On this day, 133 years ago in 1875, Ferdinand Porsche was born.
By 1905, when he was only 30 years old, he was already a famous engineer in Europe because of his work with Jakob Lohner & Company. For years after that he worked for various different firms, always responsible for the cars that dominated racing. He eventually worked for Austro-Daimler and Mercedes-Benz, built the Mercedes-Benz SSK and the prototype for the Volkswagen Beetle.
It’s a little disconcerting, at least to me that some of the best new vehicles never make it to the U.S. This is particularly the case with affordable cars that would actually be accessible by American consumers; as opposed to the six-figure variety horded in the garages of Sultans. That trend may continue, though let us hope not, with the new Volkswagon Scirocco.
Saturday night I went to a party in New Jersey and saw a beautiful 1972 VW Baja Beetle parked in the driveway.
I asked the owner, Adam Brick, if he’d show me around the car a little and he was happy to show it off. It has the oversized tires and wheels (larger in the rear), the Baja style steel tube cage welded to the front and rear, and the rear engine decklid and sheetmetal totally removed. But the best part is the 1914cc engine which apparently puts out 125 hp.
The original GTI’s were essentially Rabbits with a little more guts. Now GTI’s come with an assortment of options that make you feel like you are at least APPROACHING luxury. MSRP for the 4-door GTI is $22,600 and $22,200 for the 2-door but will push towards the mid to upper 20 grand mark with addition of several options. A 4-door with power sunroof, satellite radio, heated leather sport seats and dual-zone climate system puts the car at $29,290. That’s certainly not cheap, but the difference between a GTI and any number of other hatchbacks on the market is measured by drivability. I’m not talking about a trip to the IKEA to get the new Flarbendakken. I mean driving it like it has paddle shifters on the steering wheel. Oh yeah, it does!
Volkswagen commercials used to be universally great. Then out of nowhere, they had those ‘Un-Pimp Your Ride’ abominations, and everything since them has been junk. Let’s encourage greatness by listing the top 5 very best Volkswagen commercials from the era of good Volkswagen commercials.
The key to them all: Relateability. I don’t know if that’s actually a word, but you know what I mean. The best ones were just real life situations co-staring various Volkswagens.
A report released yesterday by a Michigan-based non-profit environmentalist group, the Ecology Center, ranked the interior air quality of about 450 2008-09 model vehicles. The investigation is part of a two-year old (fledgling) endeavor initiated by the Ecology Center known as the Clean Car Campaign.
The CCC’s primary objective is to raise consumer and manufacturer awareness concerning, beginning with their official findings. Accordingly, the Ecology Center’s report ranks vehicles based on the potential threat they pose to human and environmental health. Ranked on a scale from 0 to 5 (0 being little-to-no threat), a vehicle’s score is tabulated by measuring the amount of toxic chemicals present in its interior. According to the report, the ten most toxic cars in descending order are [with score appearing beside vehicle model]:
Volkswagen is biting the bullet and opening a plant in Chattanooga Tennessee in early 2011, this will be VW’s first vehicle production unit in the US. The Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG, Germany have agreed to the establishment and approved an investment of up to 620 million Euros the equivalent of $1 billion USD.
The first step is for an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles designed and a full production facility with a body shop, paint shop and assembly line. A modular production concept will be designed to ensure maximum flexibility.
Volkswagen has announced that the L1 Concept Car is heading to production. The car supposedly will be getting 230 miles a gallon and be a single person vehicle. This sounds like it gets better gas mileage than a horse and buggy and looks a lot cooler too.
So you’re excited about the 2010 Prius with its modest mileage gains. Or maybe you really want a Chevy Volt with a 40-mile all-electric range.
2010, as we’ve noted, is going to be a good year for green cars.
But this is ridiculous.
VW has been talking for a long time about its L1 concept, so called because it uses a measly 1 liter of gasoline to go 100 km. For us Americans, that translates to about 230 miles per gallon.
Volkswagen announces that their BlueTDI technology is now ready for the North American market, but is America still unprepared to embrace a diesel car?
The announcement came from VW at the International Vienna Motor Symposium in Austria. The clean burning diesel trumps its own 2006 TDI model in fuel savings by 12%. The reworked 2.0 liter diesel will bring 60mpg to the market while still being 50-state legal. VW had already been approved for Europe by meeting or exceeding their 2009 Euro-5 standards. Now that the VW BlueTDI engine has passed the EPA’s Bin 5/LEV 2 Emissions rules it will now be permitted to stamp its passport for a voyage across the Atlantic.
The new BlueTDI Jetta arrives on the North American shores pushing 138-hp and 236-ft lbs of torque; both superior improvements in performance over the 2006 model. The last TDI engine for the VW sold in 2006 had 100-hp and 170-ft lbs of torque. As the 2006 model sold for about $24-26,ooo in the US when new, what will the mark-up be on the new BlueTDI? Reports say that the diesel engine will be a scant $2,000 over the MSRP of its gasoline brother.
…Photos and Fuel Mileage comparison after the leap…
I’m not a huge fan of parking, but I have to wonder about the safety concerns of Volkwagen’s self parking car. I mean seriously what happens when this malfunctions and it drives to Taco Bell at 12am for some chalupas?
