2005 Volkswagen new Jetta 2.5 sedan: Japanese personality, German heart
Not the car, I mean. The problem is the name. Notice it’s not the “new 2005 Jetta,” but the “2005 new Jetta,” meant to distinguish this all-new sedan from the previous Jetta, which is still available new at some dealers and just called the “2005 Jetta,” not the “2005 old Jetta,” as VW should call it to be consistent. I’m just going to call it the 2005 Jetta 2.5, but be sure to ask for the “2005 new Jetta” when you go to the dealers. You don’t want to get stuck with an old new “2005 Jetta” when you test-drive VW’s mass-market leader.
Confused? You should be. It would have been so much easier for VW to call this the 2006 Jetta. But you know those crazy Germans – anything to confuse the Americans. On the other hand, they make good cars, and the 2005 new Jetta 2.5 – the fifth-generation Jetta - is another in a line of sedans that should find favor here in the States.
As a point of interest, the 2005 new Jetta 2.5 (sorry, just can’t stop myself from doing that – it’s so silly, I feel like I’m in a Monty Python skit) is actually made in Mexico, with 34% of the parts coming from Germany, 20% from Mexico, 8% from the US, and the engine from Japan. This is a brave new world we live in.
The Jetta itself is the European sedan engineered for American tastes, not surprising considering VW’s American sales depend heavily on the Jetta. The Jetta used to be cool, great ads, great car, a very Euro driving experience at an affordable price. The new Jetta seeks to recapture the cool that had been fading from its getting-long-in-the-tooth predecessor. After 25 years and more than 2.2 million vehicles sold in North America, Volkswagen has sent the new Jetta sallying forth into the marketplace under the flag of “All grown up. Sort of.”
This implies a new level of maturity and comfort in the Jetta without any loss of its fun-to-drive characteristics. The question is can Volkswagen pull it off.
The new Jetta replaces the old one’s 2.0-liter, 115-horsepower power plant with a 2.5-liter 150-horsepower inline 5-cylinder topping out with 170 lb.-ft. of torque at a relatively low 3,750 rpm. The 4-speed automatic is gone, replaced by a 6-speed automatic with Tiptronic (5-speed manual is a listed option). It’s listed as a compact, seating 5 with 16 cu. ft. of cargo volume. EPA mileage is 22 city/30 highway, and it runs on regular. Top speed is an electronically limited 130 mph, and VW estimates 0-60 in 9.1 seconds. It feels faster.
That’s one of those things about VW’s: They always feel faster than the numbers and handle better than the price. The new Jetta is no exception. It may be made with parts from all over the world, but it still handles largely like a Volkswagen, sending the message: Drivers wanted.
As you can infer, handling is very good – precise, firm and on-center. The new Jetta feels less demanding than its more Teutonic predecessors, but no less capable. This is still a driver’s car, and the fun’s still there.
The passengers, though, get to share in the fun. The new Jetta is larger and more comfortable than the old. Fit and finish were very good, instruments rationally conceived and well laid out, seats comfortable and supportive. Construction quality should ensure a long, creak-free life for the new Jetta, which recorded double-digit increases in torsional and dynamic rigidity. The new Jetta balances sportiness and comfort, with a quiet cockpit added to the list of pluses.
Safety, as you know if you watch TV or read a newspaper or magazine, is a strong point of the new Jetta. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tested the Jetta early at VW’s request, and said, “The 2005 Volkswagen new Jetta earned good ratings in both frontal offset and side impact crash tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Plus the Jetta is the first vehicle to earn the top rating of good in every individual measurement category (injury measures, head protection, and structural design) of the Institute’s side impact test. This car is designated a "best pick" for side crash protection, and it's a good performer for frontal crash protection. The performance of the Jetta in these tests plus its acceptable rating for seat/head restraint design in rear impact tests make it the top-rated car overall in the inexpensive midsize class.”
“The new Jetta was the first vehicle to ace our side impact test,”
said Institute president Brian O'Neill. “It's the best performer among midsize inexpensive cars. Its structural performance was better than the second- and third-best models, the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. This new Jetta design shows what manufacturers can do to improve occupant protection in serious side impacts when cars are hit by taller and heavier SUVs and pickup trucks.”
So the Jetta provides the traditional Volkswagen virtues of German engineering and handling, is larger and more refined, and still very well priced (more on that later). What about the cool?
Who knows what leads to the birth of the cool? Who knows if VW will need cool to sell the new Jetta? It shouldn’t. This new Jetta stands alone without any need for pretensions, or pretentiousness. Which may be a good thing.
My fellow auto writer Rob Schweitzer had the Jetta before I did. He has some claim to knowledge of Volkswagen cool by virtue of both owning a Passat and having VIP seats to Coldplay at the Hartford Civic Center. His complaint about the Jetta: It’s too Japanese.
That’s good news for those who want this iteration of the Jetta to be more reliable than previous versions, but not necessarily good news for those who aspire to cool. The Jetta’s front design bears a close familial resemblance to that of the new Audi A4, but in rear, it’s less distinctive, and the lines of the new Jetta are more Japanese Zen and less angular Germanic. But, as Rob well, knows, looks aren’t everything.
Money matters as well, and the pricing of the new Jetta is outstanding. The “Value Edition” begins at $17,900, and my test car came in at $24,040. That’s after adding $3,035 for a sunroof, 16” wheels, premium sound and the 6-speed Tiptronic, 
and includes the $615 destination charge. Standard equipment included all the safety features, dual-zone climate control, in-dash 6-CD changer, cruise control, trip computer and a bunch more. In other words, this is a well-equipped sedan for the price.
With the 2005 new Jetta 2.5, Volkswagen has served notice that it intends to be a strong competitor in the compact sedan marketplace. The combination of handling, pricing and performance the new Jetta 2.5 offers will make it hard to beat.
posted by Andy Mais @ 3:34 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home