By accessing this website, you acknowledge that Edmunds and its third party business partners may use cookies, pixels, and similar technologies to collect information about you and your interactions with the website as described in our
Privacy Statement, and you agree that your use of the website is subject to our
Visitor Agreement.
Comments
i am confused. are your tires gonna be all slanted outward and touch your wheel wells? take a pic of the car now, and then post before and after pics!
No. There's no real drop on the factory "sport" suspension.
i know i can order the sport suspension from VW that includes the sport suspension components, that lower the car as a direct result of different springs.
The Eibach kit VW sells does lower the car, but the sport package you buy the car equipped with does not have that eibach kit.
i am confused. are your tires gonna be all slanted outward and touch your wheel wells?
No. You do a 2 inch drop and still do not have to touch the wheels. Ever notice the VW looks like a 4x4? They've got a good 2-3 inch wheel gap. It's sickening. BMW and Audi understand that for both handling and aesthetics, the wheels should hug the well. Nothing quite as a sexy as some 18s in a BMW's front fender well. Yummy.
So all alignment, balance, axle, tire wear as well as (dare I say it?) squeaks, rattles and noises from and around the wheel well area will not be VW's problem any more!
Good luck with those springs, I am curious to hear how they will work out with the stock shocks.
i am not sure about the 4x4 comment though. the germans (vw and bmw and m-b) are the only car makers left that is keeping their cars "short", instead of tall and skinny like the rest. well, not counting the tall Beetle of course. i know what you are saying about the gat between the rubber tire, and the wheel well, but i guess my tires are black, and the space is black until it reaches my silver fender, so there is no real empty space that appears to the eye. unless you go stick your hand in the space.
i think i am definitely more into classy/elegant looking cars than the sporty/aftermarket look.
to each his own! and no, no, no to 18" wheels, on anything. unless you have an escalade with a gold package!
I think the appropriate max wheel size is dependent on the car. 18 inchers on a VW look silly to me, but fantastic on an M3 (they come stock that way).
Justin: The Jetta with the 15" wheels is way too high looking for me. That's the reason I got the 17s off the lot. When I drop the car, there will hardly be any space between the tires and the body of the car, the way it should be.
Not having cruise control can be a good thing, as you can wire the brake pedal so far you can actually heel-toe without the ECU interfering.
17 or 18" wheels on anything other than a commercial truck are pretty cheesy, if you ask me. Who comes up with this styling exercise crud?
"...the way it should be."
Somebody call and tell VW.
I also think it looks pretty good too.
It's obvious you're not an enthusiastic driver. If you don't wring your car out then it's natural you see no value in having 17s or 18s. The sidewalls on 15s and 16s are far too large for me to enjoy driving the car. All that flex makes for horrendously horrible cornering. The smaller and stiffer your sidewall, the better off you are (to a degree of course) when cornering.
Style...sheesh, couldn't care less. Performance...that does matter to me.
give credit where credit is due!
i can't get my car to slide anywhere! maybe its cuz i have the automatic. i can point my car at anything, drive as fast as i want, and it does its thing. sure, on occasion the tires scream, but that's half the fun!!
give credit where credit is due!
Um, justin, I didn't pass on the WRX over its exterior (an element of any car that's pretty useless to me), but rather the interior and the fit and finish. in fact I drove a modded a WRX this weekend (0-60 in 4.9 seconds last time he tested it) and i have to say if the car had leather, decent interior materials and framed doors, i'd go buy one.
It's night and day from my Jetta. For all the luxury my car has, the WRX is all about unbridled performance.
The 15s on the Jettas and Golfs that I have driven with them have had pretty average grip though, and start losing momentum very early in a corner that my 17s handle without any squealing.
HO
DON'T do that!!!!!!!!
See, what happens is, you put a car bra on your car... and it gets left there. Then, when it rains, dirt gets carried under the car bra and stays there. Then the car bra rubs the dirt into your paint like a big piece of sandpaper.
This is bad, mmkay?
Not to mention that it covers up a nice Jetta with a big ugly piece of black material. Bleah.
You are mistaken my friend. Funny, I upgraded from 13 to 14 on my Civic, and thought that was plenty. I kept the rims because they fit the Jetta, and instead of buying goofy tires with no sidewall, I did something unique, I bought BETTER tires! I have 195/60R14 tires, which is a short enough sidewall for me.
"...All that flex makes for horrendously horrible cornering."
Those short sidewalls make for a choppy, uncomfortable ride.
i didn't think the interior was awful. i mean, japanese cars in that price range are all the same for the most part. i just can't deal with hood scoops and fog lights. if i wanted obnoxious, i'd buy a pontiac!
Yeah, but are they the same tires, or different tires. I bet the size isn't the limiting factor there.
I think I'd rather have some pits and chips than a big ugly piece of black vinyl up front. It ruins the looks and the aerodynamics. Go spend $5 and buy some touchup paint.
I actually have a LeBra front end cover for my 00 Jetta... and I think that it looks better with it. Personal opinion though. It doesn't scratch your paint one bit if you take care of it and be sure to remove it before washings. If you can't or don't want to spend the extra 5 minutes on it to do such, I wouldn't recommend it. If you are disciplined enough, personally... I think that they are well worth their money.... especially in places like Colorado where winter roads and the garbage put on them will do a number on your front end!
HO
I rarely hit an off ramp that slowly. Off-ramps/on-ramps are the best part...especially those sweeping 270 degree ones. There's one by my old place that I loved. It was two lanes and 95% of the people stayed on the inside lane. i'd always pop to the outside, hit third and fly through it at two-two and a half times the posted 30 mph limit.
You didn't exactly prove yourself an enthusiast by putting 14s with a 60 mm sidewall on a Jetta. Why don't you locate someone with 17s and drive your car and his through the same set of twisties as fast as the car will handle - not your comfort or the legal limit, but the car's limit. to say the 14s can keep up is pretty ludicrous.
Those short sidewalls make for a choppy, uncomfortable ride.
I beg to differ, friend. A jetta with 17s is pretty darn smooth. A Maxima with 17s is liquidy smooth and a G35 with 17s is sublime.
BTW, blueguy: The 60 number is not measured in millimeters, its actually just a ratio to the width of the tire that I don't really understand at all.
Re: 15" tires: I have not come close to going sideways on my Michelin 15's. You guys must be driving VERY hard!!
I take this offramp (rated for 25mph) everyday for work. I have not gone slower than 50mph around that turn in my Jetta. I tried that in the loaner one, and almost slid sideways off the ramp.
VW is covering all window regulators for the life of the car. They realize the plastic parts are defective, and are covering parts and labor for all regulators. One person took their car in with 70K miles on it, and they still got the part fixed for nothing. If the dealer gives you a hard time about it, talk to VWoA about it.
My back windows click when going up and down, a sign they are getting ready to fall. Talk to your dealer about this, they should be willing to help you.
The dealer never mentioned that to me. So I sent in for my subscription and recv'd the check back with a letter that stated my dealer is giving me a complimentory subcription.
So a 60R is 60% of the width of a tire. So with a 195/60R you're looking at a huge sidewall - about 4.6 inches.
On another note. I was considering getting satellite radio to add to my Monsoon cd radio. Has anyone had experience with this? I called VW service, and they said it does not void warranty. I had heard it could void electrical warranty if you add to the radio. They said it does not. Should I have them put in writing to protect myself. I think I read in the owner's manual that it can void warranty because they can't read the computer or something?
and on one more note, lol, has anyone seen that commercial where two guys stop at a gas station/mini mart and the tagline is "The Jetta. Well Done." ? Kind of a strange commercial that leaves you saying "huh?" afterwards..
The Engineers don't design the Jetta for the optimum performance. They designed the suspension for soft American butts. Real cushy and smooshy so it's nice and comfortable like a Buick. I seriously can't understand how you think the car has no body roll. It's too bad the "sport" package isn't really a sport package.
You have to pay attention to detail in the "Well Done" commercial. If you look closely, the two guys are each sunburned on half their bodies, so they trade places in the car. This happened to me when I went on a road trip with my wife this summer. I had the sunroof open and later in the day realized that half my face was sunburned. I bought a hat and used sunscreen after that. :^)
No, I meant it the other way around. He was comparing stock OEM tires to upgraded "performance" tires. If you put the same tires on in two different sizes, the difference becomes less obvious. Trust me, I've tried it!