Sensible and mature but why can't wagons be better looking?

I guess the Volkswagen Jetta is all growed up and the brand new Wagon even more so.

I'll declare now that I drive my own 2001 Jetta most everyday and enjoy it like the day I bought it. I haven't driven any model in between until I picked up the 2009 Jetta Wagon and I learned quickly that the times they are a changin'.

The car has matured, but maybe I haven't because I like my old one better. It has a lightness of spirit that the new one doesn't – and I have nothing against wagons, having owned two Taurus wagons before they got fatally ugly.

The new Jetta Wagon isn't inferior, it's just different and, if anything, it feels like a much more expensive car than the $23,475 base price suggests. With extras including a massive sunroof ($1,780) and "Comfortline" trim, which adds heated seats, 16-inch alloy wheels, premium audio and leather tidbits, the price of my tester was $28,040.

With a 2.5 L engine and 170 horsepower available, the Wagon has all the speed you'll need. Unlike my 1.8 turbo, it doesn't spin the front tires when immodestly applying power. That's a plus.

On Ontario's rutted spring roads, the new wagon showed a nicely balanced suspension. It absorbed the chaotic state of the asphalt while still feeling firm and in charge. After all, the Wagon with the rear seats folded has 1,934 litres of cargo space so you don't want the free range eggs and drywall compound hurtling around the interior.

I was looking forward to driving the five-speed manual and found the gearbox and clutch to be perfectly acceptable, but another aspect of the transmission to be puzzling. The car felt like it was in cruise control. Lift your foot off the gas and it doesn't slow down right away.

Volkswagen Canada was stumped, but an email to Germany provided the answer. The effect is caused by something called "pushback," which builds in a five-second delay in second gear and a nine-second delay in third. During those times, the engine cuts off airflow to the catalytic converter, which delays engine braking. The action reduces emissions but it means using the brakes more than I want in a manual.

Inside the Wagon, it feels like Old Home Week. The interior is the typical VW blend of "sensible like a cloth coat" and mindfully executed. Front seats are just contoured enough to keep you in place, push them back and there is tons of legroom. But it was unfortunate for me that even with a tilting and telescoping wheel, my knees were bumping the steering column when I braked or hit the clutch.

Visibility is mostly good, but thick B-pillars combined with the passenger seat head restraint can obscure the view when backing out.

No advanced computer training is needed to operate audio and climate settings. It's all knobs and buttons and they have a swanky premium feel to them; Podsters will be happy they can plug in via an input jack in the centre console.

In the back seat, passengers have agreeable legroom and a view of the constellations overhead, thanks to a supersized sunroof that covers the whole passenger area. There's a one-touch screen that deploys if your scalp is getting baked.

The backseats fold easily to expand the Wagon's cargo capacity, but if you want the cargo floor perfectly flat, you have to remove the head restraints and move the bottom seat cushions out of the way to get the seatbacks to fold all the way. It was the same way back in '01 when we bought our Jetta.

Taking a walk around the exterior of the Wagon, I kept thinking that buried somewhere is a better-looking car. Maybe wagoneers don't care, but I would like more attitude – call it Jettatude, adding some of the Volvo V70 muscularity, or the "I mean business" style of the old Audi Allroad wagon.

Bigger rims would help; my tester had tepid looking 16-inchers. And there's something a little saggy looking about the rear from the side view. It needs to go to booty camp.

However, this is my opinion.

When I parked the Wagon at the grocery store, a good-looking Johnny Depp kinda guy approached me.

"Is that the new Jetta Wagon?" he gushed.

"Yeah man," I replied.

"That's rockin'. I know what I'll be getting next."

Case closed.

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