Tests and Features

Every once in a while, an automobile catches you by surprise. Such was the case with the 2013 Volkswagen Passat TDI, which I had the pleasure of piloting for over 1,000 kilometres of road-trip goodness over the course of the past week. I initially approached the Passat with a wary …

It's safe to say that Canadian drivers have enjoyed a long love story with the Volkswagen Golf, so when it came time for VW to join the compact crossover party what better platform to borrow than that which underpins the popular hatchback? Enter the 2013 Volkswagen Tiguan, a vehicle which …

It’s a simple concept: take a GTI, swap its gasoline engine for a turbocharged TDI, and the Volkswagen Group’s little sports car becomes a long-distance express. This is our first meeting with the Golf lineup’s other sports car that sells twice as many units as the GTI in Europe. Got …

Volkswagen has long been a champion of diesel technology in North America, often standing as the lone brand willing to import its turbocharged, oil-burning European passenger cars and offer them for sale in the U.S. and Canada. It was a certainty that the recently redesigned of the Volkswagen Beetle would …

Most don’t consider vehicles like the 2013 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible to be anything more than toys – cute, but ultimately impractical cars that can’t stand up to the rigors of real world driving. After spending time with the 2013 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible in the rainy hills of Malibu, however, we …

Santa Fe, New Mexico – Volkswagen wants to market its first hybrid in Canada as a fun vehicle to saddle up (did you notice that the Touareg Hybrid never came to our country?). And I’m certainly not going to contradict them! Yes, the Jetta Hybrid is nice to drive. It …

When a company decides that being one of the biggest - if not THE biggest - car companies in the world is its most important goal, a number of changes must be made to how it approaches the market. When Volkswagen elected to pursue volume above all else a few …

For a team of automobile designers, redesigning an immensely popular car is an incredibly difficult exercise. One misstep, whether you’re too bold or not bold enough, and it could be the beginning of the end for the model. In the case of the New Beetle, although it wasn’t as popular …

The Volkswagen Beetle was remodeled in 2012 and since then it has proudly sported a stockier, more virile and more athletic physique. There’s no question that Volkswagen is pursuing male buyers with these changes. Seen from the side, the roofline is distinctly less curved than it was in the past.

What are you looking for in a sporty hatchback? The ability to win drag races from stoplight to stoplight? Handling that can make short work of the back roads on the way home from the office? Look-at-me styling that will shame the neighbour’s more sedate daily driver? A practical body …