Overview & Reviews

Fully redesigned last model year, the 2012 Volkswagen Jetta features only minor changes. The SEL and TDI trim levels now offer a Fender audio system, while last year's Sport package for the SEL has been discontinued.

• Fuel-efficient diesel model.
• Well-equipped
• Spacious interior and trunk
• Smart electronics interface

• Lackluster interior materials
• Sluggish throttle with automatic
• Numb steering
• Wheezy base engine.

User Reviews:

Showing 1 through 10 of 69.00

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  Good car for young drivers - 2012 Volkswagen Jetta
  By Niels Pace - December 17 - 11:39 pm

  Bought this car used for my children to use. Have had minor reliability issues but easily fixed. The most disappointing is the interior - I was brought up in the era of the Golf Gti and owned several of them, have always loved VWs and their solidity and good finish, inside and out. Unfortunately with this generation of Jetta they screwed up during the manufacture and cut the headlining material too short, so it is overtensioned on the foam moulding and comes away. The car is only 5 years old and roof lining is falling off! Obviously VW are completely uninterested in standing by their product and fixing this.

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  This car saved my life - 2012 Volkswagen Jetta
  By skappler1 - November 26 - 4:51 pm

  I loved my Volkswagen Jetta, bought a new 2012 SE with Convenience and Sunroof. It was a dark, rainy, and foggy night and i was traveling at around 40mph when i failed to see a stop sign and went right through an intersection. My Jetta was hit on the left side causing both driver and passenger side airbags to deploy. The vehicle then struck a tree and spun around once again before coming to a halt in someones front lawn. The car had immediatley shut itself off, activated the hazards and unlocked all the doors. My friend and i both walked away from the incident. The police all had agreed that had i not been in a car as safe as the Jetta, my friend and i could have both been easily killed

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  great car so far - 2012 Volkswagen Jetta
  By Eric Koppelson - November 3 - 12:19 pm

  Bought a certified pre-owned 2.5L SE Convenience w/18K miles on it and am very happy with it so far. For the price, I feel this car is a great balance of a sporty but safe family sedan, with a large trunk and roomy backseat, good handling and power (with the 2.5L engine), and decent fuel economy. Its well-styled and comfortable (im 61 and my wife is tall). A few very minor complaints (see below). Was concerned about the lack of independent suspension, but my wife and baby are totally fine even in rough city roads in winter.

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  Um, no. Just no. - 2012 Volkswagen Jetta
  By ZH - August 24 - 12:34 pm

  I wanted to own a European car. Well that was a huge mistake and I only had the car for a little over a year. The car was too cramped and it was just a boring car all around. Too many electrical problems. I had to constantly change the headlights and rewire fuses. The car was crappy in the snow and rain. I was under the impression that the car was suppose to get decent gas mileage, but it was crap compared to my Supra. If people want a reliable car, do NOT get European cars. Stick to the Japanese cars for reliability, comfort, technology, and safety.

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  Good run around car - 2012 Volkswagen Jetta
  By Vw - August 3 - 8:39 pm

  This is a decent car I went from a Honda pilot to a Jetta people complain about acceleration but most compacts are slow and have CVT transmission anyway so it wont matter what compact there all slow. I like the interior and trunk space sad thing reason why I gave it 3 stars is the gas mileage is the same as my pilot. But this car does the everyday commuter job for getting around.

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  Lasted only 75000 miles VWdesign FLAW - 2012 Volkswagen Jetta
  By unhappyvw1 - July 20 - 1:38 am

  Bought as certified pre-owned with 23K miles Loved the car great mileage ect Drove it to work 70 miles (reason we bought it) and at quitting time tried to start only to have engine turn over then lock up. Turns out after some research these motors have issue with inter cooler As motor is run in cold weather air that comes in freezes on inter cooler as the day warmed up ice thawed and when I tried to start water was sucked into engine (NOT GOOD) Dealer will do nothing out of warranty 600 price tag to just evaluate it. Issue with VW since 2009 USE EXTREME caution before purchase Cost 8-10K to replace this motor

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  Lemon Car - 2012 Volkswagen Jetta
  By g_simpson - June 25 - 4:03 am

  At 12,000 miles, the high pressure fuel pump blew up, destroying the whole fuel system. ($7500) That was bad enough for a one year old car, but then it did it again at 23,000 miles. Search the internet for articles about this problem, but VW has covered it up well. The dealer said they fix about 2 per week. The car suddenly lost power going 70 mph on I-5, then died. Just barely made it to the shoulder. Very scary. I hoped the new fuel pump they installed would be a better design, but obviously it was not, since the car blew up again 6 months later- same thing- high pressure fuel pump. We sold the car, and lost $10K. My friends Jetta did the same thing. Big rip off by VW.

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  Numb steering and bad gas mileage - 2012 Volkswagen Jetta
  By Edmund Liu - April 4 - 10:45 am

  The steering is so numb that a U-haul Ford cargo van drives better than this little car. Comfortable ride compared to Japanese rivals. Only gave me one trouble that the lock housing cracked and was fixed by warranty. I mostly drive around town so I got 16.5 MPG no matter what kind of gas I used ( I noticed that Chevron gets a little better, not the tire pressure problem ) I never see a 200 miles out of a full tank ( 14.5 Gal ). I believe the max MPG I got on freeways is 29. It feels safe. Doors are very heavy. Solid build quality. AC vents want to fall apart all the time, and I dont know why. Engine is sluggish when started if the day is cold. Overall, if you want a safe car and dont care about anything else, this is the one for you.

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  So far, so good. - 2012 Volkswagen Jetta
  By s4guy2000 - February 16 - 10:09 pm

  I just acquired a 2012 Jetta TDI Premium. We have a 2013 Jetta Sportwagen with all of the options and have put about 9000 trouble free miles on it, so I bought the 2012 sedan as a certified used VW. It has around 50k miles on it and I drive 74 miles round trip everyday. So far the car has been really nice, the tires are terrible and I will be changing these out in a month or two, but I am still getting around 53.8 mpg when I just kind of cruise. I averaged 44.8 mpg on the first tank with faster driving. I like the DSG it feels a little clunky if you are used to traditional manuals, especially when it downshifts when you are slowing down, but it is pretty smooth while upshifting.

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  This car delivers - 2012 Volkswagen Jetta
  By delfin1 - September 18 - 5:31 pm

  I have just over 2,000 miles on a new base model Jetta TDI with a manual, so I cant comment on long term reliability. What I can comment on is the performance of the package, and it exceeds expectations. Were averaging around 43 mpg in combined city/highway driving. Since this is more than promised, it is hard not to be impressed. The seating is comfortable, and while the interior finish materials are not as high quality as some other vehicles, they are certainly good enough for a car that costs less than $23,000.