Beer me up Keep it simple or deck yours out with RGB lights, a touchscreen, and even a digital thermostat. If you have owned one of these cars, let us know in the comments below. Remember to post a picture of it, too! Are you totally forgetting the Touareg v10 TDI? As a former owner, allow me to remind you of the basics:.
One turbo failed. In a classic piece of Italian one-upmanship, little-known manufacturer Cizeta decided to out-gun former employers Lamborghini by fitting its Moroder with a V two V8s with a gearbox in the middle, transversely mounted.
Needing a diesel engine sufficiently short to fit under the driver's cab, Commer designed a three-cylinder engine with six — yes six — horizontally opposed pistons; that's two per cylinder, facing in opposite directions. The TS3 had a single crankshaft, but needed two sets of rockers. The engine of choice for tittering schoolboys everywhere, the Wankel has survived longer than most of the other examples here thanks to its smoothness and punch-per-litre.
But virtually everyone gave up on it except for Mazda , who are currently turning it into a range extender — possibly for the best. Clearly BRM had a thing for the number 16 as its history contains two cylinder engines.
But the H-design is the one that comes closest to defying understanding. Made up of two 1. At one time, there was even talk of an cylinder engine for possible use in a VW-owned Bugatti. The W8 mounts longitudinally, ahead of a five-speed automatic gearbox with Tiptronic sequential shifter.
When the car goes on sale Sept. As of June, VW officials on this side of the pond had not yet convinced their German counterparts that the six-speed would be popular enough to offer in America. Officially, no final decision has been made on transmission choices for the States. VW owners are far and away the largest segment of American car buyers who choose to shift gears themselves. Also under discussion is whether to offer a sport package that would include inch alloy wheels and a stiffer suspension.
The smooth delivery of power from the W8 was evidenced in Switzerland on our first drive from Geneva to the mountain enclave of Gstaad, high in the Alps. Below the torque peak, you would be hard pressed to notice the difference between the W8 and the V6.
The engine continues to pull up to the rpm redline, making it an ideal autobahn cruiser. Volkswagen claims 0 to 62 mph in 6. By comparison, a V6-powered 4Motion Passat sedan needs a tick more than eight seconds to get to 62 mph.
The W-8 configuration also sounds like no other engine, sort of a cross between a V-8 and a V It isn't as burbly as an American V-8, and it is higher-pitched than Audi's sonorous 4. But, as one editor put it, it has an extremely pleasing throaty growl that sounds better and better as the revs climb.
And despite the portly lb. Initially a 5-speed Tiptronic automatic will be the sole transmission, but in September for the model year , a 6-speed manual will arrive. The auto box provides silky-smooth shifts and the Tiptronic's manual shifting mode works great for attacking the twisty bits.
This especially helps for powering out of corners, because if left in the normal Drive position, the transmission is slow to shift down. Full-throttle upshifts were on the slow side too. Join Now. New Cars. Car Culture.
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