut at the
Detroit auto show in January and go on sale in the second quarter of
2018 as a 2019 model, VW is continuing the strategy of pricing the Jetta
competitively against its key competitors. But the company is hoping to
make it more appealing to Americans by tailoring it more closely to
North American tastes, an effort made possible by a reorganization of
its product-development structure that gives more autonomy to the
individual regions.
We got an early taste of the new Jetta at VW’s top-secret Arizona
Proving Grounds—it was established in 1992, but most of us had never
heard of it. The cars were preproduction models, camouflaged with
black-and-white zig-zag contact paper on the outside and dashboards
draped with sheets of neoprene with slots for the shifter to poke
through. So we can’t comment on the fine details of the new version, but
here’s what we did learn.
The new model finally moves to Volkswagen’s versatile MQB platform, which underpins products from the Golf all the way up to the new Atlas three-row SUV.
This switch brings with it access to the latest driver-assistance
systems and digital cockpit options, for which the electronic support is
baked into the platform.
The 2019 Jetta is slightly larger than the current one, growing almost
two inches in length and about an inch in width, which makes it two to
three inches longer than the Civic and the Corolla although otherwise
similar in size. Inside, these dimensions should translate into slightly
more rear-seat space, which will keep the Jetta at the roomier end of
the class.
Under the hood, you’ll find the same turbocharged 1.4-liter inline-four
used in the current car. It generates 150 horsepower and 184 lb-ft of
torque and will be coupled to an eight-speed automatic transmission.
Matthias Erb, who heads VW product development in the North American
region, believes that Americans don’t much like dual-clutch automatic
transmissions, so he has stayed with the conventional automatic—albeit
with two more ratios than before. There also will be a six-speed manual
option, replacing the previous five-speed. However, to simplify the
product lineup, the turbocharged 1.8-liter engine is being dropped. But
it offered only 20 more horsepower, no more torque, and considerably
lower EPA fuel economy than the 1.4-liter engine.
We received no information about the new model’s underpinnings, but
peeking underneath the car revealed a conventional strut suspension in
front, with the usual widely spaced control arm at the bottom to provide
a good mix of lateral stiffness for cornering precision and
longitudinal compliance to improve ride. In the rear, we saw a trailing
torsion-beam axle, which was one of the cost-cutting changes, later
reversed, that were applied to the sixth-gen car. Now it’s back, and it
reflects Erb’s opinion that American buyers of cars like the Jetta won’t
pay for sophisticated suspensions and the handling benefits they can
provide, although we’ve found the torsion beam’s biggest disadvantage to
be in the ride department. It perhaps also reflects VW’s higher cost of
production—despite the Jetta’s origins in the Puebla, Mexico,
plant—because Honda and Mazda manage to provide multilink rear
suspensions at the Jetta’s price point. At least the torsion-beam axle
is fitted with hydraulic bushings where it mounts to the structure to
provide a better mix of precision and compliance.
There are disc brakes all around—unlike at the debut of the sixth-gen
Jetta—and VW continues with electrically assisted power steering of the
dual-pinion type. That’s a rack-mounted system, but it’s not as
expensive as the technology used in some Audis and other higher-end
cars. However, such dual-pinion systems generally offer more feel than
the column-mounted electric power steering fitted to other cars in the
class.
We had only a limited opportunity to drive the new Jetta, within the
sterile confines of the proving ground. On the 4.6-mile, high-speed
oval, the powertrain felt strong and smooth at full throttle, although,
as with many turbocharged engines, the sound was less than stirring. But
acceleration felt decent and the car pulled easily to its governed
127-mph top speed—that’s according to GPS, as we couldn’t see the
instrument cluster.
Acceleration from a stop was fine unless you suddenly floored the
throttle, and then you had to wait a beat or two before the turbo
spooled and the engine mustered full thrust. All small-displacement
turbocharged engines suffer from this phenomenon, but at least you can
brake-torque the engine when a swift blast-off is required.
At 80 mph or so, the cabin was quiet, with minimal wind, road, and
engine noise, and the ride was very good, although the pavement
collaborated by being near perfect. Steering feel was precise on-center
and the car changed lanes smartly and predictably, but we might have
wanted a bit more weight at that speed. The base car has no driving-mode
programs, but such options are available in the higher trim levels.
On a tight handling course, we did learn that the new Jetta feels
lively, rotates slightly at the limit when you ease off the accelerator,
and lets you shift its transmission manually using the shift lever.
Brake feel is smooth and progressive, but travel is a bit longer than
we’d like. The car at the handling track did have driving modes, and
switching to Sport brought a welcome increase in steering effort, along
with a more aggressive throttle calibration and shift schedule, neither
of which were very apparent. Unusual among such affordable cars, there
also was a custom mode allowing the driver to mix and match among the
various settings.
The only downside was that the stability control engaged prematurely.
The engagement wasn’t abrupt, but we felt torque reductions as we were
approaching the car’s limits. Overall, however, the Jetta’s liveliness
and willingness to do other than simply understeer is welcome in this
class of car. And a few months after the base Jetta is introduced, VW
will deliver a GLI version with more power and all of the handling
goodness available from the parts shelves.
With the camouflage, it’s hard to draw any conclusions about the styling
of the new Jetta, but based on the contours, we expect no startling or
swooping lines but rather the tasteful and conservative look that
typifies current VWs. Inside, we briefly lifted the neoprene curtains
and saw a layout, center stack, and switchgear that is very similar to
that of the new Tiguan. The base cars will come with an analog
instrument cluster and a 6.5-inch touchscreen infotainment system in the
middle of the dashboard, while upmarket versions will offer an 8.0-inch
touchscreen as well as Volkswagen’s 12.3-inch Digital Cockpit
electronic instrument cluster. (That electronic cluster also is
available in the e-Golf, Golf R, and high-end versions of the Atlas and
the Tiguan.)
It must be a source of frustration to Volkswagen management that the
company in 2016 sold more cars in the world than anyone else yet
continued to struggle in the American market. With its latest models, VW
has recognized that it must price its products competitively and pay
attention to the local markets, rather than taking the
Wolfsburg-knows-best approach that has dominated for the past three-plus
decades. We look forward to evaluating this new Jetta once we can live
with a production model in our backyard.
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