Category: Small Family 
Price Range: £16,315 to £20,855
Plain but smart looks, well-equipped, good choice of engines and transmissions.
Rather ungainly boot design, noisy diesels.
An attractive compact saloon, but lacks image of 3-Series and so on - and the practicality of the Golf hatchback.
The Jetta is effectively a Golf with a saloon body style: four doors and a large boot at the back, instead of a through-loading hatchback with tailgate. It's longer than the Golf - and the Bora it replaces - and actually looks more like the larger Passat saloon.
Though saloon-bodied cars of this size are generally overlooked in the UK in favour of more practical hatchbacks and compact estates, they are hugely popular elsewhere in the world: the Jetta has been the best-selling imported car in the US, for example, where it has been very successful since launch of the original in 1979.
Over here, though, it is not expected to sell in huge numbers; it will appeal mainly as a cost-effective alternative to, perhaps, an entry-level BMW 3-Series or Audi A4 saloon, a kind of junior compact-exec or a conservative choice for those who don't need a huge limo-like saloon, but want something a little smarter-looking than the average mainstream hatchback.
