Speculation on A5 cars

[rwolff]

I've picked up a number of data points (listed here as "Report") from the TDI club forums and elsewhere. When combined (my thoughts are listed as "Speculation"), they seem to have interesting possibilities.

Report: next-generation Passat will be on the "A" platform
Report: VR6 is a "bin 9" engine, which means it is being phased out. Emission problem is due to ring location dictated by engine geometry.
Report: In North America, mid-size cars without an available 6-cylinder engine don't have very good sales.
Report: VW has 90 degree V6 TDIs (unfortunately not in North America), but no VR6 TDIs.
Report: In North America, care companies are currently engaged in a "horsepower war".
Speculation: The A5 platform will have room under the hood for a 90 degree V6.
Speculation: Once ULSD becomes available, look for V6 TDI Passats (and possibly V6 TDI GTIs)

Report: W8 and W12 engines are basically a pair of VR4 and VR6 engines with a common crankshaft.
Speculation: W8 and W12 have same emissions issue as VR6.
Speculation: VW will either phase out the Phaeton due to the lack of an available engine, or (once ULSD becomes available) the V10 TDI will become one of the more common engines.

Any further thoughts on the subject?

 

[GoFaster]

Golf 5 is already on sale (in Europe). It's not significantly different in size from golf 4.

No conventional V6 will fit under the hood of a Golf 5. The VR.. configuration will be retained (actually, there is a 3.2 litre version planned). Presumably, they'll do something to the emission controls to get it better than bin 9. They'll have to.

Likewise with the V6 TDI. It will not fit under the hood of a Golf 5, and by extension, it will not fit under the hood of the next Passat. There is, however, an inline-5 turbodiesel which will fit under the hood of that car (and is planned - for Europe).

W8 engine will soon be history. I was under the impression that the Phaeton's base engine is the Audi 4.2-litre conventional V8, but I could be wrong (haven't really paid attention to Phaeton, as that car doesn't interest me).

Just because an engine has the VR.. configuration doesn't necessarily mean it will have emission problems ... that generally means the emission problems may be harder to solve, it doesn't mean the problems are impossible to solve.