The car at just a few days old
I told you before that I liked how special my 1997 Jetta was, and that–despite its rampant issues–it had won me over to the Volkswagen side. But I didn’t start out intending to replace it with another Volkswagen in the summer of 2014.
You see, when the Cruze came out for 2011, the year I graduated from high school, I was probably one of its biggest fans. A solid, desirable, world-class compact car, from General Motors? What a surprise. I also liked the mature, straightforward design language, at a time when most other compact sedans looked like tadpoles. So, when I had to go out of town, instead of risking it with the 1997 Jetta, I would rent cars…and my chosen mode of conveyance was always the Cruze, if I could snag one. I even got sort of picky at the rental counter? “Do you think you can show me where the compact cars are, and I can pick the Cruze I like?” I tried to snag at least a 2LT, because those had leather and the larger 5-spoke alloy wheels at the time.
The 2LT spec of the first-generation Chevrolet Cruze often came with these natty wheels, along with leather upholstery.
And so the 2014 Cruze was the top contender in my mind for a new car. However–those plans quickly changed. I called and emailed around to some Chevrolet dealers in Oklahoma and Texas, and they didn’t seem too willing to deal with someone my age. One of them patronizingly told me that the best I’d be able to do was a Spark.
Wow.
And then I started looking at other cars, and Volkswagen crossed my mind, again. Well, let’s just see what they have. I liked the 2012-and-later “NMS” Passat, for many of the same reasons as the Cruze. It looked a lot more crisp and grown-up than most of the other things in its class. A quick search on one of the major car sites led me to AutoNation Volkswagen Park Cities, who had an excellent price on a 2014 Passat SE. And it was another car I’d already driven and knew I liked. This trim, I knew, would get me leatherette, a sunroof, the non-navigation touchscreen system, Bluetooth, and a nice set of alloy wheels. When I emailed them, I was immediately put in touch with a salesperson named Shannon. Shannon was extremely helpful, was able to answer all of my questions, and then (most importantly), she put me onto Volkswagen’s College Grad program.
New for 2012, the early “NMS” Passat (developed specifically for the US and China) still looked crisp and contemporary when I was shopping in 2014
As I was just barely an adult, I had thin credit at the time. I knew I could put enough money down to make most finance institutions say yes, but Volkswagen Credit would provide me a competitive interest rate on any of their cars with no money down provided I (a) had no derogatory credit history, (b) was graduating within the next six months or had graduated within the previous year, and (c) had a full-time job or an offer letter.
“I’ll take it,” I said, once I sent in all of the documents and verified that I did indeed qualify. But then, as I maneuvered through Volkswagen’s US site, looking for the exact color combination I wanted, something else caught my eye, something compact, elegant, and wagon-y. This is a car that I must have known in the back of my mind existed, but had never paid an ounce of attention toward.
I did my research this time, discovering the following: The Mk.5 Jetta debuted in the U.S. in 2005; however the wagon (which was interchangeably called Jetta or Golf, depending on the region) didn’t reach our shores until 2009. In 2010, both the sedan and wagon were facelifted to more-closely resemble the new Mk.6 Golf. The 2010 Jetta SportWagen was facelifted with basically the same front clip and dashboard as the Mk.6 Golf. In 2011, the Jetta sedan was completely redesigned, and that’s where the wagon and sedan diverged. In the intervening years, the Jetta SportWagen had gotten some trim and options shakeups, but by 2014, you could get two engines: a gasoline 2.5-liter inline 5-cylinder, or a diesel 2.0-liter turbocharged “TDI” I-4. The latter was the earliest generation of Volkswagen’s common-rail “Clean Diesels” that were part of the Dieselgate debacle, although no one outside the company knew this in 2014, the Jetta SportWagen’s swan-song model year. And 90 percent of wagon buyers went for the diesel.
On the left: the one-year-only 2009 Jetta SportWagen. On the right: the revised 2010-2014 version of the same.
I called Shannon back and asked her about the Jetta SportWagen. They had two identical new ones. One was white with a black interior, and the other was black with a beige interior. Both were TDI models. “Definitely the black one,” I said. The car in question was the second-highest trim, unceremoniously called trim called “TDI with Sunroof.” That got you the touchscreen infotainment system, satellite radio, a 6-way adjustable power seat, leatherette upholstery, the aforementioned panoramic sunroof, Bluetooth, a reversing camera, and snazzy 17-inch 10-spoke wheels. The MSRP was $30K, but the dealership was asking $26,900 out-the-door, which I found to be a fair price, and I thought the car fit me to a tee.
So, we arranged for me to pick it up in person. And that Saturday, I set off from Oklahoma City to Dallas, a three-hour drive. My one-way rental from Hertz was a 2014 Chrysler 200, hardly what I would have chosen, but I was surprised at how much power it had. Only when I got to the Volkswagen dealership and popped the hood did I discover that my rental had the 3.6-liter Pentastar V6, and not the four-cylinder.
Shannon handled everything spectacularly, and made my first new-car purchase as seamless as could be. So did the rest of the staff. This was a dealership in a ritzy area, otherwise surrounded by Bentley, Maserati, and Ferrari stores. But they didn’t treat me like a stupid college student, the way the Chevrolet dealerships did. The Jetta SportWagen had a couple of extras that weren’t mentioned: a cargo-management system that consisted of velcro blocks, and rubber floor mats. Awesome. I test-drove the car for due diligence, and found it to my liking, so we moved into the F&I office. Volkswagen Credit’s rate turned out to be something in the 3-percent range, which was about as well as I could have done. The F&I manager asked me how many miles I planned to drive the car, and I told him about the standard amount. “Oof,” he said. “You’ll run through the factory bumper-to-bumper warranty within three years.”
Shannon took this picture of me before I set off for home. I look a lot better with a beard and no glasses.
“Well…yeah,” I replied, unmoved.
“What If I could get you a warranty for the same payment, and same overall price?”
“How will you do that?”
“We’ll buy your interest rate down to 1.99 percent if you get the warranty.”
I then asked to see the warranty paperwork. As a general rule, I don’t buy extended warranties on things, because I expect them to last. And I’d read great longevity reviews about the Jetta SportWagen TDI. But…I found an all-important line at the bottom of the warranty contract: “Cancel within 10 days for a full refund.” So I agreed. I would later cancel the warranty and keep the lower interest rate. Score.
I managed to find a photo of the actual window sticker. I wound up paying a fair amount less than that sticker price
Within an hour and a half of arriving, I was back on the road to OKC in my new Jetta SportWagen. I immediately put the Bluetooth streaming to good use, calling up my favorite podcasts. I was told that AutoNation had a 150-mile money-back guarantee, but I would exceed that just getting home. Hopefully, I didn’t develop a case of buyer’s remorse. But I didn’t think I would…especially since the diesel’s trip computer was reporting over 40 miles per gallon along I-35.
Upon pulling into the driveway at home, I ran into my first spot of trouble. The panoramic sunroof would not close. It would almost close, and then would open again, like it was obstructed. The local dealership was, of course, closed, which meant I’d have to solve this one myself. I wound up rectifying it by holding down the sunroof deflector until the roof closed…which later turned out to be the issue. Apparently, the deflector had been bent during delivery and my local dealership wound up replacing it under warranty.
Volkswagen’s cockpits are excellently laid out
When my mother, with whom I no longer lived, saw my Jetta SportWagen, the first thing she said was, “Isn’t that an old man’s car?”
Thanks, Mom.
The car itself provided reliable and extremely economical transportation to and from school; I averaged somewhere around 36 miles per gallon. It was drama-free, unlike the green Volkswagen. But, more importantly, it made me feel like something, to have a new car I could be truly proud of. Not only that, I found myself subject to that phenomenon where you see more examples of a car once you’ve bought it. I saw plenty of Jetta SportWagens around town, and indeed most of them were the TDI models. I saw even more of them when we took it to Denver for a family funeral.
Shortly after buying the Jetta SportWagen, I wound up pivoting away from the remote web agency and to–of all things–a job developing internal web applications for a local car dealership. Well, perhaps it wasn’t so local. It was toward the south side of Norman (where I’d purchased the green Volkswagen). That made it about a 40-hour commitment each way, and put a lot of miles on my new car.
By January of the following year, just six months after purchase, I had put a significant number of miles on the Jetta SportWagen.
Mom asked me another interesting question. The neighbor kid next door had gotten a lightly-used 2011 Volkswagen Jetta sedan as a 16th-birthday present about the same time that I got my wagon. Mom asked if mine was newer. My response: “Yes and no.” The neighbor’s Jetta was physically older, but the car was a newer design, incorporating Volkswagen’s contemporary, squared-off son-of-Audi design language. Mine was clearly from an older era.
Funnily enough, it was that exact thing that caused me to trade in my Jetta SportWagen after just nine short months of ownership, and with all of 19,000 miles on the clock.
That was an abrupt end! I thought you liked the car? A wagon with a panoramic sunroof is right up my alley. I once had a car for only 9 months too – and a wagon, no less – but I never really clicked with it even though it was a great car. Did you just not click with the Jetta?
PS you have no idea how much I want Bluetooth audio streaming in my next car.
It’s an easy update. You can swap in an aftermarket head unit that will work with steering wheel controls as well. And you can swap back again if you want to go original.
I believe there are FM transmitters that use a bluetooth input as well if you want the simple solution.
FM transmitters have probably improved over the years. A few years ago, the sound quality just wasn’t there. I vaguely recall being in a car recently that had one and it sounded ok.
I’m anti-aftermarket head unit because they often look ugly and don’t integrate well. If I could put in the FG X Falcon’s myFordTouch screen/system into my FG I would but apparently it won’t work.
I looked at these too. The first year of the Jetta Sportwagen with the Mk5 styling IIRC was the only year the 2.0T four cylinder engine from the GTI/GLI was offered making it my favorite of these. After that the only gasoline engine was the 2.5L five.
Anyone want to venture as to why the diesel take rate was so high?
A compact, European wagon was already a pretty left-field option and a turbodiesel appeared to its buyers to be a smart option? Plus Volkswagen’s reputation for good diesels? Those are my guesses.
It took VW a while to catch up on common rail diesel tech, I have a 03 Citroen with a first gen PSA common rail diesel SOHC 8 valve first used in 99 from memory, great fuel economy good performance excellent comfort and handling, galvanised body so it wont rust and good parts back up if it goes wrong.
The mighty 110 hp 2.0 HDI. A colleague has it in a Xsara Coupe VTR and the thing hauls. Guy is a Citroën nut, has both the Xsara and a 2011 C5, also 2.0 HDI, that is supremely comfortable
I had a 98 1905 TD Xsara, gave it to my daughter, it still runs well.
Like William Stopford’s note (above), I was settling in for a long term owner’s story bout this beautiful wagon and then – poof – gone in nine months.
As the cartoon caption goes: “well that escalated quickly”.
In my opinion, VW designs beautiful cars, inside and out. If I had had a better experience with my Passat back in 2001, I’d probably feel better about VWs – up until the dieselgate saga. But perhaps eqully important to car buyers in general, is how well one is treated by dealership personnel.
Let’s face it, even if a car company makes fine products, if the sales people treat customers badly, talk down to them, act in an arrogant fashion, or dismiss them because they are young, then these potential buyers can always go somewhere else.
Otherwise we would be reading a COAL about a 2LT Cruze.
Looking forward to next week’s story.
Exactly, the distance from one Chevy dealer to the next is in many if not most places literally less than a good bicycle ride away. No reason to treat anyone with disdain. And now they aren’t making Cruze’s here anymore…perhaps it wasn’t lack of demand and more a lack of business common sense.
Having been the average customer who doesn’t fully understand car business, I once thought that my dealership experiences were representative of the brands themselves. Having been in the business for several years (now at a Chevy dealership), I’ve found that different dealerships are only representing themselves and each store’s management breeds its own culture, even within the same dealership group. Add in the transient nature of the sales staff and management at many dealerships, and it’s safe to say if you don’t like a certain store, it could be a wonderful place to shop a few years later, or maybe not. I’m just saying I wouldn’t form an opinion of a brand by their franchised, i.e. independent, dealers. That goes for any product.
Oh I understand that but the fact is the independently owned dealership does “represent” the brand, and if someone has a bad experience at one dealership, they may well just say forget it and assume all of them will be that way (as you may have done before working there). It’s not unreasonable as the average consumer really has no idea that the Chevy dealership is completely independent from the mother ship.
So one bad apple can easily ruin it for everyone with the same brand as in this case. Kyree wanted a Cruze, got treated poorly and didn’t bother to try another Chevy dealer but instead tried a VW dealer that happened, perhaps by chance, to not be so arrogant and ended up making a sale. I don’t think Kyree has looked at another Chevy since and I’m pretty sure he’s had several more cars since this one even though he was ready to give the Cruze dealer his money and be happy, he already knew the car and wasn’t going to shop around, the sale was right there for the taking!
You will approve of its replacement.
I purchased a 2014 SportWagen new from the dealer. After discussing the diesel in the cold Wisconsin winters, I selected the gas option, and the lowest trim level, the only way to get a 5 speed manual. Now, at 70K miles, we still love this car. No mechanical issues yet, and usually 35 to 38mpg at 80 mph. When I spotted it on the dealers lot, I guessed that a bright red manual mini wagon was not a popular choice in the upper Midwest. Good guess. I held firm on my lowball offer and got the car for 21K cash.
This is a familiar tale as my first car (nearly 30 years earlier) was also a black Volkswagen.
I remember the wildly varying treatment I got as a young guy just out of school. A Honda and a BMW dealer let me stand in the showroom for 20 minutes or more without asking if I could be helped. A Chrysler dealer refused to let me test drive a car unless I was committed to buying a car “today”. Others were friendly and helpful, though the bargaining session at my VW dealer became a long, hard slog before I finally signed papers.
My sister’s last VW was a Jetta diesel wagon of the generation prior to this. She kept it for a long time, but finally moved on.
I certainly don’t see that Jetta as an old man’s car. I wouldn’t mind having one if I could afford it.
Was it stick shift, or automatic?
Window sticker says automatic
It was a DSG.
I immediately liked the looks of this gen wagon when they came out. Looked the one at the Detroit show over in detail, including discovering it was a pre-production sample as the VIN plate was blank.
In 2014, I decided my Taurus X, while dandy on road trips, was way too big to horse around town as a daily driver, so started looking for something more reasonable.
The common knowledge at the time was “if you want a Jetta wagon, you must get the TDI”, I looked into the proposition. The TDI was the most expensive version of the wagon, and diesel costs more than gas, plus harder to find. Additionally, VW was starting to use particle traps in TDI exhaust systems, which periodically need to get really hot, for a sustained period, to burn off the soot they trap. Suspected my winter routine of nothing but short drives would be a recipe for a clogged trap and expensive repair. iirc, VW was starting to use DEF, with the tank to be topped up at each oil change, which come at 10,000 mile intervals. Then there was the 40,000 mile service interval, and it’s steep price, for the DSG. The last straw was that, somehow, VW thinks vinyl upholstery is an upgrade from fabric, so that is what the TDI had. I want fabric upholstery.
Between the high purchase price, the expensive fuel, the operating oddities and the vinyl, the TDI was dropped from consideration. I would have bought an SE for the alloy wheels, a bit of extra trim, but it also came with vinyl. So, I began my search for the bottom S trim, 2.5 with the conventional Aisin automatic.
As Kyree said, about 90% of Jetta wagons sold in 14 were TDIs, and that was reflected in dealer stock. Seems every VW store in metro Detroit had an armload of TDIs, and one or two gas engine examples. The store in Livonia had swapped the blue one they had for a sliver one. Some may remember my tales of the POS 78 Zephyr, that put me off of silver cars. So then I tried the dealer in Ann Arbor, whose site said they had both a blue one and a black one. Nope, they had sold or swapped both the blue one and the black one, but the salesman would eagerly show me a silver one. Argh! Off to Farmington Hills. Paydirt! Black on black, S trim, automatic.
The winter of 14 had been interesting, by metro Detroit standards: record low temps in the -20 range, and twice the usual amount of snow. The day I went shopping passed for “nice”: about 25 degrees with heavy overcast, but nothing falling out of the sky, at the moment. It was the end of the month, so the salesman was not going to let me out of there without the new car, so about 4 hours later, I was driving the new car home, in a driving snowstorm. Found that VW traction control and ABS work pretty well as the car didn’t miss a beat on the totally show covered streets.
I found the VW mileage calculator is wildly optimistic. When I top of the tank and do the math, I’m usually running in the low 30s, worse in the winter, but the display on the IP gives some amusing numbers.
Being an S trim, the car is bereft of trim, so I figured a pinstripe would brighten things up a bit.
After the shop had put the pinstripe on, I went to lunch. After lunch, I stopped to admire the pinstripe, and found the stripe tape had split. Back to the shop to point it out. The guy took the car back into his shop. I wondered what he was going to do as I knew he didn’t have any more of that particular size and color of stripe. He brought the car back around to the front several minutes later. I took a look. He had put on new stripe that was a different shade of silver. Pointed out that it didn’t match the rest of the stripe. He handed back my money and walked away.
So, I spent the rest of the afternoon removing the aborted stripe job.
This is the side the guy got right.
Continuing the spiff up job, it was time for new tires, and I really hated the plastic wheel covers, so started sifting eBay for wheels. The wheels I liked best happened to be a VW OEM wheel, which are staggeringly expensive, but narrowed the cost some with lucky shopping.
Even buffed up the car and participated in the German show at the Gilmore last year.
While sifting eBay for alloy wheels, I found a set of Dunlop snows, of the correct size, already mounted and balanced on VW wheels, on offer in Ann Arbor. $175 for the set. Sold.
The snows already paid off. Found a pothole last March that bent one of the steelies. The tire shop unbent the edge of the wheel, but it still shook at speed, so had them switch the snow to a steelie from the original set the car came with. What I paid for that entire set of snows was half what replacing one of the alloy wheels would have cost.
The Jetta recently turned over 45,000 and gives every indication of excellent health and long life.
So Paul, you got two Jetta wagon COALs in one thread.
I bent my first alloy wheel late this past winter. I was fortunate to find a replacement at the local pick-a-part for under $30. The finish was a little scratched but then the newest version of this wheel is 11 years old and the finish is no worse than the other 3 on my car.
I have thought about trying to source a set of alloys for my Kia. It may take me awhile to find 4 from a pre-2015 Sedona EX (which seemed to make up about 10% of sales from my unscientific observation. But then I may lose my cushy ride once I go from my over-tired 16s to 17s.
I think you made the right choice with the 2.5, Steve. I’m a big fan of that engine despite all the negative press it received. Very pleasant to own and operate in the real world. Of course, I didn’t get to cash in on the dieselgate payments.
I think you made the right choice with the 2.5,
Yes, VW had plenty of time to work the weaknesses out of it. The timing chain issue was solved around 2008. The oil leak from the vacuum pump seems to have been corrected by 2012 as I have seen 12s with over 100K on them without that distinctive leak, that I have seen on earlier cars with 80K on them.
BTW, does the 2.5 sound good? I happen to love 5 cylinder engines, my brother has a Diesel Volvo (2.5 TDI VW engine) with almost 600.000 miles on it.
BTW, does the 2.5 sound good?
Not particularly, at least from inside the car. It doesn’t seem particularly eager or revvy, either, but it’s smooth and quiet.
There are some videos on youtube of 2.5s fitting with a cat-back aftermarket exhaust.
The two-tone black and light tan interior of these cars looked absolutely fantastic. Nice choice, Kyree. Gone at 19K? Boo. Looking forward to reading why.
I had one with the 2.5-liter inline 5 and manual transmission, for $21K out the door. That car felt two price levels above, both in interior refinement and road manners. Excellent long distance traveler. Fantastic car, I kept it until 90K miles without issue before moving on and I still regret selling it. The 5-cylinder engine was a full generation behind the times, but it paired well with the manual, made a unique growl, and has probably been one on VW’s most dependable engines. That car changed my opinion about VW, but if I tried to own another one to 100K that might well change back.
Damn dude. First car purchase straight out of school, a Euro diesel wagon? Didn’t waste any time earning your car-guy cred…!
Hahahahaha!!! Brutal.
Great write up! I too went to the arms of VW once I got a decent job and income out of college. Got an ‘11 Jetta S manual in early 2012. It was a good car but the depreciation scared me and I got out of it around 2014. It was a good car, though. Hindsight I should’ve kept it.
Count me in as a fan of the 09 MKV JSW. If I could find one of those in laser blue, game over!
I’ve always liked Volkswagen ever since the Rabbit debuted in 1975. In fact, it was my first choice for a new car in high school in 1979, but lack of money relegated me to a ‘71 Buick.. I don’t think I’ve ever driven, or rode in one (except Beetles) until I got in the car business. Ive driven several of our trade-ins; I was particularly anxious to drive a base Jetta (forgot the year, a ‘12 maybe?) a few years ago, with a 2.5L and 5-speed. I wasn’t disappointed, but I certainly wasn’t impressed., either. Truth be told, I’d prefer one over a Cruze; by the way, the 2LT, LTZ, and diesel (a very rare bird) handled better than the lesser trims due to a “z-link” set-up on the independent rear suspension. All that said, my used car manager lowballs all Volkswagen trades, and we wholesale anything with over 60k miles and an automatic. They’re good up to then, afterwards they’re problematic. I handle all the wholesales, a few days ago we took in a ‘14 Jetta TDI; it’s bright red, it looks great, it runs decent, but has a little over 100k miles. I drove it yesterday. It’s a POS. I can’t put my finger on it, but I wouldn’t trust it across town. Auction bound. If it were a Japanese brand in similar condition, we’d have it fast-tracked for the budget row. Volkswagens look good, have a “cool” image, but have a bad rep. Unless it’s a TDI with a manual tranny, then we’re talking!
I literally LOLed at “cancelled the warranty within ten days, kept the interest rate.” Total boss move.
My old across the hall neighbors had an extremely similar wagon and I’ll admit I was a little jealous…
So, I’m looking for a used, effecient hatch/wagon. Looking at all the options (CT 200h, V60, i3, 328d) … but there are a ton of TDI Sportwagens on the market now. What finally got done to them to make them legal and how effecient are they, post-fix?
They had the EPA-approved fixes. They’re legal now. They’re not as efficient as before, and now they should get much closer to their EPA rating, which was 32 combined. Not all that great.
The only reason that they got better real life mileage originally was because the defeat device turned off the emission system.
That’s a great looking car! And the VW TDi is surely the engin to have, regardless of mpg fiddling? I loved my Golf 4 TDi 130hp estate so much it only lasted 2.5 years until a sale on new Golf 5 TDi’s tempted me to step up to 140hp. My latest Golf is a mark 7.5 with 180hp and 55mpg, so no looking back!