Volkswagen Canada will reposition the Jetta below the Golf and significantly lower its price in order to make its move to the top of the compact sedan segment.
The starting cost of the base 2011 Jetta will be $15,875 when it arrives in Canadian VW showrooms at the end of September.
Noticeably larger than the current model, there will be a choice of three engines and a raft of trim levels.
While the Golf and Jetta retain coil springs over MacPherson struts and stabilizer bars at the front, the Jetta loses the independent rear suspension for a torsion bar at the rear. This is a lot cheaper and one of the areas which allowed VW to lower the overall cost of the Jetta.
All 2011 Jettas, including the base model, come standard with electronic stability control with traction control, brake assist and antilock brakes. The 2.0-litre and 2.5-litre make do with drum brakes while the high trim gasoline versions and both diesel models are equipped with rear discs.
I mentioned there are several ways to order a Jetta, so the best bet is to go to volkswagen.ca for detailed pricing.
VW is going up against some pretty big players in the compact arena like Honda Civic, Mazda3, Toyota Corolla and Hyundai Elantra just to name few. But the Jetta has name recognition and it is now the lowest priced German sedan on the Canadian market.
At a glance
- Compact four-door sedan.
- Front-engine, front-wheel-drive.
- 2.0-litre, inline four-cylinder (115 hp, 125 lb/ft); 2.5-litre, inline five-cylinder (170 hp, 177 lb/ft); 2.0-litre inline four-cylinder direct injection turbo diesel (140 hp, 236 lb/ft).
- 2.0-litre, manual, 9.1/6.0L/100 km city/highway, automatic, 9.6/6.9L/100 km; 2.5-litre, manual, 9.9/6.2L/100 km city/highway, automatic, 9.1/6.5L/100 km; 2.0-litre diesel, manual or automatic, 6.7/4.6L/100 km city/highway.
- 2.0-litre, $15,875-$19,075; 2.5-litre, $21,175-$23,980; 2.0-litre diesel, $23,875-$26,655.
