VW Jetta Hybrid

It's a hybrid!  No, it's a turbo!  No, wait, it's both!

Subtle.

VW’s Jetta Hybrid doesn’t broadcast itself as a hybrid except for the

moniker on the rear of the vehicle, so it’s easy to forget this Jetta is a hybrid. The 2013 VW Jetta Hybrid comes with a turbocharged 1.4-liter four-cylinder and a 20kW electric motor, a combination good for 170 hp and 184 pound-feet of torque. Power is fed to the front wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch automated manual transmission.

The electric motor alone can power the Jetta Hybrid for almost a mile at speeds up to 37 mph. VW says the Jetta Hybrid can accelerate from zero to 60 mph in less than 8.6 seconds.

According to the EPA, the Jetta Hybrid will return 42 mpg city/48 mpg highway and 45 mpg combined using required premium fuel.  At speed you wouldn’t know you’re in a hybrid Jetta unless you check your exceptional 45 mpg gas mileage at every stoplight.  The only other clue is when all goes quiet at stops.   When I took my foot off the brake, I noticed a slight lurching possibly caused by an enthusiastic electric motor.

Shift

I am reminded it’s a hybrid when I try to stuff many bags into the trunk—batteries take up a lot of space.  I get most of my belongings in the trunk with a bit of cramming.  Still it has 11.3 cubic feet of space in the trunk.

The cabin—including the back seat––is sedan roomy, again posing as a normal car and not a hybrid.  The driving dynamics feel dependable—it takes off from a stop brightly and corners well.  It comes with an excellent safety profile as one would expect from VW.

GirlDriver, USA really likes VW interiors, but the interior of the Jetta hybrid doesn’t have the sharpness of other VW models.  It was a little disappointing, more ordinary than VW’s usual executions. There's a lot of cost in mechanics of this car, which is probably why the interior is a little toned down from VW's usual.

It has a touchscreen stereo interface (standard in all SE and SEL models) and also a dial knob so you can choose how you want to access your tunes.

Base model starts at $24,995 and runs up to $31,180 MSRP.