Zipcar Review: Jetta Joyner

Hey, two in a row! I was somewhat pleased with the idea of doing car reviews after my last review of Matrix Manford, so I had this in the back of my mind when Tay asked if we could get a car to take her costumes and equipment up to York University for a film shoot she is working on this weekend. So yesterday morning, in the midst of the first hailstorm of the season, I set out to pick up Zipcar's Volkswagen Jetta "Joyner" from a Leslieville parking lot.

Jetta Joyner
What: Volkswagen City Jetta sedan
I still didn't think to look at the year, but it only had about 20,000 km on it so it's pretty new.

I've driven one of the Zipcar Jettas before, so I had an idea of what to expect. In particular, I was looking forward to the auto tranny with the sport setting :) Fun in downtown traffic, but what about the freeway?

City: I set out on Lakeshore just as the downpour started, and hit the streetcar tracks on Queen just before it became impossible to see. Unlike the Matrix from the last review, driving along the tracks posed no challenge whatsoever. I didn't even know the car was on the tracks, really. A few quick curb-lane passes in sport mode got me back to the apartment just in time to watch the hailstorm from inside the building.

After a brief break, Tay & I loaded up the back seat with all of her gear, then set out for York. Our street has traffic control speed humps which were no challenge for the Jetta (at a reasonable speed of course) and the drive up the rough main roads to the Don Valley Parkway was smooth and comfortable. Like some other cars in the Zipcar arsenal, the Jetta has a transmission with a selectable shifter which allows you to "shift" between gears manually, although it's not a true manual. Unlike many, it also comes with a full-automatic "sport" mode, which keeps the tranny in a lower gear and the engine running at a higher RPM. This gives better acceleration and throttle response, at the expense of fuel economy, engine noise, and a jerky feel when coasting (from engine braking). On the other hand, normal mode seemed to hunt between gears more than it should. The compromise for me was to accelerate in sport mode, then shift back to normal mode for regular driving. I was impressed by the car's drive and handling in the city.

Freeway: Our route to York took us onto the Don Valley Parkway and later the 401. I put the car into sport mode on the onramp to the DVP, and realized halfway up the ramp I was doing 80 and hadn't noticed. Freeway merging and acceleration was no problem at all, and I made a few passes before hitting the Lawrence bottleneck, yeah, even at 9am on a Saturday. I had a hard time getting the side mirrors into the right spot, and with the side windows fogged, lane changes were a bit scary. Due to a large standing puddle on the freeway from the rainstorm and a tractor-trailer collision, the drive to York was quite slow.

After dropping Tay off at York, I learned that someone had booked the car right at the end of my time, so I wasn't able to extend my reservation. I wasn't sure that I would have enough time to get back to Leslieville (I had about 25 minutes left) so the ride back was pretty much all in sport mode. That fits my style of driving pretty well, as hitting 120 on the freeway was no problem at all, fast lane changes were a breeze, and I didn't really feel nervous weaving around the Saturday morning traffic. The car cruises like a breeze and takes turns with no difficulty. I had to brake on ramps for slower traffic quite a few times. Of course, I don't recommend or endorse this kind of driving in any situation, but the Jetta drives on the freeway like it's meant to be there.

Of course I really didn't have enough time since I also had to put gas in, and even with the time constraint I don't drive like an idiot (too much), and ended up returning the car 10 minutes late anyway and getting dinged with the $35 late return fee.

Interior: I lost a bit of time at the gas station because I couldn't find the fuel cap release, and had to read the manual to find it. It's not where you would expect it to be: on the center console beside the parking brake. Those crazy Germans ....

I liked the interior, it seemed well planned. I couldn't figure out how to change the display on the fuel computer from average speed though (it increased a lot over the time I was using the car). The gauges are easy to read but not imposing on the driver's view. Although I had problems aiming the mirrors, once I had them set they were good to go. I didn't play with the radio a lot, it was already set to 107.1, although Tay checked traffic on AM680 when we hit the wall of cars on the 401.

In general, this had been a car I was waiting to try out since my last short drive in a Jetta over the winter. Joyner didn't disappoint, and this will be a car I'll be looking to reserve again.

For more information, check out Zipcar and the Volkswagen Jetta City.

Note: this review is a matter of my own opinion, and is not endorsed by Zipcar or Volkswagen. Use at your own risk.