Over the past few years, we’ve started to see the catches that come with modern convenience. Cheap TVs with good picture quality that come laden with sluggish “smart” technology, once-convenient streaming services that have now become the digital equivalent of pay-per-channel cable TV, AI agents nobody really asked for. Stuff that’s grown my already-strong fondness for buttons that are real buttons, plastics that are simple plastics, and things that are simply things. So when Volkswagen revealed the second facelift of the Mk7 Jetta, I had a certain sense of trepidation.
While the bones of this compact sedan may be rather familiar, Volkswagen’s made some recent changes, some of which seem to reflect the not-great mood the company’s in. An update for the 2025 model year added more shiny black plastic and more capacitive-touch controls, two traits that are almost universally panned across the industry. So, is the rest of the Jetta still good enough to outweigh those additions? I spent a week living with one to find out.
[Full disclosure: Volkswagen Canada let me borrow this Jetta for a week so long as I kept the shiny side up, returned it clean with a full tank of fuel, and reviewed it.]
The Basics
Engine: Turbocharged and intercooled 1.5-liter twin-cam 16-valve inline-four.
Transmission: Eight-speed torque converter automatic.
Drive: Front-wheel-drive.
Output: 158 horsepower at 5,500 RPM, 184 lb.-ft. of torque at 1,750 RPM.
Fuel Economy: 29 MPG city, 40 MPG highway, 34 MPG combined on the base trim; 29 MPG city, 40 MPG highway, 33 MPG combined (8.2 L/100km city, 5.9 L/100km highway, 7.9 L/100km combined) on all other trims.
Base Price: $25,270 including freight ($29,645 in Canada).
Price As-Tested: $28,755 including freight ($33,245 in Canada).
Why Does It Exist?
More than half a century ago, Volkswagen launched the Golf, its next big thing of the ’70s. With hatchback practicality and Giugiaro’s folded paper styling, it was a smash hit just about everywhere. Why “just about”? Well, while Americans did buy hatchbacks, they really wanted sedans. In 1979, Volkswagen slapped a conventional trunk on its compact hatchback and presto: the Jetta was born. Now well into its seventh generation, the Jetta still fills the same mold it always has: A sensible sedan for North America.
How Does It Look?
It’s been nearly two years since I first saw the second facelift of the Mk7 Jetta, and while the shut lines around the headlights are still unfortunate, I’m warming to the overall look. The down-the-road graphic is a bit less fussy than on the first facelift, and the full-width taillight treatment works. What doesn’t work so well is the available light bar across the front, a styling trend that I’ve always thought was cheap when broken up like it is here. Still, zoom out and the Jetta is a handsome car. It still largely features the chiseled surfacing we liked years ago, and it doesn’t try anything ridiculous.
What About The Interior?
I hope you like shiny black plastic, because for the second facelift of the Mk7 Jetta, Volkswagen’s put it everywhere. Huge slabs across the dashboard, sheets on the doors, even half the shifter’s made of the stuff. Unsurprisingly, it’s a magnet for fingerprints, especially on the fiddly capacitive touch buttons for the automatic climate control and infotainment hard keys. By the way, there’s no haptic feedback on those capacitive touch panels, making them a truly eyes-on affair. If that sounds distracting, that’s because it sort-of is.
Despite these faux pas, look beyond the shiny plastic and fussy controls, and you see things that make a lot of sense. Every real button and switch is satisfyingly damped, there’s enough soft-touch and stitched surfacing to temper any whiffs of cheapness, and the quality of the leather on the steering wheel punches so far above the Jetta’s weight class, there are $60,000 machines that ought to be ashamed at how they upholster the part of a car you touch the most.
Indeed, things keep getting better the farther from the Jetta’s dashboard you get. The front seats are solidly comfortable for several hours in the saddle, and rear seat legroom is proper, albeit constrained by a central hump. The door bins are enormous, and then there’s the trunk, which is fit for two drive-in stowaways. Bonus points for the ultra-wide sunroof that really opens up the cabin, and the chunky physical handle on the inside of the trunk lid for closing the trunk. That latter one’s a detail many compact cars skip.
How Does It Drive?
Arguably, the real party piece of the Jetta sits under the hood: a 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine with a serious plateau of torque. Sure, the party’s basically over by 4,500 RPM, but with short ratios in the eight-speed automatic gearbox, this normal compact sedan feels more eager than it has any right to. Leave the line with a heavy foot, and you’re likely to see the stability control icon flash in the gauges. That’s a good thing. It’s smooth too, with hybrid-svelte auto stop-start for saving gas at traffic lights and automatic transmission programming that’s largely masterful. Even the fuel economy’s a delightful surprise. It might be rated at 33 MPG combined, but I averaged 36 MPG over 325 miles of driving.
Of course, a reasonably strong powertrain can only take a car so far, which is why I’m pleased to report that the Jetta’s chassis keeps up. Taut damping translates to remarkable body control and tenacity for the class, and once you factor in naturally-weighted and accurate steering that’s among the best in the compact car class, the Jetta carries a certain thirst for backroads and on-ramps that just makes you want to fling it around. When you’re done driving like you’re on fire, everything settles down, and you can studiously consider Volkswagen’s trade-offs. Sure, potholes can feel firm, but every bump is a one-and-done motion from the suspension, and the dampers filter out minor imperfections like expansion joints beautifully. The Volkswagen we know and love is still alive, and you can find it in the way the Jetta drives. No high-dollar price tag required.
Does It Have The Electronic Crap I Want?
This particular Jetta’s jam-packed with electronics, some good, and some not so good. We already touched on the capacitive touch controls for the climate panel and the infotainment shortcuts, but the weird double-trapezoid clash of the infotainment unit and its bezel is also something worth studying. Beyond those annoyances, though, there’s lots to like. I’m talking wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a slick digital instrument cluster with high configurability, an available three-stage heated steering wheel, a litany of USB-C ports, auto up-down on all four power windows, a proximity key fob that’s genuinely small, a solid suite of advanced driver assistance systems, and a perfectly cromulent six-speaker audio system. Add a one-notch V to the three-band equalizer, set the fader a notch to the back, and this small array of speakers performs quite well for the segment.
Three Things To Know About The 2026 Volkswagen Jetta
- The interior feels a bit cheaper than it did prior to this latest facelift, although the leather-wrapped steering wheel feels seriously expensive.
- It serves up genuinely outstanding highway fuel economy.
- This thing’s actually surprisingly fun to drive.
Does The 2026 Volkswagen Jetta Fulfil Its Purpose?
Absolutely, and despite Volkswagen’s own efforts in some ways. Yes, the capacitive-touch stuff is irritating, and yes, the interior of the 2024 model felt a little bit nicer, but the fundamentals of what make a good car a good car are here. Solid fuel economy, a reasonably potent and refined powertrain, mostly nice touch points, a well-tuned chassis, and pretty decent seats, all at a fairly affordable price. You aren’t getting a Civic with this many toys for $28,755.
So how does the Jetta stack up against the competition? Well, it’s a nicer overall package than a Toyota Corolla or Hyundai Elantra, much roomier than a Mazda 3, and more potent than a standard Kia K4, although the Honda Civic still has it beat on overall refinement. The Nissan Sentra definitely has a nicer interior than the Jetta, but its powertrain just can’t keep up with the Volkswagen’s. So, if you’re shopping for a compact sedan, go drive a Jetta. Even with the capacitive-touch controls, it’s a worthy contender at a decent price.
What’s The Punctum Of The 2026 Volkswagen Jetta?
Beneath the shiny black plastic and capacitive-touch climate controls, this is still a seriously good car.
Top graphic image: Thomas Hundal
“2026 Volkswagen Jetta Is A Good Enough Car”
There – fixed it for ya.
“…zoom out and the Jetta is a handsome car.”
Here’s your paper bag – Just put it over his/her head.
I’ve had several of these as rentals, though before they added the stupid cap-touch controls, ugh. About the best car for the money for sale in the US, IMHO. In fact, in back-to-back weeks in Dallas, I had a base Volvo S60 the first week, and one of these in R-line trim the second, and I preferred the Jetta. Noodling around suburban Dallas, I got a legit 40mph out of the thing. I hated the user interface much, much, much less than the Volvo, and the drive just wasn’t much different. In a car that cost rather less than half as much.
Historically VW has discounted the heck out of these, and absolutely ridiculously cheap lease deals too. As I have related, a friend of mine who was a full-time student while working full time did the “car as utility payment” thing for 5-6 years with a succession of cheap 2yr leases. Never had to so much as put tires on any of them. And IIRC the dealer even picked up the one oil change between trade-ins.
Just a horrible shame we can’t get a long-roof version, or a plain-Jane Golf anymore. Or a stick.
We live in the worst time-line.
The GLI (not the Golf GTI) trim still is available with a stick. For now.
I know. I would want the base car with a stick too. The current GTI is dead to me. Too fugly, no stick, no sale.
The hatchback/stick base model combo is pretty much dead in the US. There a handful of hatches with sticks but they are all high-trim models -the Mazda 3 premium, CTR, and GRC. No more Honda Fit, Ford Fiesta and Focus, Volkswagen Golf, Hyundai Elantra, Mini Cooper Hardtop, Subaru Impreza and WRX, Mitsubishi Mirage, Toyota Yaris or Matrix, Kia Forte5, Rio, or Soul, Chevrolet Spark or Sonic, Suzuki SX4…
Sticks in general are all but dead. Vast majority under 40 don’t even know how. Hatchbacks that aren’t on stilts are just about as dead, and proper wagons ARE dead, unless you have $100K+ to spend on high-performance nonsense from the Germans.
Doesn’t mean I have to accept it and buy product that I don’t want. I have never in my life needed to buy a *new* car. Though at this point, lack of sticks is just ONE reason among many I am not buying new cars anymore. It was fun while it lasted, but there are near infinite numbers of cars out there that I actually want.
I bought an Impreza hatch with a stick, and I would have bought another, but they stopped making them. So, I bought a Civic hatch with a stick, and I would have bought another, but they stopped making them (except for the Type R).
Stop buying cars, damnit! You are obviously causing the automakers to stop making sticks. 🙂
I have a friend who has had almost every automaker he has ever owned a car from go out of business within a decade. Starting with Packard, then MG, Simca, AMC, Oldsmobile, and Saab. So far the survivors are Ford and KIA. But it hasn’t quite been a decade yet…
I had one as a rental last year, I thought it was pretty good!
Some dealers selling them for around $20k. It’s deal great car for younger people or if you just want a cheaper new car. At $25k I’m not sure too many other models in that range that are better one way or another. Jetta has been a decent place to be for a while but slightly overpriced to really move units. It’s really been up to the dealers to bring value.
“…drive-in stowaways…” Did we stop using the other term for trunk capacity, you – the one about “dead h…….”. I didn’t get the memo…
I rented one of these expecting to hate it. I did not….
A few things:
The infotainment thing crashed a lot.
The car feels sluggish and the transmission is manic depressive UNLESS you just drive it in Sport mode. Since it upshifts to top gear even in S it doesn’t kill fuel economy too much, so just do that.
The mpg is pretty amazing..I got 46 crossing Ohio.
It handles kinda…good.
I would still get a Camry if I wanted to make the best financial decision, but these are a reasonable alternative.
These are MUCH cheaper than a Camry in the real world. Cheaper than a Corolla, for that matter.
And a car I would only buy as a base S or as a full-fat GLI. The trims in-between make little sense to me. But for the price of a new GLI I would just buy the nicest MK7 GTI I could find.
They really should move toward the “boxy and slightly wedgy” look from the late-80s A2 Jetta. At least gesture meaningfully in that direction.
This just looks generic.
Does this not make you question what VW may be doing “Even the fuel economy’s a delightful surprise. It might be rated at 33 MPG combined, but I averaged 36 MPG over 325 miles of driving.” Because, well we have read about too goo to be true before. Maybe the yearn for dieselgate culture is making a comeback…
The good news is that the answer seems to simply be gearing. The transmission doesn’t really stay in eighth unless you’re travelling slightly over 60 MPH, whereas the EPA highway cycle just kisses 59.9 MPH for a measly two seconds during its runtime. In proper city driving, I was about bang-on the EPA estimate. During highway slogs in Ontario’s 100 km/h zones (62 MPH), the Jetta massively overperformed. Like, 40 MPG+.
Appreciate the insight! those extra gears certainly help with mileage. 40MPG+ sounds real nice right about now. I still can’t believe only the GLI comes in a manual. Does the EPA cycle have anything to do with that?
Liked. Would rent.
$28,755 for a boring automatic sedan with ugly black wheels?
CP today.
But it costs about $6,300 more to add the 6-speed manual, which is sad.
Remember when the manual used to be the cheaper option?
I have a 2024 MT GLI with the old integrated infotainment screen and real climate controls. For what I paid for a very lightly used example it’s been great 1-year on. I also easily meet or exceed 30mpg on my daily commute depending on traffic.
I owned the first year of this generation with the 1.4-liter and had it for a few years before switching to a GTI. Even with that powertrain the power around town and city streets felt more than enough and I also had really good MPG, almost 40 on some days if my commute had light traffic. In 2019 I really felt it was a great car that kept a lot of the good qualities of the Golf while still being significantly cheaper, too.
I love the phrase “Irritants of modernity”! It’s so much classier than “All this newfangled crap”.
If I had to get a compact sedan, the Jetta would be near the top of my list. Maybe not as reliable as the Corolla or Civic but I think it looks the best and is a great alt to the standard Japanese offerings
“The interior feels a bit cheaper than it did prior to this latest facelift”
Insane that they couldn’t clear a bar that low. A few years down the line this thing is going to earn its Junior Chipmunk badge in squeaking.
I also can’t stand how the Jetta dash and shifter has randomly blanked-out buttons for features it doesn’t have.
That’s been the theme since the Mk5 Jetta (its peak).
This is just following tradition.
Every subsequent Jetta raises my opinion of the Mk5.
Kind of like how every new Jurassic World makes me yearn for the OG sequels.
Oof. Losing the physical buttons is a big disappointment. The Jetta was fine, at least for a rental, but a hard sell for my own money compared to a Civic or Corolla. Going all capacitive hurts that even more, especially given VW’s not so stellar reliability reputation.
The capacitive buttons on my washer and dryer work nicely enough. I probably wouldn’t feel that way if I had to operate them at 70mph however.
you are correct. one road imperfection and you have the AC on max or the radio station changed.
Thanks for reviewing a regular car that regular people should consider! Bonus points for mentioning similar cars in the same class. Another point that would be valuable is any data on reliability. I don’t know the answer, but I would guess this engine has been around for awhile and failure rates should be available.
I had one of theses as a rental last month and the buttons sucked so bad It would keep me from buying one. the rest of the car was fantastic and got great gas milage. I drove from Nevo Ca to the san diego airport without the gauge dropping at all.
The capacitive-touch HVAC controls are what made my wife choose a Taos (which keeps physical knobs on the base trim) over the Jetta. Same powertrain between the two, but she’d rather take the fuel economy hit from driving a crossover than have to deal with the stupid touch controls.
I irrationally hate the Jetta.
Partly, because of the typical driver of a Jetta giving zeroFs on the road, but mostly that it’s survived in America while the Golf was killed off.
Are you saying the Jetta is the new Altima? I remember when it was the Sorority girl car or fresh out of high school first car for a daughter.
I got one as a rental last summer and I was impressed by the 40mpg pushing +80mph in Arizona heat. The car felt very stable and solid to drive to be such an “economy” car. Much better experience than the Sentra or K4 I got before as rentals.
I dont know how is the long term reliability of that 1.5T engine but had a good punch.
Those are words I never expected to hear.
My wife had one of these as a rental for a few days while her Mazda3 was getting fixed from a collision, and it’s the first time I’ve ever been in a Sentra and thought it was a nice place to be. I would never buy one because of all the Nissan reasons, but it was a really nice, well thought out interior
Once you go Zero Gravity seats, nothing else compares.
My daughter purchased an SR trim Sentra in 2024. I was riding in it recently and it kinda of depressed me about my 2026 Prius. The Sentra’s interior just feels like it is comprised of nicer materials, has dual climate control (Never cared for it, but it’s not even an option on the fanciest trim Prius), and dynamic guide lines on the backup camera.
The Prius backup camera feels like it arrived straight from 2008, it is completely pathetic. The more modern camera is available only on the top trim + an additional $1,000 for the panoramic camera.
Toyota also needs to have a kaizen on their cruise control. I set it to 70 and it shows the set speed is 71, but maintains 70. I can only assume the speedometer is measuring in tenths of a mph that are not visible to the operator and the cruise control is rounding up rather than treating them as insignificant.
For almost $20k more than the Sentra, it’s kinda sad. On the other hand, I’ve driven almost 1,000 miles in the past month and only used gas for 30 miles when I flipped it to hybrid mode.
too bad Jatco is a word related to the Sentra though.
And another bright side… it’s a car that hasn’t been CUV-ified.
Ironically “Jetta-Cross” is a great name for a car
It has but only in China.
I absolutely fail to understand why anyone would even consider one of these when everyone else seems to be making a better product. Why would you buy what I seriously thought was a review of an old Jetta ( seriously ) versus a Toyota Camery? My mom bought a new hybrid version and the thing hauls ass and handles pretty well too. And you know its going to probably run for 250,000 miles without a yawn.
This VW? Its going to be in the shop. A lot. And its going to be for the same kinds of shit your typical German car has. Annoying little problems caused by unnecessarily re-engineered or engineered on purpose to be as absolutely complicated and breakage-prone. And its going to at best be a old looking, mediocre car.
I’m amazed how far VW has fallen. They were the world’s largest automaker for a hot second. And now that they are royally failing in China, have an aging lineup and a few failed product launches, I can’t see them being around forever. Ironically it might be VW that potentially goes belly-up before GM.
The driving dynamics are way sportier than most of the competition and if you step up to the GLI it gets even better and you can have a 6 speed. These are surprisingly good cars.
Yes, agreed. When you limp to the shop or better yet- don’t even make it there because the VW broke again, you will have the very unique dynamic and pure serenity of being stalled on the side of the road. Quite becoming.
I had a MK5 Jetta with the 2.5 inline 5. Totally splendid engine, built like a vault, fantastic in the snow, comfortable, and an absolute joy to drive. After 80K miles it was the most maintenance intensive vehicles that I’ve ever owned, and I still happily threw money at it.
If you’re a driving enthusiast and need a sedan, it really is much better than what spec sheet tells you to think about the car.
I love it…. “Driving enthusiast”. Like what does that mean? That it pulls out on the freeway a little more “spirited”? Honestly? My shitty old truck is hella fun to drive because its small and has a bench seat and a stick. And still- I really don’t want to throw money on a mechanical object when that money is better spent on retirement.
I honestly haven’t a clue what you’re doing on this website if you can’t appreciate that other people might want a driving experience that isn’t a 30 year old Tacoma or a Camry.
The Camry is a different segment, but the Jetta has the better driving experience compared to the competition. 40mpg for 25K is not bad in this economy.
I would bet hard money you haven’t even driven a new Camry. Everyone goes on and on about the “driving experience” of German cars when in reality its BS. This isn’t the 80’s anymore and everyone else makes a competent handling car these days due to all of the advances in electronic stability control and braking.
Mazda makes a great handling car. Toyota is, I suppose, “competent” – but not good enough. Do you like to drive?
Mom got the “hot” Camry with lower ride height, stiffer suspension, hybrid system with EV mode for launch mode. Yes… the car absolutely hauls ass. 0-60 in around 6 seconds. And it even has some nice seats. So yeah. I’d feel way, wayyyyyy more confident with her car over any VW product. I only say this because of the people I know who have owned VW’s, they were in the shop ALL THE TIME, including my MIL’s VW Jetta TDI.
If you’re driving a Camry for 250k miles, believe me there will be a lot of yawns
Yup. And I will be yawning at the poor shmucks still working when I retire early in a few years and maybe because I simply bought reliable vehicles and kept them forever, in fact still driving my 1996 Tacoma.
Ah. The baseline for handling must be that ‘96 Tacoma.
At least it handles. Versus needing something fixed.
I’d ask you to show me on the doll where the VW touched you, but I’m pretty sure it’s the wallet
You know…. if you’re going to attempt to make a smartass response… at least be original. Whats really happening is that you didn’t like what I wrote and felt you could “get back” with your trumpy response. Well- it was pretty lame. Come back when you have something that doesn’t sound like a 5 year old wrote it.
Holy shit dude, calm the fuck down. I was making a dumb joke, which is pretty much half of what I do here. I like VWs, but I also know that they’re unreliable as shit because I’ve owned a few. I probably talk more shit about VWs than anyone else on here. But they are fun to drive, provided of course that they’re running. I also spent 9 years driving an incredibly reliable but extremely boring Toyota. I was making a dumb joke about that, then I made another dumb joke about that, and for whatever reason that bent you out of shape. Not my intention at all. It’s a joke. Not trying to start some kind of stupid argument, just making a joke. I thought if anywhere was a good place to make car jokes, it was here
The Camry is an entire class larger and more expensive, the Jetta competes against the Corolla or Prius. I think the Jetta compares quite favorably against the Corolla apart from reliability.
Actually, we rented a new Corolla in Portland last week. Nah. The Corolla whips it. And you seem to brush off the reliability part- literally the WORST thing about VWs.
Listen to what everyone is saying. If you want a reliable sedan, yes, buy a Camry. It will do everything you expect. If you want a sports sedan that appeals to a driving enthusiast, consider the Jetta. The Corolla ain’t it.
. My MIL, a cousin, and practically every other person I’ve known that owned these cars spent a fortune keeping them running. That’s really stupid. Go buy a Mazda and call it a day.
My Mk6 GTI has been completely reliable for the 8 years I’ve had it, and I intend to drive it until it simply won’t anymore. The whole German-car-is-unreliable argument isn’t true for everyone so it can’t really be used as an absolute.
Well ok, but the problem is when you take pretty much the entirety of the VW brand as a whole and throughout all of their models- they aren’t reliable and in fact are some of the worst. I am more than certain a few Yugos made it past 100k. Still doesn’t mean they were good. Hence I fail to understand why paying for inferior products makes sense when better options are out there.
Meanwhile, we’ve had a lot of Toyotas in the family. NONE of them and I literally mean NONE had any issues period. As in 300,000+ mile and nothing.
I recently had a Camry rental for a week. They still drive like Grandma’s Buick (I’m near 70 myself). I’ve had a MkVI GTI for 13 years that has been dead on reliable. I don’t want a car “forever” that drives like a queen size bed.
Like I said before, pretty sure a few Yugos made it past 100k. They’re still crap cars. And you people who go on and on about handling… Sorry but my MIL owned a few VWs and this Camry handled better. Maybe because mom got the sporty Camry. But at least its a good car versus some garbage VW.
The GLI is tempting since it can still be had with a manual, and the facelift looks much better than the old version.
I envy you, for some reason in Mexico we only get the automatic one.
Swings and roudabouts.
Mexico gets the Suzuki Swift with a 6MT, which I’d happily consider over a Jetta (despite the power deficit)
Maybe the last generation, the new one remember me a lot a Nissan March, but if we are speaking of Suzuki we can consider the Jinmy