2024 Volkswagen Jetta: Fun and economical, but a slow start

2024 Volkswagen Jetta 1.5 T SEL vs. 2024 Nissan Sentra SR: Small sedan scrum.

This week: Volkswagen Jetta.

Price: The top-of-the-line SEL trim starts at $28,825

Conventional wisdom: Car and Driver blesses the “spacious interior, smooth and quiet ride,” and that It’s “remarkably fuel efficient,” but dislikes the “Spartan interior furnishings, anodyne exterior styling,” and that “sportiness is not its jam.”

Marketer’s pitch: “Ride the jet stream.”

Reality: Fun and frugal, but not in a big hurry. Except sometimes. But not really.

What’s new: The small sedan carries on with few changes from earlier model years.

Competition: In addition to the Sentra, there’s the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic, Kia Forte, Hyundai Elantra, Subaru Impreza, and Toyota Corolla.

Up to speed: The Jetta’s pullout performance can be a crapshoot. It seemed really touchy and ready to peel out when I first got into it, but then mostly settled down over time, so it probably just took some getting used to.

Unfortunately, when I wanted the performance, it just wasn’t there. While pulling out onto some highways, the vehicle often felt like it was ready to shut down entirely before the revs caught and we proceeded. Passing could often be equally hit-or-miss.

Sport mode was the most responsive, of course, more than Normal or Eco.

The 1.5-liter engine creates 158 horsepower, and gets the vehicle to 60 mph in 7.1 seconds, according to a Car and Driver test of a 2022 model. Getting full acceleration means keeping careful control of the accelerator, because the front-wheel drive and light weight — and perhaps the tires — add up to a jumpy, out-of-control feeling.

Shifty: The 8-speed shiftable automatic follows the typical Volkswagen pattern, with a toggle between Drive and Sport modes and shiftability to the right.

Shifting your own gears seems to be to only way to get consistent performance from the Jetta, a problem I’ve noted in many Volkswagens over the years.

A six-speed manual transmission is still available on some models, and I’ve always found Volkswagen sticks to be fun.

On the road: I blamed the tires for some of the pullout peel-out because I could also feel their lack of grip in the rain. When the weather turns bad, you want to keep the Jetta moving slowly.

On clear days, though, the little sedan can be quite fun on the curves. I had a ball roaring through twisty country roads, watching Mrs. Passenger Seat gripping the grab handle.

Driver’s Seat: The Vienna leather seats provide nice comfort and support for the price point, and they’re cooled in the SEL model.

The Jetta dashboard straddles the line between minimalist and Spartan, featuring the standard Volkswagen black plastic with few enhancements. The digital speedometer tucked inside the tachometer makes things look even more bare bones than before.

Friends and stuff: Though Volkswagen once marketed the Jetta rear seat as super spacious, either we’ve gotten bigger or it’s gotten smaller. The legroom, foot room, and headroom are adequate, but nothing to write home about. The leather seats back here are nice as well, although a little tough on the center passenger.

All four corners are heated in the SEL model, a nice touch.

Cargo space is 14.1 cubic feet.

Play some tunes: The Beats audio system provides playback that’s about a B+ or A-. It sounds good, but only on some songs; others are just meh.

Operation of the system is mainly through the smallish 8-inch touchscreen, although dials are available for volume and tuning, and buttons for selecting various functions.

Keeping warm and cool: Dials control temperature and air speed, but the location of the air is handled by some easy-to-see buttons. (Boo! Volkswagen was one of the last with the simple three-dial setup.) The vents feature too many angles and can be tough to direct.

Night shift: The headlights are pitiful and almost require high beams everywhere. The map light is a little too bright as well, so that’s something you’ll want to keep off, even for short times.

Fuel economy: The Jetta does sip fuel, though. It averaged almost 38 mpg in 800 miles — about 150 of which were mine. This is impressive among today’s non-hybrid cars.

Where it’s built: Puebla, Mexico.

How it’s built: Consumer Reports predicts the Jetta reliability to be a 25 out of 100.

Next week: 2024 Nissan Sentra SR.