Ah, The Fast And The Furious trilogy quadrilogy: the single biggest butt of jokes in the history of car movies. The first, The Fast And The Furious, was possibly the largest impetus to the rise of ricers; the second, 2 Fast 2 Furious, was a terrible, terrible movie with a dry, boring plot and horrifyingly gross cars; the third, The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift was an interesting spin on things and possibly the best of the bunch (although that’s not really saying much). When I heard there was a fourth one coming, and that it would restore the cast of the original movie, I was wondering if they were attempting to redeem the sorry series with a retry of the original. Despite this, I wasn’t expecting much, as it is still part of the F&F series. Well, this past weekend I went to see Fast And Furious, and it was not exactly what I expected…

My Thoughts

Alright, I’ll go right out with it: I was expecting bad, but this was absolutely horrible. I don’t even know where to start, but I guess I’ll begin with the plot. It seems as if they took the plot from the second movie, nearly exactly, and swapped out some characters, cars, and objectives. Yeah, that’s right, the second movie. The worst one. Needless to say, the acting is horrible, with stellar, over-the-top performances from Vin Diesel and Paul Walker. The minor characters were acted stereotypically and in a way so easy to guess, I had the movie figured out literally twenty minutes in.

The Fast And The Furious series is about street racing, right? Well there’s ONE main race, and it’s unrealistic and packed to the brim with CG and corny drifts. It also featured what would be the coolest navigation system ever – if it existed, and furthermore, didn’t look like something out of Star Wars.

And now, the cars. Oh, this is going to be fun. Well, it’s the second movie all over again: riced imports against old muscle that border on tasteless. I had an admittedly hard time keeping myself from cracking up at a scene I know should have been 100% serious: a certain funeral (I’m giving no spoilers) sees a group of ricers’ racers cars parked along a cemetary road, sporting their oversized wings and wheels. It was almost insulting.

Paul Walker is given the choice of any import on the city’s impound lot to use in his undercover mission, and after filtering through plenty of rice but also legitimately awesome cars such as the Honda S2000 and the new Nissan GT-R, he goes with a cool yet horrifyingly outdated (and overused in this series) Nissan Skyline GT-R R34, only to tune it exactly how he does in the second movie. Boring. Vin Diesel’s got yet more old-school muscle, both a Chevelle SS and the same Charger from the first movie. Boring again. Later in the movie, Diesel and Walker steal a riced 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STI from the impound lot. That should really please the Subaru fans who saw this.

Ok, ok, there were some good cars as well, but let me make this point: they do NOT, in any way, redeem this movie, especially because most of them are only featured for a few seconds, tops. A black Buick Regal GNX plays a fairly integral part for the first five minutes, then disappears entirely for the rest of the movie. The best part of the movie only lasts for about five seconds, though: a white, rally-tuned Ford Escort Cosworth RS shows itself, light rack and all, at the beginning of some miscellaneous drag race. At the very end of the movie, the audience is slightly rewarded (like I said, nothing redeems the rest of the movie) with seeing Jordana Brewster driving a JDM-spec Honda NSX-R. Finally, there’s some Porsche Cayman which I guess could be considered cool. Overall though, in terms of cars, I was left far short of impressed.

Conclusion

I wanted to give Fast And Furious a chance. I really did. I heard it was the best of the series, and after Tokyo Drift, I was convinced that the people responsible for this movie had what it takes to make a good movie. Sadly, no. The fourth movie in this series is a tremendous failure, bringing back the same things that ruined the second movies. I’ll give this an Ignition Unlimited Media Rating of 3 out of 10. If you haven’t seen it yet, don’t. Wait until DVD to see it, if ever.

Alright, so I’ve looked at the SUVs shown at the 2009 New York International Auto Show, and now it’s time for… everything else. Represented here are examples of speed, sluggishness, beauty, and monstrosity. Lots on the menu here (almost too much?), so shall we begin?

So, What Do We Have Here?

I’m going straight into it with the little footnotes about each… there are quite a few as you will see…

	Hyundai Equus I don’t think there’s anything I’d like to see more than Hyundai unseating Lexus at the head of the flagship sedan table. The Equus is truly a fine piece of work. I hope it comes Stateside!
Bentley Continental Supersports You can run the Bentley W12 off of E85 Ethanol (read: corn) and hit 204 miles per hour? No more rear seating and more carbon fiber instead in the name of saving weight? Yes please.
	Porsche 911 GT3 Doesn’t look to interesting. Looks just like the old one to me. Good thing they bumped up the horses to 435 and the top speed to 194, then. It’s a real sleeper, this one.
Merecedes-Benz E63 AMG A new face, new horsepower figures, and a new top speed of 186 seem to be telling RS6 and M5 drivers to look cautiously into their rear-view mirrors… but by the time they do, this will already be ahead. Nice work, Mercedes.
	Nissan NISMO 370Z I love the 370Z’s design for being closer to the old 280Z than any other more modern Z yet, and this NISMO version keeps that beauty while adding necessary aerodynamic upgrades. Indeed one of my favorites at NYAIS.
Nissan 370Z Roadster Let’s just say I was liking the pictures of the NISMO far, far, far more. The convertible conversion destroys the 370′s beautiful curves and adds weight. Oh, and that color. Bleh.
	Volkswagen Golf GTI Mk VI While it should be called the Mk V.5 because it rides the same chassis and utilizes many of the same underpinnings as the previous GTI, the redesigned interior is cool and I’m curious to see whatever R-Line variant they’re cooking up.
Subaru Legacy One of the world’s most underrated sleepers gets slightly more aggressive. Still keeping with the Subaru tradition of AWD and the famous Boxer-4, this is sure to be a winner.
	Subaru Outback Well, at least we know the Subaru designers were working double-time on the new Legacy.
Mazdaspeed3 I’m beating a dead horse, but it’s still too happy, and the American version seems to get braces of some sort in that big ol’ mouth.
	Scion iQ As usual, Scion takes something (usually neutral or poor in my tastes because it comes from Toyota), and makes it astronomically worse. The paint color is named “radioactive,” which is funny, because when I saw this I realized I’d rather absorb a large quantity of radiation than be caught in the driver’s seat.
Kia Forte Koup Eh, a Kia, it’s going to be bor- wait… what’s this? An attractive design paired with a fun powertrain and a bang-to-buck ratio that outdoes its competition? Wow. Never saw that one coming. Very cool.

And there it is. As usual, some good, some bad, some… interesting.

Let me start off by saying what this is: every Sunday, some car is going to get a bashing. Every car enthusiast has cars they really, really dislike, and this is how I’m going to go about explaining mine: in these weekly posts. So, to start things off, we have the Lexus IS-F.

The high-end compact sport sedan class is highly contested: we’ve got the refined Audi RS4, the crazy Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG, and the take-no-prisoners BMW M3 Sedan. Now there’s a new guy, and not from Germany: this Lexus IS-F. Yeah, it’s fast, but I’d rather drive the lowest base version of any of the competitors before I’d be caught driving the IS-F (think C300 or A4 1.8T). Why? Read on.

F is for FAKE and FAILURE

Why Lexus chose “F” to be the letter denotation for their performance division beats me (yes, I know it’s for the Fuji Speedway or ‘flagship’), and I further lack understanding as to why the literal badge on the car is so huge. It immediately reminds me of scenes from shows or movies in which a student gets back a terrible piece of work from the teacher and it’s marked with a big, glaring “F.” Fitting. Very fitting.

So why does it fail? Well to start, you can’t pass if you cheat, which is what Lexus did with those “quad exhausts.” Fake. They’re not even connected to the actual pipes. While the Mercedes, the Audi, and the BMW have tasteful, refined overall styling, the Lexus is just trying way too hard. It’s like the board responsible for its styling sat down and said, “alright, let’s write down all the words we can think of that relate to performance!”… and the list they came up with consisted of “low. big wheels. widebody. quad exhaust.” …And then they had a child sketch it, and it was built… I wouldn’t be surprised.

And for now the power and drive train. I’ve never driven the thing, but all reviews seem to be unanimous: numb power steering, an over-complicated 8-speed gear box (if someone had said, “hey, why didn’t you put 9 gears in there?”, Lexus may actually have done it), and a big V8, all of which are so poorly sorted together that the car has certain “quirks,” such as breaking traction under hard acceleration in 3rd gear. Guys, it isn’t a Viper… it’s a small sedan. Handling is apparently decent but doesn’t really eclipse any of the competition.

Final Thoughts

Everything else wrong with the IS-F aside, I dislike it for one other major reason. This car wasn’t created with the legacy or passion of the M, RS, or AMG names: it was created to fill a market segment that previously Toyota had no stake in. The easy solution to that for Toyota Lexus was to shove a V8 into the IS, stick some huge badges on it, and say that they’d made a leading performance saloon. Hah, no. Absolutely not. Can it run with the German competition? Yes. Is it as uninspired and cold as a Camry? Pretty damn close. The only difference is horsepower.

Who would do such a thing? This is the horrifying work of A Bathing Ape (BAPE) founder Nigo, who has also destroyed created a pink Bugatti Veyron and a camouflage Rolls Royce Phantom. This time, though, he’s just taken it too far. Way too far. It’s one thing to make a mess out of a modern production car, but to destroy a rare and beautiful creation such as the Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing? Simply sickening. I mean, look at that thing… a car I would die to own, ruined by the crazy tastes of some insane clothing designer. Poor SL.

Yes, I know it’s been modernized by AMG, and I think that’s pretty cool, but they were not responsible for the horrifying exterior styling. It just looks so… degraded in that cheap camouflage scheme. More pictures in the full post.

With the American car industry up in flames (well, save Ford), the New York Auto Show has been really interesting this year. Foreign competitors are showing off some serious new concept and production cars, while the domestic manufacturers are putting in a last ditch effort to defend the homeland. Geneva had some weird stuff, but New York is all business. Make the jump to see what I mean.

Heavy Artillery

You’d think with the current economic situation, SUVs would be in the process of downfall, right? Nope. Day one of the New York Auto Show saw the debut of a bunch of new and interesting sport-utility vehicles from all around the globe. Let’s start with good old America.

Jeep. They’re really common around here, and they don’t stick out at all. Boring. But now, Jeep has done a much-needed full exterior and interior redesign on the Grand Cherokee. This version, due out for the 2011 model year, is built on the same chassis as the Mercedes-Benz ML SUV and features the “Quadra Lift” air suspension system which allows the vehicle to vary height from around 4 inches while parked to over 11 for off-roading fun. Another system, “Selec-Terrain” lets the driver choose traction settings based on the driving surface from five settings. Engine choices are a 3.6L V6 with 280HP or the 5.7L HEMI V8 with 360HP.

What about the styling? Wow. A more sporty profile with great edges and a mean front fascia are an epic improvement over the previous generations. And then there’s the interior. That’s a JEEP? I was skeptical of this thing from looking at those releases they made to the government during stimulus talks, but now I’m convinced that this thing has the potential for great success. It’s clearly the best thing Chrysler’s come up with since… I don’t know… the 300C? Regardless, this is cool, and I hope it isn’t too late.

However, the Europeans are here as well, and they’re well-armed. Here’s what I mean:

	BMW X6 M-Sport I’ve always been an admirer of the X6, and now it’s got the power to match. 555 HP is no joke, and nor is a sub-five second zero-to-sixty in this 5,300-pound “Sports Activity Vehicle.”
Mercedes-Benz ML450 Hybrid Retaining the horsepower of a V8 while upping fuel economy considerably is no easy task, but Mercedes has managed. A combined output of 335 horsepower paired with 24 mpg isn’t too shabby, though I’d still never buy this. Ever.
	Range Rover Sport The X6 M isn’t the only hotshot, insane SUV on the show floor. The new Range Rover Sport is packing 510 horses in the supercharged variant of the V8, and it doesn’t hurt that the thing’s a looker as well.

Close Enough

Acura. They’ve done some really great things with powertrains for this model year, and some even iffier things with styling. I know this post is supposed to be about SUVs, but I really can’t place this new concept by Acura… It seems to be a competitor for the X6, though. Crossover? I guess so. This new car, called the ZDX, is powered by a V6 (the specifications of which are currently unknown) and an apparently all-new six-speed automatic (likewise on the specs). It uses the same SH-AWD system that the new TL does, which is good news, and I’ll be excited to see how they adapt it to the weight of a heavier vehicle. In terms of styling, it’s pretty cool, but I want to see the final production version to make a real judgement.

These are the SUVs that have debuted thus far in New York, and expect a lot more to come relating to the NYIAS in the next few days.

Recently I started following the American Le Mans Series. As I wrote in my post about the 12 Hours of Sebring, I was amazed by the vigor and skill required in this sort of racing… but I had no idea what really goes into this, until now. Originally aired during prime time on ESPN a day before Sebring, Audi’s documentary Truth In 24 highlights the legendary victory of Audi over Peugeot in the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans in a seemingly impossible battle. This film, narrated by Jason Statham, is truly an epic and definitely the most engaging documentary I’ve ever seen. For more of my thoughts on it, continue on into the post.

My Thoughts

Audi’s story is a truly remarkable one: the rise of a true competitor for their aging R10 TDI provided an intense challenge that, throughout most of the 2008 season, got the best of them, leaving Peugeot in the lead. Le Mans proved to be race that required every single member of Team Joest to be on its toes for the entirety of the full-day-long test. The documentary captures this in complete brilliance. As said early in the movie, it’s no easy task to translate the feel of Le Mans onto a screen, but somehow they’ve done it. I felt all the disappointment, the joy, the adrenaline, and the chills of this race. The best part, or at least my favorite, is when Allan McNish gives his accelerated walkthrough of the Circuit De La Sarthe, naming the gears and corner cambers from memory. When he’s done, he just sits there for a moment, reminiscing. It’s truly moving.

All in all, I’ll give this an Ignition Unlimited Media Rating of 10 out of 10. There is truly not a single undesirable thing about it: from the action, to the interviews, to Jason Statham’s gruff narration, and to the story itself, Truth In 24 is a gem unlike any other I’ve seen.

Truth In 24 is available for download for free from the iTunes Store. You can get it from here.

Since 2001, the Toyota Prius has been an iconic car for the green revolution of automobiles. It’s easily recognizable to everyone, too. Look, there goes a hybrid! In Hollywood, there’s even a function that can be used amongst celebrities to determine how ‘green’ any of these ‘stars’ are: basically, (number of Prius owned) x (amount of times owning of said Prius is mentioned on the red carpet) = (apparent greenness). Jesting aside, I drove something yesterday that puts the Prius on notice. Who would of thought? Diesel power conquering the Hybrid-Drive? Well, Europe has known of this phenomenon for quite a while, but now is better than ever for the ‘States to catch up. This is my second Volkswagen post in a month, yes, and I realize I’m fanboying a little bit here, but bear with me me: the Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen TDI is out for green blood.

A Diesel?

Yes, a diesel. You’d never know, though, if you didn’t see the TDI badge which sits on the lower rear of the wagon’s hatch. Maybe if you were really concentrating, listening for the slight grumble when you start the car or give it a little extra throttle on the highway. But where’s the smell? And the smoke? Well, maybe you should stop living in the past. Modern diesels are considered “clean diesels” for a reason. Meeting California’s tough (ridiculous?) emissions standards is no easy task for a diesel, but the Sportwagen TDI passes with flying colors. Lots of people seem to love this car. The government does: they’ll pay you $1500 for buying one. The Green Car Journal loves it too: enough, in fact, to give it the Green Car of the Year award for 2009. Last and definitely not least, you would: at more than 40 miles per gallon, average, you’ll be happy at the pumps (especially considering diesel prices are great right now). And does it deserve all of this love? Of course.

Efficient Fun

In the Prius, all the efficiency comes at a price: performance. Roughly translated? Fun. The Sportwagen TDI, though, provides an engaging and fun driving experience. Volkswagen have given the TDI the same DSG that sits in my R32, albeit with a slightly different set of governing software. I was excited to try this familiar gearbox with the 2.0L turbocharged diesel, and my excitement was rightfully placed: this torque-graced engine produces 236 foot-pounds of it, which is the same as my car. However, as it is a traditional high-torque, low-horsepower diesel, the horsepower takes a hit: there are only 140 horses in this engine. Zero to sixty is just under nine seconds, which seems fairly poor until you compare it to the rivals, such as the Prius, who come in at over eleven seconds. On the highway, this works quite well for overtaking. When you delve into the other performance categories aside from acceleration, you find out why the Sportwagen TDI really shines in comparison to its green competitors: handling. Like a typical Volkswagen front-drive car, the TDI is responsive, grips well enough, and is genuinely a pleasure to drive. The interior is exactly the same as all other Mark V-platform cars from VW, including mine, but with different colors and certain alternate trim materials, so the build quality is good and the ergonomics are excellent.

What Does This Mean?

A similarly-loaded Prius to this TDI I drove comes in at $27,000, in comparison to the TDI’s $25,000. For this, you don’t even get leather heated seats in the Prius, which are only available on the top-of-the-line package at almost $29,000. This deal is a no-brainer. What are you going to opt for? The expensive, slow, and smug Toyota or the well-engineered, practical, and genuinely fun Volkswagen? I know which I’d rather have. What does this mean for green technology, though? If I had to steer this technological development in any given direction, I’d have to say that companies should combine the technologies: all the perks of the diesel drivetrain on the highway with the efficiency of an electric motor at low speeds. The question is, who’s better prepared to do this? I’ll give that to Volkswagen with only a moment of thought, because I’m not sure Toyota even knows what diesel is.

Ending late last night, the 2009 12 Hours Of Sebring endurance race was won by Audi’s new R15 TDI with a slight 22-second margin over Peugot’s 908 HDI FAP. This was the first endurance race that I have ever followed (at least in periods), and I couldn’t have asked for a better one to watch. I have to concede, I was only really paying attention to the LMP1 and LMP2 classes, as this is where the clear competition was. Some of my observed highlights and more photos of the cars come after the jump, but, wow, what a race this was. I can’t stress that enough.

Truth In Truth In Engineering

True to their engineering excellence, Audi’s two R15 cars did not suffer any mechanical or electrical issues throughout the course of the entire race, and only made routine fueling and tire pit stops. If I had to state reasons why I think #2 R15 TDI won this, I’d have to go with a) this brilliant reliability and b) some of the various pitting strategies used in the last hour of the race, especially that quick, ten-second stop for a shot of fuel… oh, and also Allan McNish. Pulling out the fastest R15 lap of the race of during his last period in the car, and at night? Wow. One of #2 R15′s other drivers, Tom Kristensen, has the honor of calling this victory his fifth at Sebring, making him the winningest driver ever at Sebring. Amazing driving.

There Can Only Be One

Where there are winners, there must be losers. Unfortunately for Peugeot and Acura, things didn’t work out well enough to let them come out on top. Peugeot’s #08 908 HDi FAP, while in the hands of Stephane Sarrazin was shockingly close, but not close enough to the winning Audi, despite being ahead for the majority of the 12 hours. Peugeot’s other 908 had air conditioning problems near the beginning of the race, almost immediately putting it out of the running for the LMP1 class. Later, a slow puncture further hampered Peugeot’s efforts, yet they still managed to stay less than one lap behind or in front of Audi for the entire race. Acura did do well in the LMP2 class by default, winning because there were no other finishers; however, LMP1 for Acura didn’t go as planned. The full 12-hour debut of the Acura ARX-02a was cut short due to a suspension issue, and even if the car had been in for the entire time, it never could have kept up with the diesels.

Diesel Reigns Supreme

It’s clear that in the LMP1 class, fielding a diesel car is the only way to win. If less pit stops and more torque aren’t reason enough to do so, maybe the fact that development of the technology can be further applied in the consumer market is. For the rest of the American Le Mans Series, I have a feeling that this will become more and more painstakingly obvious to Acura. There really is something to be said about diesels, though: the slow, smokey, noisy diesels of the past are no more. Too bad the United States is just starting to figure that out, if at all. Expect another diesel-related post in a short time.

I love auto shows. Unfortunately, living in the Northeast means I only get out to one a year: the New England International Auto Show in Boston, which occurs each December. When I’m there, I get to praise some things, ridicule others, and just stand completely baffled by yet more. This is what I enjoy most about going to auto shows: the wide and crazy spectrum of desirability that presents itself on the show floor. Luckily, and although it’s not as great as being next to the machines in person, this same spectrum is easily identifiable when reading about and viewing photos from other shows online.

That’s why I’m going to take this opportunity to share my opinions of a couple of the key showings from the 2009 International Geneva Motor Show… because there’s a lot to share. Europe’s biggest show, which is currently open, has some of the best variation, between the awesomely beautiful and the horrifyingly ugly. Here we go.

Aston Martin

After the initial jaw-dropping, drool-inducing splendor of the DB9 wore off for me, no other Aston Martin has stood out in the same way as the DB9 did when I saw it for the first time. I realized that this is because literally everything Aston Martin has produced or even conceptualized in the past 10 or so years has looked shockingly similar… until now. Stepping outside their safe zone of designing swooping, handsome coupes (and a similar looking sedan, which is still in the works) has proved itself to be a Sisyphean task for the designers at Aston Martin.

Stare in horror at this repulsive failure of design. It’s called the Lagonda Concept, and it’s a step further in the direction of ugly than the previous user of the same namesake, the boxy Lagonda Sedan. It seats four and has got a V12 engine, four-wheel-drive, and loads of LED lighting, but none of that matters, because it’s easily one of the ugliest SUVs since the Pontiac Aztek. Chubby DB9 at the front and bloated Bentley at the back? No thanks. That’s just revolting.

Infiniti

I used to love Infiniti. I really liked the G (both the sedan and coupe), and at one time, thought I really wanted a G35x sedan. However, I began to notice that guidos, posers, and more advanced ricers seem to be the primary owners, and that there’s an ugly analog clock on the dashboard of each. Then Infiniti brought their Geneva showing to the table.

This is the Infiniti Essence. Few cars immediately seize me as beautiful, but this is just amazing. The styling reminds me of the Maserati GranTurismo, but for some reason this is far more appealing to me. The lines have an attractive flow that I don’t think I’ve seen anywhere else. The only stylistic complaint I have about the car are the sizes of the front and rear badges. Yes, Infiniti, we know you made it. Tone it down just a notch, please. With its 3.7L twin-turbo V6 and attached electric, this 592-bhp hybrid-drive touring car would make a supreme luxury counterpart to the Nissan GT-R. Let’s see it produced, Infiniti!

Quick Opinions

Seeing as everything else I’m going to talk about in this article only requires one or two sentences of commentary, I’ve assembled a little table.

	Toyota Verso Wait, Toyota, you’re supposed to be making ugly and boring cars that appear aerodynamically challenged! This Verso, the new Prius, and the Venza all seem to be steps in the right direction, at least stylistically. Kudos.
Masonry Linea Vincero Veyron Take the world’s pinnacle of automotive engineering. Reveal carbon fiber. Add a more pronounced aero kit and raise the horsepower from 1001 to 1109. Paint it black. Instant bad-ass.
	BMW Alpina B6 GT3 I never really liked the 6-Series that much. However, in racing trim, this car is nothing short of stunning. I can’t wait to see it during the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Renault Megane RS I hate to admit it, but this is one of the only hatchbacks that I consider better looking than the R32 Mk V, just… not in this color. Also, it’s a good application of FWD, but FWD it is nonetheless. Nissan should bring this to the states.
	Ferrari 599xx I don’t care how fast it is, or how much downforce those little winglets on the C-pillars add. That thing is hideous. They might as well have called it the “Ferrari SuperDrift 599999xx Edition.” Track star or not, this seems too much like Ferrari rice.
Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 SV Same idea as the Ferrari above: a road card tuned for the track, though infinitely less ugly. It doesn’t really do for me what the Gallardo LP560-4 does, but I think it’s very worthy of the rebirth of the SuperVeloce badge.
	Koenigsegg NLV Quant Very weird, and seemingly even more pointless. A solar car that can’t use the sun’s energy to help it go, has gullwing doors, seats four, and doesn’t even look like a car? Stick to working on variations of the CC, Koenigsegg… Do what you’re good at.
Audi TT-RS Attractive TT form factor, insane power to weight ratio from a turbocharged, direct-injected inline five, R8-like handling, and Alacantra bucket seats? I’m sold.
	MazdaSpeed3 Stop smiling. Seriously, that grin is making you look stupid. No, I don’t care that you have 250 horsepower now. It’s still going to the front wheels, and you look ridiculous. What are you so jolly about?

And there, ladies and gentlemen, is what I see at Geneva, in a nutshell. I’m not sure how much more is coming out of there in the next eight days, but if there’s anything even remotely interesting, I’ll have something to write about it. Credits and thanks go out to Autoblog for being my source of seeing what’s going on in Geneva and also for automotive news in general.

It’s snowing outside. It’s good, then, that tomorrow I have the chance to drive the all-wheel drive version of Volkswagen’s Golf V, the R32. The Mark V platform (also known as the A5 or PQ35 Platform) has already proven its useful in the current model Audi A3 and the superb Volkswagen Golf GTI Mk V. What could make that platform better, then? By adding Haldex Traction all-wheel drive and the ingeniously-designed VR6 engine, Volkswagen has created something absolutely amazing. There really is so much to say about this car, so let’s begin, shall we?

Seamless Integration

Literally everything in this car plays a part of the whole so well: nothing seems uselessly placed; nothing seems like a pointless extra. Maybe that’s what I love the most about it. Although it’s controversial among enthusiasts, the twin-clutch Direct-Shift Gearbox (DSG for short) has me quite impressed. I knew from what I’ve read about it that it’s not at all your standard automatic transmission, but I’m truly surprised by how good it actually is. Leave it in automatic mode, and it does what it’s supposed to do: shift itself at low revs, be (partially) economical, and not do anything unexpected. However, the real fun starts when you push the leather-wrapped gearshift rightward while in Drive. You then have the option of using either the steering wheel-mounted paddles or the gearshift to change gears. Do nothing, and the transmission will allow the revolutions to reach just above redline before it decides to shift up. Click the paddle or push the gearshift forward, and the swapping of the clutches takes a mere eight milliseconds. The all-wheel drive, 4Motion, a Haldex system that normally defaults to 90% front drive torque and 10% rear drive torque, can send up to 100% of the torque rearward depending on the road conditions or the aggressiveness of the handling, giving this little hatchback the feel of a traditional rear-wheel drive sports car. What torque, you ask?

Power On Demand

Volkswagen began using the VR6 six-cylinder engine in 1991 in the Passat and the Corrado, as the 15˚ cylinder offset enabled this V6 engine to fit in place of a traditional inline engine. In 2001, the current 3.2L VR6 was born, and used in vehicles such the old R32 (Mark IV) and the first generation Audi TT. For the European-spec R32 Mk V, this same VR6 3.2 was given a power boost to get it to 247 brake horsepower and 236 foot-pounds of torque. Despite having what some consider to be an immense curb weight of around 3550 lbs, the R32 is not sluggish by any means: the VR6′s immense torque, which peaks at 2800 RPM, and its horsepower, peaking at 6300 RPM, help the car get from 0-60 in around six seconds, and onto an electronically-limited speed of 130 MPH for the United States-spec model. Passing on the highway is wondrous: a lightning-fast downshift makes a legendary sound and then the excellent power kicks in. It’s truly addicting.

A Nice Place To Be

Taking this car on moderate to long highway trips is nothing short of enjoyable. I don’t think I’ve ever been more comfortable in a driver’s seat. The R-Line bucket seats are supportive but not intruding, and the MFD2 navigation, radio, and media head-unit works wonderfully and is perfectly integrated to the steering wheel controls and the Multifunction Display (MFD) located between the gauges. In fact, the only thing I don’t like about the R32 is part of this system: the iPod adapter pretends to be a six-CD changer, which, in turn, was sacrificed to include this mediocre adapter. No song data appears on either display, although you can play/pause and change tracks using the steering wheel controls. Otherwise, the interior electronics work wonders. I couldn’t be more pleased. In the snowy winter weather we have now, the heated seats and the dual zone climate control are much needed and play their parts very well. In short, the R32 makes itself out to be a very strong grand tourer.

Strong Silence

No, I don’t mean the exhaust note, because it isn’t. I love the low bellow from the twin pipes that are centrally located in the rear bumper, which becomes a metallic roar at high RPM. I’m talking about the styling. It’s unique for such an interesting reason, one of the same reasons I love the R32: those who don’t have any idea what it is will ignore it and most likely not give it a second look, but those who understand what the .:R badge means will know exactly what the point is. What Volkswagen’s designers have done is given the R32 a somewhat unorthodox sleeper approach. Sure, it has an aggressive body kit and that set of tuned bassoons protruding from the center rear, but this packed performance package comes in a form factor that appears, to the untrained eye, like a regular hatchback.

Flexibility Unmatched

It works in the snow. It’s great on the highway. It tears up back roads with civilized, balanced handling. I love nearly every single last aspect of this car, and then there’s one more detail about this car (specifically the one in these pictures) that makes me adore it even more: this car, Volkswagen R32 Mark V, number 976 out of 5000 made for the United States, is mine. Expect to see a good deal more about this car in posts on here in the future. All in all, this car is amazing. People like to slam the DSG for not being a manual, but I don’t mind it; in fact, I quite like it. I always have said I don’t like the hype surrounding Volkswagen’s hot hatches, but sitting in that driver’s seat, holding on to that wheel, and clicking those paddles, I can’t help but get lost in that hype myself.