Driven: VW Jetta DSG!

[amit]

What would you do if you had a chance to drive a car that has technology trickled down into it from the Audi TT? Thats what I did when I got a chance to drive the New VW Jetta DSG!.
After 2 years of falling sales in North America due to a aging model range, VW decided to take action and revamp their product portfolio. And Boy what a job they have done! Well, they have not finished with it, they are still on the job as I write this! First, came in the new Jetta with new engines, then the new Passat, next month we will have the new 06 Beetle, and by march next year the Golf Mark V! ( Can't wait for that one!) Just to brief up. VW have retired 2 engines : the 2.0L 4 cylinder 115bhp ( Thank God! This was easily the worst engine VW had) and 1.8 Turbo 150hp. So you guys in India are driving Skoda's with outdated engines now! . The base engine is now a 2.5L 5 cylinder 150hp and the higher end engine is the 2.0L Turbo Petrol with 200 hp. This 2.0L Turbo is the base engine in the new Passat and Audi's here. So I had to drive the Jetta 2.0L Turbo with 6 speed DSG Automatic with Tiptronic. BTW, a 6 speed auto is standard in VW's here! Forget the Corolla like looks guys, the Jetta's looks slowly grow on you and the car looks much more majestic in metal then Corolla.
I got in the car fired up the turbo petrol engine adjusted the mirrors and seats and decided to expereince DSG in it's full glory. I put the shift in Tiptronic mode and got going. Even in heavy Toronto traffic the quick DSG shifts were amazing. A click into + and even before I blinked the car was in second. No jerks , no lags, no sluggishness. It all happens faster then the speed at which you blink. Finally got into a open stretch of road. Came onto a STOP sign. For the first time, a STop sign made me smile. There was no traffic or pedastrian ahead. With the car poised at 1, i pressed the gas pedal. The wheels squealed , even though I didn't intend to make them squeal. The car lunged ahead. A click into 2, car is in 2 zooms ahead, turbo whining away, rpm zooming , another push + car is in 3, no lag, no sluggishness, no slowing down of speed, heck it barely allowed the rpm needle to go down! ZOOM the car goes ahead i am going over 80, Turbo whining loudly, exhaust giving a sporty growl, the car lunging ahead like a cheetah, click it goes into 4 before i realise click it's into 5! Every shift happening so fast that it was mind-boggling. In no time i was in 6, zooming ahead, the car powering ahead like a locomotive! The speed at which DSG works, the sporty growl from the exhaust, the turbo's deathly whine, guys i tell you the car for a moment scared me. I actually let off my foot to slow down. I was approaching a intersection. Put my feet on the brakes and ABS, EBD, ASR and what not helped me stop without any wheel lock up. The Shift meanwhile automatically downshifted into 1. Trust me guys, the car was so fast, it acutally had our heads and bodies thorwn back into the head rest and seat. DSG rocks! It was amazing to see, feel and expereince the lightning fast shifts. I was so busy, expereincing DSG that I never noticed what speed i managed or what Rpm i was going at. Every time I kept looking at the gear indicator and trying to notice any sluggishness or jerks as the car shifted. None! none at all and hell here i was driving a measly Jetta! I have always prefered manual to automatics but DSG has made me change my mind!
I can still feel the ultra smooth, fast shifting gears. And it's been over 5 hours since I drove the car! How can there be no lag, how can there be no sluggishness or little jerks. Was that a automatic? It certainly didn't feel like one! "Click" you have upshifted! and all the while you actually keep picking up speed! It was a short drive of about 20 minutes and I can still feel the smooth shifts, I can still hear the turbo whine, I can still hear the tyres squeal and the exhaust growling. Next time I am taking the Jetta DSG on the highway. Hell, how did it happen all so fast?! "click" I was in 2, "click" I was in 3, "click" i was in 4........unbelieveble! Did it acutally happen?! Did I actually drive a car or was I dreaming? Nothing prepares you for DSG folks. You may have read about it, you may know everything behind the technology, you may know what to expect but when you actually drive a car with DSG, it still zaps you with it's technology. Nothing I say here will put down what I expereinced driving the car...nothing.....just drive a car with DSG is all I can say...But yea be prepared to take the rest of the day off though, cuz the whole expereince will leave you dazed. You can do nothing else but think again and again of the whole DSG expereince!

[typeOnegative]

You seem to be having a lot of fun in Toronto Mr Raisinghani. More write ups on the beauties we dont get to drive here.

[RX135]

Looks like things have changed for good. What about interiors? My friend in NJ owns a Jetta. When I visited him last time, I found Jetta's interiors appalling.

[amit]

You seem to be having a lot of fun in Toronto Mr Raisinghani. More write ups on the beauties we dont get to drive here.

Since I am working with a VW dealer here, I have driven the entire VW range of cars but had to devote one post entirely to DSG and hence I only mentioned Jetta The new Passat is another car that has blown my mind. The Base 2.0 Turbo doesn't have DSG though. Maybe the upcoming V6 may have one. But ya, I will post my expereince about the new Passat soon.

Looks like things have changed for good. What about interiors? My friend in NJ owns a Jetta. When I visited him last time, I found Jetta's interiors appalling.

Hey RX, what Jetta does he have? Auto Experts here say though the interiors have moved upmarket in the Mark V Jetta, the quality of plastics is a notch down from M IV. I don't agree with them but I guess they know more. The interiors are now from the Golf M V. Quality of plastics and aluminium trim is out of this world. Just when you think VW can't improve something more , they outdo themselves. More importantly, from the Indian point of view, the back seat space is now much better thanks to the use of the new Mark V Golf chassis. I sat in a golf (Vw still sells the mark IV Golf as of now here) and realised what you guys mean when you say the Octavia is cramped at the rear. But trust me, the new Octavia will be much more spacious.

[Mpower]

Drove the Audi TT Vr6 with DSG last year. Awesome car...the transmission shifts were so good that it felt like a convential automatic.

[RJK]

Good write up. I've seen quite a couple of new jetta's in my campus. On the first look, it seems big for jetta which has generally been little smaller. The looks are really just alright. The passat.....oh the passat! I love it! European cars have a thing in design that american & japs just can't match.

[Steeroid]

Nice write-up and awesome experience! Tell us about the DSG Passat....Jetta is kinda small.

[amit]

Nice write-up and awesome experience! Tell us about the DSG Passat....Jetta is kinda small.

Hey Steeroid. VW have only launched one version of the Passat with the 2.0 Turbo Petrol engine and this version does not have DSG. I guess the upcoming V6 should have DSG. But yea, even without DSG the Passat was one hell of a car. Even managed to take it on the highway at around 120 kmph and the cabin was so quiet and the car so stable that you could actually sleep in it! Have to hand it to the Europeans...no one can give high speed stability and no one can achieve that fine balance between ride and handling the way they do.

[rangaraj]

The post is a little misleading - better if you post it under international car scene.. For a moment i could not figure out where you doing this test drive. None of the engines you mentioned will be applicable here (in India) as we are saddled with the 1.9 version of the Laura engine..

[vid6639]

Originally Posted by rangaraj

The post is a little misleading - better if you post it under international car scene.. For a moment i could not figure out where you doing this test drive. None of the engines you mentioned will be applicable here (in India) as we are saddled with the 1.9 version of the Laura engine..

huh? misleading. The TD was done in 2005, 3 years ago. We din't even know of VW coming to india back then.