Duboholic

via autobloggreen.com

According to some educated guessing at WorldCarFans, Volkswagen's Up! concept that is coming our way in the next few years will be renamed the Lupo, reviving a name that went out of production in 2005. WCF says they have official confirmation from sources that their guess is true, and that "Up!" will indeed form the middle of the Lupo name (see also: IROC and Scirocco). There's still time before we find out for sure, as the production Up!/Lupo isn't expected to be unveiled until the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2011.

Posted by at 7:25 PM | Permalink

Via Autoblog Green

Volkswagen's TSI engines were awarded the "TechnoBest" award from the 15-nation AutoBest jury in Istanbul today. One reason for the award was that these engines crank out a lot of power for the amount of fuel they consume, something the jury called a "genuine advancement." Read more of the jury's thoughts in VW's announcement after the jump. For the last few years, Europeans have been able to drive using the TSIs, but Americans will get a first taste later this summer with the release of the new Passat CC. In Europe, the TSI engines are available in Golfs and the Jetta, Touran and Tiguan series vehicles. Currently, 127,000 TSI engines are in use around the world.

Posted by at 6:20 PM | Permalink

Congradulations to the Stanford Team and their sponsors. Junior, the VW Passat came in first place.

Continue reading "Passat wins the DARPA Urban Challenge" »

Posted by at 11:18 AM | Permalink

Volkswagen will be touring America in an effort to educate Americans on how VW clean their modern engines are.

The company has prepared a traveling road show called the Dieselution Tour. Into a couple of tractor-trailers, VW has packed interactive exhibits extolling the virtues of diesels. One such exhibit is a calculator that figures how much fuel you would save and how much carbon dioxide you would not emit if you drove a VW diesel on a given road trip compared to a gasoline-powered car. For example, on the 1,802-mile trip from San Francisco to Vail, Colorado, one would save about $80.14 in fuel and about 348 pounds of carbon dioxide.

Also on display are a Touareg TDI, a 1977 Rabbit diesel (the oldest VW diesel in the U.S., apparently) and the 2009 Jetta TDI. The tour will make stops at various universities, environmental events, and also the Super Bowl.

read more on edmonds.com

Posted by at 10:52 PM | Permalink

Via the thecarlounge.net forums

2008 Volkswagen Jetta 4d Sdn 2.0T TDI SE MT MSRP: $21630 Base MSRP: $22530 w/ Sunroof

2008 Volkswagen Jetta 4d Sdn 2.0T TDI SE AT
MSRP: $22705 Base
MSRP: $23605 w/ Sunroof

2008 Volkswagen Jetta 4d Sdn 2.0T TDI SEL
MSRP: $25465 Base
MSRP: $27215 w/ Navigation

Posted by at 10:46 PM | Permalink

It seems that VW is slowly sheading the Noisy/Smelly diesel notion.

Read the full article here.

RAY: We havenÂ’t driven the newest VWs yet, but we stood in front of a new diesel Jetta recently, and we were impressed by how quiet it was. Even AFTER they started the engine. And we werenÂ’t even asphyxiated by the exhaust.

TOM: While diesels make up only a small percentage of the passenger-car market right now, their share is probably going to grow over the next decade as gasoline stays expensive and mileage becomes more important to car buyers. So IÂ’d say, go for it, Terry. And if weÂ’re wrong, weÂ’ll send you a free pair of combination Car Talk earplugs/nose plugs.

Posted by at 7:21 PM | Permalink

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has published crash test results of the 2008 Jetta Sportwagen.

4 Star Frontal Crash
5 STar Side Crash
12% Chance of a Rollover in a crash which translated to 4 stars.

Pretty much the same results as the Jetta.

Posted by at 7:10 PM | Permalink