Toyota and Honda guess large on gasoline-electric hybrids throughout the 2000s and have been rewarded with loads of {dollars} from fuel-economy-minded automotive consumers in america. Different producers received into the hybrid recreation in time for the 2010s, making the know-how appear much less experimental to automotive customers. Volkswagen opted for a extra diesel-centric path to large mpg throughout that interval, nevertheless (which labored out simply nice right here till sure revelations hit the information in late 2015), however did deliver one hybrid machine to its North American dealerships early within the decade: the Jetta Hybrid. I discovered certainly one of these uncommon machines in a Northern California self-service boneyard not too long ago, so let’s have a look.
The Jetta Hybrid debuted in North America as a 2013 mannequin, and our reviewer felt that it was extra satisfying to drive than different hybrid fashions on the time however that the financial savings in gasoline prices versus the distinction in price between it and the Jetta TDI and Jetta SE would require seven and 13 years of 20,000 annual miles pushed, respectively, to make it a worthwhile deal from a monetary standpoint.
Automobile consumers will need to have agreed with that evaluation, as a result of Volkswagen discontinued the Jetta Hybrid in 2017 after disappointing gross sales.
A seek for this automotive’s VIN on-line confirmed that it had been auctioned off in June after struggling vandalism harm with 172,842 miles on the odometer, to a purchaser within the Netherlands. Clearly, that deal fell by, as a result of the automotive confirmed up on the Decide-n-Pull nearest the public sale a number of months later.
The public sale photographs present an uncrashed and full automotive, however junkyard customers had yanked the dear headlights and grille earlier than I arrived.
The 2013 Jetta Hybrid had an MSRP of $24,995 for the bottom mannequin, $26,990 for the SE and $29,325 for the high-zoot SEL (that is about $33,325, $35,985 and $39,098 in 2023 {dollars}).
The 1.4-liter turbocharged gasoline engine and 20kW electrical motor produced a mixed output of 170 horsepower and 184 pound-feet, fed by a seven-speed DCT.
Will the brand new Tiguan plug-in hybrid be extra profitable than the Jetta Hybrid was? We’ll know in just a few years.
Right here we will benefit from the spectacle of a Jetta Hybrid driver making a Prius eat his voltage.
The Jetta Hybrid received a lot better gasoline economic system than a 454-powered late-Nineteen Seventies Chevrolet Stepside pickup.