Rabbit GT TDI confirmed at Dealer Meeting

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rotarykid

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Give me a three cylinder TDI Polo that can get ~70 mpgs in normal driving , that is what many of us dieselers want . Why doesn't VW get this one ????????????????/..............................

My A2 diesels are starting to show their age but there is nothing sold by VW that is the size I want to replace them .

Honda , Toyota & Nissan don't seem to be having any trouble selling cars this size here ....................but without a diesel option .

Sounds like an open niche to me that VW could fill and make a lot of money .
 

RabbitGTI

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rotarykid said:
Give me a three cylinder TDI Polo that can get ~70 mpgs in normal driving , that is what many of us dieselers want . Why doesn't VW get this one ????????????????/..............................

My A2 diesels are starting to show their age but there is nothing sold by VW that is the size I want to replace them .

Honda , Toyota & Nissan don't seem to be having any trouble selling cars this size here ....................but without a diesel option .

Sounds like an open niche to me that VW could fill and make a lot of money .
Do you really want to be in a Polo when it get's run over by a Suburban? I think the Rabbit is about as small as I want to go in the current driving climate.
 

rotarykid

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1997 Passat TDI White,99.5 Blue Jetta TDI
RabbitGTI said:
Do you really want to be in a Polo when it get's run over by a Suburban? I think the Rabbit is about as small as I want to go in the current driving climate.
I'm sure I'd come out better in a Polo made from better stronger alloys with air bags than in one of my A2s . And more than likely the suburban would roll over at the first impact with me .
 

dieselyeti

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rotarykid said:
Give me a three cylinder TDI Polo that can get ~70 mpgs in normal driving , that is what many of us dieselers want . Why doesn't VW get this one ????????????????/..... Sounds like an open niche to me that VW could fill and make a lot of money .
I think VW does get it, but the economics of EPA & DOT certification for a Polo TDI don't make sense here. Even though the US dollar is gaining strength, it's still weak against the Euro, so the company can't build Polos cheap enough in Europe to sell them at a profit here. Therefore, VW would not make money but lose money. They exist to build cars and make money. I'm sure if they thought they could sell Polos here for a profit they would.
 

BrianCT

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dieselyeti said:
I'm sure if they thought they could sell Polos here for a profit they would.
I think this is an over simplification of the facts as Volkswagen sees them. The market is in the asia-pacific, central and eastern europe regions with plenty of new booming growth. They've had record earnings in 2007. Why would volkswagen want to kill a good thing [called profit] dicken around the US market and it's ever changing policies on ...well ...on just about everything.

Add insult to injury now VW has to compete against... a trillion dollar diaper for the BIG3 to stay chapped and irritable while they under cut and rebate to death their domestic cars.:rolleyes:
 

dieselyeti

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BrianCT said:
I think this is an over simplification of the facts as Volkswagen sees them. The market is in the asia-pacific, central and eastern europe regions with plenty of new booming growth. They've had record earnings in 2007. Why would volkswagen want to kill a good thing [called profit] dicken around the US market and it's ever changing policies on ...well ...on just about everything.
It may be not be as erudite as your explanation, but it is essentially why VW doesn't sell many of its Euro spec vehicles here. I've seen many people on tdiclub ask "Why doesn't VW sell X in the US?" ad nauseum. The bottom line? Profit. Just like the underwear gnomes from South Park (bonus points if you got that reference :D ) Besides the myriad of DOT and EPA regs they'd have to deal with, they have to be able to make a business case for selling a Polo TDI here, and apparently they can't.
 

MunchausenDrive

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None... yet
The same could be said for just about every car company. There are a few examples from Even the big3 that sell well in europe and could probably do well here, but they just don't sell them. Or we get a watered-down version that isn't quite as cool as what you can get on the other side of the atlantic.

But back to the post at hand, did VW redesign the rear suspension in the GTI as they did, or at least were rumored to, in the new generation golf/rabbit? I know there was some press about making the rabbit less expensive to produce.

Thoughts?
 

twigless

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Florida
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2000 Golf GLS TDI 5-speed, 2002 Jetta GLS TDI auto (wife's)
Nope, the suspension remained the same for the life of the MKIV, in both Jetta and Rabbit.
All these changes you all are pining for, I expect we'll see some come to fruition with the Chattanooga plant. True, the Polo would not make money right now in the US. We'd probably sell them very well, but the conversion rate makes it impossible. The other thing is that they can't keep up with supply/demand (am I exaggerating?) in Europe for the small diesels... so, either keep them on that side of the Atlantic and make money, or bring them here and lose money.
If you were VW, what would you do?
You'd spend $1,000,000,000 on a new plant in the US, and start planning the sub-compact/mini vehicle to win over "green" America.
 

Matt-98AHU

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MunchausenDrive said:
The same could be said for just about every car company. There are a few examples from Even the big3 that sell well in europe and could probably do well here, but they just don't sell them. Or we get a watered-down version that isn't quite as cool as what you can get on the other side of the atlantic.

But back to the post at hand, did VW redesign the rear suspension in the GTI as they did, or at least were rumored to, in the new generation golf/rabbit? I know there was some press about making the rabbit less expensive to produce.

Thoughts?
Rear suspension on all MkVs is a fully independent rear suspension. They actually hired the Ford engineer that came up with the basic rear suspension design that underpins the Focus, Mazda3/5, Volvo C30/S40, a Jaguar or two... It is nearly identical to those designs. The MkIV and previous cars just used a simple solid beam axle... It works very well, don't get me wrong, but the IRS is superior for getting maximum handling capabilities.
 

BrianCT

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Matt-98AHU said:
........but the IRS is superior for getting maximum handling capabilities.
I am not completely convinced of this fact driving both SRA and IRS. Tuned you can get positive results from each but the AWD on the IRS also gives a false positive.
 

MunchausenDrive

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Is the Rabbit TDI simply going to be a different trim level of the rabbit like it is with the Jetta? Or is it a diesel GTI?

BrianCT what do you mean about IRS giving a false positive?
 

BrianCT

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MunchausenDrive said:
BrianCT what do you mean about IRS giving a false positive?
It's not apples to apples on comparisons driving a FWD SRA [solid rear axle] vs. driving a 4-Motion with independent rear suspension. The 4-motion is a pretty impressive addedfeature to a test equation.:D

Back in the days with the PD130 MKIV Golf 4-Motions [in diesel] the road feel was completely different then the FWD versions in SRA.

I guess that's what I meant.

BrianCT

 

NewTdi

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NorCal
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2003 Bora, Reflex Silver
I have access to the Dealer Meeting Presentation from mid-November. I just read through all 256 pages of the slideshow, and there are a few very interesting and exciting things coming in the next few years. This meeting really revolved around the plan to get to 500k units by 2012, rather than talking about the 800k/2018 goal. There are plenty of neat things to summarize, but only one that needs mentioning on this site:
December 2009 will be the release of the Rabbit GT TDI. Yep, you read that correctly: GT TDI. Sounds like a sport version, eh?
Right at the beginning of October/end of September will be the A6 GTI and Rabbit GT launch, and supposedly a Sportwagen facelift in September (probably just head/taillights to match the A6).
The Rabbit will have nav available as an option (RNS-510). Lots of nice upgrades to the Rabbit, should make it quite a bit more quiet.
To that measure, VW also announces that they are not attempting to make the Rabbit an "entry level" vehicle, but that another vehicle will come in 2010 that will fill the "entry" position... YEAHHHHH!!!
Other news: Touareg V6 TDI to launch in May, planning 20% mix of TDI v 80% gas. 25% better economy (est 17/25, best in class). 407 ft-lbs.
By the way, 90 of the Touareg TDIs will be moving around starting THIS month (December)... marketing vehicles. In May, each dealer will get one TDI T-rag, and in June will begin production of MY10 vehicles (probably will arrive in late Aug/early Sept, as usual).
Also: Special Editions: Touareg Lux package will have the R50 body kit, should come in May 2009, available also in TDI trim.
Jetta TDI Cup edition to arrive in Dec '09, outfitted with the Thunderbunny body kit and plenty of other sport goodies (18", sport susp, GLI wheel, etc, but no power increase... so far).

THAT'S THE NEWS!!!
-Mike
what ever happened to this miracle?
 
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