Re: New jetta opinion poll... GLX or Wolfsburg?

[Khan Klatt <khan@mediaaccess.com>]

At 8:12 PM -0400 4/17/01, Bill Hussey wrote:
>I have a '01 325Ci (that's the coupe) on order with a 5 speed, the 
>sport package, and a moonroof.  I've test driven the 3 series 4 
>times now, the 5 series twice, and the 3 series once.

I assume you meant the 7 series once (at the end of the sentence)...

>When I say the 3 series is lightyears ahead of the Golf/Jetta 
>platform, it's an understatement.  I don't know how else to describe 
>it, the only thing you can do is go out and drive it.  Do NOT drive 
>any model without the sport package.

I'm not going to argue that the Jetta/Golf is equivalent to the 3 
series. However, a base level 325i configured to the same trim as a 
Jetta Wolfsberg 1.8T is roughly $10,000 more to buy, and roughly $140 
more per month to lease. If you don't have the extra $10K, or the 
$140/month, then the "light years" the 3 series is ahead of the Golf 
Jetta doesn't really matter.

Is the 3 series light years ahead in performance? In gas mileage? In 
safety? In the quality of the audio system? Road noise? While the 3 
series may be substantially better in a lot of these areas, it's not 
"light years" ahead. I'm sorry, I have a hard time beleiving its 
anything but an overstatement. If it's light years ahead, please 
point out in what areas it so easily surpasses the Jetta, by a factor 
of 150%. (after all, it costs 150% as much as a Jetta, so I'd expect 
those areas to be substantially better than 150% as good as the Jetta 
for it to be even moderatly close to light years). I'm not picking a 
nit, as much as to point out how subjective your remarks are.

I generally believe that you get what you pay for (assuming you're a 
pretty smart consumer) and that if the Jetta costs $20K, and the 325i 
$30K, then my guess is that the 325i is probably closer to 150% as 
much "car" as the Jetta is. If this "150%" is "light years" to you, 
then we obviously calibrate our gauges differently. ;)
-- 

Khan Klatt                                         khan@mediaaccess.com

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