The new VW Jetta — Beyond first impressions

By Mark Holthoff
Edmunds.com

(September 11, 2010) Volkswagen will soon begin selling its sixth generation Jetta, a somewhat larger and, according to VW, cheaper-to-build car than the current model. The car also is a key piece in Volkswagen Group of America's announced plan to reach annual sales of one million vehicles in the United States by 2018.

With so much riding on its success, the redesigned Jetta is stirring up plenty of chatter among car shoppers and enthusiasts on Edmunds.com and Edmunds' Inside Line, and we took a look at what they've had to say.

At first glance, the comments are not too promising.  Among several one-word critiques are these: "Shrug," "Yawn," "Boring," "Bland."  But that's about as bad as it gets.
 
"Boring? Yes. Ugly?  No," counters reader liquidsilver1. And, trending a bit more positive, blueguydotcom observes that the new look is at least "not as blobby as the current generation," while leokbelo admits that "it's not as bad as I first thought."
 
And, though it may be construed as damning with faint praise, reader dougtheeng tells us he finds the new Jetta more appealing than "the hideous [Mazda] 3 and the boring [Toyota] Corolla and the bizarre [Honda] Civic."
 
Those who dig a bit deeper seem to find even kinder words, such as reader sabastian who says it "definitely looks better than the current car with lots of echoes of Audi products thrown in," or cruiserhead1 who asserts, "I'm glad they threw away the Corolla styling of the current design and went back to the clean, Germanic roots of the Jetta."  Along the same lines, exnevadan calls it a "nice Audi Accord -- handsome, if indistinct."   
 
Meanwhile, reader moparbad reminds critics that the "Jetta design has evolved through the years, yet it has never been anything other than conservative."
 
Still, there are a few persistent naysayers, including frank908 who says, "The polish you usually see with VW's is lacking in this car," and joemccar who tells us, "Hard to believe this comes from the same company that designed the CC and Scirocco" — two products from Wolfsburg that feature much bolder designs.

And several readers complain about lower-grade materials being used inside the car, purportedly an effect of the cost-cutting measures that allowed VW to lop more than $1500 off its base price.  For instance, darthbimmer is "disappointed with the de-contenting of the car" because he has come to expect VWs to be "different from the rest: sportier, more driver focused, and with a higher class interior."

He dismisses this new Jetta as "just a 'me too' entry from a company with a mediocre reliability record."  Likewise, fender59, "a former owner of a 1999 1/2 Jetta GLX that I loved for 10 years," says "I sincerely hope that someone in VW's vast empire recalls what makes a VW a VW.  I would like to own one again, but not if they're going to go in this direction."

But if that stings a bit, sales-focused VW can take heart in these comments from thammer62: "If you want to sell lots of cars how do you design it?  Polarizing?  Of course not... It's a $20-25k sedan that is trying to not offend anyone with the styling.  Mission accomplished."
 
And that's the word on the street.