VW prices up Jetta

Newswheel staff :: 06 December 2005 :: Filed under Saloon, Volkswagen, Volkswagen Jetta, Europe & UK

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Golf with a boot and now a price tag

Cancel all your appointments for February 3rd, 2006. For on that day the new VW Jetta goes on sale in the UK with a starting price of £14,635. Exciting stuff.

For reasons unknown to Newswheel, VW’s flighty PR department have decided that the “Bora” moniker isn’t working for the booted Golf. So, it’s back to good old “Jetta” for all markets, including Europe and the US. In the UK, petrol engine options include 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre naturally aspirated FSI lumps, with the 198bhp 2.0-litre turbo engine from the Golf GTI rounding out the range. Diesel-wise, it’s a choice of 103bhp from 1.9-litres or 138bhp from 2.0-litres.

But while VW may be rationalising its model nomenclature, equality on the engine front has yet to arrive. Over in the US, VW offers a quirky but characterful 2.5-litre in-line five engine option. With 150 bhp on offer, it’s no ball of fire. But thanks to being based on the Lamborghini Gallardo’s engine (it’s essentially the Gallardo’s 5.0-litre V10 sliced in half) it certainly boasts bragging rights. Not to mention a more satisfying engine note than the dreary four-cylinder Euro models. And all for a fraction of the price we pay in Blighty.

Still, at least all Jettas will come well equipped with alloys, air con and all-round leccy windows. Prices top out at £19,240 for the DSG twin-clutch gearbox equipped 2.0 TDi.