October 31, 2010

Spotted - 2011 VW Jetta

I came across this brand new VW Jetta crawling in rush-hour traffic along I-70 in Maryland a couple days ago. First one that I have seen on the road. We'll see how long it takes before we see one here in the Pacific Northwest. These seem very popular with the young professional crowd out here. I have been a VW/Audi fan for years. The Jetta however, has never been one of my favorites. It seems to represent the antithesis of what we expect European cars to be all about. With this generation, VW is trying very hard to capture sales from Toyota, Honda and others. I just think it is a big step back. I can't believe that in this day and age they would consider putting drum brakes and a twist bean rear axle back on this car. It reminds me of a Passat B1 I owned in the early 80's. I waited patiently for the debut of this car as a potential replacement for my aging Passat B5.5. I am sorry to say that I may have to look elsewhere for my next car.