Volkswagen

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Thursday – VW Passat Alltrack

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The Alltrack is one of those cars that slips under the radar. Typical Volkswagen styling means that it looks like a ‘normal’ Passat estate and hasn’t been overcooked by the design department.

What’s the betting that any other manufacturer building a four-wheel drive estate car would have opted for plastic side mouldings and a rash of 4×4 stickers to emphasis the off-road ability?

As such, the Alltrack blends in with the rest of the Passat family when it really does have a good deal more to shout about.  It isn’t cheap at £32,000 but it drives beautifully, especially on corners where most SUVs wallow and moan.

While the bodywork has been raised 3cm to give better ground clearance and it boasts 4Motion all-wheel drive, this is really an estate car build for the road. Join us this week to see how week get on…

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Wednesday – Beetle Drive

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Jeremy – It’s our last day with the Beetle, VW‘s answer to the retro Mini. But while the Mini has morphed into a variety of oddities, the Bug now looks better than ever.

The masculine, squat shape make the VW more purposeful than ever and there’s an exceptional interior that’s not only a pleasure to sit in but fairly practical too.

Sitting on the latest Golf platform, the Beetle is a better drive than the previous model, even though I would opt for the more refined 2.0-litre engine rather than the 1.4 we tried, which has to be worked exceptionally hard to prove enjoyable.

There’s just enough performance to make the high revving 1.4 fun. The steering is more precise and there is a surprising amount of grip on twisty roads. That said, somehow it doesn’t have the precision of the Golf through the bends.

If you want a roomy, practical hatchback for the family buy a Golf. For those who want something that turns a few heads and stands out from the crowd, the Beetle remains almost as cool as it was 40 years ago.

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Tuesday – Marmite & Baked Beans

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Jeremy – I’ve just dropped off three friends at Heathrow Airport. They’re heading to their French home for six months and I was a bit worried that madam would not get her suitcase full of exotic English fare – Marmite, baked beans, porridge – in the boot of the Beetle.

The last generation ‘new’ Beetle admittedly had a crazy small luggage area but this latest one has grown considerably, a full 50 per cent bigger in fact. The only problem with our test car is that the subwoofer for the Fender sound system does eat up a large chunk of space by the wheel arch.

We managed four suitcases in the back, plus coats, hand luggage and other kit. Only one, carry-on size case had to be squeezed in the middle of the back seat. Impressive.

So the latest Beetle really is a lot more practical than you might think. The retro flip-up glovebox is actually big enough to use – the last version had a flat dash – and there’s plenty more space for long legs in the back.

 

 

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Monday – Cabin Fever

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Jeremy Another sunshiny day – just wish the sunroof in the Beetle would open a little bit further! At least when it gets too hot there is an electric blind to keep the heat down in the cabin.

For anybody who remembers sitting in the rear of the last generation Beetle, this one does seem to have more leg and headroom, despite the lower roof line. You can also lower the two back seats for a bigger boot space.

The Beetle cabin is very lovely place to be. There’s a neat centre armrest that just seems to sit at the right height, lots of cubbyholes and a trendy, drop down glovebox that looks very retro indeed.

I’m off to London today – tomorrow’s report will reveal how well the VW copes with the hustle and bustle of the Kings Road….

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Saturday – Fender Bender

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Jeremy Remember when you were lucky to find even a radio in your new car? Then came tape machines, CDs and now we frown if a car doesn’t have an aux jack for an iPod – or offer a wireless Bluetooth connection.

I’m happy to say our Beetle Sport test car is equipped Bluetooth – not just for calls but for music too. It means my mobile phone can stay in my pocket while it sucks all the Daft Punk tracks off and plays them through the music system. Cool. It’s also very easy to set up for Luddites like me.

And what a great music system! The £495 Fender speaker upgrade is well worth the cash. Much more enjoyable than the glass sunroof that only opens a couple of inches and deafens you with wind noise.

The package includes a thumping sub woofer that sits upright in the boot corner. It does eat into some of the luggage space but so what – the sound is phenomenal.

Our test car also has an ambient lighting back which can be adjusted to change colour between red, white and blue! So, at night, the door trim now lights up to match my mood – brilliant!

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Friday – Tough As Old Boots

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Jeremy  It’s Friday – surely we are due another Bank Holiday? No, well, I’ll have to make do with driving the toughened up, all-new Beetle to the coast instead.

On the way down to Poole I passed a gem of a ‘proper’ Beetle, which naturally gives us the opportunity to print the picture about. How did VW manage to design a car back then that really was so classless, iconic and timeless too?

They carried on making the classic-shaped Beetle in central America for years after it stopped in Germany  – in fact, they may well still make them in Mexico now. But the point is, VW could have just as easily stuck a new engine in the old car, beefed up the brakes and added some modern technology to the old car. It would have been a huge hit and outsold new Mini for sure!

That said, the low, squat shape of the newest Beetle model is brilliant. I love the styling from every angle, the little spoiler on the rear of our Sport model and the chrome trim along the bottom of the doors.

I’m not so excited about the 1.4 engine. The 2.0 petrol of the 2.0 TDI are definitely the way to go, even though that does drive the price up. Buy your new Beetle wisely…

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Thursday – Not Powered By Flowers

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Jeremy After admiring the design of the latest Beetle when it arrived yesterday, today it was time to put our Sport model to work. First, it really is a lot better than the last model. The 1.4 TSI engine is used in a whole range of sporty VW cars and it gives the Beetle just enough get up and go to be entertaining.

Only just enough mind, for real thrills, you need to seek out the 2.0 TSI. One of the problems with this 1.4 version is that you have to work the six-speed gearbox very hard indeed  to coax any excitement from the power unit.

The Beetle’s high revving engine is awkward to drive around town, feels a bit better on winding A-roads, then comes into its own at higher speed. That said, you will struggle to get anywhere near the 42mpg VW claim in the combined cycle – the engine needs to be worked too hard for that.

I found the Sport mildly entertaining to drive at speed. It does go around corners a lot better than you might imagine but the steering and ride is nowhere near as good as an equally chic Mini Cooper or the Peugeot RCZ we tested last week.

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Wednesday – Summer Bug

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Jeremy  Owning a Beetle was a right of passage back in the 1970s. Jessica drove hers from the family home in Cornwall to the south of France to ‘study French‘ – my blue convertible was a complete disaster and ended up in a court case!

Even so, just like a classic film that should never be reworked by modern day Hollywood, there were plenty around who argued that VW should not have brought the Beetle back 13 years ago in a modernised form.

I owned one of those too, to go with my 1963 VW camper van. But while one of them had bags of charisma and oozed cool, the other didn’t. No prizes for guessing which.

So, the arrival of the new ‘new’ Beetle this morning was greeted with mixed emotions. More butch, better looking and equipped with a much stronger range of engines, how does the latest model fare?

Well, all I can tell you so far after a quick drive to the shops, is that the Beetle is considerably better than the last one. I’m loving the stylish interior, the attention to detail – and that fact the sun started shining the minute it pulled up on the driveway.

More tomorrow when I’ve soaked up the atmosphere a little more…

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Tuesday – Golfing Technology

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Jeremy I’m ticking off the hours until they pick up the Golf today. We are not quite on first name terms but a bond has been established between us. It’s like having your best mate on standby for every eventuality.

Instantly recognisable as VW‘s iconic hatchback, under the skin, this new Mk VII version is fully equipped with technology that would have been unrecognisable when the first model was launched almost 40 years ago. It helps make an already great car even more desirable.

The vehicle selected as World Car of the Year cossets the driver with every conceivable aid in GTD form. Electronic handbrake, stop/start engine, a range of engine modes for different types of driving, front and rear parking sensors – none of these would have been even dreamt of in 1974.

So, far from meddling with a successful product to create the Mk VII, VW designers have just raised the bar for all other hatchbacks to follow. Smoother, faster, lighter and better equipped, the new Golf is everything you would expect it to be. You just wonder what they will do with the Mk VIII…

 

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Monday – The Fun of Golfing

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Jessica Yesterday morning, as I drove through Stroud in my trusty 200,000-mile BMW, I passed the entrance to ‘Wheel Nuts 2013’. It’s a classic car rally where many beautifully preserved cars were trekking, with every owner happy and excited at the gate about the fun day ahead.

It got me thinking about how much we love old cars – cars that have character, cars that remind us of times and stages of our own. I think we love a design ethic to translate across the years and to find some nostalgia in a car that is available now. Somehow VW have managed this with the Golf.

If I think back many years to a pale blue Golf I had with go faster black stripes, I felt the ghost of the original as I started to drive CarCouture’s current Mark VII version. With all its modern features and no nonsense dashboard, it still has the fun, drivability and reliable feel that I remember  from my own Golf – just wrapped in a modern casing.

VW has developed the shape and embraced technological developments but the essence of this car, which has always existed in a special category of its own in terms of demographic uptake and no nonsense fun, is very much there.

It is sound on the road, corners well and the handling is excellent. So altogether, it is a  car you could take anywhere at any stage of your life and still have a little fun.