The premonition
11/23/2023
It was February 1977 when Volkswagen presented the Derby . It was a notchback version of the Polo. Only a short time later, the German car magazine "mot" suggested that a notchback version of the Golf was also conceivable if the Derby was successful (picture/drawing above).
In fact, a lot of time passed before the VW Jetta was produced from August 1979. It differed more clearly from the Golf than the Derby did from the Polo. The modified front had been brought a little closer to the Passat with rectangular headlights.
The stumbling block, however, was the attached rear end, which led to the nickname "Rucksack Golf". Compared to the Polo, the adaptation was much less elegant and the third volume really did look like an appendage.
However, this was even more noticeable in the two-door model than in the four-door model.
Nevertheless, the Jetta found many friends. It was also available as a GLI, a cheaper version of the Golf GTI, so to speak. In Switzerland, you could save around 1,000 francs if you did without the sports seats and other sporty accessories of the Golf GTI and opted for the two-door Jetta instead. It was hardly any slower on the road and you could load over 500 liters into the trunk. Incidentally, the four-door Jetta GLI only cost CHF 15,840 in Switzerland in 1980, which is a price worth remembering ( test in Automobil Revue in 1980).
Of course, it was even cheaper with a much more modestly powered GLS.
