1987 Volkswagon Weatfalia Campmobile on 2040-cars

Auto blog

VW pits Foust against Winslow in epic sound-effects battle

Tanner, we feel your pain. You are, by all accounts, an excellent driver. You've won races, starred in television shows, and generally proven yourself a nice all-around guy. And then Volkswagen shows up and asks you to be as childish as possible for a couple laughs on video as you make pretend driving sounds for the German brand's latest ad campaign. How demeaning. And then, to top it all off, they bring Michael Winslow, the king of noise-making merriment, to one-up you. How could they? Just kidding. Really, the videos you see above and below are pretty clever, highlighting the same 18th letter of the alphabet that is affixed to the Golf R, a car we're deeply in lust with. And, to be honest, Tanner's goofy driving sounds are just as good as Mr. Winslow's. See for yourself. And if you feel like acting out your own inner child on VW's behalf, feel free to click here. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. NEW VOLKSWAGEN 'UNLEASH YOUR RRRR' CAMPAIGN ALLOWS USERS TO DRIVE A VIRTUAL GOLF R WITH SOUND OF VOICE Deep learning, an artificial intelligence subset of machine learning, analyzes each unique vocal pitch to create customized film of Golf R driving in sync with the sound of the user's voice Herndon, VA (July 13, 2015) — Volkswagen of America, Inc., is excited to unveil the Unleash Your Rrrr site that allows Volkswagen fans to drive a virtual Golf R using only the sound of voice. The web app utilizes deep learning, an artificial intelligence subset of machine learning, developed by VW's agency of record Deutsch LA, to analyze each user's unique impression of the Golf R engine's roar. It then generates a customized video of the 292-hp turbocharged Golf R model roaring through a race track, drifting, braking, among other cool stunts that correspond with the user's voice recording. "The idea behind the Golf R 'Unleash Your Rrrr' was simple – imagination. As children, we've all played with toy cars, and the power of our imaginations allowed us to turn rugs into expressways and wooden floors into slick racetracks. Our voice would act as the engine. Fast forward to today where we now have the power of technology to enhance our imagination, and to visualize the power of our voice." said Vinay Shahani, Vice President of Marketing for Volkswagen of America.

Last VW bus ever made arrives at final destination

A Brazilian politician tried to save it, unsuccessfully, so the final Last Edition Volkswagen Type 2 Kombi was produced on December 20, 2013 and now resides in a vintage museum at Volkswagen's Commercial Vehicles HQ in Hanover, Germany.
The Volkswagen Microbus was built for 56 years, starting in September 1957. Brazil was the last country still assembling it, but new safety regulations in the country requiring airbags and ABS on all cars spelled the end. When that politician introduced a bill that would pardon only the 'Bus from a death sentence, it couldn't garner the required number of votes for passage. The South American country takes the Kombi production title, though, with 1.5 million of the 3.5 million total made in the home of Copacabana beach and the girl from Ipanema.
The VW Bus is dead. Now perhaps we can turn our attentions to the still-not-totally-settled matter of the Bulli...

Poor headlights cause 40 cars to miss IIHS Top Safety Pick rating

Over the past few months, we've noticed a number of cars and SUVs that have come incredibly close to earning one of the IIHS's highest accolades, the Top Safety Pick rating. They have great crash test scores and solid automatic emergency braking and forward collision warning systems. What trips them up is headlights. That got us wondering, how many vehicles are there that are coming up short because they don't have headlights that meet the organization's criteria for an "Acceptable" or "Good" rating. This is a revision made after 2017, a year in which headlights weren't factored in for this specific award. This is also why why some vehicles, such as the Ford F-150, might have had the award last year, but have lost it for this year. We reached out to someone at IIHS to find out. He responded with the following car models. Depending on how you count, a whopping 40 models crash well enough to receive the rating, but don't get it because their headlights are either "Poor" or "Marginal." We say depending on how you count because the IIHS actual counts truck body styles differently, and the Infiniti Q70 is a special case. Apparently the version of the Q70 that has good headlights doesn't have adequate forward collision prevention technology. And the one that has good forward collision tech doesn't have good enough headlights. We've provided the entire list of vehicles below in alphabetical order. Interestingly, it seems the Volkswagen Group is having the most difficulty providing good headlights with its otherwise safe cars. It had the most models on the list at 9 split between Audi and Volkswagen. GM is next in line with 7 models. It is worth noting again that though these vehicles have subpar headlights and don't quite earn Top Safety Pick awards, that doesn't mean they're unsafe. They all score well enough in crash testing and forward collision prevention that they would get the coveted award if the lights were better.