Re: VW Jetta 2008
I used to own one. Pretty smart car. Gives a lot of premium features. I had a turbocharged engine (not V6) and the car would literally fly off the red. Only problem, and this is a significant problem, is that the car is assembled in Mexico and so the build quality is definitely poor. Within the first two years, the car had two major recalls and breakdowns. All of them were fixed under warranty, of course, but you don't expect a new car to have such major problems.
Other than that, the rear seats have tiny leg space, so its a very compact car in the same range as Corolla and Civic. But for its price, it was way too expensive (about $25k), so definitely not bang for the buck. It would be palatable if the car would be German built (bragging rights) or the reliability was better.
One caveat is that all the above are based on Jetta 2002. If things have significantly changed in the last few years, then it could be a different story. I doubt the interior space or the manufacturing location has changed.