Happy new year to all readers of MyCarForum! Year 2009 saw a shift in the buying pattern of motorists in Singapore. Continentals and Koreans are gaining market share at the expense of the offerings from the land of the rising sun. The major reasons being the closing up of the price difference between the continental and japanese cars, and the major improvement in the build quality of the Korean vehicles while maintaining their price competitiveness.

VW is determined to continue the momentum that it has started in 2009. When I woke up on the first day of the new year, I saw a major advertisement by Volkswagen Centre Singapore (VCS) which promotes its TSI and DSG technologies. VCS also offered a special promotion period for their Jetta, valid till 20 Jan 2010.

I became a proud owner of a Jetta Sports about 2 weeks ago and would like to share my personal opinions on the car. The exterior styling of the car is nothing to shout about. It projects an executive image and basically that's about it. The rear LED lightings is a nice touch. Going on to the interior, the dials on the instrument cluster are large and easy to read. The touchscreen RCD 510 entertainment system adds additional class to the well-built interior of the Jetta. The sound system is fine to me as I am not really an ICE person. The Jetta is very well put together with no rattlings from any part of the cabin. This is a testimonial to the quality control at VW's South Africa plant.

Next, I come to the highly acclaimed 7 Speed DSG gearbox. Gear changes are lightning quick and imperceptible. My only complaint is that it upshifts too quickly and the car is already in 7th gear when I am travelling at around 65km/h. Being at the final gear at such low speed makes the car feel a bit lethargic some times. Perhaps in its application to the Jetta, the DSG system is more tuned towards efficiency.

The Jetta Sports is fitted with the 2009 'International Engine of the Year' award winner - the 1.4 Twincharger engine. The engine is smooth even if I rev it up to 4000-5000rpm range. It's refinement can be compared to the creamy K20Z lump in my previous Honda Civic 2.0. When the traffic light turns green, the car feels a slight relunctance in moving off but it picks up speed readily once the car upshifts to 2nd gear. Fuel consumption wise, I am should be getting around 12 to 13km/l on my current 2nd full tank. The car has only clocked 800km so far and I would expect the consumption figure to improve over the next few weeks.

Overall, I am quite pleased with the Jetta Sports and I wish VCS all the best in the coming year.