1971 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia Base 1.6l on 2040-cars

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Cruze Diesel Road Trip reveals the good and bad, but no ugly

Most of us have strong opinions on diesel-powered cars based on our perceptions of and experience with them. I used to thoroughly dislike oil burners for their noise, smoke and lackluster performance, and the fact that they ran on greasy, smelly stuff that was more expensive than gasoline, could be hard to find and was nasty to get on your hands when refueling. Those negatives, for me, trumped diesel's major positives of big torque for strong acceleration and better fuel economy. Are any of those knocks on diesel still valid today? I'm not talking semis, which continue to annoy me when their operators for some reason almost never shut them down. At any busy truck stop, the air seems always filled with the sound – and sometimes smell – of dozens of big-rig diesels idling endlessly and mindlessly. Or diesel heavy-duty pickups. Those muscular workhorses are far more refined than they once were and burn much less fuel than their gasoline counterparts. But good luck arriving home late at night, or departing early morning, without waking your housemates and neighbors with their clattery racket. No, I'm talking diesel-powered passenger cars, which account for more than half the market in Europe (diesel fuel is cheaper there) yet still barely bump the sales charts in North America. Diesel fuel remains more expensive here, too few stations carry it, and too many Americans remember when diesel cars were noisy, smelly slugs. Also, US emissions requirements make them substantially more expensive to certify, and therefore to buy. But put aside (if you can) higher vehicle purchase and fuel prices, and today's diesel cars can be delightful to drive while delivering much better fuel efficiency than gas-powered versions. So far in the US, all except Chevrolet's compact Cruze Diesel come from German brands, and all are amazingly quiet, visually clean (no smoke) and can be torquey-fun to drive. When a GM Powertrain engineering team set out to modify a tried-and-true GM of Europe turbodiesel four for North American Chevy Cruze compacts, says assistant chief engineer Mike Siegrist, it had a clear target in mind: the Volkswagen Jetta TDI 2.0-liter diesel. And they'll tell you that they beat it in nearly every way. "I believe we have a superior product," he says. "It's powerful, efficient and clean, and it will change perceptions of what a diesel car can be." The 2.0L Cruze turbodiesel pumps out 151 SAE certified horses and 264 pound-feet of torque (at just 2,000 rpm) vs.

Volkswagen pushed back against Takata airbag recall

Volkswagen and Audi will recall about 850,000 vehicles in the US to replace their Takata-supplied driver side airbag inflators, but the automaker doesn't believe the safety campaign is entirely necessary. In a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the company pushes the agency to re-evaluate the recall's scope because the parts are allegedly safe, it claims. VW asserted in the letter, which NHTSA posted online (as a PDF) with other documents about the company's safety campaign, that the vast majority of the automaker's recalled vehicles used Takata inflators from the supplier's factory in Freiburg, Germany. Only the US-built Passat had components from Takata's plant in Mexico. VW's argues to NHTSA that its recall is unnecessary because there are no reported airbag ruptures in the German-made parts, and the plant has better quality control than Takata's factories in the US and Mexico. In addition, the Mexico-manufactured components in the Passat are also allegedly safe because they come from a time after significant upgrades to the plant to address humidity and welding concerns. "We do not believe the facts known to date support the scope as defined in the Takata defect notification," VW's letter says. To be clear, VW is not refusing the Takata recall and plans to fix the affected vehicles. Instead, this letter shows the automaker expressing an opinion that NHTSA's scope for the campaign is too broad. VW now plans to do its own analysis on the inflators to strengthen that case, according to The Detroit News. "We respectfully request that, should such results be shown, the agency work with Volkswagen and other manufacturers to revisit the scope of these recalls," the letter said. Takata's recalled inflators use ammonium nitrate as a propellant, and experts believe that long-term exposure to high humidity can make the chemical more likely to cause a rupture during airbag deployment. The spray of metal shrapnel from the exploding parts has links to at least 10 deaths. Related Video:

Volkswagen Jetta getting new 1.4L turbo four

In yet another example of engine downsizing, Volkswagen has announced it is slotting a new 1.4-liter turbo four into the Jetta. The smaller, forced-induction engine will replace the naturally aspirated 2.0-liter four in the Jetta S and the 1.8-liter turbo four in the Jetta SE, bringing with it direct injection and improved fuel economy. The 1.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine is from the EA211 family. It's made of aluminum and features a compact single-scroll compressor, an intercooler integrated into the injection-molded induction pipe, exhaust manifold integrated into the head, variable intake and exhaust valve timing, direct fuel injection, dual overhead cams driven by a toothed belt, and a 10.0:1 compression ratio. All that adds up to 150 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque, mated in the Jetta to either a five-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission. Fuel economy figures have yet to be certified, but are projected to come in at around 39 miles per gallon on the highway with the automatic, representing 13- and 7-percent improvements over the units it replaces. The EA211 is Volkswagen's new global small gasoline engine family, manufactured principally by Skoda in the Czech Republic. It's set to replace the old EA111 series, offering higher efficiency in a more compact and adaptable package. The Jetta Hybrid already uses essentially the same engine paired with an electric motor, and is being adapted to three-cylinder formats as well. INTRODUCTION OF NEW 1.4T ENGINE REINFORCES VOLKSWAGEN'S LEADERSHIP IN TURBOCHARGED, DIRECT INJECTION TECHNOLOGY Aug 4, 2015 Fitment of EA211 engine in Jetta models extends implementation of intelligent downsizing to 97 percent of Volkswagen vehicles sold in the U.S. market Traverse City, MI — Volkswagen pioneered the use of small displacement; highly efficient turbocharged and direct-injection engines in the U.S. Volkswagen first used this combination of turbocharging and direct injection in this market in its TDI® Clean Diesel engines in the Passat in 1996 and extended it into the gasoline field in the 2006 Jetta GLI and GTI models. Since then, the Volkswagen EA888 four-cylinder engine has set the benchmark for small-displacement turbocharged engines, beginning with the 2009 CC, while the EA288 TDI has set the standard for diesel engines in the North American market since it first appeared in the 2009 Jetta TDI Clean Diesel.