Volkswagen Jetta (2011) 1.4L Comfortline MT TSI - Design Review

With all those test mules of the Jetta running through the length and breadth of the country in 2011 – flaunting the ‘TSI’ badge without any hesitation – we always knew that the Jetta petrol was coming. But while everyone expected it to use the same 1.8 TSI stonker that you get in the Laura / vRS, Volkswagen decided to introduce the Jetta petrol with a 1.4 TSI. Now that move sounds justified in the era of ridiculously rising petrol costs – but on paper that engine seems too tiny for a car as big as the Jetta. So how good is the package? The answer had to be found out on the road but this time we did not put the Jetta through a 10,000 km road test like we did with the diesel counterpart last year. But we did take it for a rainy ride through the city, on the highway and through the twisties. But before we move on to how the engine performs, let’s talk about the design.

Now visually, the Volkswagen Jetta isn’t too different from its diesel counterpart. You still have the same, Vento-esque front end that is now the trademark look for all current Volkswagen vehicles. The day-time running lights (though not LEDs), looks particularly good when you glance at the car in the foggy or misty conditions of a monsoon morning at a hill station. 

The side profile of the Jetta TSI is where you will notice the slight difference. The alloy wheels that you get on this Comfortline variant are different that the ones we saw on the diesel Highline last year. The TSI’s wheels look chunkier and much similar to a typical Skoda alloy-wheel design. I prefer the ones on the Highline though as they not only look sportier, they also lend the Jetta a slick, low-rider stance.

The tailgate again has the tiny change – the TSI badge instead of the ‘2.0 TDI’ monogram. Prefixing the TSI badge with a ‘1.4’ could have made quite a few customers shy away – especially when petrolheads like to flaunt a ‘bigger is better’ impression.

Like I said in the beginning though, those different alloy wheels are a small change but instantly make the Jetta petrol look sober as compared to its top-of-the-line diesel counterpart!

Also Read:

- Volkswagen Jetta TSI User Experience Review

- Volkswagen Jetta TSI Performance Review