Last year at the Toronto Auto Show I saw the new VW Jetta for the first time. I was awestruck by two things: how inexpensive it was compared to its predecessor and how third world it seemed, in terms of some of the internal components, like door hinges (which were made from pieces of extruded aluminum or something), underhood wiring harnesses which were a throwback to 1968, and, wait for it -- a conventional distributor (when most gasoline engines feature coil-on-plug or 'direct-fire' ignition systems). Those were sure signs that VW had either gotten seriously creative about cutting costs where people wouldn't notice or, that it had entered into a Faustian bargain that would come back to bite VW in the end.
So it goes without saying that my curiosity was piqued when I picked up the automotive section of my local Saturday newspaper and caught an article by one of my favourite automotive writers, Jil McIntosh, that quipped about the new Jetta's doors that "don't open smoothly", about hinges that "squeak", and about an interior that is "a sea of hard grey plastic". Goodness. This sounded like the 1983 K-car!
The new Jetta had been out for a year or so and, unlike the old Jetta, which was a mildly popular car, the new one seems to be everywhere. And why not? For at least $5000 less in Canada, a buyer gets a bigger car that, from afar, looks like an Audi or something. And it's still a VW, which is a respected brand (and maker of Audis).
So it goes without saying that my curiosity was piqued when I picked up the automotive section of my local Saturday newspaper and caught an article by one of my favourite automotive writers, Jil McIntosh, that quipped about the new Jetta's doors that "don't open smoothly", about hinges that "squeak", and about an interior that is "a sea of hard grey plastic". Goodness. This sounded like the 1983 K-car!
The new Jetta had been out for a year or so and, unlike the old Jetta, which was a mildly popular car, the new one seems to be everywhere. And why not? For at least $5000 less in Canada, a buyer gets a bigger car that, from afar, looks like an Audi or something. And it's still a VW, which is a respected brand (and maker of Audis).
The Jil McIntosh review inspired me to get a quick review of it from Consumers Reports, another one of my favourite publications. I immediately learned that, in its segment, "small cars with automatic transmissions", the highest rated car scored 80% and the lowest rated car scored 60%. The Jetta was that lowest rated car. While the Jetta was rated highly for trunk space, rear seat room and crash test results, it rated poorly for "agility, cornering grip, coarse engine, braking, fit and finish, (and) so-so fuel economy". And that was for the 2.5 L 5-cylinder gasoline engine model, which is a step up from the base model in Canada, a cheaper 2.0 L 4-cylinder gasoline engine-equipped model.
Okay. So new car performance isn't all that great for the low-cost, high-volume version of the Jetta. But here's my real concern: What's long-term quality and durability going to be like? Did VW cut corners with the Jetta for North America, in its drive for sales supremacy in the global automotive market? Did it take cost out of places where it will show up in less than 36 months' time, before most leases and VW's warranty will have expired, and well before most people have paid for their new car investment? If the Jetta starts to fall apart prematurely, could it turn out to be the modern day Lada, a car that will go down in infamy here in Canada for its propensity to die well before its fifth birthday?
If the new Jetta indeed becomes the new 'Lada', it could cost VW a lot more than warranty claims. It could cost VW its reputation in North America. And that would be a tragedy.
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