When Will VW Build a Hit Economy Car for the U.S.? (photos courtesy motorauthority)

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15 Comments on “When Will VW Build a Hit Economy Car for the U.S.? (photos courtesy motorauthority)...”

• 	Orangutan January 11th, 2009 at 11:25 am
  When they start building them here, so that they no longer have to fight the exchange rate, and when they demonstrate to the public that they can build reliable vehicles again. A 10 year warranty like Hyundai/Kia have would be a good starting point. They need to convince us that their reliability problems are a thing of the past.
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• 	Brian E January 11th, 2009 at 11:36 am
  I would love for them to build this if the platform could be reused for a new 924. Porsche could really use a new entry-level model to bring fresh blood into the owner pool and to allow the Boxster and Cayman to move further up the food chain.
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• 	jerseydevil January 11th, 2009 at 11:42 am
  i agree that a 10 year warranty is necessary. As a current Golf owner, whose car is hobbled AGAIN – this time it wont start – I will not buy another VW product till they convince me that they are more reliable than the one I currently own. Should they do that, I would be happy to buy another – that roadster is right up my alley – the Golf is alot of fun to drive, great milage, and very useful in the city, but it has been expensive to keep up.
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• 	OldandSlow January 11th, 2009 at 11:52 am
  A ten year / hundred thousand mile warranty is must do for Volks to enter the mainstream market. Otherwise, I’d settle for a Mini.
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• 	golf4me January 11th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
  Agree with the warranty comments, and I like this car, but it looks more Audi than VW, and how would VW price it anyway? Less than 30k it steals GTI buyers, near 40k gets to TT land, and anything higher and you might as well buy Porsche. I think this getting the green light is a less than 20% probability, unfortunately. VW will build an affordable small car in Puebla, because the new Mid-Size sedan they are building in TN will likely be the next Jetta. That name is very popular among gen-x, the likely buyer for such a car. JMO
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• 	hreardon January 11th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
  On the warranty – I don’t think a 10 year/100,000 is necessary, but it would go a long way toward making their cars less risky to purchase. That being said, a minimum 5 year / 60,000 mile warranty should become standard fare. For those complaining – who here recalls the days of the dreaded 2 year / 24,000 mile warranty? Yikes. Next, Volkswagen needs to determine who the hell they want to be in the United States. We already have mass transport provided us by the likes of Honda and Toyota, so those probably aren’t the cars they should target. Inexplicably, the current vehicle lineup seems to want to mimic the Japanese in style, but are sorely lacking in the quality department. Volkswagen should instead pay attention to their hit products: the Mk V GTI being the best example of this. Make the Jetta a four door notchback GTI, keep the GTI a GTI, offer up a Passat that is akin to the new Mazda 6 – sporty, cool looking. VW’s task is difficult. It basically boils down to making bulletproof cars (ala the Japanese), but making them fun and unique, you know – like VW used to be. I said this back in 2000 – 2001: VW’s biggest fear should be that the Japanese perfect their quality and manufacturing techniques and move to make their cars more stylish and sporty. In the ensuing years they have done just that – witness the current crop of Mazdas, Infinitis, Nissans and hell, even Acura (though the newest models are just butt-stankin’ ugly). VW is getting chewed a new one from both ends right now as Americans move downmarket they’re looking to the Koreans, the Americans are becoming resurgent (perhaps not in sales, but quality and design) and the Japanese, having perfected manufacturing and quality are moving to inject more ’emotion’ into their brands. I say that Volkswagen, barring Audi, is pretty much in the toughest bind possible at the moment. Their arrogance blinded them to the greater market realities and they will have a significantly harder road to plow in the next ten years than in the past fifteen, US-specific models or not. Speaking of US specific models, you know that they are going to screw and alienate their core audience with these cars, don’t you? They’ll provide us with the VW equivalent of a Camry or Accord, but in an effort to keep them price competitive and higher in quality rankings will mean that we’ll get watered down offerings.
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• 	Steven Lang January 11th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
  hreardon, that’s the best rant I’ve read about VW in a very long time. You hit the nail on VW’s cheap metal head (and head gasket).
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• 	like.a.kite January 11th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
  Note the VW logo has been updated, with a less heavy ring.
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• 	pariah January 11th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
  That little roadster would be sweet as a Miata fighter. Keep the weight under 2,800 lbs. or so, throw in the 2.0T DSG in a RWD configuration, tune the suspension right, throw some of those sick plaid seats in there, and price it starting around $20k — voila. I think that’s about the perfect price point for it. Keep it cheap rather than making it compete with TT’s and Z4’s and Boxters, which it surely can’t, and certainly shouldn’t. I don’t believe it would steal sales from the Golf, in the same way that the Miata doesn’t steal sales from the Mazda3. The Miata is a car for a specific niche — a low-riding sporty summer drop-top that’s also cheap, economical, and reliable — in which there aren’t really a lot of competitors. It’s probably the only place in the market where a VW roadster could actually fit in.
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• 	CAHIBOstep January 11th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
  The turbo in my ’99 Jetta TDI burned up at around 50,300 miles. For second owners, VW’s policy was to take the 100k mile warranty on the vaunted TDI engine and cut it in half. Everyone at VW from the mechanics to the corporate reps acted like I was crazy when I suggested that they could show a little good-faith by honoring the barely expired warranty — especially because the car had always been serviced AT THE DEALER, using VW’s obnoxiously expensive parts, etc. The entire corporation was clearly relieved that they were able to dodge another expensive warranty bullet. It was pathetic. I sold the car about a month later. I was glad to get rid of it, and I will never buy another one.
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• 	Stewart Dean January 11th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
  VW has a lovely little car, the Polo, in Europe, which you can see at vw.co.uk with all kinds of trim and motors. They have had it for years. What do they do, but throw millions at developing an SUV which they deliver just as the SUV market tanks. The killer gottahave car is a luxury/pisshot micro/minicar. The new MINI is sorta kinda (but not really) this. I have an original 1998 Mini. it weighs 3/4 ton. The new MINI weighs 500 pounds more; no surprise, it just isn’t the same kind of repeal-of-inertia balls-to-the-wall fun that the original Mini is, which you don’t so much drive as strap on. The new MINI is a snowmobile; the original, a pair of skis. The MINI came close but it’s still an AMC Pacer: cute looks, but no real hunger for the jugular. VW could do it with the Polo or a derivative…but they won’t. One of the great dirty secrets of VW is that they build great, hot engines…and then absolutely cripple the top end with asthmatic induction and/or rev limiting. I had a carburetted Scirocco engine in a ex Diesel Rabbit. One day the junky carb died, and, on the off chance, I asked my mechanic, how much more would a Weber would cost: $150. No brainer, and that car turned into a bomb…full tilt, it would run out of gas in the carb 2/3rds of the way through 2nd gear and rev like an English Ford. Later I chipped my 98′ VR6 GTI. 10 MPH/K RPMs in 2nd gear, 70 MPH at 7K. 1st, 2nd, 5th were my shifts. But. VW makes a Driver’s Car….and then cripples it. Shakespeare: “He either fears his fate too much Or his deserts are small,That dare not put it to the touch To gain or lose it all.”
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• 	Landcrusher January 12th, 2009 at 4:26 am
  I went to test drive the new convertible last year, and it was terrible. Nothing will really help unless it sells, so they better have a good design this time.
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• 	tedward January 12th, 2009 at 9:02 am
  This’d definitely give the miata a run for its money…I’d definitely look at it. Nicer interior, probably a nicer engine too. They’ll probably shove an engine in the wrong place to save costs though, so no bets on how well it stacks up handling wise.
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• 	Mirko Reinhardt January 13th, 2009 at 7:07 am
  tedward : They’ll probably shove an engine in the wrong place to save costs though, so no bets on how well it stacks up handling wise. This is mid-engined, RWD, and supposed to be roughly the same price as a Miata. In Germany, te Tiguan is priced between the CR-V and the RAV4, so if they can do that… Did you read the press release? 180hp diesel, 55 mpg (US)
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• 	tedward January 13th, 2009 at 9:18 am
  Not when I wrote that apparently. If it actually comes as a diesel or with the 2.0, I would very seriously consider buying one.
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