Volkswagen

Volkswagen is approaching the end of the development phase of the new Volkswagen Golf 8 - the most connected Golf of all time. But before I proceed with bombarding you with all the incredible things I’ve learned about it, let me just give you a glimpse of its importance through my experience.

It was 2004, my finishing year of elementary school when Volkswagen revealed the Golf MkV GTI. I remember that day vividly because that was the day I was directly exposed to the culture of the Volkswagen Golf aficionados that I subconsciously wanted to avoid. That day, during recess, one kid came running in the schoolyard carrying a ProAuto car magazine in his hands and basically yelling, “New GTI, New GTI.” He did not buy lunch out of his pocket money, but a car magazine with a GTI on its cover. Every single kid that had heard him charged at him to see what kind of a Golf the new GTIwill be. I ran too. I was struggling to see what the new Golf looks like and we all jostled each other to get a glimpse of the car.

That moment alone changed my perception of Golf for a lifetime. And, believe it or not, that car magazine I was telling you about - I started working there some years later.

Now, exactly 15 years after I saw the Golf MkV GTI for the first time, I have the opportunity to witness the reveal of the Golf 8 (and I believe the GTI). 15 years ago, Volkswagen proudly chanted in its press release “It is [Golf GTI] stronger, better and more sought after than ever.” The Golf MkVIII will be exactly that - stronger, better and more sought after than ever. But also, more connected than ever.

The Volkswagen Type 2 is one of the German automaker’s most enduring designs and was even kept in production in Brazil until 2013. Volkswagen sold countless numbers around the world and, while the T2 generation isn’t as cute as the original T1, it has its place in history. At the F.re.e Leisure and Travel Fair in Munich, Germany, the T2 made an unexpected appearance in Lego form, proving that making full-scale recreations of cars out of thousands of Lego bricks is now a thing.

The second generation of Volkswagen’s world-renown compact multi-purpose van debuted in the Summer of 1967 and was kept in production until 1979 for the American and European markets. The Argentinian market enjoyed the T2 as late as 1986 while over in Mexico you could buy a new T2 up until 1994. However, the T2 was most popular in Brazil where Volkswagen built it at the São Bernardo do Campo plant until 2013 when the production officially ended with a run of 600 Last Edition vehicles.

The new 2020 Volkswagen Jetta GLI is just right. Presented at the 2019 Chicago Motor Show, the new hot Volkswagen compact sedan gained the much-needed overhaul with a fine upgrade that came from none other than the parts bins of the Golf GTI and the Golf R. It is a thoroughly improved car, with a 2.0-liter, turbocharged, gasoline engine, a fresh new look, and a far more advanced suspension compared to the lesser units. Let me just say it - rear multi-link. It has it.

With the new model introduced in Chicago, Volkswagen USA officials actually noted that the new car will come with two trim levels, while the limited edition GLI 35 serves as sort of a high-end model of the GLI world.

Now, we’ve already learned a lot about the new Volkswagen Jetta GLI, but what about the Volkswagen Jetta GLI35?

Volkswagen has launched a new 2020 Jetta GLI that borrows a lot of Golf GTI visual cues, as well as its powertrain and more advanced suspension. But the new GLI is only so extreme and, in fact, in China and other markets, you can actually get an even more powerful version of it that isn’t branded as anything special. The GLI is only the most powerful Jetta you can buy in North America.

Volkswagen has finally given its Jetta sedan for North America the power, exclusivity, and extra sporting edge that some enthusiasts felt were missing from the package. The new 2020 Jetta GLI has addressed all those concerns and is now a model with enough brawn and sophistication to go head to head with all the sporty sedans in its size and price brackets. If you’re into fast driving, then you will be happy to note the new Jetta GLI gets the exact same engine as the (Golf) GTI, a standard limited-slip differential, and a snappy six-speed stick shift.

One of the new Jetta GLI’s main rivals is the2019 Honda Civic Si sedan, a very hard contender indeed. The Civic Si has a smaller displacement engine than the Jetta GLI, and has less power, but it is also quite a light car, one renowned for its excellent handling and road manners. It also looks somewhat sportier than the Jetta too, especially if you see its trunk lid-mounted wing, the center exhaust, and the aggressive overall design and stance.

If this were purely a visual comparison to discover which car looked more aggressive, that distinction would automatically go to the Civic Si. But it’s not all about the visuals, especially since the Jetta is more powerful than the Civic and it also has a more sophisticated independent rear suspension that VW doesn’t offer on any other Jetta model.

With an impending approach of the numerous Volkswagen ID electric cars, the spy photographers come into their own finally having a proper reason to film camouflaged Volkswagens. The latest that fell victim to a spy photographer’s lens is a curiously uncovered Volkswagen Tiguan. It was wheeling, silently, in nearly the same way as that Golf Sportsvan I wrote about earlier. As it turns out, this one famously hides the body of the next Volkswagen ID Crozz. It is definitely one of the most important electric vehicles that will appear in the next year or two, and this is essentially all that we know about it.

The 2020 Volkswagen Jetta GLI is the latest performance-oriented version of the compact sedan. It’s based on the seventh-generation Jetta what was unveiled for the 2019 model year, and just like its predecessor, it rides on underpinnings borrowed from the Volkswagen Golf GTI. More aggressive than ever design-wise, the 2020 Jetta GLI is also the most powerful GLI ever built. Powered by a turbocharged, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, it comes with 228 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque. For the first time ever, the Jetta GLI comes close to the Subaru WRX, although it still doesn’t have an all-wheel-drive system. Find out more about the new Jetta GLI in the review below.

Volkswagen has updated the current Euro market Passat and as with all new products from the German giant, you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference. But it is certainly different if you look at details like the Arteon-infused styling refresh as well as the long list of new tech features added along with the facelift.

The Jetta GLI returned to the market at the 2019 Chicago Auto Show, and needless to say, it’s cooler than it has ever been. Although the previous model was nothing to sneeze at, the seventh-gen GLI is a proper four-door GTI. The only thing that bugs is that Volkswagen didn’t drop the "GLI" badge for a proper Jetta GTI name. And here’s why I think it should have.

Volkswagen finally took the wraps off the seventh-generation Volkswagen Jetta GLI, eight years after the previous Jetta GLI also debuted at the Chicago Auto Show. The 2019 model comes with the same 228 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque engine as the Golf GTI Rabbit Edition plus upgraded suspension and a six-speed manual as the standard gearbox.

The Jetta A7-based GLI wasn’t really Volkswagen’s best-kept secret. We knew since last summer that it would get the engine from the Golf GTI hot hatch and, judging by the sneak preview Volkswagen offered us a couple of days ago, it was clear that the German automaker wasn’t about to unleash a bonkers-looking sedan. Then again, Germans aren’t the ones you should expect surprises from, but that doesn’t mean the Jetta GLI is boring, at least not by looking at all this package has to offer.

Volkswagen has finally dropped the long-awaited teaser for the new Jetta GLI ahead of its debut at the 2019 Chicago Auto Show later this week. The model has been in the headlines since November 2017 when the first batch of spy shots of the sedan surfaced on the Internet. Since then, it’s become a game of “when will we see it?” as spy shot after spy shot began providing a clear picture of what we can expect out of the punch Jetta. It looks like Chicago is where the drop’s going to happen, and judging by the teaser gif that Volkswagen USA released in its Twitter account, we can at least expect the Jetta GLI to carry “the body of a sedan,” and the “heart of a GTI.” With the current-generation Jetta still fresh in a lot of people’s minds — it was launched in 2017 — it’s about time the hotter version arrives to kick off 2019.

After the first journalist drives of the Volkswagen ID Neo prototype, we can almost understand what Volkswagen wants to do with its compact electric car. The Volkswagen ID Neo is a Golf-sized hatchback created on top of Volkswagen’s new MEB architecture, and it will be unveiled later this year. It is a close competitor to the Nissan Leaf. Yet, as Volkswagen promoted it as a car with the size of a Golf but roominess of the Passat, I am sure it will embark on its way to steal some buyers from the likes of the Kia E Niro, the Hyundai Kona Electric, or other similarly sized electric cars and crossovers.

However, the car that hides under the body of the Golf Sportsvan shown here is probably a bigger, family version of the same kin. Make no mistake; this one is also based on the same ID Neo architecture. Apparently, Volkswagen has plans to introduce as many as 50 new electric models by 2025. The ID Neo will create an electric VW avalanche and, at first, it will be priced in a similar bracket as the Golf Diesel. I believe that the electric Golf Sportsvan’s brother will cost a tad more.

Fifty years after the Beach Buggy took the U.S. by storm, Volkswagen is reaching back into its retro vault to introduce a new buggy concept at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show. The new concept will sit on VW’s Modular Electric Drive Matrix (MEB) platform and will carry the identity of an all-electric dune hopper. Specific details are still scant at the moment, but if anything, the new concept is the perfect shot in the arm for those who have been waiting for a new buggy to come out of Volkswagen in the last five decades. The yet-to-be-named concept — for now, Klaus Bischoff, Head Designer at Volkswagen, calls it the “e-buggy” — will make its debut at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show this coming March.

Volkswagen has always offered a GTI version of its Golf hatchback, but in recent years their hot hatch offering has started to look a bit safe and tame compared to some of the newer, bonkers rivals it has competed against over the years - especially in terms of power. The current GTI can be had with up to 286 horsepower if you opt for the limited series TCR model, but apparently, the next-gen 2021 Volkswagen Golf GTI may have just as much power in standard form.

Volkswagen is renowned for playing it really safe with the design of most of its cars, and there’s no better example for that than its lineage of Golf models. It may have grown in size quite a bit over the years, but if you line all generations of the model side by side, you will undoubtedly be struck by just how little it has evolved from one generation to the other. You can certainly see progress if you skip a couple of generations or more, but not as much as you see from other long-running nameplates out there.