[himavanth_m]

This is a great review. Very useful for prospective buyers for a car in that segment.
When I took the test drive of jetta, I felt it lacked the enthusiasm of the Cruze(the 150horses are to blame). but the ride comfort was amazing. Given a chance, I would anyday buy a jetta, due to the simple and elegant interiors. Hopefully, VW do a better job with their sales and service.

Did you get a chance to inquire about the new 2011 jetta. Are the showroom people divulging any information regarding its launch?

I personally do not think the new jetta will be priced at 18.xx ex showroom. It will be priced similar to current jetta with a 50 k premium at the max. At 18.xx, it is not going to get any buyers.

[VW2010]

Thanks everyone. This weekend we are driving down to banlgore and i can report the ride quality from front passenger as well as rear passengers point of view.

Quick updates:-

1) Wanted to check with the Workshop how they clean the engine compartment. The answer was they never water wash or clean (like in clean) the engine compartment but only swipe with wet cloth during service.

2) Check for the accessories like spoilers and skirts. The estimate given by VW is close to 1.35L. Politely refused the offer and decided to ride it the way it is.

3) The 3D mat has been a boon. Cleaning the car is far easier now where the mat collects all the sand/dust from foot, shoes etc.

4) Black leather seats - Car looks lot cleaner and requires a gentle wipe with moist cloth. Need to condition the seats soon.

5) Still trying to find the best seating position. Yet to get that perfect position in the car. I am talking about the position where everything just feels perfect.

6) The head lights so far have been very sufficient. Have not used the High beam upto this point. The anti glare/heat rejection film on the front wind shield has been very helpful and prevents me from using the high beam inside the city.

7) Steering this ~2T car is easier and smoother compared to even the swift. I enjoy everyday while steering this car.

8) Brakes are fantastic. Not much has been said about the brakes. Brakes are good would be an understatement. At any speed the car is ready to stop at the spot where you want to.

9) Have driven now close to 650kms. The turbo on this car is designed so well that one need not wait for the kick in period. A gentle push of the accelerator and the car can kick some good dust. The acceleration is one of the strongest i have seen. Even while driving at 100, a gentle push of the accelerator glides the car quickly to over 120 kmph with ease. Around 120 Kmph is when the driver starts to hear the engine inside the cabin.

10) Sweet spot is 100kmph @ 1800 RPM. Nothing seems to worry or bother the driver at this speed. The car just feels like going in slow motion.(No exaggeration)


Half tank diesel and 440kms is perfectly ok for me till this point .

More to follow....

[VW2010]

Chennai - Bangalore - Chennai - Total KMS - ~700

Road profile - Lots of free way, little of city roads, one 15KM stretch of really bad road and usual Chennai roads.

Ride review includes - Rear seat comfort, ride quality in bad roads compared with swift, braking efficiency, handling and overall drive comfort.

Handling - The car is a high way rider. Purely loves the highway and is a pleasure to drive at over 100KMPH. The simplest comparison I can give is, the car when driving at 100-120 gives the trust a swift gives at driving around 60-80. The handling is superb. The steering feels right (though some say its light) and body roll is absent for most of the curves. Sharp curves does introduce a very minute body roll at over 120KMPH. But the car still stays within the track almost giving a straight line experience in the corners. One can always stay about 100 (If there are no traffic) in most of the roads where the car will take the curves with so much ease and perfection.
9/10

Ride Quality:- For the front passengers the drive was always comfortable. The question was about the rear seat comfort. We drove nonstop for close to 290 kms and the only feedback I got from my friend sitting in the rear was "awesome car man.. chumma no stress or strain of the 5 hr drive.. watte experience". The other feedback I got from another friend(sitting in the rear) in the car was the front seats had very little clearance(below) to place the foot while stretching. Overall met the expectation to keep the rear seat passengers comfortable. The suspension is definitely on the stiffer side. This just translates to firm and confident ride on the highway with no body roll or instability.
9/10

Braking :- The best part of this car is its braking. From 110KMPH to 10KMPH car stops without an urgency that may panic the passengers. I had to stop for a crazy lorry driver moving to the right track at close to 10KMPH overtaking another lorry at probably 5kmph. I hit the brakes and had enough in it to completely depress just in case I had to go for sudden halt. The car did not feel like struggling to slow down. The car kept its straight line and almost felt like gradually slowing down. This just adds confidence to the driver to drive this car with ease and comfort and more importantly confidence.

10/10

Bad roads:-
Drive in Swift:- The Guinea pig for testing close to 20KM stretch of road between Mudichoor and Sriperumbudur was my Swift. I know the swift had the clearance to avoid any scrapping and wanted to check the roads on Friday night. I felt so bad and hurt for taking swift in those roads that we took the round about route to reach Bangalore. The drive was very harsh, the pot holes were giving me enough to forget about taking this route. I definitely felt a little bit tired after testing this route.


Drive in Jetta:- While returning back from Bangalore we decided to take this route knowing we can save over an hour of extra travel. The difference in drive is huge. None of us felt the bad roads. The car was just gliding over the bad roads and none of the disturbances were getting filtered into the cabin. There was not even an instance where it felt tiresome. The car handles bad roads with so much ease and comfort that I would not think twice to take some bad roads in this beauty. Of course I drove it slowly and carefully like I did my swift. The way the car is built just makes the bad road disappear under the tyres.

Headlights:- We travelled back from Bangalore at 5:30 Am. The headlights are very sufficient and the high beam is very effective. I have no plans to change the head lights.

Power:- The car has enough power even at 100kmph. One can feel confident to gently accelerate or suddenly accelerate based on the needs and the car will respond. Have not tested any top speed yet. But was moving between 100-120 consistently to run in the engine.
The engine oil after the drive is now looking a bit grey than clear. Total KMS run is 1309. Oil level looks fine and coolant level looks great. Planning to just take it to the workshop to get the fluids checked and topped up if required before the next long drive to Trivandrum.


Fuel Efficiency:-
The MSD has calculated the FE to be 21.0 for the entire trip. Total KMS driven is 678 and total mileage for the trip is 21KMPL. Approximately 2 rupees per KM of running cost.
Will post pictures of the car soon.

Small but significant things:-
1) The bonnet is shielded in a way that no heat was felt on top of it even after driving for over 3 hours.
2) There are hooks in the rear pillars to hang our food bag or even a towel which came in very handy
3) Steering mounted controls feel very good and does not cause any fatigue to fingers.
4) Steering is a little big compared to my swift and has the tilt function. This helps positioning oneself to a comfortable spot for long drives.
5) The Seat belt lock is placed a bit awkward. Its awkward while only locking the seat belt.
6) AUX input works pretty well and the music system presents fantastic sound quality while even playing from a N8 or Galaxy phone.
7) Car is completely silent inside the cabin with close to 80% of sound/Noise filtered. Only 10-20% of the road noise reaches the inner cabin. This makes high speed driving even more comfortable.

More to follow.....

[VW2010]

Just adding a picture of the siblings. Look at the rear tyre profiles. I am thinking if i should change it after a year to the 215/55/R16 instead of the 205 profile.

I like the passat tyres

[VW2010]

Adding few more pictures - Late in the night shots.

Some small things that make you feel comfortable include these small rubber extension on the sides of the pedals. This prevents you from hitting the comparatively sharper sides of the pedals. Will post pictures tomorrow.

The 3D mats are just growing on me. Easiest to clean and maintain. I say everyone should have these mats.

[arunchandranath]

VW2010, Congratulations on your new buy. The Jetta's a looker and the in the color you got your's, it looks even the more classy. Enjoy superior German Engineering.

Slightly off-tangent here, I heard that the Jetta's RCD unit has a GPS navigation system in it but comes deactivated from the factory for some weird reason. Any idea about this?

Cheers,
Arun

[diffsoft]

Hi VW2010:

Congrats on your buy - the pics are a sheer delight for the eye. And I look forward to reading your reports.

I wanted to know if anything came out of your impending meet / letter to the VW sales guy about the dealer attitude?

Do keep writing.

[VW2010]

I heard that the Jetta's RCD unit has a GPS navigation system in it but comes deactivated from the factory for some weird reason. Any idea about this?

The RNS units have the GPS. The RCD has a 5 CD changer, Touch screen, MP3 and SD card slot with Aux in.



The first heartbreak and the first scratch.

Reason - My stupidity to ignore a tap in my road which i am aware of.

Cleaned my car for over two hours, vaccummed it and parked it in front of the tap. I got ready to work. Got into my car and didint even realise there was a tap. Thanks to the quiet cabin(now thats a boon or bane ). I was pre-occupied to get to work and just moved the car forward. Then i realised i made the blunder.

I cannot work like i want to today. I am really upset with my blunder. Over a month i drove it with such care and attention that the first scratch had to be my own blunder.

Should i get it repainted and leave it as one for the "Dhristi" and keep going.

[.anshuman]

@VW 2010: I saw the advertisements for 3D mats in magazines, Are they available for all cars? How much did they cost? I am looking for good quality mats for my Laura. The OE supplied mats are too small and get dirty easily.

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by VW2010

Adding few more pictures - Late in the night shots.

Some small things that make you feel comfortable include these small rubber extension on the sides of the pedals. This prevents you from hitting the comparatively sharper sides of the pedals. Will post pictures tomorrow.

The 3D mats are just growing on me. Easiest to clean and maintain. I say everyone should have these mats.

Regarding those pictures (particularly pics 4, 5, 9 and 10):
Is the driver side door not fully shut or is that a panel gap?

[VW2010]

Is the driver side door not fully shut or is that a panel gap?

Driver side door is not completely shut.

[Warwithwheels]

Congrats on your car VW2010.... she looks stunning indeed!!

The first heartbreak and the first scratch.stupid
Should i get it repainted and leave it as one for the "Dhristi" and keep going.

Thats sad. Looks like you have tried rubbing or lightening the scar... Eh??

IMO, it doesn't look that glaring at all. The best thing would be to ignore it for now & get it touched up FOC by your service center during your first free service.

Drive safe!

[VW2010]

Thats sad. Looks like you have tried rubbing or lightening the scar... Eh??

I just wiped the scar with a wet cloth. The tap removed some paint, a little deep impact that took some paint of as i moved and the last trail where i had already turned the car towards right made sure the impact was only on the top layer. Hence it appears like lightening the scar.

I am taking the car tomorrow to the service centre to check with them if they can touch it up if possible. I am not going to change the bumper now for sure. But going to check with them if they can touch up a bit to just cover the scratch.

Damn, i hate 28th of Feb 2011. Its a bad start to the week. Or i should assume its the end of the month and hope for a good start of March

[bharatbs]

Use turtle wax premium rubbing compound, it is available in most auto stores. Costs within Rs 300.

That willl take that scratch off by 80%, you wont be able to notice it.

BTW I was just evaluating the Jetta TDI, don't you think the ~110 bhp engine is underpowered considering Cruze has ~ 150 bhp and new Accent (2011 model) is expected to have 135 bhp diesel engine?

[Warwithwheels]

Originally Posted by VW2010

Damn, i hate 28th of Feb 2011. Its a bad start to the week. Or i should assume its the end of the month and hope for a good start of March

My pick would be to see the glass half full

Please make sure that they (Service center) take your car into the workshop (not the parking bay) and use the correct size of brush (if at all they volunteer to touch up) to touch up.

I once had a bad experience with Hyundai SC.

Some joker at a public parking lot left a small scar with his bike carrier on the Boot lid of my three week old i10.

During the first service I had asked the SA to touch up that area. Trying to honor my request verbatim, the SA picked up a brush with some electric red paint tipped on it and started trying his luck with my car.

Thankfully I entered the SC to pick up my car at the right time to see our hero using my car's boot as his graffiti wall.

I stopped him right away to see that horrible finish and asked him to take it to the paint shop and get the work done. Oh Boy.... the difference in finish was beyond comparison.

You gotta keep a vigil on these lazy jokers

Good Luck. Keep us posted!