It has been three months since I took over ‘ownership’ of the Jetta from Terence (he took “my” Alfa Romeo Mito). The only reason for the swap was a lifestyle thing. I needed more space, Terence didn’t need any. And oh my what an amount of space I got. On a recent trip to Plettenberg Bay myself and a friend managed to fit our luggage, three surfboards, a wetsuit, a bag of linen and a few crates of food in the boot with the rear seats folded back. And still there was space for my passenger to lower his seat and catch a nap.
The engine continues to impress and the fuel consumption is just about unmatched in out fleet. Having filled up a few days before we left, after some town driving, I was still able to not only get to Plett and drive around there for a further two days, but I got to Jeffrey’s Bay (a good 160 km away) with ease and only filled up en route back to Plett. My average fuel consumption on this trip was 6,2 L/100km.
The only niggle I have had to deal with is the tyre light coming on. It came on as we left on our road trip and so I drove to the nearest fuel station to check the air pressure. One of the tyres was down by 2 bars, so we filled it up and off we went. It took me a while to figure out how to reset the warning light and after some help from a colleague I found the button in the glovebox and switched it off. Only to have it come back on a few days later. A reader has written in to us informing us that he too has this problem. There appears to be nothing wrong with the tyres, just a highly sensitive air pressure system. It’s due for it’s 15 000 km service soon so I will ask them to have a look in to the issue.
A part from that, the Jetta has been a pleasure to drive, my two highlights being space and fuel consumption. I call it the dark horse of the fleet.
Quick facts
Mileage on arrival (km): 1 618
Mileage now (km): 14 687
Fuel consumption (litres/100 km): 6,49 l/100 km
We like: fuel consumption and space
We don’t like: tricky clutch
