In the 19th century, Brothers Grimm of Cinderella fame rewrote Sleeping Beauty, the fairy tale classic first written by Charles Perrault. As it would happen, the Brothers Grimm's version found more acceptance than the original by the French author and was translated in many languages.
As I stood there in front of the unpronounceable Hotel Dornronschenschloss, a castle hotel built in 1341, I could picture the princess, the towers and even the wall of thorns that formed themselves around this very castle, the inspiration for the Brothers Grimm version.
As the story goes, it took a prince to finally free the sleeping princess from the shackles of time. If Volkswagen India thinks the Jetta is just such a prince, they have a wry sense of humour putting us journalists up at such a place.
Volkswagen India is ready to launch its second most significant model after the Passat by the middle of this month. Of course, you can book your favourite Touareg as well, but then the big SUV is not going to affect anybody's applecart anytime soon.
The Jetta will, and it hopes to affect everything from the Honda Civic to the Accord and in between. It's also the first model that will actually drive a probable wedge between VW and sister concern SkodaAuto in India, but more on that later.
The Jetta, as you know, is based on the Golf, and is now in its fifth generation. While there are a host of petrol and diesel engine variants available, we will receive the 1.6-litre petrol and 1.9-litre Pumpe-Deuse diesel engines to begin with. Both will be available with either 5-speed manual or DSG gearboxes in India with several trim options.
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Now, you are aware of the 1.9-litre PD engine that powers the Laura and it is a bulletproof engine. It is the 1.6 that needs a bit of an introduction. This inline-four produces about 102 bhp@5600 rpm and a peak torque of little a over 15 kg, and powers a whole host of other VW cars, including the Golf and the Polo.
I'm not sure if this is the right engine option for India, given that the power and torque are a trifle low to affect cars like the Honda Civic or the upcoming Toyota Corolla, but really Volkswagen don't have an option on the gasoline front because their new engines are a bit too high-tech for Indian fuel.
To get an idea of what a Jetta could be with more powerful engines, Volkswagen flew us out to Germany to get a feel of the car that should kickstart some sort of volumes, and importantly help spread the reach of the brand in India. On offer were the 1.4 TSI petrol with three power options and the 2.0 TDI that also features in our Passat.
The 1.4 TSI is becoming the mainstay of the Jetta in Europe and the US, thanks mainly to the technology behind it. Given pressures of economy and lower C02 emissions, Volkswagen decided to opt for a smaller engine, but by using the concept of twin charging or the addition of a turbocharger and a supercharger, they've not only solved the problem of providing power and torque of a 2.0-litre engine, they've also managed to beat those ecoweenies to pulp with C02 emissions as low as 148 g/km for the 7-speed DSG variant with 120 bhp on offer.
Incidentally, this is also the only TSI variant with a 7-speed DSG, the others making do with one cog less. Trust manufacturers to go to any lengths to reduce their overall C02 basket!
If 120 bhp starts to raise your hair, wait till you hear this
