2019 Volkswagen Jetta GLI - VW Jetta GLI Sedan

2019 Volkswagen Jetta GLI - VW Jetta GLI Sedan https://goo.gl/yZGYAL

2019 Volkswagen Jetta GLI. With the GTI's 228-hp engine, an independent rear suspension, and Volkswagen's VAQ limited-slip differential, the new GLI looks like it should be just as fun to drive as the GTI. We have a feeling it will be much better than the previous Jetta GLI. To get a better idea of what Volkswagen has done with the GLI, we caught up with Adam Reinhardt, one of the product developers behind the Jetta.

Can you talk me through some of your priorities and your goals when it came to redesigning the GLI?

Absolutely. So the number one thing with this car was to make sure that it was on the same performance plane as the GTI. So previous generation, the Mk VI GLI was a good car, but it had the misfortune of the GTI coming out in 2015 as a Mk VII on the MQB chassis that did have more power and it had a more rigid chassis and it had a little bit better handling. And so the performance buyer, the enthusiast, was naturally gravitating more towards the GTI and the GLI was, more or less ... didn't quite measure up in the same performance. And that's not what we wanted.

What we wanted to do was relaunch the GLI as a true performance sports sedan, so think of it like a GTI with a trunk. And so, to that end, it's now on a MQB chassis, same as the normal Jetta, and it shares its engine with the model '19 GTI, so it's the same EA88 turbo four-cylinder, two-liter engine, making 228 horsepower. It's a standard engine on all GLIs.

In addition to that, features that were previously in the GTI performance package, like the XDS and the VAQ limited-slip differential, that's now standard equipment on GLI, as well as the Golf R front brakes.