Test Drive: 2010 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Highline

By Kevin Harrison

There are a lot of things about North Americans that I really don’t get. For instance why do we like Walmart enough that it has to be open 24 hours? Have you ever bolted up at 4 am wanting to buy a new set of silverware?

Likewise, why are we so opposed to diesels? For some reason we’ve asphyxiated them with a bad reputation, and as a result, North Americans have not responded well to them.

This attitude is in complete contrast to Europe where selling a car without a diesel option is like ordering a hamburger at a Chinese restaurant – it just doesn’t make sense.

VW has been trying for decades to make diesels more mainstream in our market but they hit a bit of a snag in 2007 when stricter emission standards forced them to axe their diesel and revamp it. During that period TDI’s were missing in action in our market.

But they’re back and VW promises them to be even more powerful yet more efficient than before.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bargain: 2011 Volkwagen Jetta to Start at $15,875

Whoa! I was not expecting this.

Volkswagen Canada announced today that the 2011 Jetta will have a starting price of $15,875 in our market. That’s over six grand less than a base 2010 Jetta!

Thing is, though, you get pretty much the old Jetta set up. That means that 2.Slow litre four cylinder engine making 115 horsepower. You also get the torsion beam suspension which, lets face it, is about as refined as Kid Rock. Also a 5-speed manual is the order of the day instead of a six speed. Despite all this, this will probably work well for Volkswagen, specifically in the Canadian market. VW has been selling the Jetta City in our market for a while now, which is essentially a facelifted previous generation Jetta. And it’s selling well here.

But if all that sounds too underwhelming for you, don’t worry, there will be more powerful Jettas available too. I’m even hearing a revival of the GLI is planned as well. The TDI Highline will be the most expensive Jetta at around $26,000 until the GLI arrives.

[Volkswagen Canada]

Volkswagen Springs A Leak: 2011 Jetta Revealed

The official reveal of the 2011 Jetta wasn’t supposed to happen until tomorrow, but Auto Express apparently got their hands on some photos and decided the appropriate thing to do would be to leak them.

We saw spy shots a while back which pretty much revealed the entire design, but it’s nice to have official photos to look at.

There are no details for North American variants, but in Europe they will reportedly get a four engine choices: three gas engines ranging from 104 horsepower to 200 horsepower and a diesel. Speaking of the TDI, us Canucks will supposedly be getting the TDI version before the Amurricans do. Sweet deal.

The styling overall looks great, typical VW with non-flashy yet eye catching styling. The rear end styling is very Audi A4 and that’s definetly no a bad thing. I have a feeling VW is going to be setting the benchmark yet again in this segment for performance and refinement.

Two more pics after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Spied: 2011 Volkswagen Jetta

Don’t let that strange looking badge on the trunk hood fool you, it is very likely that this is the new Jetta caught tooling around in Michigan. Since the car is wearing nearly no camouflage, the badge is likely there to throw people off.

The dimensions of the car are a bit hard to tell, but as is the trend, it will likely be bigger than the current generation Jetta. Though the current gen Jetta is pretty big as it is (some say too big).

Front pic added after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »