Jetta Owners Club UK

The History Behind The Name
The Mk1 A1 Jetta

It was only relatively late in the production of the Golf that Volkswagen saw fit to broaden the range by introducing a pair of "three-box" saloons to run alongside the hatchback models, and it would be 1981 before the first cars were seen in the UK.

The first Jetta had come to market on the continent of Europe in the summer of 1979 and from the start it had been offered in a wide variety of specifications. Apart from the choice of 2-door and 4-door body work there was the option of three engines: the 1272cc, 1457cc and fuel-injected 1588cc units which had long been the foundations of the Golf range; and three levels of trim: base model, L and GL. Combined with the engine options, this resulted in no fewer than 8 different model designations, although by no means all of them would be taken up in every market.

Volkswagen were not alone in identifying that despite the popularity of the hatchback - because of its versatility and its efficient use of space - the traditional saloon was still favoured by many buyers, not least because of its perceived additional security of an entirely separate luggage boot and because a conventional saloon by definition was a larger car and offered a formality for business users which the hatchback could not necessarily provide.

However, although the family resemblance between the Golf and the Jetta was immediately apparent, the Jetta was rather more than a "Golf with a boot", despite their almost identical mechanical specifications. The Jetta was given smoother front end styling, with rectangular headlights blending neatly into a horizontal bar grille, which, together with different wheel trims and decorative stripes along the body sides, helped to give the car a distinct identity.

Although the Jetta shared the Golf's 240cm wheelbase, it was 380cm (15") longer overall, the additional length being the result of adding a vast 630 litre capacity luggage compartment, some 70% more than was offered by the Golf. Model for model, a Jetta weighed some 50-55kg (110-121 lb) more than the equivalent Golf, but performance against the stopwatch was broadly similar, although the Jetta was slightly quicker as a result of its superior aerodynamics.

Overall the Jetta was well received, and for the most part it succeeded in achieving Volkswagen's primary objective, namely to capture sales from other manufacturers' products rather than from the Golf.

At the beginning of 1981, when Volkswagen announced a series of energy-saving measures under the banner of Formel E Technology, the Jetta, like the Golf, became the recipient of an optional 3+E gearbox in which (fourth) offered a cruising gear in which the engine revs typically dropped by around 1000 rpm following the change up from third. The other Formel E equipment mirrored that of the Golf, but with the addition of a rear spoiler. The previous year a diesel had been added to the Jetta range using the 1471cc engine which had long been available in the Golf, which was then replaced in 1981 by a 1588cc version.

The range on offer when the Jetta went on sale in the UK comprised of the L and GL, both with a choice of the 1.3 litre and 1.5 litre engines and the 1.6 litre LD diesel. For 1982, the L designation on the UK market was replaced by a C identification, which came with the 1.3 litre engine, the 1.5 litre version then becoming standard equipment for the CL and GL models. Elsewhere that year, when Volkswagen fuel-injected 1588cc engine gave way to 1781cc version, the Jetta Cli and Gli, which in some markets had shared the 1.6 litre engine with the Golf Gti, were withdrawn from the catalogue.

During the final season of the Mark I, the Jetta range was simplified throughout Europe into 3 specification levels, C, CL, and GL.

Although the Jetta never threatened the marketing supremacy of the Golf on a global basis, it did outsell the hatchback in a few of other territories (mostly USA and Canada) where three and five-door bodywork had little appeal. Despite its comparatively late appearance on the scene, it had carved itself a sufficient slice of the market to convince the Volkswagen management that next time around a four door version of the replacement Golf should form an integral part of the overall design, rather than an afterthought...