The new Volkswagen Jetta offers all the goodies that we found endearing, but now with a new face
Story: Aninda Sardar
Photography: Sanjay Raikar
There can be little doubt in anyone’s mind that the Volkswagen Golf is a brilliant car. So when VW decided to create a sedan to compete with the likes of the Honda Civic and the Toyota Corolla, the platform they chose was the one they were using to create the Golf. That was how the Jetta was born, back then. While the Golf never made it to Indian shores, we did get to enjoy the benefits of its fabulous platform in the Jetta, which was launched in India in 2009. Over the years the car, like everything else around it, has evolved. It’s grown in size and the ride quality has become a bit more pliant, making it even better-suited for our Indian roads than before. Now there’s a new iteration of the car that’s been launched.
Before you jump to your own conclusions, shut the magazine and head for the showroom in search of a test-drive, let us tell you that the new Jetta is not a next-generation iteration. No, the new VW Jetta is more of a cosmetic upgrade case. Yes, as you may have guessed, the Jetta has a new face. And a new rear, to boot (no puns please). Volkswagen’s engineers in Wolfsburg, Germany, have also worked to reduce the drag coefficient by 10 per cent. The interior has been uprated, too, to keep pace with the changes in the exterior as well as to appease the increasingly demanding global consumer base, India included.
The changes in slightly greater detail…
If you look at the car in profile, then you’ll be hard-pressed to notice any difference at all. The sheet metal and the lines and pretty much everything about the car looks as it did before. Walk around and come to the front and you’ll notice the new grille. The differentiation between the old and the new car starts with the radiator grille, which is now a triple-fin affair. In keeping with the re-designed grille, the front bumper too has gone under the surgeon’s knife. Overall, the effect is pleasant. With this subtle re-touching on the front end, VW designers have managed to make the Jetta’s face refreshing without altering the classic clean-ness that Jetta buyers found tasteful. Needless to say, the headlamps and the fog-lamps have been re-sculpted as well. The headlamps now feature daytime running lamps (DRL) that are made of strips of 15 LED each. The air intakes are larger and lower as well. At the rear, the Jetta now gets a sporty boot-lid lip spoiler. The tail-lamps are now an all-LED affair while the VW logo has now been slightly altered.
As mentioned earlier, the interior of the new Jetta has been uprated as well. So the instrumentation now features a “sporty tube look”, to quote VW, and the steering wheel is new as well. The centre console features some new accents that should appeal to Indian consumers and there’s a high-gloss finish around the gear lever. The latter is quite classy. Chrome accents have been added around the rotary knobs for the Climatronic controls and around the re-designed a-c vents. There’s also ambient lighting and new fabric colours and designs for seats and door trim.
