The 2025 model year marks the Volkswagen Jetta’s 45th year in the United States, and despite a lot of change between 1980 and now, the Jetta remains an affordable compact car with a dash of elevated German panache. Changes for the seventh-gen Jetta’s second facelift are minimal, including restyled front and rear ends, and a reworked dashboard with a new tablet-style infotainment screen. The bigger news is that Volkswagen has kept 2025 Jetta prices virtually the same as the outgoing 2024 model, and it’s still a respectable choice.
Full disclosure: Volkswagen let me sample a 2025 Jetta SEL and drive it through the intoxicating roads of Angeles Forest to see what I thought of the updates. VW also loaned me a manual 2025 Jetta GLI Autobahn for a week, but that’ll be covered in a separate review.
Even though the 2025 Volkswagen Jetta hasn’t changed much from the 2024 model, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. This generation of the Jetta was introduced in 2018, so it’s been around for a while, but it doesn’t feel old — especially notable given how most of its competitors have received total redesigns in that time. The Jetta feels uncomplicated, spacious, solid and peppy, all traits of a great small car.
I was impressed by the interior of the SEL trim that I sampled at the launch event. There was real big-car room up front for my six-foot-eight frame, a spacious back seat, and a truly cavernous trunk. The Jetta has a new standard 8-inch tablet-style infotainment screen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The infotainment is typical VW, so if you’re familiar with the company’s user interface then you’ll be fine. Some things aren’t as clear as they could be, like how to mute your navigation instructions, but you’ll get comfortable with the menus pretty quickly. Also new is touch-sensitive climate control display that’s not as natural to use as the 2024 model’s dials, but it’s well-lit and better than VW’s other touch-sensitive climate controls.
Most of the surfaces you touch inside the Jetta are high quality, from the center armrest to the top of the front doors to the satisfyingly squishy dashboard. Moving to the back seat results in a slight step down in quality with more hard plastic on the top of the rear doors, but at least the armrests in the back seat are well padded, unlike some competitors. The 2025 Jetta also receives upgraded charging accoutrement including higher-output USB-C ports and a standard air-conditioned higher-output wireless charger if you prefer life without cables. These interior niceties make the Jetta an appealing choice in this class. Annoyingly the backup camera’s video feed looks like it was shot on a ‘90s camcorder, but it still does the trick.
Powertrain options are carried over from last year, which means every Jetta that’s not a GLI is powered by a turbocharged 1.5-liter inline-4 that sends 158 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque to the front wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission. The Jetta GLI is the only Volkswagen offered with a manual transmission in the U.S. in 2025, and though we mourn the loss of any manual transmission, we’re grateful the GLI retains it.
The 1.5-liter engine feels pretty peppy and offers competitive horsepower numbers to other compact sedans like the Corolla, Civic and Elantra while producing significantly more torque than most of its competitors, aside from the Mazda 3. Another benefit to buying a Jetta is its good old-fashioned automatic transmission in a sea of CVTs. Every compact competitor aside from the Mazda is saddled with a fun-sucking CVT, so that’s something to consider if you’re trying to make a purchase decision in this category of quality compact cars.
Driving the Jetta is an innocuous experience aside from one gripe: excessive tire and suspension noise, especially coming from the rear of the car. I don’t have the best hearing, but the rear suspension on the Jetta SEL that I drove produced some weird low-frequency booming noises that made my eyes water. It was a strange experience that I’ve only ever felt on buses before, but something about the mix of the tire roar and the booming suspension over bumps really bothered my ears. Normally I’d turn up my music to drown out the noise, but the optional Beats Audio system was not up to the task. The system sounds cheap and tinny despite including a subwoofer, so audiophiles look elsewhere.
The car’s updated front end is effective in modernizing the Jetta and bringing it in line with the rest of the current Volkswagen lineup, though the front light bar that’s standard on all trims aside from the base S feels gimmicky to me. Styling is subjective, but I think the facelift nicely modernizes the Jetta’s vibe both inside and out. I think the best value of the Jetta comes at the lower end of the model range. Before you start upgrading and adding a bunch of options, Jetta S, Sport, and SE offer good value propositions.
The base 2025 Jetta S now comes standard with an automatic transmission and starts at $23,220 (including $1,225 destination), which is $240 cheaper than last year’s automatic S. The Sport trim adds a lowered sport suspension and other desirable options for just $24,500, $110 cheaper than last year, and it’s likely to be the sweet spot for most buyers. SE trim starts at $26,200 which is $100 more expensive than last year, and SEL trim starts at $30,225 which is $175 pricier than last year, and the price of my test car. The new 2025 Jetta offers more of what we’ve grown to expect from Volkswagen: solid build quality, an elevated look and feel, peppy powertrains with a dash of driving excitement, and a ton of interior space at a reasonable price. In the crowded and competitive compact car segment, the Jetta is still a good choice.
