In the 19th century, Brothers Grimm of Cinderella fame re-wrote Sleeping Beauty, the fairy tale classic first written by Charles Perrault. As it would happen, the Brothers Grimm’s version found more acceptance than the original by the French author and was translated in many languages. As I stood there in front of the unpronounceable Hotel Dornronschenschloss, a castle hotel built in 1341, I could picture the princess, the towers and even the wall of thorns that formed themselves around this very castle, the inspiration for the Brothers Grimm version. As the story goes, it took a prince to finally free the sleeping princess from the shackles of time. If Volkswagen India thinks the Jetta is just such a prince, they have a wry sense of humour putting us journalists up at such a place.
Volkswagen India is ready to launch its second most significant model after the Passat by the middle of this month. Of course, you can book your favourite Touareg as well, but then the big SUV is not going to affect anybody’s applecart anytime soon. The Jetta will, and it hopes to affect everything from the Honda Civic to the Accord and in-between. It’s also the first model that will actually drive a probable wedge between VW and sister concern SkodaAuto in India, but more on that later.
The Jetta, as you know, is based on the Golf, and is now in its fifth generation. While there are a host of petrol and diesel engine variants available, we will receive the 1.6-litre petrol and 1.9-litre Pumpe-Deuse diesel engines to begin with. Both will be available with either 5-speed manual or DSG gearboxes in India with several trim options. Now, you are aware of the 1.9-litre PD engine that powers the Laura and is a bulletproof engine. It is the 1.6 that needs a bit of an introduction. This inline-four produces about 102 bhp@5600 rpm and a peak torque of little a over 15 kgm, and powers a whole host of other VW cars, including the Golf and the Polo. I’m not sure if this is the right engine option for India, given that the power and torque are a trifle low to affect cars like the Honda Civic or the upcoming Toyota Corolla, but really Volkswagen don’t have an option on the gasoline front because their new engines are a bit too high-tech for Indian fuel.
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