Video: 2009 Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen TDI

And I'm here today with the 2009 Jetta SportWagen, and I have to say the station wagon is my favorite body style for the "Weekend Athlete" tests. Why? Well, for starters, you have all this cargo room back here. That's obvious. It gives you a lot of room for bikes and everything else. And then if you're the type of person who doesn't believe in putting your bike inside the car, and likes roof racks, the best part about a wagon is you have all this space up here and it's never too high. You know, you don't get too many wagons where it's too high for a short person to load the rack, and that's a good thing. Now, the other thing about this Jetta SportWagen that makes it a little different than any of the other ones is this is the diesel version, and I've driven both the gas and the diesel throughout the city and on the highway. And the one thing I would say about the diesel is it's got a little more grunt, which you would expect from a diesel engine 'cause they generally make just a little more torque. And all that really means is with a manual transmission, you don't have to shift as often, 'cause you just have a little more grunt and a little more pull. Speaking of the transmission, one of the other things I really like about this car is I've driven the manual in both engines, and it really makes a world of difference in terms of how the car drives. It just makes it a lot more fun and I recommended it if you can drive a stick. Now as I said, it's a wagon, and one of the things I like about modern wagons versus the wagons we had when I was a kid is you have this hatch opening rather than a swing out door. The other thing that's nice is, as you can see, it opens really high, so if you're a taller person, you're not gonna be banging your head. It's got a good height too for shorter people to pull it down. That's good. Also, the area itself that we have here is really big. I mean, we've got both seats up and we've got plenty of room back here. Easy to take, you know, four or five people camping if you really had to, with the amount of space you have back here. Now, like I said, you have the choice of gasoline or diesel, and manual or automatic. One thing to keep in mind, Volkswagen does not give you the choice of all-wheel drive, so if you live in a place with inclement weather or just having an all-wheel drive matters to you, it's something to bear in mind when you're shopping. <v Announcer>For more car related news, go to Cars.com or our blog, KickingTires.net.