Test Drive: 2010 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Highline

By Kevin Harrison

There are a lot of things about North Americans that I really don’t get. For instance why do we like Walmart enough that it has to be open 24 hours? Have you ever bolted up at 4 am wanting to buy a new set of silverware?

Likewise, why are we so opposed to diesels? For some reason we’ve asphyxiated them with a bad reputation, and as a result, North Americans have not responded well to them.

This attitude is in complete contrast to Europe where selling a car without a diesel option is like ordering a hamburger at a Chinese restaurant – it just doesn’t make sense.

VW has been trying for decades to make diesels more mainstream in our market but they hit a bit of a snag in 2007 when stricter emission standards forced them to axe their diesel and revamp it. During that period TDI’s were missing in action in our market.

But they’re back and VW promises them to be even more powerful yet more efficient than before.

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Test Drive: 2010 Audi A3 TDI

By Kevin Harrison

I was driving behind an old Mercedes-Benz diesel a while back and I have to say, it was about as desirable as playing strip poker with your parents. It was just awful.

I actually had to turn my radio up because that diesel clatter was making my ears bleed. Then, despite being 30 degrees outside, I had to roll up my windows because the exhaust coming out of the tailpipe had a rather black/purple-ish hue that would make even Stephen Harper concerned about its effect on the environment. On top of that, the smell was less agreeable than a hockey player locker room after the second period.

For the first time ever, I finally started to understand North American tendencies. Diesels of the past were terrible.

Since then, many automakers have refined diesel technology, most notably Volkswagen. Even though most automakers bailed on the idea of bringing diesels back, Volkswagen stuck with it, leaving them with virtually all the market share. Not a bad move. BMW and Mercedes-Benz have followed suit with each brand offering a small dosage of their diesel technology for open minded North Americans.

Volkswagen has expanded the technology into four of their models. But what if you want a little premium with that oil burner? Well, for the first time Volkswagen has made its famous TDI engine available in the Audi A3. Is it worth it?

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Bargain: 2011 Volkwagen Jetta to Start at $15,875

Whoa! I was not expecting this.

Volkswagen Canada announced today that the 2011 Jetta will have a starting price of $15,875 in our market. That’s over six grand less than a base 2010 Jetta!

Thing is, though, you get pretty much the old Jetta set up. That means that 2.Slow litre four cylinder engine making 115 horsepower. You also get the torsion beam suspension which, lets face it, is about as refined as Kid Rock. Also a 5-speed manual is the order of the day instead of a six speed. Despite all this, this will probably work well for Volkswagen, specifically in the Canadian market. VW has been selling the Jetta City in our market for a while now, which is essentially a facelifted previous generation Jetta. And it’s selling well here.

But if all that sounds too underwhelming for you, don’t worry, there will be more powerful Jettas available too. I’m even hearing a revival of the GLI is planned as well. The TDI Highline will be the most expensive Jetta at around $26,000 until the GLI arrives.

[Volkswagen Canada]

International Engine of the Year Award Winners Announced

Congrats to Volkswagen!

They picked up International Engine of the Year award honours for 2010 for the 1.4 litre TSI twincharger engine typically found in the Golf, Jetta, Scirocco, Tiguan, Touran, and Seat Ibiza Cupra. Unfortunately for us, we don’t get to experience that engine in any of VW’s offerings in North America. Volkwagen also picked up a second award for the 2.5 litre five-cylinder turbo that they use in the amazing Audi TT-RS.

BMW picked up the most awards for four different engines. The first was for the incredible 3 litre inline six D1 twin turbo used in the 135i, 335i, 535i, X5 35i, X6 35i and Z4. Next BMW was awarded for the 1.6 litre turbo found in the Mini Cooper S, Clubman S, Peugot 207 & 308 as well as the John Cooper works Edition Cooper and Clubman. BMW’s wonderful diesel was recognized as well, specifically the 2 litre twin turbo used in the 123d and X1 123d. Finally, and not surprisingly, BMW picked up an award for the 4 litre V8 used in the M3.

Mercedes-Benz and Toyota rounded out the list, each picking up one award. Mercedes-Benz won for their 6.2 litre V8 found in all the AMG models and Toyota was awarded for their 1 litre engine found in the Yaris and IQ.

Congrats to all the winners!

[International Engine of the Year]

Volkswagen Springs A Leak: 2011 Jetta Revealed

The official reveal of the 2011 Jetta wasn’t supposed to happen until tomorrow, but Auto Express apparently got their hands on some photos and decided the appropriate thing to do would be to leak them.

We saw spy shots a while back which pretty much revealed the entire design, but it’s nice to have official photos to look at.

There are no details for North American variants, but in Europe they will reportedly get a four engine choices: three gas engines ranging from 104 horsepower to 200 horsepower and a diesel. Speaking of the TDI, us Canucks will supposedly be getting the TDI version before the Amurricans do. Sweet deal.

The styling overall looks great, typical VW with non-flashy yet eye catching styling. The rear end styling is very Audi A4 and that’s definetly no a bad thing. I have a feeling VW is going to be setting the benchmark yet again in this segment for performance and refinement.

Two more pics after the jump.

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Spied: 2011 Volkswagen Jetta

Don’t let that strange looking badge on the trunk hood fool you, it is very likely that this is the new Jetta caught tooling around in Michigan. Since the car is wearing nearly no camouflage, the badge is likely there to throw people off.

The dimensions of the car are a bit hard to tell, but as is the trend, it will likely be bigger than the current generation Jetta. Though the current gen Jetta is pretty big as it is (some say too big).

Front pic added after the jump.

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Get a New Beetle While You Can

Volkswagen is reportedly taking final orders on the New Beetle, which really isn’t that ‘new’ anymore. It has been around since 1998 with only one very minor refresh over those twelve years.

The New Beetle will be riding into the sunset quite soon, but all you Beetle fans don’t need to worry. Volkswagen is working on a replacement which should make an appearance sometime around 2012. It is expected to retain a similar shape, however it will likely have a flat roof a la Mini Cooper, and is expected to be a bit more sport oriented.

I was never a huge fan of the New Beetle. The only version that ever peaked my interest (aside from Herbie when I was a young lad) was the Turbo S model pictured above.  The Turbo S had the same 1.8 litre engine except it produced 180 horsepower and 174 pound foot torque at only 1950 rpm. Mate that to a 6 speed manual along with some bigger and grippier tires and you had yourself one hot little bug.

And the Winner Is…

The Volkwagen Polo!

The little guy took the top prize for the World Car of the year competition for 2010. The Polo beat out some tough competition for the award. We’d like to point out that the Polo was also our top choice for the award. Just sayin’. One of our top picks won for World performance car of the year too.

This mark’s VW’s second win in a Car of the Year awards competition as the GTI took the Canadian Car of the Year honours this year as well.

The Polo is indeed quite a worldly car as it fits pretty much every market quite nicely at an affordable price. We’re still waiting for you to bring the Polo to Canada so we can try one out for ourselves, Volkswagen.

Congrats to Volkwagen, who seems to be on quite an impressive role lately!

Find out who won World Design and world performance car after the jump.

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Volkswagen Golf Best Selling Car in Canada for February

Watch out Honda, zee Germans are coming!

The Civic has been the best selling car in Canada for over a decade – they even have a television commerical boasting about the Civic’s longstanding success.

But that commerical may turn out to be a bit embarrassing now that VW’s Golf took top selling honours for the month of February for the first time ever.

Apparently we have all but forgotten about high gas prices because the Dodge Ram, Chevy Silverado and Ford F-150 were also among the top sellers last month.

Canadian Black Book Announces Best Retained Value Winners

If you want to get the most back from your car when selling it after four years, Canadian Black book has made it a bit easier for you to decide what to buy in the first place.

They have compiled a list of cars that best retain their value from MSRP four years later into 17 categories.

Find out who got the honours after the jump.

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You Can Buy a VW Scirocco in Canada Now!

When the new Scirocco first debuted, VW was quick to crush any hope that it would come to Canada. They said they wouldn’t make any money on it because it would be a low volume seller and all the money that it takes to make it Canada-ready just wouldn’t be worth it.

The VW Scirocco is essentially a better looking, racier version of the already awesome GTI and it has been receiving nothing but good reviews in Europe. Too bad you can’t experience it yourself.

Or can you?

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Oh Hi: 2011 Volkwagen Polo GTI

After all the success from the Golf GTI, including winning the 2010 Canadian Car of the Year, Volkswagen figured they could repeat the magic in the much smaller Polo.

The Polo GTI will share its engine with the Seat Ibiza Cupra which develops 178 horsepower and 184 pound foot of torque. The engine will feature a turbo 1.4 litre 4 cylinder. It’s expected to make the 0-100 sprint in 6.9 seconds and has a top speed of 262 kph. Not too bad at all. There is only a mention of a seven speed DSG which concerns us. A GTI with no manual option? Let’s hope that it was mistakenly omitted from the press release. That being said, VW’s DSG is probably the best shifting automatic in the business.
Right now VW is still on the fence on bringing the Polo to North America, but should they pull the trigger, expect the GTI version to make the cut.

More pics after the jump.

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Canadian Car & Utility of the Year Announced

Great minds think alike. We chose the 2010 Subaru Outback as our pick for the Canadian Utility of the Year, and AJAC agreed. You might as well give us our membership now, AJAC.

Volkswagen took Car of the Year honours and even though our pick was the BMW 335d, there is absolutely no disagreement from us that the GTI is just as deserving.

Congrats to the VW and Subaru!

To find out the winners in each individual category, hit the jump.

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Oh Hi: 2011 Volkswagen Touareg

Very nice!

After saying that it would make its official debut about a month from now at the Geneva Auto Show, VW decided that we couldn’t wait that long and gave us a few pics to oggle.

The upgrades help it stay more in line with VW’s new three barred grille theme and tail lights get a similar family resemblance treatment as well. The sides are a lot more sculpted and eye-catching. The overall size remains the same. Although the previous generation’s design is now eight year’s old, we are still fans of the old version. This new Touareg is still agreeable though.

Apparently fuel efficiency was a big factor in the Touareg’s redesign. We criticized the current generation Touareg for being obese, which negatively affects fuel consumption. VW obviously read our review ( we like to tell ourselves that anyway) and took our advice of putting the Touareg on a diet. The 2011 version will lose 460 pounds.

Also helping out in the fuel efficiency department will be a hybrid model in addition to the great TDI engine (only making its debut for the 2010 year). The hybrid will be VW’s first ever and will have a 3.0 direct injected V6 matched to an eight speed automatic. Normally we’d make some smart ass comment about that being too many gears, but for the benefit of fuel efficiency, it actually makes sense. The Touareg Hybrid is expected to produce a combined rating of 8.3L/100 kms. The diesel is expected to be tweaked for efficiency as well and will get an expected 7.3L/100 kms.

More pics here

World Car of the Year 2010: Top Ten Entries Revealed

What is the best car in the world? It’s all relative and subjective and thus, impossible to determine. But that doesn’t stop automotive journalists from trying.

52 automotive journalists representing each continent in the world (except Antarctica – Penguins can’t legally drive yet) have gotten together and submitted their top ten choices for World Car of the Year in two categories: Car of the Year and Performance Car of the Year. There will then be three finalists chosen for both categories.

Find out what car made the top ten and what our pics are for the finalists after the jump!

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