Go ahead, cover the rear quarter of the car. Looks familiar? We thought so too.
This isn’t a figment of your imagination or some crafty digital manipulation.
This is the Volkswagen Jetta GLI and it’s certainly easy to mistake it for the Golf GTI on the road.
To set it apart from the other Jetta models in the fold, the Volkswagen Jetta GLI does without the chromey nose.
That makes way for the GTI’s edgy black honeycomb grille with the trademark red lining (you can’t see it on a red car, by the way).
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The similarities with the GTI do not end there.
The wheels, the 2-litre turbocharged engine, the 6-speed DSG transmission, the flat-bottom steering wheel, the dash, the seats; in short, everything.
You can almost call this a GTI with a boot. But that doesn’t quite do either any justice.
It would be more apt to refer to it as a “facelifted” Jetta 2.0 TFSI that has adopted the GLI name.
Mechanically, the Volkswagen Jetta GLI is just like the 2.0 TFSI – it gets to 100km/h in an impressive 7.2 seconds which is quite a lot of straight-line performance for a “family-type” sedan.
That said, it is unable to replicate the awe-inspiring handling synonymous with its evil hatchback twin.
The Volkswagen Jetta GLI may ride firmer than a regular-spec Jetta but push it hard into a corner and it quickly drops its bad-boy looks and squeals like a schoolgirl.
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Yes, it understeers like a family sedan.
Also missing is the exhaust burble (or “fart” as some recognise it to be) that the GTI produces each time the gears upshift.
The Volkswagen Jetta GLI may not quite live up to its hard-edge GTI looks, but it does provide the practicality of a four-door sedan, which is something the former cannot match.
All you have to do is head for a game of golf in the GLI and the ease of using that voluminous boot becomes all too easy to appreciate.
Volkswagen Jetta GLI 2.0 (A)
ENGINE 1984cc, 16-valves, inline-4, turbocharged
MAX POWER 280bhp at 6000rpm
MAX TORQUE 280Nm at 1800-5000rpm
GEARBOX 6-speed dual-clutch with manual select
0-100KM/H 7.2 seconds
TOP SPEED 231km/h
PRICE INCL. COE $117,800
