VW Jetta Gets Bigger, More Conservative
Volkswagen’s made the sixth-generation Jetta longer, leaner and cheaper than its predecessor and, for the first time, it isn’t a Golf with a trunk.
The 2011 Jetta ditches the wildly prolific Golf platform for its own architecture, which VW calls the New Compact Sedan. It’s handsome enough in a conservative German kind of way and more chiseled, but it’s really staid. The styling riffs on the New Compact Coupe concept car yet lacks the concept’s aggression. The result is a car that looks like a 7/8 scale CC and is essentially the same size as the Toyota Camry.
Choose one of four engines. The list starts with a 104-horsepower 1.2-liter gasoline mill. Then there’s a 121-horsepower 1.4-liter, the top o’ the line 200-horsepower 2.0-liter and our favorite, a 2.0-liter diesel. The oilburner produces 138 horsepower and 236 pound feet of torque. The diesel and biggest gas engines are available with a six-speed DSG. Look for a hybrid in 2012.
Starting price is around $16,000, which makes the new Jetta a bit cheaper than the current Jetta, which starts at $17,735.
“Today marks a new era for Volkswagen and for Jetta,” Stefan Jacoby, CEO of VW Group of America, said in a statement, adding that the car “is a class-up driving experience” and “sophisticated” and… yada yada yada.
That’s all well and good, Stefan, but when are getting get the Scirocco and the sweet Polo GTI?
Photos: Volkswagen. More after the jump.
If Walter de Silva designed the Toyota Camry, it would look like this.
For the sake of comparison, this is the 2010 Jetta.
Fuente: Autopia
