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AUTO REVIEW

The seventh generation Volkswagen Jetta, introduced in the U.S. Jetta GLI pricing starts at a budget friendly $26,850, and, in an-
last year, is VW’s latest attempt to demonstrate with product that other effort to capture American hearts and wallets, all Volkswa-
the company takes our market seriously. Together with the new gens now come with a 6yr/72,000 mile warranty.
Atlas and redone (and larger) Tiguan SUVs, the new Jetta is, pre- An important aside: the great Ferdinand Piech died in August,
sumably, intended to make us forget all about the Eos and Routan. four years after stepping down as the singular leader of Volkswa-
As has always been the case, the GLI is to the Jetta as the GTI gen AG. And, make no mistake about it, for 22 years Piech led
is to the Golf. And the GLI and GTI are very similar under the Volkswagen much as Steve Jobs led Apple—he led it completely.
skin—they share a platform and drivetrain, after all—but with dif- When Dr Piech became VW’s CEO in 1993, the company was
ferent body styles and interiors. losing money despite selling 3 million vehicles per year, and they
Size-and-price-wise, the GLI competes with the Honda Civic had a lousy reputation for quality. In 2018, VW sold over 10 mil-
and Toyota Corolla, but it’s more engaging to drive (unless you lion cars, was solidly profitable, and had no more quality concerns
chose the Civic R, which is tons of fun but much pricier). Zippy than any of its competitors, including Toyota.
around town and eager to hit your favorite curvy road, the GLI Like Steve Jobs, Ferdinand Piech was difficult. He was im-
will please any enthusiast under most circumstances; it makes mensely intelligent, demanding to work for, and almost impossible
going to work or the grocery store an event rather than drudgery. to please. Yet engineers who worked under him at VW say they
On the other hand, long trips on the interstate are not the GLI’s did their best work while working on challenging projects for Piech.
forte thanks to a droning engine that’s cool during short drives The Audi A2, VW XL1, and Bugatti Veyron are good examples
but somewhat annoying on the open road. of “impossible” cars that VW produced at Piech’s insistence.
For the record, the GLI’s powerplant is a 2.0 liter turbocharged I’m not going to list the other legendary street and racing cars
228HP four-cylinder engine mated with your choice of either a that happened while Dr Piech was the boss, since they’re numer-
six-speed manual transmission or a seven-speed dual clutch auto- ous and have been outlined elsewhere, but I am going to say that
matic. That translates to a 0-60MPH time of 5.6 seconds with the he was the most influential person in the automotive world over
automatic, which is quite good for a sporty compact sedan (the the past 50 years, and he made Volkswagen AG into the jugger-
manual is slightly slower but certainly more involving and fun). naut that it is today, almost single handedly. And he did it with
Fuel economy is 25MPG City/32MPG Highway. otherworldly vision, determination, and taste, just like Steve Jobs.
The interior is very Volkswagen, which is to say pretty spartan RIP Ferdinand Piech.
but easy to sit in and use. There’s decent space in either the front
or rear seats, and the cabin feels more special than a standard Jetta. Anyway, the Jetta GLI, which Dr Piech would doubt-
Nevertheless, the materials are not luxurious and don’t even meas- less see as a good but not great car, is fun to drive and a
ure up to those in the GTI. Still, they’re fine for the price point happy alternative to a boring Corolla or Civic.
and competitive with the aforementioned Civic and Corolla.
The tech is likewise not fancy, but it works well and is very in- Nobody really wants a low-to-mid-priced compact sedan, but
tuitive. A larger screen with more bells and whistles can be had if your circumstances require that, getting a GLI will at least
for more money, but I don’t really see the point. The standard in- provide some fun behind the wheel. And it’s more proof that
fotainment system is fine. Oh, the steering wheel, borrowed from Volkswagen is finally taking the U.S. market seriously.
the GTI, is fantastic.
The Jetta GLI is about a foot and a half longer than the GTI, To get your best deal on a new VW, call Phil Hornbeak at
and it looks substantially different too, so it makes sense that few BCMS at 210-301-4367.
people will cross shop these mechanically identical vehicles. They
have completely different personalities, which leads me to con- Stephen Schutz, MD, is a board-certified gastroenterolo-
clude that parents of young children will gravitate more to the gist who lived in San Antonio in the 1990s when he was
GLI, while single “dude bros” and empty nesters would likely pre- stationed here in the U.S. Air Force. He has been writing
fer the hatchback GTI. auto reviews for San Antonio Medicine since 1995.

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