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Advanced diesels bolster revised 2010 VW Golf
By John Gilbert Last Updated: Sunday, October 18th, 2009 09:59:55 PM Our 2010 Volkswagen Golf TDI was sailing along the E-30 stretch of Germany's network of autobahns, from Wolfsburg toward Dresden, and since I was driving, I appreciated the smoothness. In a half-dozen previous opportunities, I have always enjoyed the chance to drive quality cars at the unrestricted speed limits, and this was more of the same. As I glanced at the instruments, something seemed restrictive, however. Having grown accustomed to the metric instruments of European cars, I knew that when you get to an astronomical figure of kilometers per hour, you may be getting up there in miles per hour as well. For instance, 210 km. per hour is about 135 mph, and 245 km. per hour is about 150 mph. While the little 2.0-liter 4-cylinder turbo-diesel engine in our Golf had tremendous low-end power, it seemed that it was just about out of power when the speedometer indicated 125, which I figured wasn't much over 70 mph. The fact that roadside things seemed to be passing in a blur must have been our illusion, because if we were wheezing at 70 mph, we could do with U.S. freeways, and wouldn't need an autobahn. I mentioned it to my co-driver, and we checked the speedometer again. Sure enough, as a convenience to this batch of U.S. media types, the speedometer in our particular Golf was in miles per hour. We got a good laugh out of cruising along at 125 mpg, and complaining about the car being too slow! The Golf arrives as its seventh edition for 2010, and, as usual, its changes are evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Slightly more tapered and rounded frontal area, with a full-width horizontal grille replacing the Audi-like vertical oval opening, the Golf has improved aerodynamics, and refined edges and seams. The key to the new car is its technology. That is the reason the new Golf earned one of three finalist stature for the 2010 North American Car of the Year competition, and, indirectly, was a reason Volkswagen invited a selection of North American Car of the Year jury members to try out the new Golf in its homeland. As tours go, this one was fantastic. We flew to Hanover, then drove to Wolfsburg, which is dominated by Volkwagen's Autostadt -- a city within the city that houses Volkswagen's factory, distribution, museum, and sales headquarters. From Wolfsburg we drove to VW's test facility to drive some of the vehicles available in Europe but not yet in the U.S., and sampled some soon-to-come models. We did not get to drive the hybrid, which has an electric system linked to a small turbo-diesel, and is certain to flirt with 100 miles per gallon. There is also a plug-in hybrid, which, VW says, will be available within a year. The next day we drove from Wolfsburg to Dresden, to visit another assembly plant where the luxury Phaeton -- no longer brought to the U.S. -- is put together by hand. After that tour, we drove northward on E-65, another autobahn, to Berlin. We only had an hour and a half of free time in Berlin, and I wished it was much more because it is filled with beautiful, classical and mysterious charm. During the trip, there was ample opportunity to listen to presentations by Volkswagen executives, as there was to drive different vehicles, and the overall intention was clearly to show us all the direction Volkswagen is going for its future in the North American marketplace. Diesel technology is a key. Diesels provide more torque than much larger gasoline engines, and turbocharging increases the power to improve acceleration and throttle response. But American consumers are fickle, and their desire for such superb, fuel-efficient technology seems directly traceable to the cost of gasoline. When it goes up past $3 a gallon, high-mpg cars sell like popcorn; as soon as fuel prices drop closer to $2 range, people seem to think they can get by with their traditional giant, fuel-inefficient vehicles. VW is focused on a leaner and cleaner future. "The key word is downsizing, and I don't mean just small, but powerful," said Dr. Hermann Middendorf, the head of VW engine development. "By the reduction of displacement and the number of cylinders, combined with direct injection and turbocharging, we can get more power with less consumption." The 2010 Golf retains the 2.5-liter 5-cylinder engine, which has been upgraded, and the 2.0-liter turbo-diesel, which comes either with a 6-speed manual or the 6-speed automatic DSG. "The DSG shifts at lower revs," said Middendorf. "We have gotten a 20-percent improvement with our new engines, and an additional 10 percent with the DSG."
Middendorf indicated that along with the 3.0-liter V6 turbo-diesel in the Touareg SUV, the available 2.0 turbo-diesel in the Jetta and now the Golf in the U.S., will be joined by smaller turbo-diesels in the near future -- engines that already are available in Europe, where consumers are more concerned with high gas mileage as well as durable and potent machines. VW has 1.6 and 1.4 liter turbo-diesels already running in Europe. The 1.4 has been selling well since 2006, and the 1.4 and 2.0 have won European engine-of-the-year honors for four straight years. New on the market in Europe and Asia is a 1.2-liter. German car-makers are as far advanced in diesel technology as the Japanese are in hybrids. It might be most effective to combine the two, and VW, along with Audi, which it owns, might be taking the lead in combining the two. At the Frankfurt auto show in September, 2009, VW displayed a new 1.2-liter, 3-cylinder turbo-diesel hybrid. Another car, for display only, had a 0.8-liter 2-cylinder turbo-diesel -- essentially half of the 1.6-liter 4-cylinder -- connected to an electrical system for a 108-horsepower hybrid. Volkswagen, of course, benefits by the technology from its Audi subsidiary, including the 2.0 turbocharged gas engine and the direct-sequential-manual transmission -- a clutchless unit that has two clutches internally, gripping alternating gears and shifting smoothly and instantaneously. That DSG (direct sequential gearbox) has been a huge element, along with the direct injection and turbocharging, in achieving sensational fuel economy as well as surprising power for the smaller Volkswagen engines. It is available in the GTI and the slick CC sedan, and for 2010 comes with the TDI versions of the Golf and Jetta. Volkswagen is clearly focused on the future. It used to have a commanding share of U.S. import sales, and while that has faded in the face of Asian increases in recent years, VW continues to dominate markets in Europe, China, Central America and South America, and Dr. Joakim Heizmann said VW is determined to regain its solid market share in the U.S. as well. "We are investing $1 billion in our new Chattanooga [Tenn.] plant, and we will offer 2,000 new jobs there," said Heizmann. "We believe we have a prominent future in the U.S., and the centerpiece of our strategy is to build fascinating cars for the needs and dreams of American drivers." To that end, VW has secretive plans to build a new midsize sedan, as a replacement for the Passat, to be introduced sometime in 2011. It will be built in the soon-to-be-completed Chattanooga plant, and aimed exclusively for the U.S. and Canadian markets. Now if we can just find fuel companies lowering the price of diesel fuel, which is less-refined than gasoline and should be less expensive, maybe we also could locate good stretches of rural freeway and convince the government to eliminate speed limits. |
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