How this humble silver 2022 VW Jetta S (with a manual!) took me back in time

A short while ago, a memory popped up on my Facebook newstream from 16 years ago: a photo of the day I sold my beloved 2000 VW Jetta VR6. It is a day and event I have long regretted. I wasn’t just saying goodbye to an old friend, I felt like I was betraying that friend. It was like sending my dog to the pound. How could I possibly walk away from a friend that went everywhere with me through my most formative years? It was my companion through the last two years of high school, all four years of college and several cross-country journeys along the way. That includes being with me in three of the places most associated with my youth: Indianapolis where I went to high school, Malibu where I went to college, and two summers visiting Toronto, where I grew up. When you live a rather migratory existence, it’s probably not surprising that a car becomes like a friend.

Any way, I’m in the process of moving back to Southern California from Oregon. Specifically, an area not that far from where I went to college slash first tore through the Santa Monica Mountains in a certain Jetta VR6 painted Silver Arrow. The nostalgia feels were already pretty strong as I boarded the plane for a quick trip down to Malibu to drive the revised 2022 VW Arteon. To get me there, the Volkswagen folks left a car for me at LAX. I honestly didn’t look closely at what it was going to be.

It was a silver Jetta. I stood there for a beat to appreciate how fitting it was. “Driving to Malibu in silver Jetta” is probably second to only “sitting on couch watching Star Trek” in terms of quintessential “me” things to do. I nearly called up my college roommate and asked if he wanted me to pick him up and do lunch at Howdy’s.

Obviously, this silver 2022 Volkswagen Jetta is quite different from mine. For one thing, it’s actually cheaper, by about $3,000. And no, not adjusted for inflation. Partly that’s because mine was a loaded GLS (not quite top of the line), while this was a base-as-base-can-be Jetta S trim level. However, the main reason is that Volkswagen transitioned the Jetta from a premium entry in the compact segment to a value-oriented one two generations ago. This Jetta goes for $21,360, including destination. In 1999 dollars, that would only be $12,308. A base-as-base-could-be 2000 Jetta GL went for around $17,000 back then.

That car’s engine was abysmal, however. I distinctly remember Car and Driver at the time pining that Volkswagen’s 2.0-liter inline-four would be better suited to marine duty … as a boat anchor. Quite clever that lot. Naturally, I wanted the 2.8-liter VR6. The 1.8-liter turbo-four hadn’t been introduced yet, but there’s no way I’d want that. Why have 150 horsepower when I could have 174 horsepower? I’m recalling those figures from memory, by the way. No clue what the torque figure was. Probably cause I didn’t know what torque was at all in 1999, but turns out that VR6 had a lot of it and it was enough to plant a deep-seeded love for the stuff in my automotive taste profile. High strung and revvy would not be my thing, as my Jetta’s Acura TLX successor would prove.

I don’t think I’d seek out an upgrade for the 2022 Jetta’s base engine. It brings the torque: 184 pound-feet of the stuff courtesy of a 1.5-liter turbocharged inline-four. That’s actually 3 torques more than my old VR6 (I had to look it up), and its 158 horsepower outstrips the old 1.8T upgrade. Of course, matching or surpassing 20-year-old cars is hardly something to be proud of, but remember, this is the base engine not an optional upgrade. It’s a smooth mill with a deep well of low-end grunt that sure seemed reminiscent of the car I remembered. Comparable throttle and brake pedal responses, too. Of course, it gets 29 mpg city, 43 mpg highway and 34 mpg combined. My Jetta VR6 got 19 mpg combined, or about what you can expect from a 2022 Lincoln Navigator. But it was 1999 and gas was like $1.20 in Indiana so who cares?