2011 Volkswagen Cc Lux on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Small 3-row crossover SUVs specifications compared on paper

There's no shortage of three-row vehicles on the market for carrying seven or more people and their stuff wherever they all need to go. Just about every car company has at least one large crossover or traditional SUV with three rows of seats, and there are still plenty of minivans to pick from. But most of these vehicles are large, pricey, and frequently thirsty. Fortunately, there are still a handful of smaller crossovers that deliver 7-passenger capability in a smaller, cheaper package. We've gathered four of the small three-row set here to compare them based on space, power, fuel economy, pricing, and more. They include the very old Dodge Journey, the slightly less old Mitsubishi Outlander and Kia Sorento, and the relatively new Volkswagen Tiguan. You can see the raw numbers in the chart below, followed by a more detailed breakdown and some notes on how we like each of these vehicles. For in-depth opinions on the vehicles, be sure to check out our full reviews, and if you want to compare these with other vehicles, try out our comparison tools. Engines, transmissions and performance Interestingly, three of the four crossovers here utilize similar engines for their four-cylinder offerings. The Dodge, Kia and Mitsubishi all feature naturally aspirated 2.4-liter four-cylinder engines. Only the Volkswagen Tiguan chooses turbocharging and a smaller 2.0-liter displacement. But because of its turbocharger, the Tiguan's four-cylinder is easily the most potent, making a healthy 221 pound-feet of torque, which is more than 40 more than the Sorento, the crossover with the next most torque. The VW is also second-most powerful, just one horse behind the Sorento. The Outlander is the least powerful in the four-cylinder class. The Journey is only barely better, but it will probably feel as slow or worse thanks to its ancient 4-speed automatic. The four-cylinder Sorento and Outlander each have 6-speed automatic transmissions, and the VW has an 8-speed. The Sorento with a V6 has an 8-speed, too. View 17 Photos Moving up to the V6 class, the Outlander is once again at the bottom. It actually makes less torque than the turbo VW Tiguan. The Journey and Sorento are almost perfectly matched. The Journey makes a bit more torque; the Sorento makes a bit more power. The Journey also gets upgraded to a 6-speed automatic. Another powertrain consideration to bare in mind is whether all-wheel-drive is necessary.

US-spec 2015 Volkswagen Golf and GTI to finally debut in New York

The seventh-generation Volkswagen Golf is hardly new to us. In fact, we've already driven it. And elsewhere in the world, the new Golf is already winning awards. Even so, we still have yet to see the US-spec version of the car, though that won't be the case much longer. As part of the New York Auto Show festivities later this month, Volkswagen will finally show off the 2015 Golf models destined for our shores.
Three different versions of the Golf will debut under the lights of New York City's Javits Center: the turbocharged TSI, oil-sipping TDI and hotter GTI. The first model in that list uses Volkswagen's new 1.8-liter turbocharged inline four-cylinder engine, replacing the outgoing 2.5-liter naturally aspirated inline five-cylinder. The latter two models use familiar engines: the 2.0-liter TDI diesel and 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, respectively.
Even though the new Golf officially debuts later this month, it won't go on sale in the US until the first quarter of 2014. We'll be waiting patiently.

VW budget sub-brand stuck in limbo over VW standards, costs

Reports in October 2012 claimed Volkswagen had begun investigating the creation of its own budget brand. This came after having failed to purchase Malaysian car company Proton or produce a meaningful partnership with Suzuki, and after watching Renault-Nissan make piles of euro on Dacia and plot the return of Datsun. For VW, more important than the question of what to call it was how to build it profitably and in a way that didn't damage the VW brand. According to a report in Autocar, a satisfactory answer still hasn't been found. The hurdle is how to hit "'necessary' quality and safety levels" at the price points needed to make the venture worthwhile. At the time of the 2012 report, German outlet Der Spiegel said VW was trying to get prices down to 6,000 to 8,000 euro ($7,784 to $10,379 US), about two thousand to four thousand euro under the price of the VW Up and in line with the cost of a 6,790-euro Dacia Sandero in Germany. In March 2013, VW announced, "We want to bring a true budget car to the market in China in the foreseeable future," the most concrete move in that direction after years of planning to make a decision. Working with local Chinese maker FAW, it was predicted that the vehicle in question would appear around 2016, but as of November last year a final vote on it needed to wait until this year because "We are still working on the cost side" and profit possibilities for a car that "has to be durable, it has to be precise, it has to be safe." Even Fiat, another automaker long considering a budget brand beneath its Fiat line-up, wasn't sure how to squeeze any extra money from lower-cost products but was sure that it couldn't be done by manufacturing in Europe. If VW hasn't yet made the math work with a joint venture in China, it will be interesting to see how it might build a European go-it-alone business case.