Driven: 2025 Volkswagen Jetta Is Frugal Style On Wheels

The Volkswagen Jetta is now 45 years old and staring into the existential void of middle age, battling for relevancy in a world leaving the compact four-door sedan behind. In its lifespan so far, it has been a critic’s darling, an enthusiast’s joy, and a rental fleet staple – rarely all at the same time, though. In its current form, the Jetta is a cost-effective, feature-laden entry-level sedan aimed at the savvy buyer wanting premium features in a sophisticated compact package without spending a fortune.

In that sense, the seventh generation Volkswagen Jetta already delivers, but the 2025 model aims to improve on the formula with a refresh. The entry price is under $25k and it comes with a 158-horsepower turbocharged 1.5-liter engine that sips fuel at a rate of 39-40 miles per gallon.

The mid-generation refresh is the automaker’s way of reminding us a car is on sale by making attractive updates – sometimes substantial, sometimes just new bumpers, updated headlights, and a few small equipment improvements and tweaks for usability. On paper, the 2025 Jetta falls into the second bracket, but we spent a week with the refreshed model to see how the updates impact everyday life.

Exterior: Conservative Style

This generation of Jetta looks sharp in a way that doesn’t stand out, which is currently the conservative Volkswagen way. However, we don’t see that as a bad thing, and for 2025 Volkswagen is upping the sharpness game with narrower and slit-like headlights, a thinner grille, and more confident front and rear fascias. On the upper trims, the Jetta now has a light bar connecting the front lights, as is the current trend across the industry. From a critical point of view, we appreciate how the base car’s grille has gone against the trend, and we find the connecting light bar unnecessary, and strikes us as an afterthought.

The standard drop of 0.6 inches on the suspension that used to be reserved for the Sport trim helps the Jetta’s new stance and sense of style. Our test model is the top-trim SEL, which rides on 18-inch wheels instead of the Sport’s 17-inch discs. If you regularly read car reviews, this paragraph is, indeed, foreboding. Read on.

Interior: Mixed Emotions

From the outside, the Jetta carries off a premium look with its styling. However, the interior has a lot of plastic that lets you know where costs have been cut. The overall design is an improvement, but we would take some comfier seats inside over the dramatic exterior updates. There’s also a lot of cheap-feeling plastics that kill the mood.

We don’t often comment on seat comfort as there is mostly a base level of seat design, and from then on, body types vary. It’s a big part of why everyone should sit in and then test drive a car before buying it. However, the Jetta’s seats are objectively rather off-putting; we found the same on our first drive with the Jetta GLI and expounded further on the issue of the seats in our discussion on how we’d improve the 2025 Jetta.

To find out if we were being overly critical, we even got our neighbors to sit in the Jetta, and sadlym, they agreed with us. These aren’t seats we would like to sit in for a long journey. Despite this, the neighbors were impressed by how roomy the Jetta is inside for such a small car, which goes on to the trunk, which has way more space than you expect.

Infotainment: Meaningful Standard Improvements

On the positive side, the previously standard 6.5-inch touchscreen has been replaced with an eight-inch unit, which we find an ideal size for everyday use. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto aren’t standard on lower trims, but Dual-zone automatic climate control is now standard, and the new climate touch-controls do a surprisingly good job considering Volkswagen’s track record there.

The SEL model comes with a 400-watt BeatsAudio system with eight speakers and a subwoofer, but it’s not something to get excited about. It sounds like a system that’s been inserted into a car without forethought. The bass is loose and boomy, the highs are shrill, and the mids are muted. It’s not as bad as the JBL system in the Toyota Supra, but we would begrudge paying extra for it. It’s flat-out bad, and no tweaking of the EQ can make it sound like it should have the word premium attached to it.

Under The Hood: The Great Trade-Off

With only 158 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque coming from the turbocharged four-cylinder engine, getting from a stop to sixty mph takes just over seven seconds. However, we saw 37 mpg overall through our week with a fair amount of driving up and down a mountain. The Jetta doesn’t feel slow, and it isn’t quick off the line as the first gear is short – meaning it helps the torque, which is fully available at just 1,750 rpm, get the vehicle going.

*city/highway/combined as per the EPA

Last year’s six-speed manual is done away, although you can still get it on the GLI if you want to row your own gears. We don’t miss it too much hear save for the fact that the previously optional automatic transmission that is now standard isn’t great. The short first gear makes up for a lack of engine power from the start, but the transmission doesn’t rush to change gears. For those who like to hustle through a city, it’s not ideal, even with the early availability of the engine’s torque.

On The Road: Some Revision Still Needed

Not helping the uncomfortable seats is the mix of 18-inch wheels on low-sidewall tires and the suspension on our SEL trim tester. It registers fine with us if you only ever drive on excellently built and maintained roads. On heavily trafficked roads linking small cities, the ride became annoying in a couple of places where we usually wouldn’t notice anything. Maybe the 0.6-inch lowering of the suspension should stay with the Sport trim, where you would expect to trade ride comfort for a sportier attitude. Mixing that with 18-wheels, well, it makes it hard to recommend the SEL trim.

Around the city and on typical commuter roads, however, the Jetta becomes pleasant and easy to drive with light steering and an overall light feeling to the car. On a back road, it’s a nimble little car with great body control and decent braking but it comes up short in the fun side of driving dynamics compared with Honda’s Civic or the irrepressible Mazda 3. If you want a little more from your VW sedan, the GLI is a must:

Conclusion: Choose Your Trim Wisely

When we say “choose your trim wisely,” we mean don’t stretch for the SEL model. Instead, enjoy the value for money and, presumably, better ride quality offered by the lower-rung models, or the addition of an XDS differential on the Sport. Basically, pretend the SEL and its 18-inch wheels and BeatsAudio system don’t exist. It’s clear that Volkswagen’s product management is determined to provide value for money in a good-looking package that isn’t a penalty for not having over $25,000 to spend on a new car.

As a product with a purpose, the S, SE, and Sport trims achieve the goals of being good-looking, practical, feature-rich, and financially sensible. That makes the 2025 Volkswagen Jetta well worth a test drive if those are the boxes that need ticking.