Although it started out as a website for project cars, Bring A Trailer has cemented its status at the premier auction site of the digital world, finding buyers for top-of-market collector cars from Fords to Ferraris. However, every so often, Bring A Trailer auctions off a car that makes you raise an eyebrow. How about a 2006 Volkswagen Jetta with 129,000 miles on the clock, for example?
Don’t get me wrong, the 2006 Volkswagen Jetta is an appealing car. Made of nicer stuff than your average economy car of the time and full of lovely little details like the Volkswagen logo punched out of each headlight reflector, it harkens back to a time in the not-so-distant past when Volkswagen customers were young, discerning people who wanted something a little nicer than run-of-the-mill. The Mk5 Jetta delivered, and if you picked the right powertrain, you could get a damn good car.
It’s easy to forget just how nice these cars were if you never take a look inside, and this one delivers with hardwearing leatherette, a handful of stitched surfaces, partial power seats, and tastefully restrained silver trim. Sure, the soft-touch coating on the driver’s door window switch panel seems to be aging and the leather-wrapped steering wheel is shinier than Dwayne Johnson’s forehead, but for a used car with 129,000 miles on the clock, that’s not too bad.
However, there is a very good reason as to why this silver 2006 Volkswagen Jetta ended up on Bring A Trailer, even if it seems more Craigslist than Forbes List. It’s a five-speed manual TDI car, and because it’s a 2006 model, that makes it special indeed. See, in 2006, the Jetta TDI still used the Pumpe Düse unit injectors rather than common rail injection. While both have proven to be relatively reliable systems, the Pumpe Düse cars did get slightly better fuel economy and are simpler when it comes to emissions equipment, giving them an edge as far as enthusiast cred goes.
However, Pumpe Düse was only available in U.S.-spec Mk5 Jetta TDIs in 2006 because they didn’t meet emissions standards implemented for 2007. Hell, they didn’t even meet emissions standards in all states in 2006, meaning you simply couldn’t get a 2006 Jetta TDI in CARB jurisdictions. This makes the 2006 Jetta TDI a bit of a rarity, even if you wouldn’t necessarily know by seeing one on the street.
Oh, and since this Jetta has lived its life in Colorado and Arizona, it’s not turbofucked from rust underneath. In fact, the underbody looks pretty damn clean for an 18-year-old economy car, especially a relatively rare and appealing one like this. Even the eccentric bolts and the heat shield fasteners look nice, which makes me all the more jealous of low-rust locales.
Despite looking like just another Jetta, this 2006 Jetta TDI deserves its seat at the Bring A Trailer table, and a hammer price of $5,900 is additional proof. It’s a textbook case of not judging a book by its cover, because even when a vehicle looks ordinary, it could be hiding some enthusiast appeal.
(Photo credits: Bring A Trailer)
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I have two mk6 cjaa’s best cars I’ve ever owned. My 14 I got off the lot at 38,000 no shop times besides oil changes and fuel filters till 168,000. Full maintenance reg: timing, water pump, heater core, alternator, full ac system, belt tensioner at that time side in my driveway for less than 2k in parts. These cars are so awesome I bought a second TDI 2012 cjaa for my wife. We love em. Definitely need deleted egr and exhaust. Really lets em open up.
Hooray for the dirtiest diesel sedan! Bonus; it’s reliable “for a VW”.
Looked, you can get a CA Camry hybrid of similar miles and age for that. Peak Camry.
Camrys are kind of man on man love imo. Tdis are waaay more fun and reliable when it’s all said and done.
.[citation needed].
Currently daily a 2007 Wolfsburg 2.5 with the 5 speed manual that looks identical to the image in this article.. I was able to get it for next to nothing a couple years ago since nobody wanted a manual sedan. Taught my daughter how to change oil, coils and plugs and drive stick. I’ve long got all I wanted out of it but it just keeps paying back so I keep using it! 189k and counting.
As enthusiasts we are prone to confuse “rare” with “desirable”.
I once owned a 2008 Jetta and it was a fantastic car. It wasn’t quite a GTI but for a four door sedan it wasn’t far off. It required more maintenance than the average econobox and over the years dumb things needed service but it was a true driver’s car. I’ve looked for similar spec Mk5 Jetta’s over the years.
Remember when you used to have to maybe actually bring a trailer? Or the humble clean single owners that popped up with the super rares and other stuff in the infancy of the site? This was the kind of thing you would see on there back then.
I miss that Bring A Trailer. It was super fun to fantasy shop back when I didn’t even have a license and was being a snowboard bum up in the hills of Colorado.
BAT is now a bitter fantasy of unobtainium mostly, then the occasional listing like this once a blue moon.
By this logic you could list anything on there
Huh. I had a friend with one of these – a white 2006 TDI manual. I had no idea it was unique, and neither did he, but he put almost 280,000 (stupid expensive) miles on his before the upper Midwest winters swiss cheesed the chassis to the point that he dumped it at the salvage yard. The amount he paid his independent VW to keep it running to that mileage was absurd, yet he never listened to me and kept it going. The Acura TLX he replaced it with was a huge step up.
IMHO, Hyphenating “-ass” onto a word adds nothing and subtracts from whatever point you were trying to make.
Do what xkcd suggested, move the hyphen over by one word.
That makes this a sweet ass-car.
Actually it’s fun and cool
This is corvette nerd level of ‘special.’
“This is only one of 17 made this year with this color combination and sold through a dealership owned by a man named William.”
I’m glad to see I wasn’t the only one thinking this.
I don’t care how special it is. That’s the ugliest generation of Jettas and Golfs
And Jetta sedans are usually the ugliest of the bunch. IMO this generation looks good only as a Golf 5-door or Jetta wagon.
You’re aware the mk3 and mk4 exist right? In my opinion both are significantly uglier. Not even close
I have a soft spot for those. Especially the Mk IV Jetta. It may still be VAG crap but it’s a much better executed design that this mess. In fact, long ago a (good) friend had to talk me out of buying one.
Looks like a nice car for under 6k. Should last a while too.
Congrats to mercedes on her new whip (I assume)
Turbofucked? Nice. Chef’s Kiss. Came out of nowhere.
On a completely unrelated note: I’m sure most of us has already forgotten about the Worst Cars book. We had a few laughs but life goes on, no need to bicker about it any longer.
Recently I’ve visited my parents and I found a book I’ve been gifted by a relative called „Sports Cars” by the same author. (Yeah, that’s the whole title – not „The Best Sports Cars Ever According to Craig and His Impeccable Taste”, just „Sports Cars”).
Long story short…this book is a lot. If anyone’s interested, I can fill you in on details but there are some…questionable choices, so to say.
Had a 2010 Mk5 with the common-rail injection and a 6-speed DSG. 50 MPG on the highway was no unheard of for it, and I loved that transmission.
I owned an 08 2.5 Mk5. It was a fantastic car aside from it’s higher than average maintenance needs.
Wow.
Meh, I’d rather have the 2.5 5-banger. Almost as torquey and smells a lot better.
The 2.5 engine is a solid tractor engine. Very useable/driveable; no turbo lag, lots of useable low-end torque for a small car, and rather linear feel to it.
But will never reach the fuel consumption numbers capable of the TDI.
I would happily drive one again.
My best friend had to get a Beetle after her Prius finally died a couple years back. As a long time VW owner I warned her of the potential reliability issues, but she had dreamed of owning one and that was that. I steered her away from a couple because they had the 2.0T, and she finally settled on a 2012 with the 2.5. She loves the car and it’s been completely reliable with over 150k on it. The 2.5 is overlooked sometimes but it’s a solid engine with plenty of power. She said it feels like a sports car compared to her dying Prius.
A Hitachi Magic Wand would feel more like a sports car than an old Prius.
You’re right about the fuel economy. My old 07 Rabbit 5-speed got 27 mpg- around town, on the highway, whatever. It never varied.
My current LeSabre can pull 32 on the highway if carefully driven, but barely manages 23 in city driving. Huge swing.
But that 2.5, on the Interstate going 90 mph, is an absolute gem.
I had a 2.5 and fully agree! Mediocre mileage around time but totally fine on the highway and felt more powerful than it was. It’s a truly good engine.
Mileage could be considered “not bad” but never “great”.
I live in a City so my mileage was around 17 mpg for most tanks. Woof. I have no idea how the EPA comes up with their City mileage figures but it certainly doesn’t represent a dense city.
Need to see a picture of the instrument cluster turned on before I decide.
“Many pixels died to bring us this information.”
VW emissions testers when they stopped making the TDI’s, “Good, I’m sick of cleaning up those heaps of dead monkeys.”
[citation needed]
Diesels were just about the only reliable things to come out of VW…well, so long as you stay away from that gosh-darned BHW.
Edit: Ok, that’s a lie. The VR6 was also a pretty reliable mill, but that’s only because VW accidentally made timing chains that worked.
Given my singularly awful experience with the supposedly “reliable” ALH, no amount of data will sway me on my opinion of VW TDIs. It’s a self admitted blind spot.
Look, I’m talking about reliable for VW here. lol 🙂
Idk I didn’t see any repairs with my cjaa until 168,000 when the belt tensioner finally gave. Then I spent less than 2k in Parts and fixed it on a weekend in my driveway. I bought the car with 38,000 on it so figure that out. Still have it. Fully deleted and tuned. Fer gets 700+ a tank of fuel. So reliable I bought my wife another cjaa she absolutely loves it. I have 3 other diesel trucks so these cars fit right in. All diesel should not be restricted by certain emissions devices. Egr valve being the most useless.
“What’s This Regular-Looking Volkswagen Jetta Doing On Bring A Trailer?
there is a very good reason as to why this silver 2006 Volkswagen Jetta ended up on Bring A Trailer, even if it seems more Craigslist than Forbes List”
It’s an 18 yo Volkswagon so yeah, bring a trailer.