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This classic VW bus packs Porsche power

Appearances can be deceiving. The rolling embodiments of that principal we call "sleeper cars": ordinary-looking vehicles that pack a much bigger punch than you'd get by just looking at them. Take this classic VW bus, for example. Sure, it may have some racing graphics and upgraded rolling stock to tell you this isn't just any old van, but looking at it, you'd still have no idea what lies beneath the surface. That's where you'll find oily bits sourced from Porsches. And not from a 914, either. (That was as much a Volkswagen as it was a Porsche anyway.) No, this vintage 1962 VW T1 "Bulli" van packs the air-cooled, forced-induction flat-six from a 993 Turbo, driving 530 horsepower and 558 pound-feet of torque through the six-speed manual transmission from a 996 GT3 to 18-inch BBS alloys. It's the obsessive six-year project of Swiss customizer Fred Bernhard, who also used carbon fiber to cut the curb weight down to 3,300 pounds. The resulting light sleeper can top out at 143 miles per hour, in a vehicle with the aerodynamic profile of, well, a bus. It's called the T1 Race Taxi and is being showcased by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles at the GTI-Treffen at Worthersee this year. Short of maybe the Renault Espace F1 concept, we can hardly imagine any other van we'd rather drive around the Nordschleife. Or just to pick up the kids from school.

VW stops diesel sales in Europe

You can't buy a 2016 VW TDI with "cheater software" in the US right now, since the German automaker needs to revamp its diesel cars to legitimately pass emissions tests. That could take months. Sales of affected new VW diesels throughout Europe have now been put on hold as well. Exactly how many cars are affected is unclear, but Reuters says it is a "limited number." In the US, roughly 20 percent of the cars VW sold this year were diesels (until last month, when the diesel share dropped to 11.7 percent. Expect a further drop in October's numbers). In Europe, though, diesels make up about half of the overall vehicle fleet, so stopping sales there will have a much bigger impact. The good news for VW and its related brands is that the only diesels that will no longer be sold are the ones on dealer lots that use the EA 189/Euro 5 engine. The bad news is that that engine is used in a lot of VW products, mostly small and midsize cars. This includes popular vehicles like the Audi A3 and the VW Golf. Larger diesel vehicles use engines that reduce emissions using a urea solution called AdBlue. The smaller EA 189 engine was not built with an AdBlue process, and instead used software to make it seem like the cars were cleaner than they really were. Reuters says the currently not-for-sale vehicles with the EA 189 powerplant will be "upgraded" and then - hopefully - sold. A description of this fix should be made in Europe in November.

Carlex Criollo is a Volkswagen Multivan shrine to Alcantara, leather and... fish

A keen angler recently went to Polish tuner Carlex Design (the same folks who did that steampunk Mini Countryman a while back) for a revamp of his Volkswagen Multivan. What resulted is perhaps the most striking - yet fishing-unfriendly - interior we've ever seen in a van. Below the shoulder line, if a surface isn't covered in cross-stitched Alcantara, then it's covered in cross-stitched leather. Even the steering wheel airbag boss. And the seat supports. And the cupholders.
The brown hue of the Multivan's interior is called Criollo, named for an especially fine specimen of cocoa. The finishing touch on the overhaul is a fileting knife that Carlex made for the owner. We imagine he'll use the knife for the marine life, but keep his van far away from it.