Curiously, the Jetta’s biggest rivals come from elsewhere within the Volkswagen Group. The meat of the line-up is pitched in the £18,000 to £20,000 zone, which makes it pricier than a Chevrolet Cruze (which it betters) and its cousins the Seat Toledo and Skoda Octavia.
Volvo’s Volvo S60 is at the more premium end of the price scale but offers fewer reasons to spend more than the price a Jetta demands.
Running costs are generally par for the class, except when it comes to fuel economy, where our test 2.0 TDI Jetta was nothing short of remarkable. On our touring route we returned 66.5mpg, with an average of 51.2mpg.
We even returned a figure near the 70s when the car was driven with a more eco-minded approach over a long journey. And CO2 emissions of 126g/km for the 2.0 TDI are also suitably tempting for company car owners, who will account for 55 percent of prospective buyers.
Elsewhere in the line-up, the base 1.4 TSI offers 45.6mpg economy and 144g/km CO2 emissions. The more powerful 1.4 TSI offers only slightly worse economy and emissions – 44.8mpg and 145g/km – for an extra 38bhp.