Volkswagen has three major products to show at the New York Auto show. First is the Passat CC (which doesn't mean coupe-convertible as in Europe, but just indicates a four-door low-profile sedan like the Mercedes CLS). It's great looking in person and beats the heck out of the dowdy regular Passat sedan. But it's Audi A4 money (high twenties into the forties in price), and anyone over 5'8" is going to have a heavy metal head-banging time in the back seat. Lovely car, but how does this fit with VW's mainstream image? I dunno. The Tiguan crossover is also on display, and it's coming to dealers in May. It's poorly packaged – despite loads of headroom, I'd reckon it has comparable cargo space to a 5-door Grabbit (Golf/Rabbit). Finally, I cornered VW PR Manager Keith Price and fired off questions about diesels. The plans are to have the 2.0 liter, 50-state diesel (no urea to refill) Jetta sedan and wagon in dealers during the summer. Mileage will be over 40 city, over 50 highway. The engine thumps up an impressive 236 lb ft of torque and will be available with this writer's all-time favorite transmission, the DSG. No plans for a diesel Rabbit in America, which I think is a mistake. VW of America wants to put the 2.0 liter diesel in the Tiguan as well, but the European market's demands are taking all the capacity for it, and the US is not as high a priority for oil burners. In spite of that, the Touareg gets a 3.0 liter diesel V6 next year.

Click model name for Pixamo galleries of Passat and Tiguan