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Get ready to Camino-ize your fourth-generation VW Jetta with this kit

Inexpensive, small pickup trucks used to be everywhere in the US, whether they were from Japanese brands like Datsun or Toyota, the truly weird Subaru Brat or even from Europe with the Volkswagen Caddy based on the Golf. These days that market has completely disappeared, but if you're willing to pick up some tools to build your own, there's a company out there bringing the Caddy back as a kit for the Jetta.
Mark Smith knows a thing about building a vehicle at home. He has over two decades in the DIY-car business as a co-founder of Local Motors and the company that became Factory Five Racing. His latest venture is Smyth Performance and already offers a mid-engine, VW-based kit called the G3F. His new product, though, started as a fluke. "I just wanted a shop truck," said Smith to Autoblog. He already had a Ford F-450 but found that he was driving around with the bed empty most of the time. The result was a pickup truck based on the fourth-generation Jetta that he dubbed the Ute.
The kit retails for $3,500 and ships in three, big boxes, and it's designed to be built and painted in a weekend. Buyers get fiberglass exterior panels, a fiberglass rear window surround, sliding rear window, an aluminum reinforced bed with a tubular steel subframe, taillights, a fully functional steel tailgate, and other parts. In the end, you get a vehicle with a six-foot bed and a payload of around 700-750 pounds. The Ute maintains all of the factory suspension, fuel tank and emissions equipment and requires just a few cuts in the body to complete. "We did a modern Caddy," admits Smith.

Volkswagen and Funny or Die take humorous spin in 2015 Golf

Volkswagen is partnering with Target and Funny or Die in a bizarre ad for the latest Golf starring comedian Rob Huebel, probably best known for his work on Childrens Hospital on Adult Swim.
The commercial is titled The Way Too Helpful Neighbor and stars Huebel as the eponymous neighbor. The challenge is for Huebel to help improve his buddy's apartment before the guy meets his girlfriend's parents for the first time. The obvious way to do that is to slide a new Golf through an actual Target in Texas, while simultaneously showcasing the store's goods and the car's features.
The commercial is airing online now and on TBS during breaks in Conan O'Brien's show, with sneak peaks during other programs on the network. Auto advertising is becoming pretty normal for Funny or Die at this point, though, with the site previously partnering with Fiat for several videos. Check out the ad above and see if you think it works. Scroll down for VW's announcement.

Volkswagen preparing Tiguan Coupe R

Volkswagen has might proliferation plans for the SUV side of the VW brand, Autocar listing a range that will comprise seven models and variants on sale by 2018. The next-generation Tiguan will play a large part in tripling VW's crossover lineup, a development discussed a year ago, with a standard model, the three-row long-wheelbase version to be built in Mexico, and a five-door "Coupe" variant that will get an R version worked up by the in-house R team. The Tiguan Coupe R is aimed at the performance end of the compact crossover field, giddyup coming from a 2.0-liter four-cylinder with something like 300 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque that works through a six-speed dual-clutch transmission. Underpinnings are expected to be cribbed from the Golf R; a hotter suspension tune with a lower ride height and four-mode damping. The sprint to 62 miles per hour would clock in around 5.1 seconds, and handling nous would be aided by all-wheel drive and electronic torque vectoring. It will need all of that in order to catch up to the competitive set listed by Autocar of the 375-hp Mercedes-AMG GLA45, 309-hp Audi RS Q3, and potential Range Rover Evoque SVR and BMW X2 M. The CrossBlue Coupe seen in Shanghai earlier this year will provide the styling cues, we're told, with rakish glass front and back, and thick C-pillars supporting a leaner greenhouse. We'll likely see the basic Tiguan at next month's Frankfurt Motor Show, then will come the long-wheelbase in 2016, the regular Coupe in 2017 along with the Touareg and US-built CrossBlue, then in 2018 the Tiguan Coupe R, CrossBlue Coupe, and Nissan Juke-fighting T-Roc. Related Video: