Volkswagen Snips $100 Off the 2019 Jetta and Adds More Tech: Here’s What You Need to Know [Video]

The Jetta sold 115,807 units in the US in 2017, making it the most popular German car in the US, by a long shot. People like it for its comfort, low cost, and competitive features. Volkswagen have just redesigned their bestseller for 2019, and found a way to drop the base MSRP by $100. Somehow, they also managed to give it more tech at the same time.  To find out how they managed it, we did some digging into the all-new 2019 Jetta.

On top of that, I give the new Jetta a TFL rating of Buy it, Lease it, Rent it, or Forget it.

Careful Cost Cutting 

Selling a car for less than $20,000 requires the use of cheap parts. However, nobody wants to think they are driving something super cheap. Volkswagen had to carefully choose where to save money, and where to spend it, to keep the title of bestselling German car in the US.

There are two big things Volkswagen did to save money. The first is move the Jetta to the MQB platform, a modular transverse-engine platform from the Golf. Moving to a modular platform shared by many cars in the lineup helps make production less expensive, helping them pass the savings onto the customer.

Another big thing the company did was use a semi-independent twisting beam suspension in the rear. These are not as refined as a multi-link setup, but cost a lot less as well.

Spending Where it Counts

Because Volkswagen was able to save so much money on the platform and rear suspension, they could spend it in ways that are important to their customers. Especially with a compact economy commuter like the Jetta, buyers are looking for lots of tech to improve the driving experience.

The 2019 Volkswagen Jetta comes packed with a wide range of tech for such an inexpensive car. There is a 10-inch LCD gauge cluster, called digital cockpit. Right next to which is an 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple Car Play. Plus, the cabin has ambient lighting with ten customizable colors. To market the car even more towards younger generations, Volkswagen fitted a Beats premium audio system to the 2019 Jetta.

The Jetta also offers Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Keep Assist, Emergency Braking, and Blind Spot Monitoring, depending on the trim level you select.

Smaller Ways to Save

So, there’s plenty of cool tech, but that just drives the price up. Volkswagen still had to save money elsewhere. In this video, I show you all the smaller places that you can notice cost-cutting in action. Some of them are negligible, while others are more obvious.

TFL’s Rating System

I ended up giving the Jetta a rating of Buy It, for one simple reason. This Jetta is loaded with tech, offers a pleasant driving experience, and an incredible warranty. VW now has the People’s First warranty, which is a 6-year, 72,000 mile warranty on all their new vehicles. You could have yourself a car for around $20,000, brand new, with little repair cost for 6 years. That value is really hard to pass up.

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