2005 Volkswagen Jetta Review

Our long time readers will remember that I was none too excited about the all new Jetta when I first saw it in Detroit. That has all changed now that it has arrived in the Autoblog Garage. Maybe it was driving the Chevy Cobalt for a week that makes me so desirious of the new Jetta. Or maybe it is the wonderful quality of the interior. I'd guess it's the interior. Click through for more images and Autoblog's first video.

The exterior looks are still growing on me. Check out the video to the right for a quick 360 degrees around the Jetta (quick being 12 MB!). Over the next few days we?ll have some driving footage and interior video too, hopefully in MP4 for PSP folks.

The only thing that is really a disappointment for me is the bright chrome on the grill. Take my word for it, there will be countless aftermarket parts to de-chrome this thing. A lot.

As for the drive, I just took it for a short spin to the new Best Buy nearby. It has a great roof for taking pictures of the Chicago skyline. Anyway, on the drive I was impressed with the tight handling, ease over bumps and pep from the 6-speed tiptronic transmission and inline 5 cylinder engine.

The pain is in the sticker shock. The starting price of the car itself was $20,390. Add the tiptronic ($1,075) and ?Package #1? with leatherette seating surfaces (this isn?t real leather?) sunroof, 16? alloy wheels and premium sound system and that?s another $1,960. I?d probably get a manual transmission to get the most out of the 150 horsepower I5 though and save the grand there. So the test vehicle tops out at $24,040. Not easy on the wallet but we?ll see how much we?re really getting for the price over the next five days.