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Volkswagen Golf R Evo may debut at Beijing Motor Show

If a report in Auto Express is correct, a lighter, faster brother to the Volkswagen Golf R will be shown to the world at the Beijing Motor Show in April. Said to be called the Golf R Evo, the even harder hot hatch would be unveiled as one of those concepts that's practically a de facto presentation of the genuine thing. The Evo in its name will come from having a carbon fiber roof and CF in the bodywork, lighter wheels, thinner bucket seats up front and a roll cage instead of rear seats.
If there's a power increase, it's been described as "a small bump." However, as the report mentions, if the Jenny Craig regimen can drop 100 kilograms (220 pounds) from the the 3,247-pound weight of the European Golf R, then the Golf R Evo will do about the same damage on the scales as the Golf but have at least 50 more horsepower and 44 more pound-feet of torque.
Since we still don't have the current Golf, this isn't something that should keep you awake even if the 'concept' does become a production model. But it is good to know that the Golf R is really going to start pushing its boundaries.

Someone is leaving anti-diesel flyers on Volkswagen TDIs in Portland

As if some Volkswagen TDI owners don't already feel bad enough, given the recent diesel scandal, someone is further shaming them. Flyers full of bad information are being left on TDI cars in eco-friendly Portland, OR. Portland-based sandwich joint Lardo posted a picture of the flyer to their Instagram account yesterday morning. Along with annoying font color changes, the flyer incorrectly states that the diesel car spews two to four times more pollutants than a Chevy Suburban. The author of the flyer also throws a Nazi mention in there for good measure, though they get the history wrong, too. Volkswagen wasn't founded by Nazis, though the Nazi government did create a nationalized car industry to build the 'People's Car', originally designed by Ferdinand Porsche. The factory ended up making war machines instead. Volkswagens weren't really produced until after the fall of the Nazis at the end of World War II. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Volkswagen outfitted their "clean" diesel cars with a device that would only limit emissions during testing. Once on the road, the car spewed 40 times more pollutants than it claimed. The automaker plans to 'refit' 11 million faulty vehicles. Today, the automaker launched a website dedicated to consumers unlucky enough to own the bum vehicles. Eco-warriors aren't the only ones leaving judgmental, passive-aggressive notes on cars. Like this incident in Portland, these notes often fall flat, like when this paralyzed man in Michigan parked in a handicap spot and was accused of stealing the spot simply because he drove his BMW to the gym.

VW Golf TDI circles US on less than $300 of diesel

$294.98. That's how much it cost the Volkswagen team to drive across all 48 contiguous states in the union. Which is pretty impressive, but it's only part of the story. In an effort to demonstrate just how economical a conventional diesel engine can be, VW sent a team out from its US headquarters in Herndon, VA, in a Golf TDI. Their mission was to visit all the Lower 48 on as little fuel as possible. Over the course of 16 days, they traveled 8,233.5 miles, burned through 101.43 gallons of fuel, and marked a frankly astonishing average of 81.17 miles per gallon. As a result, the team – made up of hypermiling automotive journalist Wayne Gerdes and electronics engineer Bob Winger – picked up a new Guinness World Record for the lowest fuel consumption achieved in a non-hybrid car across the 48 contiguous states. The previous record, it's worth noting, had also been set by VW and Gerdes, who piloted a 2013 Passat TDI at just a hair under 80 mpg. But here's the kicker: in raising the diesel economy bar even higher, the team also beat the record for the same achievement in a hybrid vehicle by over six mpg. So the next time someone tries to tell you a hybrid is more efficient than a diesel (at least on the highway), you can point them towards this record. Related Video: VOLKSWAGEN GOLF TDI® ROUNDS LOWER 48 STATES ON LESS THAN $300 OF CLEAN DIESEL, SETS GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ ACHIEVEMENT FOR FUEL ECONOMY Golf TDI® beats the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ achievement for "lowest fuel consumption—48 U.S. contiguous States for a non-hybrid car" at a stellar 81.17 mpg Herndon, Va. — Volkswagen of America, Inc., is pleased to announce today that the 2015 Golf TDI® Clean Diesel, part of the family of vehicles that won the 2015 North American Car of the Year, has set a new GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS® achievement for the "lowest fuel consumption—48 U.S. contiguous States for a non-hybrid car" with a remarkable 81.17 mpg. Traveling 8,233.5 miles around America in 16 days on $294.98 of Shell® Diesel fuel, the Golf beat the previous mark of 77.99 mpg by more than 3 mpg, and also beat the hybrid vehicle record of 74.34 mpg by more than 6 mpg. "Covering 8,233.5 miles on just 101.43 gallons of Clean Diesel fuel is a remarkable accomplishment, and solid proof of the efficiency and fuel economy of Volkswagen's TDI® Clean Diesel vehicles," said Michael Horn, President and CEO, Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.