Review of the 2020 Volkswagen Jetta: New Technology Elevates the Iconic Sedan

The Volkswagen Jetta is a sedan manufactured and marketed by Volkswagen. It was first introduced at the 1979 Frankfurt Auto Show and was known back then as the Volkswagen Atlantic. It was an immediate hit and became the best-selling European car in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Since that time, the Jetta has had nine different name changes; and since it was designed to be a family car to fill the slot above the Golf Hatchback, it has been a 2-door sedan, a 4-door sedan and a 5-door wagon. Through all the name changes and body configurations, Volkswagen was able to sell 17 million Jettas worldwide with 3.2 million of those selling here in the United States. It is still Volkswagens top selling vehicle.

What's New For the 2020 Jetta

Volkswagen Car-Net: Volkswagen has offered a vehicle concierge service since model year 2014. It was a way for owners to get connected to their vehicles. I have been told it typically would cost a couple hundred dollars a year for the service, but the few people I know that have Volkswagens said the price was never worth the value of services. But it appears that will be changing with model year 2020, as Volkswagen's Car-Net services move into the next generation of integration. There will be four areas of services that the updated downloadable app will have available for any new Volkswagen buyer. The four areas will be Remote Access, Safe & Secure, Hotspot, and Guide & Inform. The best part about this updated program is that the base line services are now free for five years. Even if you decide to sell your vehicle, the service is still free as long as the five years has not expired.

This new app is able to communicate with any smart device you might own which includes your Apple Watch or Android Wear operating systems. You will be able to chat or engage with your car about any Car-Net feature. It can even find your car in the mall parking lot at Christmas time. Some of the basic features that will be offered on the app are remote start and stop (if your vehicle is equipped), remote door lock and unlock, remote honk and flash of lights, last parked location, and remote vehicle status display, which provides information on fuel level, mileage, and door and window status. Parkopedia is a parking information feature that will help you locate off-street parking through the Navigate tab on the app. All you have to do is click the P icon to show available parking locations, either in the immediate vicinity or near your point of interest. Vehicle Health Reports will provide owners access to vehicle diagnostic information. The information is automatically gathered by the system each month and a report is sent by email detailing service needs. If it is determined it is time for scheduled service, the app will notify the owner and then provide a way to schedule a dealer visit.

Family Guardian Services

The Car-Net services has a section devoted to teen drivers.

• It lets owners set a predetermined speed and if that speed is exceeded the owner will be notified.
• Boundary alert allows owner to set up a geofence and notify them if the vehicle has traveled outside the boundary.
• Curfew alert notifies the owner if the vehicle has been driven while curfew alert is on

My favorite is valet alert which will notify you if your vehicle is driven more than 0.2 miles from the valet drop-off location. Roadside Call Assist is also available at the touch of the wrench button if the vehicle is disabled; an extra-charge service that I thought worth mentioning. The DriveView™ program is a new service offering that is offered in this new generation of integration. It allows a driver to have their daily driving habits monitored for a certain time period. The system will generate a report and after your approval will forwarded the report to their insurance company for potentially better rates.

Because of all this new technology through this app, it only makes sense that you will be able to use your car as a 4G LTE-hotspot through the app too. The hotspot will have enough bandwidth to allow passengers to access the internet with four connected devices simultaneously. The service is currently offered through Verizon, but it is very likely you will be able to use your current personal provider in the not so distant future.

Many moons ago, I worked for a small computer hardware company that designed the very first laptop cellular computer in the world. PC Magazine called it a luggable; and quite frankly, they were being very polite. Early on in the sales process, we had a meeting with a large international consulting corporation. As we were wrapping up the meeting, one of the tenured senior vice presidents let that us know they were not interested in our computer because, in his opinion, nobody in their right mind would be working from their cars

That was 30 years ago this year. How do you like me now?

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