Jetta=terrible value
 

Granted I didn't drive it, but spent 5 days in a friend's Jetta (non-turbo) on vacation.

1. Very cheap feeling cloth material on seats
2. Kinda uncomfortable seats
3. Boring interior
4. Back seat uncomfortably small
5. Dull, contrived shape. Looks like a cheapo Passat.
6. No fogs or spoiler like my Protege, not that I think it would make it look better
7. Excepting the higher VW's with more of an Audi touch, the fit and finish is so lackluster they don't deserve to be called German cars, more like Korean.


Good:
1. Better sounding stock stereo (but that's easy to fix)

On top of that he claimed he got a deal on it, paying $21,000!
I paid 16,200 for a fully loaded Protege ES (O% finance) that's just as fast, with all the goodies, and tons better handling from everything I read.

Sure their TV spots are brilliant (I'm in advertising) and Mazda's really suck.... but how does VW get away with that kind of robbery? Guess you pay for that "cool Volkswagen guy" factor, but I'd almost pay not to be that Maxim-magazine trendy "Volkswagen guy"

the jetta is made in mexico, that may explain some of the fit/finish issues.

Amen to everything adressed! It's a cheap piece of shit IMO...

Cheap in quality, not price that is...

but you can't do anything about it...bwahaha! ;)

Yeah, honestly, Volkswagens of any kind of are overpriced junk. Why pay more for "German engineering" (read, unreliable, really hard to work on) ? :rolleyes: I do have to give them thumbs up for great safety ratings though!

Yeah, they have lost their advantage IMO. Put a newer one up on a rack once, wow everything was so funky compared to my mazda...hehe :) I didn't mean to say VWs are terrible...they're not... just overpriced. The reliability isn't really that great either (in general).

Re: Jetta=terrible value
 

I agree that a Jetta has poor value, but the comments you are making are not value oriented; they are opinion. I personally think the interior is clean and understated (have you seen the leather and indiglo!). :D

However I personally choose the P5 over a Jetta because of the "out-of-the-box" slot car drive and the superior dealership treatment. I have experienced some real shitty service from VW and their track record for quality control is quite poor.

The Jetta 2 point slow is now in need of a serious update as far as engine upgrade. I believe VWA is addressing that in the next gen for 2005.

The Jetta has an almost useless back seat and the suspension is way too soft.

And financing? Mazda is all over that! When I was looking last year at Vee Dub, the best I could do was 6.9% over 4 years! (lease to own)'

For those reasons, I choose my P5 and haven't regretted it! :cool:

dude you guys need to chill out. they dont bash us at vwvortex or any of their forums. in my opinoin, jettas are so much better cars and if your friend payed 21000 he got bent over. ive never seen a protege that looked better than a jetta, so you can't say shit about the styling. even stock, the jetta is so much hotter and with 180hp out of the box, it can rape just about any protege on here for about the same price. ill be getting a 1.8T jetta for 17000 as soon as i can get rid of my pro.

I couldn't agree more...

Whoa dude, who was bashing you at vwvortex? I've never driven a new Jetta, or ridden in one, but they can't compare to the styling of the protege. I dunno, just my opinion, but I think they Jetta's look very bland. No sharp lines, just a smoothed-generic shell. I like the 1.8Ts a lot though, in terms of engines.

Jetta may be overpriced for those people who don't know how to haggle.

My best friend got a 2.slow Jetta with the nice stereo, 5spd, 16inch rims, for 18K.

I just got my Fiance a 2003 VW Passat GLS 1.8T, Tiptronic, Leather, Heated Seats, Monsoon Stereo, Homelink, ASR, Moosroof for less than 25K. It is not as sporty as a Mazda 6, but the Passat has the same underbody, transmission, and engine as the A4 and has the best crash ratings in its class. All it takes is a chip and exhaust and they pull over 200 whp. And it doesn't have the crappy paint and cheap windshield like my protege. The 1.8T Tiptronic Passat still gets 33 MPG on the highway too. Your not going to get that in you Mazda 6.

The Passat serves a different Niche, and guess what.....You not it!

That's good, because no one was talkign about the Passat :) I hear they are very nice, though. However if I were interested in that type of car, I'd go for the audis. They are beautiful, and share much of the components with VW. Best of both worlds :D

I was just defending when CHASTAN said VW of anykind are just overpriced junk.

Your right he just said VWs in general not just the Passat, Jetta, Golf, or NB.

Just adding to the discussion and if ya don't like it tough.;)

Hey, all right!! Comparing a Protege to a 1.8T Jetta for power - that's fair! It's not like one costs more than the other......

Enjoy your Mexican Jettas. Really.

For the record, no Jetta driver has ever waved "thank you" after I slowed down to let them merge, so I don't let them in anymore. This has to do with the holier-than-thou, wannabe-yuppie-dickweed Jetta culture (North Jersey). Same goes for Saab people.

As crappy as Chevys are, the Chevy drivers always give the wave. Makes you think.

So you would pay twice as much for the same Junk VW because it says Audi on it?

i duno why you guys are bringing up price. i got quoted almost the exact price for a 2003 1.8T jetta as i paid for my 2002 loaded ES protege. i really dont see how you guys think proteges look better. i mean i honestly think that i have one of the better looking proteges out there, not to sound like a dick...but even next to a stock jetta i think my car looks like shit. i guess all this import tuning just annoys me now because it seems to be associated with hondas and rice and such. German cars seem to be constructed so much better, and are so much more tunable with a ready supply of parts. id probably consider keeping the protege if it wasn't the slowest car we own and a selection of parts would really help its speed, but nobody makes anything for it.