2015 Volkswagen Jetta TSI SE Review

Jack Baruth
by Jack Baruth
In the space of 48 hours last week, I saw a first-generation Jetta plying its rusty way down the middle lane of a freeway near Columbus, Ohio and I saw some spiky-haired hipster girl driving a fourth-gen Jolf on Interstate 75 north of Lexington, KY. It was a reminder of the Jetta’s uneasy position in the Volkswagen hierarchy. On one hand, it’s the uncoolest of the watercooled VWs, the American-market special loathed by the kind of Euro-fanatics who make up the vast majority of the company’s loyalists in the United States. They view the existence of the Jetta as an open expression of German contempt for Baconator-eating Americans, and the sharp divergence between Jetta and Golf that took place in the sixth generation hasn’t exactly poured oil on the waters.On the other hand… it’s been the best-selling VW in this country more often than it hasn’t. It’s the official VW of sorority girls, single moms, adventurous empty-nesters, and rental fleets. It’s the Volkswagen we deserve, because we sign on the dotted line for it more often than we do the Golf and the GTI and the Tiguan combined. As such, it deserves a full slate of TTAC reviews. Our Managing Editor, Mark Stevenson, had kind things to say about a %0Ahttp://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2015/06/2015-volkswagen-jetta-tdi-review-the-loneliest-number/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">%0Ahttp://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2015/06/2015-volkswagen-jetta-tdi-review-the-loneliest-number/">loaded-up Jetta TDI, and our good friend and itinerant contributor Blake Z. Rong was less complimentary about the GLI. Which leaves just the infamous “2.slow” 115-horsepower base model and the newly-remixed 1.8 TSI mid-ranger.I chose the latter for a cheerful little 514-mile jaunt the other night, from just south of Asheville, NC to just north of Columbus, OH. It rained for much of the drive. There was fog. I witnessed the aftermath of three massive accidents, including one semi-trailer that had skidded sideways across one of Interstate 40’s most treacherous segments then flopped over in the median. I had some nontrivial time pressure and I’d already been awake for fifteen hours when I got in the car to begin the trip. Lousy circumstances, to be certain. So how did the Jetta do?
Over the past forty years, VW has become infamous for its Brokeback Mountain-esque inability to quit its old platforms. The Beetle stuck around until 2003, the Mk1 Golf was produced until 2009, the second-generation Passat (Quantum to us) continued to dazzle Chinese buyers until, um, the year before last. No surprise, then, that VW’s decision to continue the Golf unto the seventh generation has yet to apply to the Jetta. Instead, there’s a mild facelift both inside and out for 2015. Perhaps the more important change happened in 2014, under the wide, flat hood: the 170 hp @ 6200 rpm/184 lb-ft@1500-4750 1.8 TSI that shines in the Golf TSI is now standard with the SE trim level. It’s $20,915 as I drove it with the six-speed auto, or $19,815 with a manual transmission.
That’s two or three grand cheaper than a Camry or Accord, and you’ll still get heated cloth seats, Bluetooth capability, sixteen-inch alloy wheels, push-button start, and cruise control for the money. What you will not get is the room and interior furnishings of even the most basic mid-size Japanese-brand car. The Jetta is adequately spacious front and back, and VW’s managed to do a decent job with the steering wheel and the center stack, but there’s no premium feel here. Everything’s bolted together pretty solidly, however, and if a few of the details (like the seat adjuster) feel deliberately cheapened there’s nothing that requires apologies at this price level.
As I headed north from Asheville, I figured that I needed to average just over 70 mph for the entire trip to avoid being late for work the next day. Unfortunately for me, that section of 40 runs through the mountains, and there was heavy rain mixed with sections of thick fog. Traffic was light, but it wasn’t breaking the double-nickel in most places. Immediately the 1.8 TSI earned my affection as it chugged up a succession of four-thousand-foot climbs, usually without requiring the transmission to select fourth. The steering in this car is supposedly electric power assist and it’s fairly light, but I found that incipient scrub against wet pavement was telegraphed pretty well, allowing me to run remarkably quickly through the long, damp curves. A few times I got a bit too enthusiastic and felt the front end slip, but this wasn’t too alarming. Simply reducing throttle caused the car to find its line again.Down the long hills, I used the indifferent Tiptronic selector to maintain speed, but once I realized how well the brakes were holding up I stopped being so deliberate about shifting. Plus, the Jetta has reasonable grade logic built in and it will avoid upshifting all the way if you’re on a nine-percent hill or similar.
In circumstances like these, the Jetta has some clear advantages over something like an Accord. It’s a bit smaller, a bit more manageable, it has 205-width tires that cut standing water pretty well, the turbo engine/six-speed combination feels more enthusiastic and flexible than the big-bore four/CVT setup you get with a Honda or Nissan. I don’t think I could have made the same kind of time in a Camry or even (shhhhhhh) something like a 535i. So as the road flattened out and I saw the signs for Knoxville, I was feeling good about the Hecho-In-Mexico compact VW.On a straight and dry freeway, however, the Jetta’s absolutely miserable stereo threatened to erase a lot of that good will. The single-zone climate control that seemed incapable of making subtle adjustments didn’t help either. And though there’s very little aero noise in this car, there’s no shortage of tire rumble, mechanical noise, and booming resonance at various rev ranges. All of a sudden, the extra money for something like an Accord EX seems like a solid return on investment. But the Jetta is no penalty box; it’s simply not quite up to the standards set by larger, more expensive competition.
Over the course of the next three hundred miles I came to respect this car despite the above-mentioned flaws. The ergonomics are correct. The controls respond with appropriate weighting and feedback. The cruise control offers adjustment in both one-and-five-mile-per-hour increments, and though it’s not quite as slick as the way Mercedes-Benz does it, at least the feature is present. The seats look like an experiment in using recycled garbage bags to wrap around low-density foam molds but they failed to aggravate the back injury I suffered at Laguna Seca a few weeks back. Compared to the much more expensive seats in the brand-new Porsche 911 I’d been driving earlier in the day, these cheapo buckets were positively delightful. This kind of stuff matters, you know. Like my old 1990 Fox, the Jetta has the basics right and that shines through despite the low-cost execution.
I would be remiss if I did not mention another particular excellence of this automobile: fuel economy. In the mountains, with full throttle the order of the day far more often than would occur in normal driving, the Jetta TSI reported 34.5 mpg. On the long run from Lexington to Columbus, it reported 38.9. These numbers were approximately confirmed when I refueled over the course of the trip. Given that I was running a flat 85 mph most of the time, that’s positively parsimonious. No Accord or Camry is going to turn in numbers like that unless it has the word “Hybrid” somewhere on the rear fascia. I’d be surprised if the Golf TSI could match it; there’s something to be said for the aerodynamics of three inches more wheelbase and quite a bit of trunk to smooth out the airflow in back. Keep in mind, too, that I never self-consciously drove for fuel economy. Operated in the same fashion, my Accord V6 six-speed typically returns about 25 mpg. Hell, my Honda VFR800 can’t return much better than 40 mpg at a steady 85 mph. So this is a big deal and if gasoline returns to four bucks a gallon outside California — you’ll see people taking it into account.Thanks in large part to the Jetta’s long range on a single tank, I got home a few minutes earlier than I’d planned, letting me catch a quick nap before work. I felt reasonably rested and pain-free despite the length and conditions of the trip. I couldn’t think of another twenty-grand vehicle that would have done any better in this assignment — but I also didn’t feel even a twitch of joy or delight regarding the 2015 Jetta SE TSI. I’d rather have had a new GTI, but there’s six grand of difference between a stick-shift TSI Jetta and the GTI. At that point, if you’re willing to spend real money, you might as well go the whole hog, import a new Phaeton in a container, and rivet on the VIN from some junkyard’s 2005 basketcase W12. Am I right? Of course I’m right.If we ever get a Mk7 Jetta, if there is even such a thing in the works, it will no doubt be a better car than this is. For today, however, the price is fair and the performance is more than adequate. So what if it’s the “American VW”. This is America. And for my American road trip, this Mexican VW was just fine.
Jack Baruth
Jack Baruth

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  • Ksmo Ksmo on Sep 15, 2015

    I can’t believe I missed this article. Jack, you are so on point with this review of the Jetta. I actually own this car. Very similar to your rental, except with a manual transmission, and sadly not white. There wasn’t a white SE manual to be had anywhere near me when I was ready to buy. But anyway, a 2015 Jetta SE with a 5 speed is sitting in my driveway as I type this, with about 6500 miles on the clock. The most basic Jetta you can get without losing the 1.8 engine is the one to buy, bang for the buck. Also, I notice some of the comments here refer to Hondas, etc. My wife has a ’14 Civic EX, so I can comment on that car as well and in comparison to the Jetta. Regarding the Jetta… It was the best compromise of price, fuel economy, interior space (especially rear seat room), and driving dynamics I could find in a new car for $20k. I actually bought mine for a fair bit less than that. The 1.8T engine is a total gem. I consistently average 35 mpg or better. One tank, I got 39, and that’s with a bit of city driving thrown in, albeit in cooler weather with the A/C off. I’ve never seen a tank where the average was less than 33.5 mpg, and one that low would be a rarity in the summer months with A/C cranked. By the way, speaking of air conditioning…it’s OK in the Jetta, but not stellar. American cars seem to feature decent air, and the imports never quite as good. This car has just enough power to make things interesting. It, like everything else, could use another 20 horses, no doubt. But the 170 horse engine is really an overachiever. I can’t believe more people haven’t discovered it. It’s a really good balance, what VW has done here…you have plenty of zip on tap if you need to pass or beat feet up an on-ramp, but keep your foot out of it and you can see 40 mpg on the interstate. I have owned several Volkswagen TDIs, but honestly the 1.8T is so good that I passed on diesel this time around. The mpg is good enough on the gasser that I wasn't willing to play the game of low sulfur fuel versus (seemingly) fragile high pressure fuel pump. The car could use a 6-speed. The 5 speed manual is geared really tall. You’re running something like 2k rpm at 70 mph in 5th. This helps fuel economy, I’m sure. But the trans as a whole feels pretty long-legged, and although I’m normally more of a 5 speed guy than a 6 speed guy, a 6th cog would nicely eliminate some of the rather large gaps in gearing as it sits. Not even remotely a deal breaker, though, and I’ll take a nice tall 4th and 5th gear over the too-short manual transmission in, for example, a Honda Fit. I’m getting too old to drive a buzz-fest on the highway. Seats. Thank you, thank you VW for finally giving me the option for cloth instead of vinyl. The SE cloth is excellent, very sturdy, and not mouse fur. Surprisingly supportive seats for an econocar. Real humans can fit in the back seat, as can kiddos in car seats. The car is very quiet for a cheap car. I almost bought a Mazda3, and in fact wanted to like that car better. But in the end, the Jetta prevailed. It was quicker, roomier, slightly cheaper, and felt more upscale, i.e. quiet and solid. Mine is squeak and rattle free, but with only 6500 miles on it, hard to tell if this will last. For now, it feels like a more expensive car than it is, on the road. The Jetta isn’t perfect by any means. The door plastics are quite cheap. The hard dash is unfortunate. I would have gladly paid a couple hundred bucks more for VW to put in some decent interior door panels and a rock hard dash. But really, it’s a nitpick. I don’t drive around rubbing the dashboard. The stereo sucks balls. I actually like the minimalist head unit sans touch screen, but the sound quality is poor. I’ve been tempted to swap the speakers out with something decent, but haven’t gotten around to it yet. If anything makes me eventually get rid of this car, it will be the lack of soul. Jack mentioned it in his write up somewhere. Basically, the car is exceedingly competent in many areas, but fails to really make you love it. Something is missing, I can’t put my finger on it. It’s a bit boring. I wish a GTI was $5k cheaper. Oh, and regarding Hondas and the like…my wife has a ’14 Civic EX. Allow me to compare this to the Jetta real quick: Her Civic feels like a complete tin can compared to my Jetta. Much higher road and wind and engine noise. The Civic’s suspension feels much harsher and one-dimensional than that in the Jetta, which strikes a much better “three little bears-just right” balance. The Jetta’s powertrain blows the Civic out of the water. The CVT in our Civic EX makes the car about as exciting as a loaf of Wonder Bread. Sloooow. You need to pass in the Honda? Mash your foot down and wait for the engine/CVT to painfully respond. If you drove the Jetta and Honda without knowing which car you were in, you’d guess that the VW cost 50% more money. In reality, the Civic was a hair more expensive. It has a sunroof and automatic where the Jetta does not. Where does Honda beat VW? Well, the electronics, mostly. The head unit and trip computer are better in the Honda. Bluetooth is easier to set up. Honda puts incredibly cheap speakers in the car, though, with zero bass…all treble. Horrible. But the interface is superior in the Civic, it has a standard rear backup camera, lane watch, etc. Oh, and supposedly the Civic will be the more reliable car. My wife isn’t a car person, and wanted more of an appliance, which is why I got her the Honda. She just wants to drive it for 150k and forget it. Civic is perfect for that. Credit to Honda for more reasonable service visits, too. An oil change on her car cost under $50. I took the Jetta in at 5k miles and even with a $15-off coupon I was out of there at $70. Not the end of the world, of course, but VW specifies some pricey oil found only on Mars for their vehicles.

  • Thx_zetec Thx_zetec on Jan 01, 2016

    ksmo - great review. I just bought a used 2014 Jetta SE. I have the 1.8T and manual tranny, mine is so basic even has steel wheels. I basically agree. I like the tall gearing but 5speed leaves some big gaps 'tween gears. It takes some time to get used to driving this compared to conventional 5speed/motor (2.0 liter Ford Zetec) but torque down low is amazing. I never understood complaints about hard plastic in car interiors, I mainly want something practical. That said the dash plastic seems out of place in modern car. For seats I have the plastic-leather, I wish they had cloth.

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