2023 Volkswagen Jetta Reviews, Pricing & Specs

Though you might be able to afford a new 2023 Volkswagen Jetta, it is an open question whether or not you want to spend your money on a traditional four-door sedan. Within the Jetta’s price range, there are alternatives offering more utility, such as VW’s Taos crossover SUV, or more style, like the Mazda3 Hatchback.

Volkswagen sells the 2023 Jetta in S, Sport, SE, SEL, and GLI trim levels, and prices range from $20,665 for the base model to $31,585, not including the $1,095 destination charge. The GLI is a sport-tuned model with added power and more rewarding driving dynamics, and this review doesn’t apply to it. If you’re shopping for the fun version of the Jetta, read our GLI review from last year.

Our test car for this review was a Jetta SEL dressed in Platinum Gray Metallic paint with a Volcano Brown over Titan Black interior. Volkswagen offers numerous accessories for the SEL trim, but our test vehicle didn’t have any of them. With the destination charge, its manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) came to $29,480.

More than almost anything else, it is the Jetta’s bland appearance that kneecaps it. Volkswagens are typically conservative-looking, styled to age gracefully and to remain appealing for years to come. But in the past, the Jetta’s clean design reflected symmetry, balance, and careful consideration, producing a simple and pure beauty. In contrast, the current-generation Jetta doesn’t, though it did get tidied up after a recent refresh.

Whether or not you find the 2023 Jetta attractive is a personal matter, but there’s no denying it is visually inoffensive. That observation extends to the no-nonsense interior, which in the top SEL trim channels the VW Group’s Audi luxury brand. It has ambient lighting, genuine leather upholstery, an oversized power sunroof, and larger screens for the digital instrumentation and infotainment systems. From the driver’s seat, the Jetta SEL looks and feels upscale, delivering emotional value at less than $30,000.

If the Jetta looks and feels German inside, it drives that way, too. This isn’t a sports sedan, though (see: Jetta GLI). In standard form, the Jetta supplies turbocharged torque for zippy acceleration and light, responsive steering for a nimble feel in urban and suburban environments. These traits combine with brakes that feel good underfoot and a soft, compliant suspension that soaks up the bumps and holes on the road of life.

Under the Jetta’s hood, Volkswagen employs a modest 1.5-liter turbocharged inline four-cylinder engine. It makes 158 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque, which is plenty for the front-wheel-drive car. In S and Sport trim, a six-speed manual transmission is standard. The SE and SEL have an eight-speed automatic (optional with S and Sport trim). The automatic provides a Sport mode and a manual shifting mode, and you’re likely to use them. An all-wheel-drive system is unavailable on the Jetta.

Unfortunately, with the automatic transmission, there is a noticeable delay between when you step on the right pedal and when the engine responds with something resembling acceleration. Worse, the turbo finally spools up and supplies plenty of thrust just as you’ve decided to push harder on the gas, so the car can surge forward faster than expected and spin the front tires when making a turn. It is irritating.

We would guess the manual transmission provides more control over that behavior. We also found that choosing the transmission’s Sport mode with each drive helps to resolve this undesirable driving characteristic. But that apparently has a negative effect on fuel economy. The official EPA gas mileage rating for the Jetta SEL is 33 mpg in combined driving, but we averaged 30 mpg on our mountainous Southern California testing loop.

Still, if you’re able to anticipate and acclimate to how the powertrain performs, there is a reward in driving a 2023 Jetta SEL. It might feel light, soft, and tossable around town, but it is a German car at heart. We felt entirely at ease whizzing along on mountain roads, the Jetta SEL earning our trust thanks to its accurate steering, faithful brakes, and predictable handling.

Not only that, but the SEL’s all-season tires impressed us so much we had to know what they were. The P205/55R17 Nexen Nfera AU7 treads uttered nary a squeal in curves and corners and provided plenty of communication about the road surface and approaching limits of adhesion. They’re terrific tires.

“A Jetta is too small,” you say. Have you checked one out lately? It’s not small anymore. Based on our experience driving a 2023 Jetta SEL for a week, it easily accommodates the needs of a family of four the majority of the time. And when it doesn’t, well, there’s always U-Haul.

With the 2023 Jetta, Volkswagen successfully straddles the traditional compact and midsize sedan segments. Four adults fit with ease, and if necessary, you can fit a fifth passenger for short trips. The interior storage space is generous, and the trunk is cavernous. No, you won’t be able to handle school or soccer carpooling duties, but on the other hand, owning a Jetta also gives you a valid excuse to avoid that responsibility, should you wish to.

Volkswagen specs the Jetta SEL with an eight-way power-adjustable driver’s seat, heated and ventilated front seats, and a heated tilt-and-telescopic steering wheel. It is easy to get comfortable in this car, but we wish the center armrest could adjust for height. Once you’re properly positioned, you’ll enjoy a remarkably expansive view out of the Jetta thanks to the flat hood, thin windshield pillars, and large side mirrors.

Unfortunately, the front passenger isn’t quite as happy riding in a Jetta because there isn’t a height adjuster for that seat. Fortunately, unlike some of this car’s rivals, the Jetta doesn’t sit super low to the ground, so it’s still relatively easy to get into and out of that seat.

That’s true of the back seat, too, thanks to large doors and a tall, supportive seat cushion. The Jetta has plenty of legroom and features softly padded front seatbacks for an extra measure of comfort. However, while the test car’s heated rear seats are a rarity in the segment, it would be nice if VW also supplied rear air conditioning vents.

You shouldn’t have trouble finding places to put things. The Jetta has a huge bin under the center armrest, a large glove compartment, and sizable storage areas built into the door panels. Forward of the transmission shifter, there is a rubber-lined tray, and it serves as the wireless smartphone charger with SEL trim.

The trunk volume is generous, too. It offers 14.1 cubic feet of cargo space, which is nearly as much as several midsize sedans. Better yet, thanks to its shape and the size of its opening, you can easily load luggage. Full-size suitcases will even fit on their sides. And if you need to carry longer items, the 60/40-split folding back seat makes it possible.

With SEL trim, the 2023 Jetta has a larger 10.25-inch Digital Cockpit Pro instrumentation panel, replacing the standard 8-inch screen. It’s not as advanced as what you might find in an Audi, but is impressive for the Jetta SEL’s size and price class.

In addition, with SEL trim, the infotainment touchscreen grows from 6.5 inches to 8.0 inches. It features a proximity-sensing surface, knobs for stereo volume and menu-based functions, and shortcut tiles providing access to main system menus. You’ll use the infotainment screen to select numerous vehicle settings, but once you’ve configured the car to your preferences, most of your interaction with the display will relate to making and receiving phone calls, using the wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto platforms, or listening to music streamed from an app or through the SiriusXM 360L premium satellite radio service.

There are a few nitpicks to discuss related to the Jetta SEL’s infotainment system. First, if you’re listening to the radio, you can’t simply reach up and twist the tuning knob to change the station. First, the system must show the radio screen. Second, as you reach up toward the screen, a hidden menu of choices will open at the bottom of the screen. You’ll want to make sure you’re on the desired function before twisting the right knob. Then, the tuning process requires more inputs than you might expect.

Before you decide it might be easier to use the voice recognition system, keep in mind that aside from basic commands, the standard system isn’t what you’ve come to expect after a decade of using a smartphone’s digital assistant. To get that level of natural language recognition, you need to pay for Car-Net connected service upgrades. So, to avoid that extra expense, just pair to Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and side-step VW’s native offering altogether.

Car-Net isn’t without merit. It provides access to a Wi-Fi hotspot and includes five years of complimentary access to the Remote and Safe & Secure feature plans. That means you get SOS emergency calling, automatic collision notification, several safe teen driver settings, remote engine starting, a car finder function, and more for the first five years of ownership. Pay extra for Wi-Fi, and you can further subscribe to navigation system updates and the Plus Speech natural voice recognition technology.

With SEL trim, Volkswagen installs a Beats Audio premium sound system, but we don’t find it particularly satisfying. Previously, VW worked with Fender for its premium audio components, and those systems were always rewarding.

Volkswagen equips the Jetta SE and SEL with a standard package of advanced driving assistance systems called IQ.Drive. With IQ.Drive, the Jetta has the driving assistance and collision avoidance systems you expect to find on a modern car, but there are a couple of unusual ones called Travel Assist and Emergency Assist.

(Note: The 2024 Jetta adds IQ.Drive as standard equipment across all trim levels, but models with a manual transmission do not offer all IQ.Drive features.)

Travel Assist combines adaptive cruise control with lane-centering assist to create a semi-autonomous driving aid that requires you to keep your hands on the steering wheel. The driver assistance system worked remarkably well on Pacific Coast Highway north from Malibu to Oxnard, a stretch of winding coastal road that frequently challenges Level 2 driving assistance tech.

In addition, the Jetta’s steering wheel recognizes when you’re gripping the rim near the bottom, unlike in Volkswagen’s Arteon model. Also, Travel Assist smoothly accommodates traffic that slows in front of the car and motorists that cut into the gap ahead and successfully ignores off-ramps and on-ramps. Overall, this execution of Travel Assist is impressive.

However, the Jetta’s driver-assistance suite isn’t perfect. On a handful of occasions, the system issued an inaccurate lane-departure warning or added unnatural steering input. In addition, in a situation where traffic rapidly slowed from prevailing freeway speeds to a crawl, we had to manually brake the Jetta. But overall, it proved excellent.

Circling back around to Emergency Assist, this is a safety feature that can identify an unresponsive driver who has fallen asleep or has suffered a medical emergency. In response, it can brake the Jetta to a safe stop and activate the hazard flashers. Emergency Assist is rare regardless of the vehicle segment, but we can’t think of another vehicle in the Jetta’s class that offers it.

The Jetta is relatively safe if you collide with something, but it could perform better. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) gives the car a five-star overall safety rating, but the Jetta earns four-star ratings for frontal-impact protection. Meanwhile, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) rates the Jetta’s safety as Poor in a new moderate overlap frontal-impact crash test and isn’t impressed with the car’s standard and available headlights.

In addition to a generous complimentary subscription to two of the three available Car-Net connected service plans, the 2023 Jetta comes with free scheduled maintenance for two years or 20,000 miles and no-charge roadside assistance for three years and 36,000 miles.

Volkswagen also packages the Sport, SE, and SEL with appealing feature combinations that help to make the Jetta more attractive to consumers. Add the car’s roomy interior, sizable trunk, and mostly rewarding driving dynamics, and you might assume VW charges a slight premium for the Jetta compared to its rivals.

That’s largely true. The base versions of the Hyundai Elantra, Kia Forte, Nissan Sentra, and Toyota Corolla cost less than a Jetta S equipped with its optional automatic transmission, while the Honda Civic and Mazda Mazda 3 cost more. Plus, unlike some rivals, the Jetta doesn’t offer all-wheel drive, an electrified powertrain option, or a hatchback body style with added utility.

And that means the VW Jetta offers mid-pack value in the compact car segment.