The current Volkswagen Golf R is a legend in its own lifetime. Many previous versions of fast, four-wheel-drive Golfs might have had seemingly more exotic V6 motors, but it’s the 2014, Mk7 generation with its 296bhp, 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine that really proved how spectacular the hottest Golf could be.
Car safety is not the most glamorous of subjects, but it remains hugely important for obvious reasons. That’s arguably even more the case when it comes to choosing a used car rather than a new one, where crash performance and safety features might not necessarily be up to the latest standards.
Ask any car manufacturer where its performance models are most popular and the answer will almost always be the UK. We are a nation of fast car – and in particular hot hatch – addicts, a point well and truly demonstrated by the fact that Volkswagen UK’s director, Alison Jones, this week told us that the company has already sold out of its initial allocation of up! GTIs. Fear not, however, for if you are desperate to get your hands on one of these pocket rockets but can’t wait until the next build slots materialise (likely to be in the new year) the first approved used examples have just appeared on CarGurus.
While CarGurus is a used car marketplace, we also feel it’s important to keep abreast of what’s happening in the new car market. After all, today’s new cars are tomorrow’s nearly new ones. What that in mind, below we’ve rounded up the 10 best selling new cars on sale in the UK so far this year. By following the links below each car you’ll be able to find approved used examples for sale via CarGurus, with potential savings of thousands of pounds.
If you’re in the market for a small car there’s a good chance the Volkswagen Polo is on your shortlist. After all, alongside the Ford Fiesta and Vauxhall Corsa it is a regular fixture in the list of the UK’s best selling cars, with a mixture of practicality, affordability and build quality that buyers find hard to resist.
The idea behind this new weekly feature is hopefully self-explanatory, but if you’re yet to have your morning coffee and need a helping hand, we’ll be scouring the CarGurus classified listings to find examples of hot hatches that can now be bought for a bargainous 50% of their original price. This week we look at the brilliant Mk6 VW Golf GTI. Continue reading >>>
It’s finally happening.
Some 60 years after the Volkswagen Microbus became a symbol of peace, love, and happiness in the United States, a new version will land on dealer floors aimed at the modern, and somewhat affluent, hippie.
The ID Buzz has been a concept floating around the blog-o-sphere for at least six months, and now VW has confirmed that it will indeed go into production. However, it won’t happen until after a smaller electric compact car, simply called the ID, goes on sale by 2020. Continue reading >>>
Years ago, a good friend was in the market for a car, and despite trying my best to sell her on a Honda Fit, she was smitten with one particular Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen, which she’d eventually buy and name Gretta. As much as I tried to sway her to the little Honda (It’s great in the city! Fantastic fuel economy! Honda reliability!), I was always greeted with the same answer, spoken in her best German accent: “But Matt… Das Auto!” Continue reading >>>
As part of a settlement with the federal government over its diesel emissions scandal, Volkswagen will help electrify the United States of America by building charging stations and investing $2 billion in electric transportation over the next decade.
And you thought the company would get off with a slap on the wrist.
The federal government saw an opportunity to turn the scandal into something positive and ordered VW to contribute to the next generation of transportation. This could be exactly the kind of jumpstart that electric cars need, because it could conceivably allow EVs to embark on cross-country road trips without fear of running out of electrons somewhere in the middle of Wyoming.
Not that Wyoming will get a lot of attention in the project. California, not surprisingly, will benefit from some pretty major investment. The Golden State currently has more EV drivers than any other, which explains the high concentration of investment there.
In response to the court order, Volkswagen created a subsidiary called Electrify America, which will make four $500 million investments separated by 30-month periods over the next 10 years. Continue reading >>>
A scandal the size of the one Volkswagen is coming out of would be enough to topple many automotive companies in existence today. With billions of dollars in fines, recall, and repair costs, in addition to criminal charges from the U.S. government, the company took a direct shot to the heart of its brand that left appalled customers clamoring for answers.
Volkswagen could very well have dropped to its knees and succumbed to its injuries. Being the largest automaker in the world, though, has certain perks, and surviving catastrophe is apparently one of them.
The story of VW’s emissions cheating broke in September 2015. Just three months into 2017, the company’s chairman has declared that the automaker is “back on track.”
That statement came just days after VW pleaded guilty to three felonies in a U.S. District Court. How is that “back on track,” exactly? Continue reading >>>