Car awards are greatly sought after by manufacturers around the world — there’s no greater marketing pitch than a ‘Car of the Year’ title. In the competitive domestic market of Germany, it doesn’t get much better than the Yellow Angel award from Europe’s largest car club, ADAC. Unfortunately, the club admitted to meddling the numbers for this highly-coveted distinction on Monday.
Well, one RWD advantage comes to mind instantly!
These days, front-wheel-drive has become the drivetrain layout of choice for many manufacturers. Even BMW, famous in the past for criticizing the layout, has given into the temptation with the launch of the Concept Active Tourer. But many of us gearheads have pooh-poohed automakers for this, claiming that rear-wheel-drive is far superior. And in some ways, that’s certainly true. Let’s have a look at the facts so we can draw some conclusions.
I’ve always been one to sing the praises of diesel vehicles. North America has been hesitant to embrace them, but diesel cars tend to be more efficient and pack quicker acceleration. Unfortunately, it’s not always so bright and rosy. A number of Volkswagen and Audi owners have been reporting premature fuel pump failures in their diesel cars, enough to have prompted an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into the 2010 Audi A3, 2010 VW Golf, and 2009-2010 VW Jetta diesels.
It seems that my plea for diesels in North America was very well-timed. Since then, we’ve seen the rollout of several new diesels at the LA Auto Show, and now this – Mark Reuss, President of General Motors North America, says he is in favour of more diesels for the lineup, with one already confirmed and one being considered for next year.
Cruise control, anti-lock brakes, traction control – these are all examples of technologies that started life in high-end cars commanding more money than the majority of us could afford. But nowadays, you’d be hard-pressed to find a car that doesn’t come with them all. The same is likely to happen with many technologies that are currently out of our reach. But which one of these technologies would you most like to see trickle down to cheap cars in the future?
Just last week I wrote my plea for more diesel cars here in North America. If you haven’t read it, to make a long story short, diesel is awesome and we don’t have enough in North America. But it seems the automakers have been listening! The 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show has barely kicked off, and already there are three manufacturers planning to bring new diesel cars to this side of the pond. Let’s have a look at them.
UPDATE: We have official confirmation of the Mazda6 diesel, scroll down to the original information for more details.
Europe, I hope you’re listening!
After writing about the need for more diesel cars in North America yesterday, that got me thinking: what are some other cars we miss out on, that we really ought to have a crack at? So I decided to put together a list of five cars that automakers should really send over to us.
Volkswagen and Audi are both recalling 168,275 TDI models due to the possibility of a fuel leak in the engine bay.
Volkswagen has finally released pricing for the US-spec Golf R, nearly a year after we found out the car would be coming to these shores. The range-topping Golf will set you back a rather pricey $33,990, excluding destination.
Volkswagen has launched the Vehicle Pre-Order program today, allowing customers to reserve vehicles online. A special edition 2012 Beetle has also been rolled out to be the first model offered through the program.