Ah, the mid-cycle facelift, a mainstay of automotive product planning. Some facelifts are good and wholly revitalize a car. Just look at the 2020 Genesis G90, for example. Some facelifts are really bad, and actually make a car less appealing — that would be the 2000 Hyundai Tiburon. However, every so often, an automaker unveils a facelift that’s merely underwhelming. Well, the 2025 Volkswagen Jetta is here, and it’s here to elicit sighs.
Now, let’s get this out of the way — I’m far more of a lover than a hater. I loved it when, for 1999, Volkswagen made the Jetta its U.S. moonshot, an attempt at moving the compact car more upmarket than it had ever been before. The Mk4 ignited a firestorm of desirability that carried through to the Mk5, before changes in leadership and changes in plans resulted in the decontented, Americanized Mk6 Jetta of 2011.
Once that brief detour into rental car-dom was over (an adventure not without merit, for the 2.0-liter model was a bargain), the Mk7 Jetta sparked up a flame once again. It was back on the same chassis as the Golf, had a much nicer interior than before, and followed classic sensibilities of being a nice, if conservative, sedan that was always a pleasure — like a warm cup of tea on a crisp autumnal morning. Then the 2025 model had to come along.
Up front, the 2025 Volkswagen Jetta is a bit of a mixed bag, but it’s pretty good if you stand back a bit. The new front bumper is excellent, and I applaud the idea of a skinnier grille. However, it’s in both the fine details where things start to fall down. For instance, there’s an available light bar in the front grille, which is only the most ghastly trend in automotive design right now. Unless you’re working with a full-width one-piece front lamp assembly or a Mercury Sable, the results are going to look like cack. At least it’ll distract from the way the headlights meet the body, because it’s not the most graceful meeting of panels.
See, the problem with extending the filler panel above the grille would be that there aren’t provisions to keep it physically attached to the fenders, so we ended up with this slapdash bodge to shove the thing out the door. It’s the sort of amateurish corner-cutting in an area Volkswagen was historically great at that would make Ferdinand Piëch turn in his grave so violently, he alone could supply enough power to illuminate Lower Saxony.
At the same time, the rear of the 2025 Volkswagen Jetta is a wholehearted improvement. Not only does the full-length taillight treatment work brilliantly, but the simplified chrome trim on the rear bumper was exactly what the Jetta needed. No notes back here, this is definitely an improvement. So, what happens when we move into the cabin? Let’s first refresh ourselves on what the outgoing Jetta’s interior looked like.
Sure, it’s not the most imaginative cockpit in the world, but it’s sensible, easy to use, features enough soft-touch plastics to not feel like a penalty box, and keeps gloss black fingerprint-attracting surfaces from being absolutely everywhere. Now, care to see the new dashboard in the 2025 Volkswagen Jetta?
Ah. There’s some stuff to unpack here, so let’s start with the infotainment screen situation. Keep in mind, this screen is no bigger than it was on the old model, but it’s integrated far worse, with a chunky bezel that dates the look of the system. The fact that the infotainment unit isn’t even close to the same shape as the bezel isn’t great for aesthetics either, which just makes you wonder why Volkswagen would do this. Probably to fit more irritating glossy black plastic on the dashboard because it’s everywhere now. That’s, uh, not great.
Then there’s the climate control unit situation. Volkswagen has decided that all 2025 Jetta trims should get capacitive-touch sliders, learning absolutely nothing from Cadillac’s CUE debacle of more than a decade ago. I’ve been unlucky enough to experience this panel in a Volkswagen before, and let me tell you, it’s not great for user-friendliness. The old knobs were nigh-on perfect, so why change now? Oh, and while the standard car gets real buttons on its steering wheel, the GLI gets capacitive touch stuff. There’s nothing quite like activating your heated steering wheel mid-autocross run, right?
Exterior styling and cabin design aside, there aren’t any huge changes to the Jetta for 2025. The standard model loses the manual gearbox option, the GLI keeps it, every trim gets an eight-inch touchscreen, and that’s really it. Standard models get the same 158-horsepower 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine as before, the GLI gets the same 228-horsepower two-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine as before. From a technological standpoint, this is a facelift that didn’t need to happen, but Volkswagen did it anyway.
The 2025 Volkswagen Jetta seems like a missed opportunity. Instead of adding real substance, Volkswagen has taken the manual transmission away from non-GLI models, added moderately infuriating capacitive touch climate controls, and made the interior uglier. It’s irritating to see because Volkswagen has done so much better in the past, and many of these updates seem more annoying than helpful. The 2024 Jetta was lovely, but this one seems a little less so, even if at $23,295 including freight, the new car starts at $165 less than the outgoing base model with the automatic optioned. Oh well.
(Photo credits: Volkswagen)
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Well……it’s not another overpriced electric truck from Mary’s company. So….yes…this is an improvement!
It’s the price or a elantra or carolla with the swagger of a sonata. I know, I hated writing that sentence also. The fact is – it will move units because price matters.
It does tend to have an oversized presence of itself. Appearing much chunkier than it is against the Elantra/Corolla.
I’m sure an “American” joke can be made here, but I can’t think of anything funny.
This idea of having a touch screen on the dash looking like a docked iPad needs to go away. It makes me want to take a Louisville Slugger to it.
Wait until you see the new trend of cluster + center screen
The exterior styling looks good but the interior changes are sin against humanity. Why does this keep happening?
My sister bought a brand new 23 Jetta Sport with the 6MT. Awesome little car. The engine is peppy and regularly gets 50 mpg on the HWY. so sad to see they dropped that trim with the refresh.
The old dash looked pretty solid. The new one looks like VW ran out of time so they slapped a tablet on top and called it a day.
Whoever chose piano black needs to be taken out back and shot.
It’s one of the worst choices imaginable. Easily smudged and scratched, and a magnet for dust.
I honestly think the shit VW gets about the capacitive steering wheel buttons and the touch sliders for volume/temp is just auto bloggers hating to hate or just inability to adapt.
I’m a few weeks into owning an ID.4 now and have no issue using any of the buttons/sliders in the car.
The steering wheel capacitive buttons feel pretty much like any other steering wheel button I have ever used.
The volume slider works perfectly fine, my only gripe is that it isn’t backlit (something they fixed on later ID.4s), and if you hate the slider, you still got volume buttons on the wheel, or you could tap the left or right of the slider to go up and down notches.
The HVAC slider besides the same backlight issue functions fine as well, and again if you don’t like the slider you can tap it like a button or hit the climate button and adjust the temp on the screen. I mean how often are you changing the temperature in your car for this to be even an issue. I know for me it’s pretty much set it to 72F Auto and leave it forever.
The only possible argument is it is slightly more distracting to use than a knob because you are not adjusted to it… But then again when is making these changes so urgent you can’t wait till a stoplight or stop sign?
Or even rely on the fantastic driver assistance system in the cruise control to take a split second to look if you haven’t adapted yet?
Just seems like old man yelling at clouds to me
38-year old non-motoring journalist person here, and capacitative buttons are the work of the devil. What is so bad about mechanical buttons?
Nothing is wrong with a mechanical button, just like nothing is wrong with a well made capacitive button.
They both work just fine by muscle memory.
I don’t know I could never get the grips with the ones in the W206 C-Class I drove occasionally.
Also living in Europe, driving is more occasional, so muscle memory might not work as well.
Touchscreens do not work well in cars. It is far more difficult to correctly line up one’s finger with the setting that needs changing on a flat screen that has no physical differentiation between the settings while the car is maybe hitting a bump than it is to make the change with physical knobs. And touchscreens do not always register the touch correctly.
The use of screens also literally cheapens the car. I can’t believe how Mercedes gets away with sticking a tablet with mere skeuomorhs over actually building the instrument cluster it’s imitating. I imagine that runs pennies on the dollar.
I’ve used capacitive buttons twice. Neither set worked with winter gloves on. Buttons work fine.
Your comment made me think I’d accidentally popped into a Tesla apologist thread for a second. Might want to take a moment of introspection to see if your car actually is that great or if you’re just trying to convince yourself that buying it was a good choice.
Honestly I’ll be the first to tell you I purchased the ID.4 as a temporary stop gap because I needed to replace my beater and the 4k tax credit was too good to pass up.
The car is just competent at being a car and is nothing special, plan is to own it for 3 years and replace it with something more fun when my S60 T8 is paid off.
I am a User Experience Designer, I just hate people who claim shit is bad because they come in with bias and declare it bad before they even use it. It’s common in every autoblog/journal I read of authors shitting on things they used for a few hours and instantly pan it because they came in with prior bias and never tried to adapt because they already made up their mind it was bad.
To each their own, but I owned both a pre and post refresh Fusion. The pre-refresh was similar to the VW – capacitive everything (though it did have a volume knob). There’s a reason the refreshed version I got a few years later switched all those controls to hard buttons. I did get used to the capacitive buttons, but the refreshed controls were just better. Much easier to operate by touch alone, far less accidental presses, etc. I recently had the chance to get an Atlas, and passed on it specifically because VW’s control setup is so bad.
I think VW gets so much grief because it makes interacting with the car noticeably worse without any benefit. Ford, Cadillac (remember CUE?), and others have had to learn this same lesson. It’s baffling that VW hasn’t learned from other’s mistakes.
As someone who designs products, some of which have capacitive controls, the biggest benefit is ease of cleaning/lack of area to collect debris/germs.
We use capacitive buttons on all of the healthcare products my company produces for this reason. Capacitive controls have no cracks for germs/oils/dirt to fall into. It makes sense in any high touch point area to prevent the build up of things as much as possible. A steering wheel is an excellent use case of capacitive touch buttons.
Is it though? You’ve taken the most-used controls in the car and made them more difficult to use without looking down. One of the biggest arguments Tesla stans make in favor of their stupid touch controls is that at least you still have physical controls on the wheel. VW managed to screw even that up.
And a car steering wheel is not a healthcare device where sterilization matters. Steering wheels are always dirty because no one is cleaning them between every use. Designing controls for hospital-level cleanliness is solving a problem that basically nobody has and introducing a safety problem that everyone has.
The thing is, a well designed capacitive button works just as well as a regular button. It’s not like the buttons move and you should ever have to look for it.
Once you know it is there, you know where to press. It’s also not like a capacitive surface has to be completely smoother either. The VW example actually has a slight depression in a d-pad shape around the buttons so you have a physical reference.
https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Medium-16021-2023ID.4-800×533.jpg
If you can’t manage to remember and use a commonly used button, capacitive or not, without looking, then you probably shouldn’t be driving any vehicle because of a lack of hand eye coordination.
This is great in the vacuum of theory or in use cases outside of automotive, but it’s been proven time and time again that these systems are failing to work for owners. VW even back tracked on the new base Golf/GTI by removing them due to customer feedback. In your field, I’m positive you’re aware of user trust as a byproduct of machine performance/feedback – in this sense, capacitive touch controls have already dug themselves into a grave that’s nearly impossible to come out of. It would take a consistently phenomenal UX to turn that around.
Volkswagen (actually VAG, not just VW specifically) will take any and all opportunities to overengineer something beyond the point of wasteful foolishness if they can. This kind of stuff doesn’t surprise me. The fact that they don’t have tiny touchscreens to control the windows, mirrors, and locks is probably only because they couldn’t engineer in more ways for them to fail.
So, my neighbor parks his 2023 Jetta in front of my house every morning, so I am intimate with the exterior design simply because I stare at it daily. Honestly, I don’t find the rest of the exterior redesign to be much of an improvement. The interior is definitely worse. While not as significant of a refresh, this reminds me a lot of the 2011 Civic where it took a lot of the things the previous car did right and ruined them. Hopefully VW course corrects as quickly (or quicker) as Honda did.
Do you mean the 2012 Civic? 2011 was the last year of the good gen, and 2012 was the one-year-special that was panned so horribly that Honda refreshed it for 2013.
Oh, yeah, I guess it was a 2012. A coworker bought one in like May of 2011, so in my head it was 2011 model year.
No worries. I worked for a Honda dealer at that time in internet marketing, and couldn’t believe it…horrible move for Honda, and a seriously boring car. While the ’13 and Si made it a bit better, the 2006-2011 cars were light-years better, and so was the car that replaced the 10th gen.
Insane statement, these are among the worst cars sold to the general public in the 21st century.
The one named like a mid-engined Italian supercar. When VW almost went premium.
Horrifically unreliable? Yes. Really nice when new, and genuinely good looking? Also yes. It was certainly desirable, and at the time they sold like hotcakes around here. People were willing to pay a little extra for the initial quality.
Most of those people are no longer buying VWs though.
A great many Mk4 TDIs still troll the streets.
But unbeknownst to new buyers back then. The car felt like a mini Mercedes and it gave the perception of being of much higher quality and luxury than comparable Toyotas and Hondas.
Now we know the shitshow it was, but not an insane statement at all. It was desirable as a new car.
The headlights remind me a lot of the Mk7.5 Golf with a furrowed brow. I don’t know if it’s an improvement, but overall more just inoffensive to me.
I get some recent intros like the Atlas still having been scheduled or whatever to receive capacitative buttons but seems like by this point there would have been enough time to changed the ship’s course there.
For $23k to start though, that’s 2 grand cheaper than a Civic LX and has a geared automatic. The ’25 Mazda 3 is somewhere in the middle, I’d probably lean that way if I were shopping the base entries.
The GLI has seemed like a decent value buy content-wise at least as far as manual options go, whether against the GTI or the few others remaining. An Autobahn basically splits the price difference between the Civic Si and the Integra A-spec with more power than either and all the content and more vs. the Acura (like ventilated seats).
More power but exponentially less reliability. I’d pay the premium for the Integra every single time. It’s also a hatch.
I was waiting for this. A Honda product would almost certainly be my first choice in a new car but it’s not like the 1.5T has a stellar rep either (though I think at this point it’s a bit overblown).
I’d rather have a hatch too, but the question is if someone wants it to the tune of $4-5k more while also getting less in other areas. If you want a manual and a hatch it’s pretty much the only game in town left, but it’s not exactly a value.
I’m over here crossing my fingers that the hybrid powertrain in the Civic finds its way up to the Integra because boy would that be an appealing package…but I’m not holding my breath. Acura is extremely hybrid averse and a lot of luxury brands are skipping hybrids entirely due to the fact that luxury buyers tend to be more open to EVs than regular shoppers.
The USDM is not available as a hatchback, is it?
Here in Europe we got the Civic hatch with a 184bhp hybrid. But nobody is buying them.
We’ve gotten the hatch since 2017, those were UK-built, and then the current gen switched to North American production in 2022. The hybrid hatch goes on sale here later this summer.
Most global reviews I’ve seen of the Civic hybrid hatch at least in Europe and Australia say that it’s good but also quite pricey, and Honda in general just doesn’t seem very serious about sales in those markets. That combo I imagine contributes to the lack of sales. Civics are still pricey here, but despite that the Civic now outsells the Accord and was only second to the Corolla in sales in the segment last year.
I do wonder if they’ll roll more hybrids out now that so many brands are walking back the “EV or nothing” approach. But Honda is so set on sales in their other models, I can understand them funneling any and all supply into Accord, CR-V, and now Civic, and if it ever happens for us – the HR-V. They’ve been quite happy to proclaim they have more hybrid model sales than Toyota, but that’s surely at risk with Toyota going hybrid-only on different model lines.
Really wish they’d offer the 228hp (or better) in the Tiguan. My wife’s is a pretty good car but could use more power.
The Tiguan has more power in Europe than in the US?
Maybe? They’re all 180hp here.
If I am not mistaken in the previous generation there was a Tiguan R with 300+ bhp and in the current generation the Tiguan PHEV (GTE?) has up to 272bhp.
Must be the only case where an European version has more powerful engines than the American one.
God, I love lines like these thrown in.
Anyway, I have no strong feelings on the appearance (it’s fine?) but yeah, the interior HVAC and touchscreen appearance are a step backward.
I think it looks good! Definite improvement. wheels can make or break a car and those, which I assume are on the SEL, are great. I just hope what they use on the lower grades are also good. Glad to see the Jetta is here to stay.
I’m just shocked that there is a 2025 Jetta. I drove a 2022 as a rental last year, perfectly fine except for a stereo that was worse than my old 1996 Golf.
VW at the moment seems really lost. They’re chasing trends like gaudy light bars and needless chrome garnish rather than forge their own path with confident designs. They switched from a clean and integrated infotainment layout to the ubiquitous “floating iPad” design for what exactly? To “modernize” the cabin? They’ve publicly fallen on their sword for all the clunky capacitive buttons and software controls, promising to revert to proper hard buttons, only to foist them on new Jetta owners?
I’m glad they still make an affordable* driver’s car with a manual transmission but it sucks that in every meaningful way they just made it less desirable than the 2024.
*by 2024 standards anyway
No more cheapo S with a manual. The end of the world is nigh.
Damn that cheap-ass gloss black plastic to hell.
Exactly. I looked at that interior and started to get agitated at the thought of the finger prints, dust, and cheap feels of that glossy garbage. I generally don’t suffer from OCD, but between that glossy stuff and the capacitive buttons, this thing is a downgrade for sure.
I appreciate the old and new interior shots, I definitely like the old one better! I would have liked to see old and new of the exterior as well so I knew what I was comparing against. Jettas are rather anonymous most of the time so it’s not a car I pay much attention to normally.
VW is getting rid of capacitative touch buttons on European models and putting them in American ones? That does not make sense…
In a way it does. They manufactured bins upon bins of these capacitive parts, then Europe (rightfully) began passing laws that they shouldn’t be used in cars. The US is so far behind that cars bound for the US are going to soak up parts no longer usable for the euro market to minimize financial loss.
Ah, that makes sense. Good marks for the nanny state Europe there.
Great analysis.
On the upside, the US is Johnny-on-the-Spot regarding Kei trucks, so they’re still keeping us safe.
Real talk: we probably won’t see capacitive controls go away until there’s a lobbying group against them.
I mean, i like the arteon, gti, and 2024 GLI. But is there anything about this facelift thats an improvement?
I cannot overstate how hideous the Volkswagen light bar atrocities are in person. For whatever reason (I think it’s probably because they’re on lots and significantly discounted) there are a lot of the new Atlases around me, and at night they literally look like rolling arcade games. It’s gaudy, overwrought, and incredibly distracting for those around you.
Light bars are truly one of the dumbest trends in the industry. They’re so commonplace at this point that it almost feels like more new cars have them than don’t. Anyway, of course VW’s atrocities couldn’t stop there. They’re tripling down on all the capacitive touch bullshit even though it’s been universally panned. I can’t believe they’re STILL putting that shit on steering wheels and thinking everyone will just learn to like it.
I’ve heard countless stories about how spicy Golf owners accidentally turn on their heated steering wheels during spirited drives. Good luck enjoying your GLI at a track attack day. I actually looked at a GLI in 2020 when I foolishly bought my GTI. It was a really nice car for what it was if you ignore the EA888. Damn that engine to hell.
But now? Dear god. For whatever reason Volkswagen also nerfed the DSG in the GLI and now it essentially behaves like a run of the mill torque converter, so a once class leading auto option they actually designed really well isn’t appealing anymore. And why the fuck can’t it get the same tune as the GTI? It’s the same fucking car underneath. Why is it nerfed?
Other than brand loyalty (there certainly still is a very dedicated VW fanbase) and good deals I genuinely have no idea why anyone buys a VW in 2024. And unless the price delta is $10,000+ I’m absolutely willing to pay a premium to get an ownership experience different from the VW torture chamber…
The T-Roc and Golf are the best selling cars in Europe…
And Taylor Swift is currently the best selling artist in music. Popularity and quality are not one and the same.
Agreed, the VW name still carries a lot of weight here.
Oh absolutely. They’re all over Europe, although I haven’t been on that side of the pond in about 15 years so I can’t necessarily attest to what it’s like today. As I mentioned in my original comment they still have a sizable fanbase in the US as well…in my experience usually in the highly educated, upper middle class white demographic.
…which I’m not necessarily criticizing, because I’m in that boat and the first new car I bought was a VW. But I do wonder how people put up with the ownership experience because I gave up after 2 years and like to consider myself a little more knowledgeable than the average buyer.
My 2018 Golf Sportwagen 4mo 6MT is the best car ever made and I will fight every single one of you haha
There are always a handful of people that defy the odds and have a really good VW ownership experience. If they work they’re appealing cars, particularly the MK7 Golfs. The issue is they don’t usually work.
I do mostly highway driving these days but pre-covid I was still commuting to work and back. I have about 50k miles and all I’ve changed are engine oil and filters. Still on original brakes and battery. I’m just waiting for the water pump to start leaking and I have the class action lawsuit document that allows them to repair it for me. Haven’t really had any issues to speak of but there’s always time!
Count me as defying the odds with both of my Volkswagens (purchased new, now at 140,000 and 200,000 miles). Unfortunately, nothing beyond the MK7.5 GTI appeals to me in the North American market, so I have moved to other brands.
Ironically enough we have never had a Volkswagen in the family (originally Renaults and Fords… but as time has progressed a large assortment of brands), but I know of friends who have bought Polos, Golfs, T-Rocs and Tiguans.
I think that a friend once described it well, a Volkswagen is like a Honda scooter, you buy it because you want something a bit more premium than the usual mainstream brands. People do not think or “shop around”, they want a VW and just buy it.
Curiously most of those friends with Volkswagens have now graduated to premium German brands.
I’ve owned many number of VW and Audi, not one gave any bad ownership experience. From Mk2, through to the wife’s current 2022 GLI. My B6 Passat 3.6 4Motion wagon was an absolute stand out amazing travel vehicle. Never stranded, never odd shit broken, I cant relate to any stories folks tell online. Maybe every one I bought was a peach?
McDonalds sells more hamburgers than anyone else.
Oh man, I just came back from a Korea trip, and our rental Sonata’s capacitive HVAC panel was quite annoying, to put it mildly. I recall tapping the panel a few times to lower the AC temp, a few minutes later the steering wheel’s searing my hands like a sizzling Bibimbap bowl. Probably brushed my fingers over the heated steering wheel touch zone, but I never heard or felt any feedback from the car 🙁
A new manual sedan in 2025?!?! It doesn’t matter what it looks like, it should be celebrated as the rarity it is.
The exterior (or at least the front) is certainly more attractive in my eyes, but VW clearly has completely divorced it’s product teams. The Mk8.5 is LOSING capacitive controls on the steering wheel because they’re so hated, but now the GLI is gaining them? Also are they seriously adding in the touch sliders from the Mk8 instead of keeping the physical knobs of the pre-facelift Jetta?
My only guess is VW has a supplier contract or glut of inventory of the capacitive wheels they need to ditch, there’s simply no chance this is what the buying public has asked for. The Jetta has long had a reputation for being a cheaper and chintzier feeling car than the Golf its based on, and adding more slabs of touch controls is guaranteed to solidify this sentiment.
To add to this, as a former Mk7.5 golf owner, the only parts of the Jetta’s interior I find even mildly compelling are the parts that are blatant carryovers from the Mk7 Golf platform, and now they’ve gone ripped out nearly every last worthwhile piece. VW is quickly turning into an utter dumpster fire.
But at least it still has a manual in the GLI, unlike the GTI
The opposite that happens in Europe, where the basic versions of the Golf can be had with manuals, but everything else isn’t.
I wish we could still get a basic version of the Golf. With a manual.
The fact that you can get an honest-to-goodness budget sporty mid-size sedan with a manual is still an achievement in my mind. Good on them. Is it any good…idk ha
I bought a 2021 GLI for that exact reason. It’s a type of car that is very nearly dead. And it is a good car. Not the best car, but I have fun in it and it was a great deal.