car go vroom vroom!: acceleration, handling, safety and style from those happy-go-lucky Germans

(Although the writing on this essay is mine, the experience and enthusiasm are those of my wife Cindy, and what research we've done has been a combined effort. To the minimal degree that I ever like cars, I definitely like the GTI.)

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Call it a bias if you want, or call it good judgment, but Cindy had wanted a Volkswagen for a long time. She likes the stylishness of them; she likes the fact that Volkses stay on the road for many years each and that their owners, who exude a certain sanity and grooviness, say nice things about them. The first year she was able to afford a new car, Volkswagen's dealers hiked the price of the Jetta by several thousand dollars (new model year, new body); thus, she bought a Mazda Protege. She had previously owned a used Ford Escort, and the Protege was definitely an improvement: little things like "It had air conditioning", "It had rear defrost", and "It had a trunk" were enough to open up her world at the time.

At the same time, she remained aware that Volkswagen had certain advantages, for example:

-- the standard presence of all-wheel anti-lock brakes.

-- Extra density (more metal, less plastic), giving it better traction and better safety if God forbid she crashed.

-- The standard presence of six airbags, including side and "curtain" airbags (which I gather come down from the roofbeams to prevent head and torso injuries).

-- A full-size spare tire, also standard: basically a nice allotment of features figured automatically into the price.

But again, always present as a factor, Volkswagens are stylish-looking: sleek clean lines, a subtle minimalist look. She wanted one. And on a snow day this past March -- after her Protege's frame was bent when some random loon pulled out of a driveway into her path -- she used her loss as an excuse to move up in the world, and leased a GTI.

She has been very happy with it.

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Since we're giving the GTI five stars, I'll start by discussing the car's strengths. Even in the test-drive, here's what blew Cindy away: driving uphill in the right-hand lane, the dealer told her "Hey, you can pass that guy". She looked at him funny: pass a guy, uphill? He nodded, she shrugged, moved into the passing lane, pressed the accelerator. Vroom! Her car _moved_. Uphill. Fast. Without a hint of protest. Cindy is not the world's most competitive driver (she's probably not in the top 50%), but she likes driving fast. She'd never found it nearly this easy or pleasurable before. She was hooked. Ever since then, the acceleration of the GTI has made her happy; she's even cruised comfortably at 100 mph, though cops should note it was in a 95 mph zone and the other cars were going faster.

A nice companion to being able to speed up is being able to slow down and stop. Even on slick surfaces, the GTI, with four-wheel disc brakes, stops fast. Example: she was driving down Beale Street (a main road but not the "Walking in Memphis" one) in the rain. She and the car ahead of her came to an intersection with flashing yellow lights (for them) and flashing red lights (for the cross-traffic). The car in front of her suddenly stopped for the cross-traffic anyway, catching Cindy by understandable surprise -- Boston area drivers rarely sin by being excessively polite. She had to slam hard on the brakes, worried about a rain skid. Instead, the GTI came to a prompt, controlled stop with plenty of room to spare.

(Factual aside: Consumer Reports gives the GTI the maximum rating for braking.)

Handling-wise, Cindy just finds the GTI incredibly responsive. It automatically downshifts to be ready for acceleration. The steering-wheel is stiff -- a good thing, so there's no risk of her jarring it accidentally -- but when she turns it, she doesn't have to turn it much to get the idea across. The turning radius is small. She feels the car is happy and eager to move around at her command, which is sweet and pagan of her.

The interior? Well, the GTI has good storage space: its 18 cubic feet of concealed storage easily exceed the trunk size of her Protege. The space is designed for easy loading and unloading of boxes. It's roomy for a hatchback; Cindy's Dad, who is 6'2", was comfy in the backseat. A simple pull of a lever lifts the front seats forward and up for easy clambering. The seatbelts don't tangle up a person trying to climb in. The seats are firm, comfortable, contoured, and snug, plus the heated-seat option comes with a variety of temperatures, from "slightly toasty" to, probably, "not quite burnt".

The dashboard has a very cool, Star Trek mix of blue radio-and-gauge lights with red control lights. Everyone who sees the car loves this (including me). The low-fuel indicator light beeps at you when it comes on, so you don't miss it.

There's also a pollen, dust, and odor filter -- she's never seen that in a car in our price range before. There are anchorage points for child seats, although neither she nor I would fit in a child seat. And, as a special bonus to short drivers, the hood's gentle slope and the adjustability of the driver's seat make the GTI the first car Cindy has ever been able to drive while sitting a fair distance back from the (telescoping) steering wheel.

And yeah, it has the obvious features: power windows with pinch protection, power doors, power mirrors, power vampires who don't show up in power mirrors ... wait, not the last one.

Cool exterior features: the protruding hood-release lever makes the hood easy to open without getting fingers dirty or scratched. The hydraulic lift of the hood also spares Cindy any fumbling with the usual pole. The power sunroof is only an option, but a majorly cool option. And! The side mirrors are heated, a standard feature that keeps them clear in ice and rain.

So yeah, she likes the car.

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Comparison notes: Cindy did not want a sedan, because she didn't want a protruding trunk. Without such a trunk, she could have more versatility in how space is used -- this is a woman who can pack 30 cubic feet of random stuff into 18 cubic feet of space and not leave any identifying bruises. She'd also, as a driver, be more aware of the car's rear extent. Nonetheless, she also didn't want a station wagon, because those aren't sporty.

This narrowed her buying options. She was able to consider the Toyota Matrix. It seemed good, but had horrible issues with blind spots. Also, any car called the Matrix should be able to do that freeze-in-midair-and-spin-around thing, and it didn't. (To be fair, that is also not a standard option on the GTI.)

She considered the Subaru Impreza, even though it's a station wagon: a slightly larger car with similar performance and gas efficiency, and a lot of recommendations from her friends. She was tempted by the Impreza's all-wheel drive, a feature the GTI does _not_ have. Unfortunately, she thinks the Impreza is butt ugly.

Her search category also included the Honda CRV and Toyota RAV-4, but each come with far fewer standard features.

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Does the GTI have any drawbacks? It does, alas:

-- It requires premium fuel.

-- It gets so-so gas mileage: 22 per gallon in the city, 29 on the highway. Although, considering the performance, Cindy thinks it's justifiably good.

-- While the cupholder is very nice in being so willing to hide away when she doesn't need it, it's obtrusive when we use it, because it covers the controls for the radio and CD/tape player. Her conspiracy theory is that this was a deliberate move by VW to boost sales of the optional 6-CD changer which mounts in the trunk. We don't give in to that kind of pressure.

-- The top buttons on the dash need to be pressed pretty hard. However, the volume knob on the radio, which doubles as the on/off knob, is very responsive, and will respond to "off" pressure you didn't know you were exerting.

-- Last year, a troublesome percentage of the ignition coils in GTI's, Beatles, Golfs, and Jettas had problems (for 1.8-liter engine models) due to a faulty design. At first, Volkswagen was short on replacement coils and was only able to replace the faulty coils when they'd actually failed. By now, VW is up to speed and is offering free coil-replacements regardless of failure. You may take this as a good or bad reflection on the company, your choice.

-- And, the part most worth worrying about: there is that annoying rattling sound. It has not given us any problems. Given Volkswagen's track record, Cindy doesn't expect it to cause any problems. Still, it is a rattling sound.

The rattle's not loud or anything, not at all. Nor is the engine when it swoops eagerly into passing-other-cars-uphill mode. The GTI is still a fast, responsive, sleek, happy car. As someone who has mostly been a passenger, I can personally vouch that it's one of the nicest and comfiest cars I've ever been stuck in, and that the side location of the reading lights makes them usable at night without bugging the driver. This is good.

Personally, I still like walking and biking and subway-hopping. But, you know, not to her parents' house in New Jersey or anything. Cindy thinks the GTI is a five-star car. It seems to me she's right.