Archive for Volkswagen

The Volkswagen Concept BlueSport represents (according to Volkswagen) its philosophy for the new year – maximum driving fun with minimal fuel consumption. It’s 2.0 liter diesel engine sips only 4.3 liters per 100km and puts out 113g/km of CO2, but produces 180 PS and a very nice 350Nm of torque from as low as 1,750rpm. It’s mated to a twin clutch 6-speed transmission, and pushing the roadster which weighs less than 1,200kg from 0 to 100km/h takes only 6.6 seconds, on to a top speed of 226km/h.

Weight is kept down via the use of low weight construction methods such as a soft top which is lighter than a hard top, aluminium hoods, and a compact body layout.

Now what differentiates this baby from the many Volkswagens we’ve seen is the fact that it’s rear wheel drive. And its 112 liter boot is located at the front. That’s because the diesel engine is actually mounted at the mid-rear. Yes, a mid engined, rear wheel drive Volkswagen roadster.

It’s most curious why Volkswagen chose a mid-engine rear wheel drive platform for this car. Is it just for showcar purposes or are we looking at a new rear wheel drive platform for the Volkswagen Group? Could a production version of this roadster share a platform with the upcoming Volkswagen Lupo (based on the Volkswagen Up! concepts)? Will the Lupo be rear wheel drive after all?

Click here to read the rest of Volkswagen Concept BlueSport Roadster

Volkswagen Group Malaysia is currently selling limited units of the Volkswagen Golf GTI with a different set of equipment, but for the sale price of RM198,888.

This special Golf GTI features featuring vintage tartan Interlagos fabric seats (the retro design on the Polo GTI’s seats), 18 inch Detroit alloy wheels (instead of the standard 17 inch Denver), a sunroof, cruise control, electrically foldable wing mirrors, and an enhance multi-info display which allows the user to define options such as coming or leaving home lights, remote door unlocking and auto lock/unlocok functions.

Click here to read the rest of Volkswagen Golf GTI Special Edition: limited units now available in Malaysia

Volkswagen dealer VW Cars Sdn Bhd is offering a special price for 30 units of the Volkswagen Touareg, in celebration of the company’s sponsorship of the Monsoon Cup for the next 4 years. The Volkswagen Touareg will be used as the official vehicle for the skippers and the VIPs attending the event, to shuttle them between the various points of the Monsoon Cup 2008 event site.

The Volkswagen Touareg normally retails for RM 433,888.00 but these 30 units will be sold for a special price of RM345,000, a huge discount of RM88,888. This promotion is for the entire month of December 2008.

“Consumers are always on the lookout for the best deals in town, particularly at a time when the country is experiencing an economic downturn. We believe that offering such an unbeatable deal helps in building customer loyalty while maintaining VW’s prestigious brand values,” said VW Cars CEO Dato’ Ilyas Mohamad.

Coming hot right after tail of the Golf Mk6 was unveiled earlier this year is its larger sibling the Golf Plus, which recently made a public debut at Italy’s 2008 Bologna Motor Show. Like the Golf, the 6-speed slushbox is being phased out for a range of 6 and 7-speed twin clutch transmissions depending on the engine. Diesel lovers can enjoy a range of common rail turbodiesel engines with power outputs ranging from 90 PS to 140 PS.

Click here to read the rest of New Volkswagen Golf Plus unveiled at Bologna 2008

We’ve previously heard news of the 3.2 liter V6 engine making its way out of Volkswagen’s Golf and Scirocco and instead being replaced with a high-powered version of Volkswagen’s 2.0 TFSI engine.

In this design study that previews the upcoming Volkswagen Scirocco R20T (rumoured naming conventional similiar to the existing R32 and R36), the 2.0 TFSI engine produces a good 270 horses, mated to a 6-speed DSG gearbox.

Also featured in the design study is an adjustable coilover suspension, big brakes with 4-pot calipers and a performance exhaust system.

Look after the jump for more shots of the Scirocco Study R.

Click here to read the rest of Volkswagen Scirocco Study R

Ah, here we have yet another white Volkswagen Scirocco, this time by Rieger. White is a really nice colour for this car but visitors to the Essen show this month might find themselves in the middle of a sea of white Sciroccos that all look somewhat alike. This Rieger version sets itself apart with scissor doors amongst other enhancements.

There’s actually no one set of bodykit for the Rieger Scirocco, individual parts can be customised such as the grille inserts on the left and right of the R8-ish front bumper design shown above- there are up to 3 designs for this. On top of that there are other bumper designs as well.

Look after the jump for a hi-res photo gallery, or take some time to browse some other tuned-up Sciroccos listed in the links below.

Other tuned/kitted-up Volkswagen Sciroccos:
Volkswagen Scirocco Collector’s Edition
MCCHIP Volkswagen Scirocco: 246hp for 849 Euros
Oettinger Volkswagen Scirocco 1.4 and 2.0 TSI
MTM Volkswagen Scirocco R with 272 PS
Volkswagen Scirocco tuned by Abt Sportsline

Source

Click here to read the rest of Volkswagen Scirocco tuned by Rieger

Click for enlarged image

The other Volkswagen displayed at the 2008 Essen Motor Show is this Volkswagen Scirocco Collector’s Edition which joins the Mk6 Golf Collector’s Edition unveiled earlier this year. It also white like the Eos White Night concept, but the difference is this one’s actually going to be sold, in a 100 unit limited edition run.

The inside is alot less subtle, with the mostly dark interior heavily contrasted with the two-tone leather seats which feature black and Berry White leather. This particular Scirocco is based off the 2.0 TFSI model with 200 horsepower under the hood.

Look after the jump for a shot of the interior.

Click here to read the rest of Volkswagen Scirocco Collector’s Edition

Click to enlarge

This is one of two cars that Volkswagen will be displaying at the 2008 Essen Motor Show, a tuners haven and Europe’s equivalent to the Tokyo Auto Salon in Japan or the SEMA show in the USA.

This special Eos concept is called the Volkswagen Eos White Night and features a black and white colour scheme extending everywhere from the exterior to the interior, which features black nappa leather with white stitching. For those who are curious, the exterior white is a colour called Candy White. Cool, an Eos that looks like a pearly Menthos?

Under the hood is Volkswagen’s 3.2 liter V6 engine that produces 250 horsepower, which would probably make the car more balanced with the top down (big engine at the front balancing the heavy top stored at the rear).

Look after the jump for a shots of the interior.

Click here to read the rest of Volkswagen Eos White Night Concept

ABT has released its tuning kit for the new Mk6 Volkswagen Golf. A fully kitted car can be called the ABT Golf VI. A full range of modifications are offered covering both looks and power. You can already observe the aerodynamics kit that ABT has developed for the Mk6 from the image above, and a rear image is available after the jump, featuring slanted vertically-stacked quad tailpipes with 2 on each side. Wheels are 18 or 19 inch AR or BR design wheels with low profile tyres.

The 1.4 liter TSI single turbo engine with the 122hp output gets a rechipped to produce 160 horsepower while the more powerful 160hp 1.4 liter TSI version with the supercharger and turbocharger gets a similiar upgrade taking it from a stock 160 horses up to a near-GTI-like 200 horsepower. The 2.0 liter TFSI in the GTi gets upped from 210hp up to 240hp. For oil-burning Mk6 Golfs, the 2.0 TDI engine gets a rechip from the standard 140hp up to 170hp.

I don’t know about you, but I kinda feel it’s overdone. It’s either that or the Scirocco has completely stole this Golf’s limelight when it comes to what people would expect from a performance C-segment Volkswagen.

Look after the jump for more images of the ABT Golf Mk6.

Click here to read the rest of ABT Golf VI: with bodykit and engine tune-ups

Click to enlarge image

Do you have RM200,000? Great! Go out and buy a Golf GTI.

If you don’t, well, consider one of two options. Rob a bank or read more about what Shannon Teoh has to say about its smaller brother, the Polo GTI.

Read more after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Volkswagen Polo GTi 1.8T Test Drive Review

The TUNE IT! SAFE! program is an initiative by the German Federal Ministry of Transport, the VDAT (Association of German Car Tuners) and Messe Essen (Essen trade fair company) and is held in conjunction with the Essen Motor Show every year, which for 2008 is coincidentally this month.

According to the organizers, German car enthusiasts spend as much as 4.4 billion Euros every year to modify their cars! There is of course safe tuning and modification with proper tested and proven accessories and there is of course inferior, inexpensive pirated copies of products. In fact, you could even call aftemarket HID kits which are not really engineered to point its beam properly as an unsafe modification.

Every year the TUNE IT! SAFE! program has prime examples of good and safe modification on display and this year there is this nice police-liveried Volkswagen Scirocco you see here. Look for more photos of it after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Volkswagen Scirocco TUNE IT! SAFE! Concept

Volkswagen has added a front wheel drive option to the Trend & Fun variant of its Volkswagen Tiguan in Germany, probably to improve emissions ratings across its product range as well as offer a more fuel efficient vehicle for those who do not require the extra weight of all-wheel drive equipment.

Word is that even the upcoming BMW X1 will have a two wheel drive option, which means an alternative for front wheel drive must be found for BMW’s “xDrive30i” etc naming system for its SUVs.

The new front wheel drive Tiguan is available with either a 1.4 liter TSI or a 2.0 liter TDI engine. We Malaysians get the top of the line Track & Field version with all-wheel drive, a higher ride height, an increased approach angle and offroader looks.

The Volkswagen Transporter T5 is a commercial vehicle that was launched in 2003 replacing the old T4 model. It’s versatile and configurable like the Weststar Maxus LDV and back in school I have known of some very rich families that actually own and use such vehicles as a people mover instead of a goods mover whenever they need to entertain a large group of people. The Caravelle model in the UK offers plenty of space for 6 to 7 people and creature comforts such as tables and refrigerators.

The most powerful version of the Transporter you can buy now is the 235 horsepower, 315Nm of torque 3.2 liter V6 version. The most torquey is the 2.5 liter inline-5 TDI turbodiesel with 174 horsepower and 400Nm of torque.

But what if you wanted a more powerful version…

German tuners Claer probably got inspired by the Brabus Viano V8, a commercial van with a 6.1 liter V8 engine producing 426 horsepower and 621Nm of torque. You could probably just turbocharge the 3.2 liter V6 engine but Claer decided to do what the Volkswagen tuners of the past have done, plonk a Porsche engine in!

A twin-turbocharged flat-6 engine from the 996 Porsche 911 is used in the Claer T5, producing a Viano V8-beating 680 horsepower and 720Nm of torque. It can reach a top speed of 300km/h. For additional stability at those speeds and for better cornering ability, the ride height has been lowered by nearly 75mm.

Additional stopping power is provided by the upgraded brakes which use 380 x 32 mm discs with 6-pot calipers in the front and 330 x 28 mm discs with 4-pot calipers in the rear, which can stop the van from 100km/h in just under 40 meters.

Perhaps a new installment of the movie The Transporter might feature this monster one day if Jason Statham ever needs to transport something much larger than his luxury sedans can fit.

Click here to read the rest of Claer T5: a 680hp Volkswagen Transporter

This is probably the cheapest way to get more power out of your Volkswagen Scirocco without any other fluff. A simple chip thats priced at 849 Euros from MCCHIP brings your Volkswagen Scirocco 2.0 TFSI up from 200 horsepower to 246 horsepower and 346Nm of torque. These tuners really make tuning up turbo cars sound so easy!

Of course, if you desire anything more then the MCCHIP demo car here also features a stiffer performance suspension from H&R, 19 inch wheels wrapped with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 235/35ZZR19 tyres, and a performance exhausts system.

I wonder if Volkswagen Malaysia has any plans to offer the Scirocco here. The 2.0 TFSI Scirocco would priced at a premium above the Golf GTI would probably sell, as considering the amount of Mk5 GTIs running around here it’s starting to look boring.

BTW don’t you find it weird that all the demo kitted up Volkswagens from the tuners have so far all been done up in a white colour scheme? I was in Singapore over the weekend and saw a Volkswagen exhibition at Vivo City and all the cars were white too.

White is still the new black!

Click here to read the rest of MCCHIP VW Scirocco: 246hp for 849 Euros

While pushing the Scirocco 2.0 TSI up to 240 PS, OETTINGER has not abandoned the smaller displacement 1.4 liter TSI version of the Volkswagen Scirocco, with the smaller-engined sibling getting a power boost up to 200 PS. This allows a Volkswagen Scirocco 1.4 TSI owner that somewhere during his time of ownership regrets not getting the 2.0 liter version to enjoy 2.0 TSI-like power!

The 2.0 TSI engine holds more potential of course as OETTINGER has promised a more powerful tuning kit later which can take the engine up to 350 PS and a massive 470Nm of torque. This kit will include a polished stainless steel performance exhaust system, a new turbocharger and a larger intercooler to handle the increased pressure.

The car you see right here features 20 inch OETTINGER Type RXX wheels, a carbon interior, stainless steel kick plates, and aluminium pedals, but OETTINGER promises a tuned adjustable suspension system and larger brakes in the future when the 350 PS kit is released. Look after the jump for a rear view of the OETTINGER Scirocco.

Click here to read the rest of OETTINGER Volkswagen Scirocco 1.4 and 2.0 TSI