Car Throttle

Dank: it's a noun, an urban-ism, with a lot of meanings. It can refer to food ("that burrito was dank!"), music ("this house DJ is dank!") or a number of other things.  In the car world, Dank is usually used to describe stanced/hellaflush cars.  So Dank-Fest seems like a proper title for a show devoted to the Stance & Offset crowd.  The show - which was the first - was organized and put together by StancedLyfe, Wilkseboro Crew, and Hoodstatus, and was supported or sponsored by ISO, TeamRPM, NOS Energy, Firestone (locally), GoGirl Entertainment, and SOHO Motorsports. So... what the hell is Stance & Offset?  In mechanical terms, it's a car that's slammed to the ground, cambered out, stretched tires and rolled fenders with the wheels

The previous generation New Beetle was never a car known to attract guys. Why? It was simply too cutesy in a way the original wasn't. Most guys won't be seen in a New Beetle. With that in mind, VW out to attract a new set of buyers for the next-generation Beetle; ones across the spectrum. We didn't think it was possible but the effort definitely worked. The 2012 Beetle is very good looking, and a car we could see ourselves driving, especially in sports form. The 2012 Beetle exudes coolness inside and out; especially this new Black Turbo Launch Edition. We're thankful VW's relentless quest for volume that has given us the uninspired 2011 Jetta and 2012 Passat leaves room for enthusiast-minded vehicles.

The Volkswagen GTI turns 35 this year. 35!  They've really been selling a hopped-up version of their shopping cart for 35 years now!  And it's really not that much of a surprise.  Sure, people were skeptical that the GTI would be popular when it first came out - who wants a fast Golf?  Why wouldn't I just get a Mustang? - but the combination of fun-to-drive and practicality sparked an entire market segment that still persists today, having gone through more troughs and waves than the stock market.  (OK, maybe that's a stretch.) Also celebrating a milestone anniversary this year is the Wörthersee festival held in Reifnitz, Austria, which is officially putting 30 candles in it's cake.  This GTI-centric 3-day show attracts thousands of rabid fans

In the United States, the Golf has never been Volkswagen's largest seller. Here, we prefer vehicles of the sedan variety over their hatchback counterparts. Proof? Last month, VW sold 16,955 Jettas. The Golf, including Rabbit, GTI and R32 variants rings in at a decidedly lower 3,382 units. in Europe, the case is much different. The Golf is the brand's most important model. As such, VW has announced a redesigned Golf Cabriolet variant. The original model launched in 1979, and while it's grown quite a lot in size, power and feature since then, it still remains remarkably true to form. The Golf Cabriolet's is a soft top, but power operated, taking 9.5 seconds to retract. It can be operated safely at speeds up to 18 mph. The car

It's funny that Volkswagen still calls it the New Beetle. I mean, ok.  It doesn't have an air-cooled flat four in the back.  But it's 2011 - you can't call something "new" that debuted in 1998, seriously.  The New Beetle has lead an interesting life - it really kicked off the popularity of the retro trend when it debuted, selling vast quantities of cuteness to soccer moms and sorority girls for a while.  But nothing that's a "style of the moment" stays popular forever, and that's certainly true of the New Beetle.  It was one of those cars where all the people that wanted one bought one pretty early on, and then they kept selling them anyway. A facelift in 2006 made the Beetle a little

Everything I know about rotary engines can be summed up in one sarcastic sentence: "Hey, communism worked in theory too." That might be oversimplifying things: we can also add "boost goes in, apex seals come out" to the list while we're at it.  It's safe to say that Felix Wankel's invention never really achieved the widespread popularity some originally thought it would, but it can't be said that the rotary doesn't have it's loyalists.  Rotarys may be torqueless, thirsty, failure-prone, and oil-slurping emissions monsters, but they do sort of dominate on the racetrack. This post isn't going to be a "how the hell does a Rotary work, anyway" post - there's Wikipedia for that.  (Although ask and you shall receive, if there's any interest in such

The good die young. This simple statement happens all the time in our lives. The superb, eco-friendly, very tractable 1.4 turbocharged and supercharged engine that Volkswagen calls the 'Twincharger' may die a premature death. This fabulous engine was VW's answer to make smaller engines as powerful as ones with a larger capacity. People used to say that there's no substitute for cubic inches and this little Twincharger has made the playing field a little more even for the small boys. VW were actually pretty confident of this little engine that they plonked one in the Scirocco 1.4TSI and in the Polo GTI. Unfortunately, VW now claims that these babies are expensive to produce and they are seriously considering replacing them with one that has a single

The best-selling car in the United States is currently Toyota's Camry, a mid-size sedan. Obviously, this segment ranks as a highly-important one for any manufacturer with aspirations of high volume. Volkswagen is keenly aware of this, expecting the new Jetta and Passat to be the volume sellers of its lineup. The Camry has has a target on its back for a long time, after being the best-selling car in America for many years running. Sales have been down though plagued by Toyota's recall woes, the unintended acceleration controversy and a model at the end of its cycle. Now is the time to pound. With the title of world's largest manufacturer in its sights, Volkswagen is gunning to a capture a larger piece of the market

Lately products from the Volkswagen brand hasn't exactly been aimed at enthusiasts. In fact, new models are going for a broader section of the market than ever before. The 2011 Jetta has ditched the previous car's more premium design and price tag for a middle-of-the-road approach. That is set to continue across the lineup with new models such as the NMS (New Mid-Size Sedan) Passat replacement . Audi, on the other hand, has been consistently delivering the performance goods that appeal to enthusiasts. We'd like a little more of that over at the (cheaper) Volkswagen brand. VW North America has confirmed that the R20, successor to the previous V-6 powered R32, will be making its way to our shores "at the request of

There are some cars you buy, expecting a certain degree of mechanical fallibility. In some cars, it's part of the character of owning one.  In others, it's an inherent design issue that's well known and you learn to work around it.  No one really buys an old Alfa Romeo expecting it'll never have wiring issues.  People with a Citroen SM-Maserati didn't purchase it for it's Swiss Watch durability.  Only the truly misinformed expect an old RX-7 to spend more time on the road than making the lawn look pretty. But some vehicles have an absolutely baffling reputation for reliability in the face of considerable evidence.  These are cars that people buy because their reputation leads them to believe they'll enjoy a few years of trouble-free motoring, and