Should I buy a Jetta TFSI? Help a VW newbie :)

[faisan]

Hi Everyone,

First time poster here but I have read quite a few of the threads and you all seem like a nice bunch of people

I am currently looking seriously at buying a TFSI Jetta. I am 90% convinced but I need just a bit extra to get me over the line

I have only owned Japanese cars my whole life. I have had Hondas mainly and current have a Nissan Murano and Honda Jazz in my family. I am looking at the Jetta to replace the Jazz which was my wifes car. She drives the Murano now as its bigger and better for our toddler. I cant stand the Jazz anymore so its time to upgrade.

I had my heart set on a Honda Accord Euro but couldnt get the deal I wanted and I found it was lacking in power slightly.

The Jetta is appealing because its a sedan, got good power, and is auto. I quite like the looks although it could be a bit sportier.

My wife is a bit of a badge snob and keeps telling me to buy a BMW 3 series but I just cant justify spending over $70 on that car driveaway!

Couple of questions:

- Whats the back seat room like? Will baby seats fit in easily?
- Since this is car is based on the Golf, does it make it a "small" sedan? How does its size compare with say a Mazda 3 sedan and Honda Accord Euro?
- whats the fuel consumption like and does it require 98 premium?

I have made some initial enquiries online and have so far managed to get a price of $39,900 driveaway with leather for a 08 model. I think I can get a bit more off as the discounts are from VW and not the dealer. Is this a good price? I am in Perth.

Can anyone comment on the car in general? Just need a bit more convincing

Thanks and apologies for the long post.

[phaeton]

Welcome Faisan

I'm 100% sure you will full in love with the VW brand if you buy the Jetta be prepared to be converted

I'll let the Jetta owners talk about space, & prices etc.

Good Luck

[livingthedream]

Faisan,

Mate your are on the right track. 6 months ago i was in the same situation. I too have also always owned Japanese built cars and motorbikes.
The wife became pregnant with our first and the decision was made that the bike had to go to make room for a second car. We already have a 4WD/SUV so we didnt need anything huge but still big enough. I also got rid of my 1000cc sportbike, so i wanted some kind of performance, i also wanted leather (preferably beige) and like most we had a budget.


With the guidelines set i started researching. Granted the Honda Accord Euro, Mazda 3 MPS, Mazda 6 luxury, Subbie WRX were all on the list. My old man had recently bought a VW PAssat 125kw TDI, so thats what bought us to VW and more importantly the Jetta.

The Jetta ticked everybox and some, and imo clearly was the better car out of the above for our reasons.

- Huge boot
- Great build quality
- Choice of leather colour
- DSG
- 2.0 Turbo that is relatively fuel effecient (im not getting the claimed 8.0L but more 9.0L/100km) but yes takes 98oct
- felt much better built that most of the other models
- heaps of convenience features.
- Mazda 3 about to be replaced in shape and i didn't like the non leather in the MPS
- Mazda 6, new and old design is so common and still just a mazda
- I didnt like a few things with the Honda and for the same money I could get the Euro badge and tchnology in VW

In all i love the way my Jetta drives and we are over the moon with our decision. Best front wheel driver i have ever been in (and there has been alot). I would again be looking at VW for my next upgrade as you get performance with style (unlike BMW - unless you spend a motza!).

The Baby sit fits in perfectly, and the boot holds everything required. Can esily fit 4 adults, 5 getting a squeeze.

For the missus, get the factory bodykit and bigger wheels to spice it up abit, there are some real easy performance upgrades to get you close to 180kw (chip upgrade).

Our only downside was the 4month wait due to our chosen options.

[jb747]

I don't own a Jetta, but a Golf is close enough. I too had only had Japanese cars for the last 16 or so years.

The Golf/Jetta is bigger than it looks. We sold a 2005 RAV4 to make way for the Golf, and the dimensions are almost identical. These cars a very neatly designed, and are a bit bigger than they look.

The turbo engine is wonderful. I requires 95 at a minimum, and preferably 98 octane. Fuel consumption varies with your foot. If you have a light foot you'll be surprised, and if you don't, then you'll enjoy the performance.

My car has the DSG gearbox, and I am a total convert. Love it.

A year, and almost 19,000 kms down the road, and I'm still totally in love with my purchase. But the nicest thing about VW right now is the range. They have a number of cars that I could happily own, quite unlike most brands which can only muster one if they are lucky.

[faisan]

thanks for the replies so far guys. Keep it up!

I am arranging a test drive early next week. That should let me test out the rear leg room.

I am chasing a bit of performance this time so the Jetta TFSI fits nicely. The MPS3 is a bit too boy racer and its manual only so its a no go. Not a huge fan of Mazdas but they are nice cars.

Can anyone comment on the price I got? Basically its a 10% corp discount + a further $3000 discount. They must be trying to clear all 08 stock desperately. I want leather and depending on the price, the 18" charlestons too. Xenons would have been great but unless they have one in stock with them, its unlikely I can get one in time for the discounts.

Are there any nice little known features that you guys can share?

[gregozedobe]

Go for the Xenons if you can get them. Make sure you drive the DSG in traffic and stop start conditions - some people love DSG, others don't.

If you are after space, did you look at the Skoda Octavia vRS, especially the wagon (it has an even bigger boot than the Jetta) ?

If the Jetta comes with the large screen MFD it allows you to configure a lot of the comfort features (auto locking, coming home lights, cheep/silent locking confirmation etc).

Choose your colour for the Jetta carefully, IMO some colours look better than others.

[STV4SYT]

Can anyone comment on the price I got? Basically its a 10% corp discount + a further $3000 discount. They must be trying to clear all 08 stock desperately. I want leather and depending on the price, the 18" charlestons too. Xenons would have been great but unless they have one in stock with them, its unlikely I can get one in time for the discounts.

Are there any nice little known features that you guys can share?

Corp discount is 10% off the retail list price of the car minus any extras. extras are charged at the full rate usually unless you can haggle them down a bit. and the dealer delivery charge is dropped to a flat $995 so they arent doing anything out of the ordinary with pricing. When i bought mine i got another $500 off the corp price which i thought was doing ok.

Also if there is a stock car that has already got some extras on that you dont really care about, then its an even better time to haggle it down some.

Be careful though with the extras, all that can easily add up to $10k on top of the basic price.

[livingthedream]

Yeah i paid 46.5k, leather, sunroof, ipod adaptor, bluetooth, paint, leather, carpet protection, plus a set of black mats (beige were standard)

Plenty of extra features of which some are mentioned below. The wife loves the shopping bag hook in the boot and i love the auto close window and sunroof function with my remote.

Agree on the manual only on some models i listed, another reason it pushed us towards the VW

let us know how you go.

[faisan]

Corp discount is 10% off the retail list price of the car minus any extras. extras are charged at the full rate usually unless you can haggle them down a bit. and the dealer delivery charge is dropped to a flat $995 so they arent doing anything out of the ordinary with pricing. When i bought mine i got another $500 off the corp price which i thought was doing ok.

Thanks Steve.

I am getting the 10% discount + $3000 more. The whole discount works out to about $6600. That entire discount is being given by VW and not the dealer so I reckon I should be able to squeeze more from the dealer.

Looks like the price is decent then.

[Dubdabest]

2 years on since taking the plunge to buy the Jetta (instead of Accord Euro that I was drooling), I never regret the decision and still loving the car since day 1.

I found the legroom at the back a bit squeezy because the interior dimensions are basically the same as Golf MKV but the boot is huge and bigger than Falcon's or Commodore's so that's got to be a big bonus. I think VW should extend the wheelbase of Jetta a bit (more legroom, less boot capacity) but hey that's gonna cost them engineering capital.

Anyway, I have driven a lot of this car in rainy days and slippery roads and so far I have not been getting torque-steer or wheelspins on hill-starts or taking off at traffic lights (normal driving) which shows me how sure-footed this FWD car for the power & torque it has with the 2.0L TFSI. My previous car was a Corolla and I got a lot of wheelspins & torque-steer from the less powerful engine than Jetta's

I get around avg 9-10L/100km for City driving but can go down to low 7'sL/100km on freeways & country driving.

You'll love it!

[faisan]

Plenty of extra features of which some are mentioned below. The wife loves the shopping bag hook in the boot and i love the auto close window and sunroof function with my remote.

The remote window open/close is a neat party trick.

Do you get electric seats with the leather option? Is it drivers only or passenger too? Do you still get the underseat storage box with leather seats?

[Dubdabest]

The remote window open/close is a neat party trick.

Do you get electric seats with the leather option? Is it drivers only or passenger too? Do you still get the underseat storage box with leather seats?

Electric seats cost extra for driver & front passenger (not sure if you will lose the storage drawer)... but how many times do you really need to adjust your seat

I think the car can be set up for auto-close sunroof and windows when the rain sensor detects drops of water (need to confirm with those who own vag-com device).

[blutopless2]

whereabouts are you located and maybe someone can organise a closer inspection of their jetta. if your in melb would be happy to show you one.

am a bit biased here but i love my jetta... baby seats fit in easily in both the reverse and forward facing positions (first hand experience here).. plenty of room in the boot and inside.
fuel economy i get average of 8L/100k's but mine is chipped with 180kW running on 98 octane fuel.
good luck with the purchase.

[Splashalot]

Couple of questions:

- Whats the back seat room like? Will baby seats fit in easily?
- Since this is car is based on the Golf, does it make it a "small" sedan? How does its size compare with say a Mazda 3 sedan and Honda Accord Euro?
- whats the fuel consumption like and does it require 98 premium?

Can anyone comment on the car in general? Just need a bit more convincing

.

We have one of each - sort of I drive a GTI, my wife a Euro Accord.

Our first choice for the Mrs was a Jetta TFSI, but we couldn't buy one in manual, so VW lost a sale there.

Compared to the Euro Accord, IMO the VW is superior. In regards to your specific questions:
- more back seat room in the Golf/Jetta - a small but noticable difference;
- significantly better fuel economy and especially performance from the Golf;
- better refinelment in the VW. It's the small things that make the VW much nicer to drive - eg. the lovely smooth throttle response vs the Honda's jerky throttle, which makes peak-hour traffic a nighmare. Also, the Honda's paint is ridiculously soft - it's already covered in scratches and marks where as the Golf is unmarked (touch wood).

In my honest opinion there is no comparison in refinement and quality - I've found the Honda to be way over-rated in this regard.

SS

[dangerous_daveo]

Get the Jetta.

I looked at everything around that $40k price, and in that size sedan. So XR5 Mondeo, Accord, even had a quick squizz at Volvos etc.

And yeah, just get the Jetta.

BUT $40 WITH LEATHER and on roads!!! Man, I STRUGGLED hardcore round the end of the finacial year to get the RRP as driveaway, much less with leather.

I was getting 7.5s with petrol on my old run to work, which was partly stop start, and the rest sitting at about 60kmh but constant. Now in normal city traffic its just under 9 most weeks.