Volkswagen Automotive Reviews
By Jim Bray
When the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada named the GTI as its 2010 Canadian Car of the year, I didn’t agree. I thought it should have gone to the Porsche Panamera, because it was a completely new car – as opposed to the GTI’s being merely another generation of a long-running vehicle – and it had represented a bigger risk for its company.
Obviously, my opinion means little in the grand scheme of things, and once I had stopped blubbering in frustration I waited impatiently for my turn with the GTI to come so I could get some quality seat time in it.
Car Wars, Episode Diesel: Return of the JettaBy Jim Bray
My love affair with Volkswagen’s current product line continues with the 2010 Jetta sedan and wagon. Heck, if I were French, I’d simply look at the car’s flanks, say “Jetta door!” and be done with it.
Of course that doesn’t make for much of a column, let alone a decent pun.
VOLKSWAGEN GOLF GTI Named 2010 Canadian Car of the YearBy Jim Bray
In an early morning press conference at the opening of the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto, the Volkswagen Golf GTI was declared the 2010 Canadian Car of the Year (CCOTY) by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC).
The Volkswagen Golf GTI beat nine other “best new” category winners, announced October 30, 2009 to win top honours.
VW New Beetle and Golf City – Reasonably Sublime to Downright RidiculousBy Jim Bray
Then there’s the New Beetle convertible.
I got to drive both vehicles back to back, spending about three weeks with them in total – mostly (fortunately) puttering around in the Golf, no pun intended. Well, okay; I did make the pun deliberately. The Golf City restored the good taste for Volkswagens that I’d had before I was infected by the nasty bug.
VW Jumps into “Cute Ute” segment with TiguanBy Jim Bray
It’s cute and it’s a ute – and Volkswagen is hoping to score a share of the popular small SUV market with its new Tiguan.
Volkswagen says the Tiguan crossover SUV is an ideal companion for “city adventurers”, a “rare species created to help you navigate your way through the urban jungle”.
A “Non-Coupe” is Volkswagen’s Latest ScoopBy Jim Bray
Who’d have thought a Volkswagen sedan could be sexy, an object of automotive lust?
Yet automotive lust is the feeling I got during my week with the new Passat CC, a wonderful 2+2 sedan that got me thinking about keeping a VW in my garage for the first time in my life.
VW “Dodges” Minivan MarketBy Jim Bray
From the company whose microbus became legendary among travelers and hippies comes the 2009 Routan, Volkswagen’s first honest-to-goodness “garden variety” minivan.
It isn’t all honest-to-goodness Volkswagen, though; at heart, the Routan is a re-badged Chrysler (hence the Dodge pun in my headline) built, apparently, on a Chrysler platform and assembled in a Chrysler plant. But just as The Who’s version of “Summertime Blues” takes a rock and roll standard and turns it into a “Who-ized” classic, there’s more to the Routan than just a Chrysler with different logos.
VW Jetta Diesel – TDI, not TD-ousBy Jim Bray
In a time of unstable gasoline prices, one might think a hybrid is the best way to go. But there’s a proven alternative that offers the gas mileage you want without requiring a hybrid’s premium price.
It’s the diesel, an engine that has been around forever but which has also been dumped upon nearly forever for such things as emissions and noise. But today’s diesel can be different from days gone by, if Volkswagen’s “clean diesel” technology is any indication.
Volkswagen GTI – Upgrades Your “Zip” CodeBy Jim Bray
Volkswagen’s zippy little GTI is back, a sporty hatchback that’s fun to drive yet practical as well.
Believe it or not, I had never driven a Volkswagen before, either as an automotive writer or in the rest of my equally-ill-spent life. For whatever reason, I had just plain missed the brand until I parked my bum in the GTI’s deep bucket seats. And now that I’ve spent some quality time in a VW, I can see why there are so many on the road.
Golf GTI a little RocketBy Jim Bray
TechnoFile.com
If you’re looking for a small, economical car that’s also a real blast to drive, you can’t go far wrong with the Volkswagen Golf GTI.
When the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada named the GTI as its 2010 Canadian Car of the year, I didn’t agree. I thought it should have gone to the Porsche Panamera, because it was a completely new car – as opposed to the GTI’s being merely another generation of a long-running vehicle – and it had represented a bigger risk for its company.
By Jim Bray
From the company whose microbus became legendary among travelers and hippies comes the 2009 Routan, Volkswagen’s first honest-to-goodness “garden variety” minivan.
VW Jetta Diesel – TDI, not TD-ousBy Jim Bray
In a time of unstable gasoline prices, one might think a hybrid is the best way to go. But there’s a proven alternative that offers the gas mileage you want without requiring a hybrid’s premium price.
It’s the diesel, an engine that has been around forever but which has also been dumped upon nearly forever for such things as emissions and noise. But today’s diesel can be different from days gone by, if Volkswagen’s “clean diesel” technology is any indication.
Volkswagen GTI – Upgrades Your “Zip” CodeBy Jim Bray
Volkswagen’s zippy little GTI is back, a sporty hatchback that’s fun to drive yet practical as well.
