[skjlives]

Originally Posted by Abhi_Automobile

Guys,

BTW, I saw s spanking new Jetta (new shape) at a dealers location a few days ago. As GTO has already confirmed, it will launch on 17th Aug.

First impressions are:

1. Its BIG. The new Jetta is almost 1.5 times the size of the Vento.
2. HUGE difference in the interior quality of Jetta and Vento.
3. It looks almost like Vento from the front end.
4. Space utilization inside is very good, unlike most German cars. Its very spacious from inside. Much more than Laura.
4. Blackened headlights
5. Rubberized 'soft touch' quality feel material on the dashboard. Please don't tell me that Verna or Fiesta also has 'soft touch' materials. They don't. I have seen them.
6. looks fantastic from rear three quarters. Looks like a proper sedan, unlike the earlier 'Golf+boot', which somehow devoid d it of classy look.
7. Supposed to be priced higher than the current model by around 1.5 lakh. I don't trust anything on pricing, unless it comes out.

Overall impression, a classy sedan with no 'cheapness' or cost cutting.

No pics guys, I promised to the SR. Aur ek baar main commit kar doon..

Where did you see the car - Bangalore/Delhi and which dealer. And are they only launching the diesel now, as some members have earlier suggested or the petrol also coming on the 17th? Was the one you saw a diesel?

Thanks

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by Abhi_Automobile

Overall impression, a classy sedan with no 'cheapness' or cost cutting.

No pics guys, I promised to the SR. Aur ek baar main commit kar doon..

Was it the top end?

1) Power seats with memory?
2) Xenons?
3) Paddle shifts?

Did u notice any of these?

[Abhi_Automobile]

Originally Posted by skjlives

Where did you see the car - Bangalore/Delhi and which dealer. And are they only launching the diesel now, as some members have earlier suggested or the petrol also coming on the 17th? Was the one you saw a diesel?

Thanks

Bangalore. Sorry, can't reveal any more info. The SR showed me the car without knowledge of his higher authority. But Bangalore, unlike Delhi or Mumbai, is smaller city and has only 2-3 dealers, you can visit and find out easily

Originally Posted by akshay1234

Was it the top end?

1) Power seats with memory?
2) Xenons?
3) Paddle shifts?

Did u notice any of these?

I did not get a chance to sit inside the car. It may or may not be the top end model, but it was certainly not a bottom end model. Coz it had leather seats. No Xenons on the model I saw. However, the headlamps had 'smoked headlights'! It was a manual version so I don't know whether paddle shifts will come or not.

I get a general feeling that Vento owners will be very happy after the Jetta is launched. The two cars are so similar that most of the Vento owners will feel they own 3/4th Jetta. However, I see the other half (who buy Jetta) being happy as well. The interiors are hugely spacious and have a quality feel to them which is sorely missing in any C segment car (Vento come the closest IMHO).

Also, this will be the final nail in the coffin in the recently launched Fluence (as if it needed one). The Jetta does everything that Fluence is set out to do, a lil bit better, for a slight premium. However, I don't hink this will dent too many sales of Cruze or 'Karela' (oh, is it Corolla) as looks set to priced considerably higher.

VW, strip it and give us a basic version at affordable price please.

[RavenAvi]

Originally Posted by Abhi_Automobile

That is interesting. How did you project such 'exact pricing'. I mean, usually my projections are like 13, 14 13.5 etc. Its like saying Tendulkar will get 63 runs today

Anyway, is it guesstimate or any reasoning behind this? Usage of any statistical methods that you may have used to come to this conclusion. Any inside news?

Just a bit of research into current prices, taking note of pricing of the current Jetta, the immediate competition the Jetta faces, and if VW manages to price the Jetta competitively to take on the adversaries.

I started at 13.5 for the base petrol, added 1.7L for the next two.

For the base diesel, assumption of a lakh more, adding another 30K for all price variations, then again 1.7L for each of the other two.

You can say - part guess, part reasoning, part statistics. No inside news though.

Originally Posted by skjlives

Your predictions look reasonable, except I would think trendlines won't be that low, given where comparable Lauras are selling today.
Also, not sure which city/state OTR you're referring to and how the price loading works there, but 18.2 ex-showroom in Bangalore works out to much higher, more like 22.5L OTR, I kid you not! And that's how much you can get a petrol Superb for in Bangalore, give or take.

A stripped-down Trendline should be reasonable at 13.5L, maximum 14L. Any more and VW might be shooting itself in the foot.

RT rates in Karnataka must be among the highest in India right now. I am in CG, and that's the rate the RTO here charges, give or take around 10K more.

[drmohitg]

Hey is all this talk of trying to price the Jetta wrt to the Laura based on any serious facts or is it mere speculation? I agree they are from the same group but isn't Skoda a completely different wing? If VW is so concerned about not hurting Skoda then why doesn't it first rectify the awful dealership and after sales issues that plague Skoda since that does indeed reflect on VW as a group.

[VW2010]

If VW is so concerned about not hurting Skoda then why doesn't it first rectify the awful dealership and after sales issues that plague Skoda since that does indeed reflect on VW as a group.

I am not sure if you followed other thread on VW. VW is definitely not concerned about image. And its not just with Skoda, even VW as a brand has crappy service and we have two threads running in parallel talking about the bad service experiences of owners.

VW doest Care. You just buy a VW care hoping nothing should happen.

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by Abhi_Automobile

Guys,
Overall impression, a classy sedan with no 'cheapness' or cost cutting.
No pics guys, I promised to the SR. Aur ek baar main commit kar doon..

That’s something which is expected from a Jetta. I will say, it’s closer towards the Passat. In luxury, as well as in pricing

What colour did you spot? They have an awesome brown shade for the new Jetta. Not sure if that will get to India.

Originally Posted by Abhi_Automobile

I get a general feeling that Vento owners will be very happy after the Jetta is launched. The two cars are so similar that most of the Vento owners will feel they own 3/4th Jetta. However, I see the other half (who buy Jetta) being happy as well. The interiors are hugely spacious and have a quality feel to them which is sorely missing in any C segment car (Vento come the closest IMHO).

Very true, Vento owners should be happy. Its immediate next model from the same family will be at least 75% more expensive – on a similar variant comparison (say highline).

Originally Posted by Abhi_Automobile

VW, strip it and give us a basic version at affordable price please.

Why should they? If they try to address a bigger band of pricing, it will be like killing its own sibling and cousin (Vento and Laura)

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Hey is all this talk of trying to price the Jetta wrt to the Laura based on any serious facts or is it mere speculation?

I am sure it will be priced above the Laura. The dealer in my City was quite confident to say that the pricing is in the range of 14-18 lakhs ex-showroom.

[Abhi_Automobile]

Originally Posted by vb-san

Why should they? If they try to address a bigger band of pricing, it will be like killing its own sibling and cousin (Vento and Laura)

So that I can buy it Frankly speaking, I don't think they care very much about Skoda's value proposition. After the recent firing of the Skoda cheif, VW clearly want Skoda to have a distinct back seat. Skoda's cars were cheaper with same levels of quality. So, Skoda's manufacturing cost had gone really high. Thus Skoda had poor profit margins.

Even Polo was launched cheaper than Fabia, since Fabia was overpriced. Later Skoda adjusted Fabia's pricing accordingly. I think VW will follow what it thinks is good for the brand and sales. Skoda will adjust accordingly. I don't too many decisions will be based on Skoda's preferences.

[jmktm]

Given the way the new base model Passat was priced ( lesser than the outgoing model ?) and also the Vento was priced , hopefully VW would price it similar( dare I say even a little lesser ?) to the outgoing model. At @ 13.5-14.5 L ex-showroom base manual diesel model pricing, it would be curtains for the Fluence and give it a dominating position .


IMHO, VW has shown considerable perspective regarding our (Indian) spending habits and expectations as far as volume models go. The Vento has excellent handling , nice torque,nice fuel mileage and priced below the Verna diesel also. A sense not shown by Ford ,recently . Post Figo launch ,they seem to be falling back to their older ways........( with the new Fiesta pricing etc.) .

Fingers crossed

[.anshuman]

Here is what Jeremy Clarkson says about the Jetta. Do not take it too seriously

It’s also why I’m fidgety and distracted today. Because I came to London yesterday in the Volkswagen Jetta, and tomorrow I must go home in it. Which will be like spending an hour in a coma.

I’d love to meet the man who styled the exterior, to find out if he’d done it as some sort of a joke. But mostly I’d like to meet the man who simply didn’t bother at all with the interior. Because looking at that dashboard gives you some idea of what it might be like to be dead.

It’s black. And so are the buttons, and so are the dials, and so are the carpets and so are the seats. To give you some idea of how dull and featureless life is in there, put a cardboard box over your head. And leave it there for 10 years.

Then there’s the engine. This is the 2 litre direct injection jobbie you find in various other VWs and Audis and it’s normally not bad. But like a bloke who could make a UFO encounter seem boring, the Jetta seems to suck all the life out of it.

It’s the same story with the ride and handling. It’s really not bad at all. But it’s hard to spot this when you are stuck in that vegetative no man’s land with a face that’s so numb you don’t even know you’re dribbling.

And now we arrive at the boot lid, which is supposed to boing up when you press a button on the key. But it can’t be bothered. It springs from the traps, rises about a foot and then just gives up.

There’s a similar lack of enthusiasm from the satellite navigation system. Every request is met with a shoulder-sagging teenage harrumph. Perhaps this is because the car’s made in Mexico: so it just wants to sit under a tree all day dozing.

Volkswagen itself was plainly bored to tears when trying to think of things to say about the car. So what you get in the press blurb is chapter and verse on the windscreen wipers, which apparently perform a number of tasks. Further investigation reveals these tasks to be 1) sitting still and 2) moving hither and thither clearing raindrops.

What I’m most interested in is why on earth this car was made in the first place, because it’s actually a Golf with a boot. Or to put it another way, a Golf that’s a bit uglier, a bit heavier, a bit slower, a bit less practical, a bit less economical and a lot more boring to drive. To paraphrase Mark Twain, then, it’s a good Golf ruined.

And yet the model I drove cost £18,500. And to that you must add another £1,200 for an automatic gearbox and £1,675 if you want leather upholstery instead of the Pleblon that comes as standard. I’d also go for the £13.99 “life hammer”, which is designed to be used to break the windows after an accident. But it could also be used by a passenger to hit you on the head when you start dribbling. Or as a tunnelling tool, like the rock hammer in The Shawshank Redemption.

Because believe me, being trapped inside a Jetta is just like being trapped in a 1930s jail. You really would want to escape, whatever the cost.

Anyway, my point is that the Jetta is a £21,000 car. So why not buy a bigger, better and (marginally) more interesting Passat instead?

Or why not save a few bob and buy a vastly superior Golf GTI? Or why not buy 2.1m penny chews? What really pisses me off about the Jetta is that Volkswagen is a company that makes the Bentley Continental and the Lamborghini Gallardo. It has the flair and the panache to make the Bugatti Veyron, and we know it can make a Golf saloon interesting because they’ve proved it with various Seats and Skodas.

But what they’ve come up with here is an automotive Belgium, Tim Henman with wheels. The inside of a ping pong ball. I therefore cannot recommend it to you in any way.

VITAL STATISTICS

Model Volkswagen Jetta 2.0 SE FSI
Engine 1984cc, four cylinders
Power 148bhp @ 6000rpm
Torque 147 lb ft @ 3500rpm
Transmission Six-speed manual
Fuel 34.4mpg (combined cycle)
CO2 197g/km
Acceleration 0-62mph: 9.2sec
Top speed 131mph
Price £16,625
Rating 1/5
Verdict So boring you want to die

Full Article here: Jeremy Clarkson Volkswagen Jetta review | Driving - Times Online

Some more reviews:
http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/evoc...ta_review.html
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carrevi...gen_jetta.html

[Cesc]

That's an awesome review Prospective buyers shouldn't read it and if they do read it they shouldn't take it to heart.

[VW2010]

Prospective buyers shouldn't read it and if they do read it they shouldn't take it to heart.

I feel the other way around. They should read it and take it to their heart. Its not just one review that talks about what the car lacks or what it has. Its just a common view on how mundane the car has become with the new looks as well as attempts to cut cost.

If the pricing is still around 18L on road for the comfortline, i guess one has to skip this model and go for a little higher L&K or even the Superb/Passat.

The X1 can be got for around 23L i guess. And its a BMW.

[Abhi_Automobile]

Guys,

Jeremy Clarkson is a well respected intelligent man. However, let's see what Europeans like:

1. They like hatchbacks. They think that hatchbacks are waaaaay more practical. Indians think hatchbacks are 'downmarket'. Okay, so that's taking it too far. But most Indians will buy a sedan if their budget permits so.

2. They like liverly cars with dynamic hadlink and good ride. Most VW are dead and and mundane cars.

3. They live Golf. So, they think that jetta is a pointless car.

4. He is British. There's the British 'wierd sense of humour'. Only they find what they say and write humorous

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by Abhi_Automobile

So that I can buy it Frankly speaking, I don't think they care very much about Skoda's value proposition. After the recent firing of the Skoda cheif, VW clearly want Skoda to have a distinct back seat. Skoda's cars were cheaper with same levels of quality. So, Skoda's manufacturing cost had gone really high. Thus Skoda had poor profit margins.

Even Polo was launched cheaper than Fabia, since Fabia was overpriced. Later Skoda adjusted Fabia's pricing accordingly. I think VW will follow what it thinks is good for the brand and sales. Skoda will adjust accordingly. I don't too many decisions will be based on Skoda's preferences.

All you mentioned make sense, but I expect the Jetta to sit right at the top of C+ segment - on both content and pricing (not necessarily on sales). You have seen the car, and doesn’t it look luxurious inside out?

Originally Posted by .anshuman

Here is what Jeremy Clarkson says about the 2011 Jetta. Do not take it too seriously

Originally Posted by Cesc

That's an awesome review Prospective buyers shouldn't read it and if they do read it they shouldn't take it to heart.

Originally Posted by VW2010

I feel the other way around. They should read it and take it to their heart. Its not just one review that talks about what the car lacks or what it has. Its just a common view on how mundane the car has become with the new looks as well as attempts to cut cost.

The X1 can be got for around 23L i guess. And its a BMW.

VW2010, I completely agree with Anshuman and Cesc here – not to take it too seriously, and Mr. Clarkson is a huge fan of the Golf, and on the other extreme he hates the Jetta. Clarkson is all about pure entertainment, and hence the disclaimer from Anshuman

If someone has taken that review seriously, s/he would have never gone and bought the current Jetta. Reason – the review quoted from Times Online is from Feb 2006, and all those kind words are about the existing Jetta (in India).

Note: Check out Anshuman’s review on the X1 (IIRC). Clarkson have some nice words for the X1 as well!

Edit: Here are some more UK reviews on the New Jetta:
http://www.autocar.co.uk/CarReviews/...40-SE-/257681/
http://www.topgear.com/uk/volkswagen...d-test/2.0-tdi

[VW2010]

He is British. There's the British 'wierd sense of humour'. Only they find what they say and write humorous

I have to agree here. They have really wierd sense of humour. The american version of Whose line is far more funnier to me than the british version.

Though MR Bean was just awesome. I guess it had to do with action based comedy.