After owning a 1985 Honda Prelude with 155,000 miles on it, I decided to buy my first new car. My sister raved about her Passat and I had a chance to drive it a few years ago, so I was predisposed to Volkswagens to begin with. I first test-drove a Jetta GLS, I think, automatic transmission with Tiptronic option. I didn't like the lag time for the acceleration and couldn't feel the road as well as with my Honda, which had a manual transmission. Then I tried the Jetta 1.8 Turbo (manual) and fell in love. Quick,zippy acceleration with no lag time, easy gear shifts, great handling in the city (avoiding crazy cabs), as well as on the highway and country roads. I didn't get the sport package because the 16 or 17" tires wouldn't have handled potholes (bit of problem in the city) as well the regular 15" ones.
I like the luxurious leather interior with wonderful headroom, heated seats, and separate adjustment for the lumbar support. The only complaint with the seats is the recline control - instead of a lever, you have to turn a large round thing on the side of the seat to adjust it and it's pretty unwieldy. Love the the blue light display on the dashboard controls -have gotten many compliments for it. Very glad I didn't spring for a BMW325 for at least $10,000 more.
The trunk room is great, too, and I like the split rear seats that allow you to carry skis in the car rather than having to get a roof rack.
The other minor complaint I have is with the antenna ,which you have to manually unscrew if you want to remove it, rather than lowering it electronically.
Now that gas prices are soaring, I'm somewhat sorry I didn't wait for the Civic Hybrid, but I still get about 31 mpg on the highway, and about 27 in the city, not too bad. And the Jetta (at least the manual version) has such great acceleration, a big plus compared to the hybrids I read about.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 23,000.00
Condition: New Model Year: 2004 Model and Options: Jetta 1.8 Turbo (Manual)
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.