[RajaTaurus]

Prologue
From a car, that was born on Rally circuit, ruled WRC for over 2 decades, Fast and Furious, the best ever affordable driver’s car – which was selling on single digits (!) when I bought in 2007, eventually discontinued in 2010

To a car, a German who wants to be American and Japanese at the same time, Popular Sedan, German Engineering – which is speculated to be discontinued (!) next year and the upgrade may not come to India.!

Is it written somewhere in my Horoscope that every time I would arrive at the Sunset Boulevard?

A few words about my outgoing car:
It has been nine fast and glorious years of partnership between me and my Cedia. When I returned for good to India, Cedia was the car I chose in 2007 which was about the same time I became a Bhpian. Every time I sat in it, the Cedia just grew on me like a web and I became Spider man, flying around all over – cities and highways, mountains and landscapes. No other car connected and bonded with me so well like Cedia did. Cruising at 100 clicks, speed testing at 165 Kmph, rally driving (I mean cornering to the limit) on winding ghats, occasional road racing and bullying – well, I did all that. Only thing I did not accomplish was to take it to MMSC circuit and burn some rubber. My dates never matched with MMSCs dates during my stay in Chennai for 5 years. Anyway, there goes one out of bucket list.
When I came here, I was 45 and now I am 54. It is time to change from Sports mode to Luxury mode.

Couple of snaps:



I know the next car isn't going to be as sporty as Cedia. I am going to miss its ‘ridiculously small’ (Courtesy J Clarkson) turning radius, SUV’ish ground clearance and its acceleration from 0-100 and fantastic braking.

Why change?
Well, just a few reasons. Cedia is getting old, Mitsubishi is vanishing in the oblivion, new car prices are on the rise and Finance Minister is Tax hungry. So it is time to buy a new car that lasts another 8-9 years.

What car?
Well, I wanted a Sedan that can match or exceed Cedia and under 20 Lakh moneys and petrol, please.

The Search and Find
Instead going through elimination process, I set some basic criteria and started matching exercise for the following:

• All wheel independent suspension, multi-link in the rear. All wheel disc brakes.
• At least 110 bhp and size – Sedan, not smaller than Cedia, but not too big.
• Safety with minimum ABS, EBD and ETC.
• Solid build, durability and brand reputation.
• Turning radius and Ground clearance to be at least close to Cedia’s.
• The above were must haves. Any gadgets and gizmos are welcome.

I looked up for the three German trio - Audi, Benz and BMW (in alphabetical order!) and I got back message “Not Reachable”. (Clear 15L over my budget).

I shortlisted the following:

Honda Civic, Renault Fluence,Corolla Altis, Fiat Linea, Skoda Octavia, VW Jetta. (Not in any order).

• Civic matched up Cedia in all departments and would cost just right and I really wished and wanted it to come back. But my feeling is Honda might not bring it back in near future.
• Fluence has been discontinued and Magane is in the same boat as Civic.
• Having driven a Mitsubishi, Corolla Altis did not impress me because of pricing, build, suspension, looks and power.
• Linea, though looks are attractive and meets some criteria, build, brakes, suspensions and interior lose out.

(The way I was browsing the reviews, specifications, pictures, videos of these cars, one morning I woke up dreaming three cars physically fighting it out in Barstow).

So, I 'shorter'-listed Octavia and Jetta.

Octy scored in power, torque and gadgets. Interiors were up one notch compared to Jetta. I like the all Beige interiors of Octy compared to Jetta. Cedia had slightly medium beige Italian leather interiors and maintenance was not that difficult. But rear suspension was a let-down in Octy, while Jetta boasted a multi-link rear suspension. I was very particular about multi-link rear suspension. It is truly all wheel independent suspension and only if you drive it you will realize its superiority in handling. While cornering the car remains in perfect control with minimum body roll. And if you want to do some rally driving on empty winding roads, it is game for it.

Secondly, price obviously is a couple of Lakhs more for extra power and goodies. As I was ready to compromise on those factors, I zoomed on Jetta. Also the image of Jetta on road was a bit more refined than Octavia and this is purely my opinion. And the last nail on the coffin of Octavia was "I don't like the backside of that car" from none other than my Home Minister. What can I say?

Final Shoot-out

This is a shoot-out of different kind. Incoming Versus Outgoing!



Dimensions: Jetta’s dimensions are not bad for Indian roads. Cedia’s dimensions were just perfect for winding through city traffic as well as narrow village roads of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Now I got to live with few inches bigger all around.

Ground Clearance: This is a small let down. Not that Jetta’s GC is too low, but having driven the Cedia like an SUV ignoring bumps and speed breakers, I got to be now more conscious about possible bottom scrapping. I hope 159 mm will be good enough. The Manual says the minimum road-ready clearance on the side is only 139 mm. Once I measured the clearance on the same point in Cedia and if I remember right it was somewhere near 140 mm. So, I think it is manageable.

Kerb Weight: Jetta has smaller engine and TC plonked in, the weight could be due to overall build as well as extra sheet metal.

Power and Torque: Jetta has slightly more power and torque than Cedia. With 144 kg more weight to pull, it wouldn't make much difference.

Turning Radius: Now this is a big let down here. While I was casually checking on top 14 cars with shortest TR in US, and Lancer stood right at the top with 4.9 m. Though Jetta could not match it, at least could have got it same as Octavia which has 5.2 m. In fact Octy is slightly bigger than Jetta in dimensions!

Jetta 1.4 TSI Comfortline - Passed with more than 90% marks.

Next was color – I had Red Cedia and I wanted Blue this time. Both Octy and Jetta have Blue. So it was Silk Blue, kind of not too jazzy, yet pleasant. (To be frank, when I saw the car in real, I realized that no photo from any website, brochure did justice in reproducing the gorgious blue metallic color).

Trim - I wished to get Highline in Petrol but then, wishes are wishes. There wasn’t one. So, it had to be Comfortline. No Xenons, LED DRLs, and that’s sort of OK.

Parallely I completed reading and absorbing Team-bhp official review and Initial ownership report of Artemis and every thread that mentioned Jetta in it. (Big Thanks)

The Dealer
Next was to pick the dealer. Nearest place was Tirunelveli. Based on various inputs, I had my apprehensions about the dealer and so I decided to go extra 50 kms to get a good dealer and it was Ramani Cars Private Limited, Madurai. They are the VW dealers in two other major cities in TN as well. That gave me some comfort.

I called up and fixed up an appointment for a Friday, 29th July. Actually they offered to bring a test drive Jetta to our place (150 kms) for TD, but I was more interested in seeing their facility. So, I said I would rather visit them. Their representative welcomed us and went over the car’s brochure briefly. The show room cum service center was new and well laid out. Spacious bays in the workshop and they had all facilities in house including painting. Good to see professionalism all around.

Happy to have selected the dealer, sat about price discussions.

They offered up to 1.5 Lakhs discount for VIN 15, but I said a big No. Final discount was 25K dealer discount, 20K exchange bonus and another 20k on B2B insurance. OTR Price was 19.4 Lakhs. Overall the visit took 3 hours and happy beginning. I paid booking advance 2 Lakhs on 1st August and the car was ordered on factory on 10th August. The manager said 1st to 6th of every month their plant doesn’t take orders. I wasn’t in any hurry so, wait is ok.

The VIN-WIN Saga
On 24th August, SA called up to tell me that my car has been shipped from Pune. Suppressing my excitement, I said 'Great! Send me the VIN number and I will transfer the balance payment'. Within an hour I received the Allotment letter and the ordeal started. I was upset to see the VIN number starting with WVWA1616--- which indicated that the car is January 2016 production. I called up the Manager and the conversation went on for an hour, not so pleasant. Armed with Team-BHP's education on VIN number I put my foot down and said I am not going to take an 8 months old car.

He explained in detail the following:
Jetta demand this year has come down and Petrol cars, only A series are being assembled and sent out of factory, as there is not enough order. Diesel cars B and C series are being sold. Beyond D, there is no car being sent out of the factory. Then we exchanged emails, and I demanded good discount on the car. Finally after 2 days of back and forth communications, I got some discount, though he had valid reasons for his situation. He said VW refused to give any discount and the dealers COO was kind enough to give me some discount. I agreed for a Final Price of just over 19 Lakhs OTR.

The Car arrived on Monday, 29 August. I scheduled to take delivery on 31 August, Wednesday.

Delivery Day
We set off on the last trip in my most beloved Cedia, reached the Dealer at around 11 am. First thing was to hand over the exchanged car. With a heavy heart, lumps in throat, I handed over the keys to the conerned person and bid a final Adios to our Saviour for the past 9 years.

The new car arrived from RTO after temporary registration, with white tapes still on the roof, bonnet and boot. It went for final cleaning, polishing, internal cleaning and came to the Delivery Bay at around 3 pm. During this time, I met the After Sales Manager and had a good conversation. He was a two wheeler freak and just acquired a Bullet. Knowing him gave me more confidence on service of my Jetta.

God blessed the car with a sudden shower and the car was dazzling with water droplets.


I did a thorough walk-around to see exterior and cleared it of any possible dent/ scratch / decoloration / paint marks or other visible damage. They had fitted the mud flaps neatly. Actually, after seeing a couple of Jettas in their shop with so much mud splashed under body as well as silencer box, I decided to get those fitted right there. Then I sat inside the car and the Assistant went about the demonstration of dashboard. I listened like a sincere student. I noted the Odo read 44 kms. He connected my phone and tested. Then after all signature formalities, we got presented the car keys at 4:30 pm. They had arranged mala for the grill, performed a small Pooja and did ceremonious lemon crushing. And I started the car, with my better-half next to me, drove the nearest gas station, filled Petrol for 1,000 Rupees gifted by the dealer.

Then we set off towards our home town at around 5:30 pm.

First Drive
When we hit Madurai-Tirunelveli Highway it was nearing dusk and raining heavily. Auto headlights, auto rain sensors, TCS (in pools of water), braking, acceleration, cruise control at 90 kmph - few things 'Tested-OK'. The screen went beep beep on a make-shift side road while climbing on a small slope with gravel. I said to myelf 'Must be one of those three-letter-safety-thing in action, which this car has a bunch!'. Total distance was about 160 kms with half highway and half single winding road through villages. Good enough to test the car and for me to get familiar.

Somehow I was never interested in test drive of cars. Having driven variety of pick-ups, small cars, sedans, Off-roaders that were assigned to me by companies over 16 years in the Middle East, I didn't feel the need to do an actual test drive of any car. From the specification, reputation, build and components I believed that I could make out the car's character and not to forget various experiences of our fellow Bhpians.

Hence, this first drive actually doubled up as a TD for me and the car.
I was definitely not satisfied by the brightness (or lack of it) of the 'Dimmed lights' (High beam was powerful, though). Cedia had fantastic brightness on its single bulb headlight. The Lane changer flash and Auto dimming IRVM were helpful. We reached home in 3 hours, while onward journey wa 2 1/2 hours in daylight.

Still getting acquainted with the variations from German to Japanese, VolksWagen to Mitsubishi Cedia to Jetta.

On a lighter vein, Mitsubishi(10 letters) to Volkswagen(10 letters) and Cedia(5 letters) to Jetta(5 letters).! Now that's what I call Like for Like replacement.!

Coming up next is a detailed experience report.

Note:
1. My review and following posts are sprinkled with memerobilia of Cedia here and there. I kindly request to bear with me, as it is hard to overcome 9 years of bonding.
2. As the fine details of Jetta have been already brought out by Aditya and Bharat in their reviews and in various Jetta threads, I am touching upon some features those impressed me positively or negatively, along with my personal experience.
3. Big thanks to all Jetta owners, mod and to all "Cedizens" who still own and adore their Cedias.

[RajaTaurus]

1. How does it look?

I look at it from any angle, the car looks like a military tank. There are straight lines all over with neat angles and perspective. Engineers love straight lines, don’t they? The build looks solid, not fluidic or gaseous (pun intended). Somehow I am not convinced with all those curves in the name of aerodynamics. (I like GTO's term 'visual aerodynamics'. That's what it is.)



The front view resembles a sitting UFO. Overall width from bottom to top sharply tapers after the doors reducing roof width significantly. The width seems at least 10% less at the roof on each side, looking from the front. I guess there will be direct savings on A/C energy.

Side view is plain and neat, with depression on doors to match with wheel arches. Talking about wheel arch, I just love those prominent wheel arches. Back in ‘90s, Mustangs were having notorious wheel arches and were intimidating when they approach from the rear. Apart from taking all the side rubs and scratches, their presence repels nearby vehicles (IMO).



The Silk Blue color is refreshing to eyes. Body paint quality and shine are superlative. VW gives 3 year guarantee even against chip-off during ‘highway bullet’ hits (small stones from other vehicle tyres). From front to rear, the side body profile gradually rises and gives sufficient view to the back seat occupants to enjoy the view, unlike Elantra where rear benchers are nearly shut out.

I was used to rectangular ORVMs with spherical mirrors and these angry-bird-shaped ORVMs have aspherical mirror with two zones on the driver side. I couldn’t make out big difference, but there must be some. These are electrically foldable backwards, but don’t fold mechanically forward too much. But, the wheel arch comes to rescue and I think will keep most of the two wheeler handle bars away.



Rear view is borrowed from Audi, but the big B-O-O-O-T spoils the look. Audi A4 has 480 litres boot and even Camry has 436 litres. 510 litres of boot is oversized for a Sedan and more suited for Grand Touring type Saloon (i.e. Passat). Tail light clusters are neatly placed, thanks to Audi. The rear profile is so bland there is no chance a spoiler could add its aesthetics. Body coloured handles and bumper looks cool. And minimum chrome in front grill looks nice. (I hate chrome on my car and Yes, I hate it). MK-V Jetta had more chrome on front grill but this is sleek. Thanks VW, there is no ‘Spartan’s sword’ stuck in the front or glued to the rear (no offense intended, please).

The antenna could have been better designed in terms of shape and position. Take a look at the neatly designed and positioned ‘shark fin’ of a BMW.



I really didn’t understand why would VW make mud flaps as ‘optional accessory’ on a premium Sedan? Take a look at the position of silencer box. It sure is going to be splashed with mud, which could lead to corrosion over long run. Keep VW’s 10 year warranty against corrosion and perforation in the closet, I know ‘everything corrodes’. It only depends on what conditions you put it through. If we could avoid direct mud splash, we must.



16” Sedona alloy wheel with 5 “V”s used as wheel spokes, looks neat and matches with the car’s personality – Executive!



Lot said about the Goodyear tyres, my initial experience is not too bad and ‘I am gonna keep it, Daddy’.

2. Let’s get inside

The moment I sat in the driver’s seat, I realized why Jetta is VW’s popular Sedan in the US. Dashboard looks more American than German. It is closer to the driver, more vertical and shorter foot wells. Hence, you sit in any position, you won’t see tip of bonnet and that’s how Americans cars are. (My wife felt the same way and she compared it to Ford Taurus we had during late 90s).



Dash board is neatly arranged with no unwanted curves or depressions. Plastic quality is not top notch, but acceptable. Fit and finish are good for a premium car. Dash board itself could have been designed with more aesthetic sense like Octavia or Superb, more flowing and panels smoothly merging. I liked the full beige interiors of Octavia than beige and black combo of Jetta.

Front seats are a bit hard and more cupped on sides (may be to give enough thigh and shoulder support). It restricts body movement sideways and makes you literally ‘sit tight’! Then I found out that side airbags are tucked into outer side of the front seats (that makes me nervous a bit). It also makes ingress and egress a bit clumsy. Leatherette quality is average, compared to Cedia’s perforated Italian soft leather. Manual seat height adjustment is lever setting, while Cedia had wheel handle which was smoother. I felt the foot wells are shallow and my passenger agrees. Definitely we had more leg room in Cedia.



For reference - Low dashboard, deep foot wells, soft leather seats and of course hand brake is for driver!

Rear seats are bigger than Cedia and have enough thigh support (notoriously absent in Cedia rear bench and even a child knows it!). Rear seat can be folded to get more boot space (as if 510 litres are not enough) for keeping fishing rods and golf sticks. Hahaha. As if I am going to go for fishing and golf every other day! I would have preferred reclinable seats instead, like new Corolla Altis.

Driving position is comfortable once you reach your best settings of your seat. The side wall on left and the door projection on the right are close and there is not enough space for your legs to move sideways. In Cedia I could see the wipers and the top of bonnet lines when I sit in my most comfortable driving position and here I could only see the front and no sign of bonnet. Again, I am reminded of American cars. However while driving through narrow village streets if crowded, I must be careful not to tread on somebody’s feet.

Driver’s visibility – I am coming from a rally machine with fantastic visibility all around and definitely I feel it is hampered by the dashboard. However, ‘A’ pillars are thinner and more angling downwards than Cedia. The metal portion of door is taller now and visibility on side is reduced a bit, while I could see the side kerbs on the right side through the window in Cedia.

IRVM is well sized and auto dim is good to have. However, the rear windscreen is practically half of the IRVM view. You sit in any position you will see three head rests blocking your view and even worse three ugly faces if fully loaded (!). Even the front headrests peak inside the view. No position gives you full rear wind screen view.



The Hand brake – its position and angle are perfect - for the passenger to use. Hey VW! Is it not Hand brake is for the driver? Obviously this is one of those LHD to RHD conversion issues. Well, it needs a different hole on the chassis, why bother?



The Steering stacks – Well, well there has been long drawn debate on the correct position of wiper stack and indicator stack on this forum and I really don’t want to start it again. Wiper on right side and Light stack on Left have been default for all LHD vehicles all over the world. For RHD, the reverse was incorporated by Japanese manufacturers to make it more – “Functional.!” (Thanks, Hobbs). Some car makers just didn’t bother to reverse it, so stick in the same LHD version of steering column completely. When I bought Cedia, for a year or so, I was depressing the wiper when I wanted to change lane before I could ‘get-used-to’ it. Now I have to ‘get-used-to’ the reverse of it.

Auto air-conditioning with dual zone along with manual option is nice. Cooling is pretty good and its effectiveness to be tested during April-May next year though. Vents are practically placed. About rear vents, I had those in Camry back in 2004, which I used for sticking in Car Freshener. Other than that I don’t think it needs much attention, as such tiny vents just could not cool the entire rear cabin by itself.

Comfortline comes with MIB-II Infotainment system. When I touched the screen first, I was looking for weird headed, multi handed ugly looking friends of Will Smith to pop out of it, but nothing like that happened. Music replay and speaker systems are of good quality. Fancy Balance-Fader joystick is fun to use and accurate. Bass is great and tweeters do their part well. Graphic Equalizer is missing and only good old Bass-Mid-Treble adjustments are provided, digital though. Apart from all connectivity and music capabilities, the Park Pilot and other safety feature display are what impressed me.

Park Pilot is very good, especially it gives the range in curvature format taking input from steering, when you are reversing and turning at the same time. This is very useful when you take the car out of home to road at 90 degrees.



And who designed those two knobs for On-Off and Tuning? Those look like Sixties’ Murphy Radio knobs. They could have done it with some sleek 'Touch' type buttons.

Stowage compartments are all over the place for various purposes. Bottle holder on doors is good. Box below hand rest is a tad small.



Coin holders are provided inside the glove box and can be safely locked. Well, may be for Gold coins, I guess. Other cars have those on the right side near the fuse box or behind the gear stick - easily reachable by driver.



Clutch and brake pedals feel like soft touch, while that Ashok Leyland bus type accelerator pedal definitely doesn't connect that well. I always feel some slackness between my toe and the pedal. Especially in crawling stop and go traffic situation, it is a bit cumbersome. I use to swing my toe between accelerator and brake with heel planted on floor. This design doesn't let me do that. I am keeping my foot aligned to the brake and swing to the right to press the accelerator pedal in the middle by my toe. Some kind of improvisation is required there.

Enough said about that mini-dead-pedal, definitely not comfortable and not aligned. The position of the dead pedal is farther than clutch pedal and too close to each other. If you have your left foot on the dead pedal, you need to lift your leg to reach the clutch.



The gear stick doesn’t like me to hold it while shifting. It requests me to gently push to the required side. Position of reverse gear is a change for me. In all the cars I drove, it used to be below the 5th gear, be it LHD or RHD.


Any other points on interiors? Oh Yeah! What this handle is doing above driver's seat, VW?



Open the engine bay and it smells German all over. There are plastic covers for exposed components. There is insulation cladding to keep away engine heat from reaching the dashboard. Lack of this was felt in Cedia during long drives in effectiveness of A/C. Turbocharger is sitting right in front and close to the radiator. The driver side of bonnet gets hot and one has to be careful especially after long drives.



Exposed cables at the connectors are cheese for rats. Why couldn't they install sleeves there (I am planning to do).



Funny looking coolant reservoir. Again see exposed cables.



Take look underneath, ground clearance is uniform all over the chassis and there is nothing protruding below. Even the lower arm of rear multi link suspension matches with other parts.



3. Let me take you for a 'ride'

Engine - Cedia roars in first and second gear and Jetta growls. In third and fourth gear both cars engine sound levels are similar. Overdrive gears noise levels are similar too, given same road conditions. Power on demand is always there and I don’t see any problem with turbo lag when I press the pedal a little hard. As I am still under 1000 kms I am yet to test it above 100 kmph speed on highways.

How does it drive? I am trying to wear the personality of Jetta with regard to driving style. Nine years of driving Cedia like a sports car and moving on to a Luxury Sedan is phase shift. Cedia swims through city and flies low on highways. Tight manoeuvre between trucks, brake at the last second, launch after occasional empty toll booth or cruise sedately at 100 clicks with Jagjit Singh singing Lullabies - few things you could do with Cedia. Besides, on road many cars get an insatiable urge to tailgate and overtake a Cedia. And that has a distinct personality.

Now, driving a sophisticated German 'Luxury-Executive-Touring' Sedan has another personality, if you know what I mean. Jetta commands respect on road as an executive sedan. No tailgating by I20s or XUVs. Makes heads turn just like Cedia based on same criteria – Rare bird on road!

1.4 L Turbo-Petrol engine generates sufficient power to move the car without turbo and quiet during sedate driving. If you wake up the beast, it pumps out power you need to rush or overtake without any hesitation. Turbo-lag is felt if I am below 40 kmph and I try to push it hard, but at higher speeds, if I down shift and press the pedal, it responds instantaneously. I think it has right mix of mileage + performance.

City driving is a bit difficult for one who drove a Cedia, but I think it is manageable. The car behaves very similar to Cedia on Highway with regard to acceleration, manoeuvring, and braking. Body roll is not too different between both cars. Turning radius is a drawback in Jetta (only compared to Cedia) and it reduces drivability to some extent.

The gear shift suggestions on MID is precise and occasional 3-5 or 4-6 suggestions, when implemented gives a real smooth ride. Similarly downshift suggestions are precise too.

Suspension is tuned a bit soft and with more kerb weight the ride is very smooth in medium speeds. Bumps and pot holes are treated well and NVH levels are minimal. At higher speeds one has to be careful over bigger bumps or pot holes on rural roads, while Cedia took on such pot or even bucket holes very well. Of course one must not forget that it was a rally breed and this is a luxury sedan. So driving style is becoming "modern" if I use VW terminology.

The "To-Get-Used-To" List:
Listed below are few things I have to get used to, which are different from other cars I drove:
1. Press clutch to start - All American cars I drove were automatics and manuals were Toyotas. I had always my foot firm on brake while starting. Now I have to press clutch also to start.
2. Reverse Gear position - All manual cars had it below the 5th gear. It is a bit irritating, especially while parking and 'un-parking(!)'.
3. Indicator stack on the left - Again? - I was having this system for 16 years, then the reverse for 9 years and back again to the LHD system. Don't really like it, but what to do?
4. IRVM - with slanted rear windscreen, the rear view is definitely hampered. I used to go crazy whenever some back seaters put up anything that comes inside my IRVM. Now half of this mirror is useless and I got to use the ORVMs more now.
5. Turbo Lag - Whenever the car is not responding to my brain instructions instantly, it tests my patience a bit. That's when I am reminded of Cedia more.
5. Driver's visibility, turning radius, slightly bigger length and width - these are known shortcomings and as time passes by, will vanish I guess.

And finally a name for the new partner: It's Blue and its Jetta. It looks a lot like an American compact sedan. And I wanted to select a bird's name for the new partner.
So it is "Blue Jay", an American bird. The color seems to have been inspired by the bird.



Epilogue
You tell me the car you drive and I will tell you what you are - Said an ancient Greek Philosopher, or was it Priyanka Chopra? Whoever said it, I agree. Your car reflects your personality in many ways. I was a 'Cedizen' for nine years and now I am going to be a 'Jetta-san'.
From Cedia to Jetta, it is like from a Speed boat to Submarine; an F-16 to a 777. I think I made a wise decision to buy the 2016 Jetta, as it has proved to be VFM. I didn't want bigger car, I didn't have bigger budget and this car suits be perfect. With 600 kms running in for tyres and 1500 kms running in for engine and other parts (as per manual), I am slowly getting connected to the new partner- BlueJay.

Thanks for all Jetta owners and mods for their valuable inputs.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing!

[chintu_91]

Congratulations on acquiring this rare beauty or should I should I call beast. In December 2014 here in Gujarat I was getting Jetta 2.0 TDI comfort line gray color for around 17 on road if I paid before 31st December. But eventually I settled for vento. Jetta has always been my dream car albeit in diesel dsg version.
Happy and safe driving sir.

[Tanveer_2558]

Many congratulations for the car, Love the jetta in the blue silk, Everytime i see a silk blue Jetta i go like

Have you planned any modifications?

Matter of fact, Even my personal upgrade was from Cedia to Jetta, Some pictures of my cedia (Previous car) And jetta (Currently) You may like,







I thought i was the only who one liked (& Bought) Two of the most underrated cars in india.

[shibujp]

Originally Posted by RajaTaurus

Prologue
Next was color – I had Red Cedia and I wanted Blue this time. Both Octy and Jetta have Blue. So it was Silk Blue, kind of not too jazzy, yet pleasant. (To be frank, when I saw the car in real, I realized that no photo from any website, brochure did justice in reproducing the gorgious blue metallic color).

Congrats on your purchase and I really love your choice of color. Blue silk is such a difference after all those boring whites(ME!!) and greys on the road.

Have fun.

Drive on,
Shibu.

[mav2000]

One more here, upgraded from cedia to Jetta. Both are brilliant cars and I have the 1.4 TSi as well. Unluckily mine came with the rcd 320, which is chappy to say the least.

[bharat4ever]

Congrats on your Blue jay. It's a fabulous color and best part is, not very common nowadays. I would have bought the same color if I hadn't had a blue car before this.
Thank you for acknowledging Artemis as well.

What kind of mileage are you seeing in the city, considering the size of this car. Also, did you not consider Diesel?

And did you ask the dealer about Android Auto / Carplay?

[RajaTaurus]

Originally Posted by Tanveer_2558

Many congratulations for the car, Love the jetta in the blue silk, Everytime i see a silk blue Jetta i go like

Have you planned any modifications?

Matter of fact, Even my personal upgrade was from Cedia to Jetta, Some pictures of my cedia (Previous car) And jetta (Currently) You may like,

I thought i was the only who one liked (& Bought) Two of the most underrated cars in india.

- Yes. the color by itself is a sure head turner.
- About modifications, 'none'. I didn't touch even tyres on my Cedia for the first 5 years. It was after 5 years, I had to change those RE88s and same time the BP Bahamas wouldn't play CD.s. I changed the ICE to an ordinary JVC, but put in Bosch Component speakers in front and Dual cone in the rear and the sound was great. Also treated it with a K&N filter.
Going by the same policy, no changes for next 5 years on my BlueJay.
- And those rear bumper on your Cedia looks like Mini 'Charger'.
- Jetta is the logical upgrade in India with currently available cars. Indian 'rating' is a bit different, ain't it.?
- I see you haven't folded the ORVMs. Manual folding is not that useful, right? Mostly you remember after you lock the car and start walking!

Originally Posted by mav2000

One more here, upgraded from cedia to Jetta. Both are brilliant cars and I have the 1.4 TSi as well. Unluckily mine came with the rcd 320, which is chappy to say the least.

Yeah, I am a bit lucky in that sense. When I actually started looking for Jetta 1.4 TSI specs, the VW website was showing RC320 only ( it is still showing the same I guess) and I was still not fully convinced of buying it. But, our friends here have mentioned that it comes with MIB-II and then I called up the dealer. He confirmed it and only then I went ahead. The headlights are still a sore thing in the car. Other than that, I am loving it.

Originally Posted by bharat4ever

Congrats on your Blue jay. It's a fabulous color and best part is, not very common nowadays. I would have bought the same color if I hadn't had a blue car before this.
Thank you for acknowledging Artemis as well.
What kind of mileage are you seeing in the city, considering the size of this car. Also, did you not consider Diesel?
And did you ask the dealer about Android Auto / Carplay?

1. I have only done around 500 kms and still to be Registered. So too early for mileage figures, MID shows an average of 15.
2. Diesel? a big No. Jetta diesel cars are peppy and more powerful, I agree. However, having driven petrol cars for over 30 years, I just don't like diesel cars. Mileage is no concern for me. IMO, over a period of time, diesel engines start giving more problems than petrols and need more maintenance as well.
3. Regarding Android Auto / Carplay my dealer just said it was still not available and would inform me when it comes to them.

[AYP]

Congrats on the new car Raja. The silk blue colour looks great on this car. The toffee brown shade(the shade on our Jetta) used to be my favourite until this colour came along.
Though VW usually has poorly equipped lower and mid level variants, I feel that the Jetta CL is decently equipped for the segment since the 2013 minor facelift. With the addition of the MIB-2 system, it is definitely at par with the segment.
Hope you have a great time with BlueJay.

[TheARUN]

Congratulations on the Jetta. You cannot go wrong with this car, its based on the internationally best-selling Golf. The Cedia was an icon, based on the Lancer, thanks for the points comparing the Cedia and Jetta. The Jetta is you ask me is a rebadged A4, and that my friend is a very good thing. You got an A4 for half the money

[graaja]

Congratulations on the new Jetta.

Your criteria on independent suspension shows the level of enthusiast you are! The independent suspensions in the Jetta indeed make the car a superb handler and make it a bliss to corner in the hills.

The car in the new silk blue color looks stunning. Wishing you tens of thousands of miles with smiles.

[itwasntme]

Congrats, I wanted a powerful petrol automatic sedan which left only the Octavia. But the Jetta was stunning!

[RajaTaurus]

Originally Posted by TheARUN

Congratulations on the Jetta. You cannot go wrong with this car, its based on the internationally best-selling Golf. The Cedia was an icon, based on the Lancer, thanks for the points comparing the Cedia and Jetta. The Jetta is you ask me is a rebadged A4, and that my friend is a very good thing. You got an A4 for half the money

Thank you. In fact, the front wheel hubs have Audis 4 rings and 'Mexico' engraved on them, while rear hubs have VW marks. So, it is a Rebadge!

[Prodigy07]

Congratulations on the new Jetta RajaTaurus

OT - I have spotted your Cedia 1-2 times at Hotel Bell Monkey (Tenkasi). We usually stop by that hotel for a quick strong tea before continuing our journey to Karunagapally.