Volkswagen Golf review

The Golf, then. One of the few cars that can simply be itself, and one of the few that defines a genre. It’s not ‘Hyundai/Ford/BMW/whoever’s new Golf rival’; instead, it simply is what it is: the epitome of the small family car and the one by which others are judged.

It's now in Mk7 form, a Golf underpinned by a platform that carries great responsibility for the Volkswagen Group. Dozens of cars within the group will be based on this architecture, throughout the group's brands.

Just as well, then, that this Golf leapt to the top of its class when it was launched in 2012. Since then the range has been expanded greatly, to encompass everything from a 1.2-litre petrol turbo, through to the fast GTI hot hatchback.

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Volkswagen Passat CC: spy shots from a reader

A reader of our parentsite Autoblog.it sent us a few spy shots of a mysterious Volkswagen Passat CC spotted in the diminutive town of Campi Salentina, in southern Italy, more precisely on the heel of the Italian boot. The model had German a number plate (with the German border being something like 1000 miles away), a sticker that reads “4″ on the windshield, a weird yellow stencil with a red number 12, a green symbol and the highway pass. In addition, next to the license plate at the rear, there was a weird barcode. So, what is it?

The truth is, we cannot be sure. Surely that’s not ordinary an VW Passat, that’s safe to say, but we are unable to judge what’s exactly going on there. There might be a brand new platform hidden under that bodywork, or perhaps it is just a new or different version of the CC currently in the works. Speculating would get us in dangerous waters, but what we can tell for sure is that this mule was spotted just a few kilometers away from the Nardò test track, which has been recently purchased by Porsche. Having said that, our guess would be just as good as yours..

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Volkswagen Golf R Convertible spy shots without cammo

The Volkswagen Golf R Cabriolet has been spotted again on the road, but this time around our photographers caught it stripped of any sort of camouflage. thereby the pictured model should be very, very similar to the final production version. The bumpers -which got previously replaced with those of the GTI variant - can now be admired in their definitive shape, and we can see that this car also sports the ‘R’ badge at both front and rear ends.

The front bumper integrates some quite distinctive LED daytime running lights, while at the back we find a new spoiler that surely adds up to the sporty aesthetics of the car. The Volkswagen Golf R Cabrio will mount the same engine of the hatchback: a powerful 2.0-liter TFSI turbo with direct injection producing 270 hp. The new Golf R Convertible is expected to come again in a four wheel drive configuration, which is can transfer the power of its engine to the ground without any loss of grip.

In these spy images of the Volkswagen Golf R Convertible we can also notice the generous rims trying to conceal some significantly bigger brakes, but the overall structure of the car has been revised too in order to keep up with the output of its impressive four-cylinder unit. Last but not least, we cannot deny that those two rounded mufflers surely enhance the look of the rear-end of the model.

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Volkswagen Polo review

Maturity, solidity and trusty old conservatism are all things that you'd associate with the Volkswagen Polo. You wouldn’t think virtues like that would sell a supermini – a part of the new car market fuelled by fashionable style and colourful originality.

But they’re exactly the virtues that continue to sell one of the class’ longest established entrants, and make the Polo a permanent feature of both the segment’s top sales ranks and of Autocar’s road test top five.

Now in its fifth generation, the Polo looks more like a shrunken Golf than ever. And that pretty neatly sums up what Volkswagen has tried to offer with this current version: all the positive attributes of the Golf, just in a smaller, more affordable package. The derivative styling and bigger dimensions are designed to make the Polo feel even more mature, while the Scirocco-inspired nose and lights add the merest touch of flair.

With established market presence comes complexity, of course – and the Polo range is more complex than most. Volkswagen offers the car in three- or five-door forms, with a vast array of petrol or diesel engines, which include an ultra-efficient 80+ mpg Bluemotion model and a 178bhp be-spoilered GTI.

Between those two extremes lie normally aspirated 1.2- and 1.4-litre petrols, turbocharged 1.2- and 1.4-litre TSI petrols, and two further turbodiesels offering between 74- and 89bhp.

Trim levels run from S, through Match, SE and SEL, to R-Line and R-Line Style. S models can be (and usually are) specified with air conditioning, when they gain the A/C tag, while the GTI with its standard DSG double clutch auto ‘box is a standalone model.

A fairly recent addition, meanwhile, is the Polo BlueGT – a halfway house warm hatchback combining spritely performance with some of the most competitive fuel economy and emissions in the range.

Along with the more mature styling comes an equally grown-up price tag – this isn’t a budget supermini. While this is also the case for the Ford Fiesta and Vauxhall Corsa, the supermini class is ultra-competitive and the Polo is facing a string of ever-more-credible, cheaper competitors.

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Volkswagen e-up!: new official photo gallery released

Volkswagen will be at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show (September 12-22) to showcase its brand new all-electric cars, the e-Golf and the e-up!. Both model have already been introduced in the first part of the year, but to keep up the hype the German carmaker has just released a new bunch of pictures of the latter.

The Volkswagen e-up! as actually introduced in March at VW’s Annual Press and Investors Conference in Wolfsburg, Germany, and can handle distances of up to 150 km, after which it can be recharged to as much as 80% of its energy storage capacity within 30 minutes. Power comes from an electric motor with 60 kW (82 horsepower) and 210 Nm of peak torque immediatly available from the first revolution. This unit is fed by a lithium-ion battery integrated in the underfloor area with a total energy storage capacity of 18.7 kWh.

Given the nature of the vehicle and its weight of 1,185 kg, performance figures are not that bad: the Volkswagen e-up! accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) within 14 seconds, reaching a top speed of 135 km/h (84 mph). The e-up! can be made out at first glance by its machine-polished 15-inch alloy wheels, Volkswagen emblems with blue backgrounds, the curved layout of the LED daytime running lights in the front bumper and an e-up! logo at the rear. Details regarding pricing and availability will be disclosed at the German premiere, but it seems that the e-up! will eventually cost 2.5 times more than the standard model.

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