Volkswagen does not build many cars like the Volkswagen Bora: a 4-door notchback sedan / saloon / 5-door wagon / estate with 1.4 L I4 16V, built from 1999 to 2008 when airbags, anti-lock brakes and Japanese build quality became the world standard. Its designer of record is Hartmut Warkuß / Freeman Thomas / J Mays.
Where it came from
The Volkswagen Bora is a small family car, the fourth generation of the Volkswagen Jetta, and the successor to the Volkswagen Vento. Volkswagen began production of the car in July 1999. Carrying on the wind nomenclature from previous generations, the car was known as the Bora in much of the world. Bora is a winter wind that blows intermittently over the coast of the Adriatic Sea, as well as in parts of Greece, Russia, Turkey, and the Sliven region of Bulgaria. In North America and South Africa, the Jetta moniker was kept once more due to the continued popularity of the car in those markets.
The Bora debuted shortly after its larger sibling, the fifth-generation Passat, with rear passenger doors differing from those of a five-door Golf. The car was also offered as an estate/wagon. Options included rain sensor-controlled windshield wipers and automatic climate control. Two new internal-combustion engines were offered: the 1.8-litre turbo four-cylinder (often referred to as the 1.8 20vT), and the VR6. The suspension setup remained much as before, but was softened considerably in most models to give a comfortable ride. This was met with some criticism, as it was still quite hard in comparison to vehicles offered from French carmakers.
Under the skin
Under the skin sits 1.4 L I4 16V; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. The gearbox is a 5-speed manual (02J) / 6-speed manual (02M) / 4-speed automatic (01M) / 5-speed automatic Tiptronic (09A) / 6-speed automatic (09G). The wheelbase is sedan: 2510 mm / estate: 2520 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
Where it sits in Volkswagen's history is not in doubt: the Volkswagen Vento (A3) / Volkswagen Citi Golf (China) came before it; the Volkswagen Jetta (A5) / Volkswagen Bora (second generation) (China) followed it; it was built at Wolfsburg. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Škoda Auto Škoda Fabia, the SEAT León, the Toyota Yaris. Nearby in the Volkswagen catalogue sit the Volkswagen Apollo and the Volkswagen Routan.