VW Chief Spills the Beans on New Hybrid Designs

One thing that the Germans will fail with though is reliability and their quality, something that neither the Nürburging or the Michigan International Speedway can teach. So this new VW, Scirocco or Zwhatthefuk is just another example of failure in a whole line of failures. Until they take a page out of Lexus's winning playbook from the IS-F, VW will continue to play catchup with the rest of the girlie rides.

Where is the "h" in IS-F? So you are a 3 year old...still haven't mastered the abc's yet.

Am I the only one who has no interest in ever owning a hybrid and wish automakers would stop dumping so much money into this overcomplicated technology? I'm sure they're great for 3 years but then what happens?

No you're not.

Where do you get the idea that hybrids only run for 3 years? Prius's have kept going and going and going and going. People said the batteries would fail and cost as much as a new car to replace......they still hold charge like new after 150,000 miles!

Yeah it's a bitch that the fact we're messing up the climate and destroying the planet and ourselves had to come along and ruin our fun with the combustion engine but that's just the way it is so hybrids are the first step to the future.

Another Toyota/Lexus wannabe, ha....ha...ha...

Another crap comment from Lexus.

"reliability and their quality, something that neither the Nürburging can't teach".

Wrong: The Nürburging is the ultimate stress test. If something will break on a car, the Nürburging will impose stress that you don't find on other roads. It's an abusive ride around that circuit. If there is a weakness in a cars ability, the Nürburging will exploit it. That's why manufactures, even US, test their cars there to work out all issues. There is nearly 1000 feet of elevation change, and there can
BMW tests every one of their cars there. 170 turns in 14 miles. The ring is the 2nd highest in altitude in the world and there can be rain, snow, and sun all at the same time at different places.

BMW was the first company to set up a testing facility there, and BMW also has a suspension simulator that they can mount a car to that simulates all the turns around the track to test engine, suspension and brake components.

Check out this video:

http://paultan.org/archives/2006/06/05/bmw-extreme-testing-technology/

They'll be the world's most unreliable hybrids too.

I support SAAB.

Again, Huu76 believes that a clean diesel, which averages 30% less fuel to operate and emits 15% less CO2 than a comparable, gas car, uses more petroleum than a comparable, gas car. He uses some kind of horsepower measure to compare, which is way outdated and dates back to when diesels had less horsepower output per liter, which is no longer true. Under his assumptions, one must also conclude that horsepower is always maximized at total efficiency and none is ever wasted. How often, for example, does the average American driver use the 240 horsepower that is in the average gas car. To do that, one would consistently rev. to almost 6,000 RPM in daily driving.

Additionally, a diesel driver can offset further petroleum by using a biodiesel blend, like B20, which--unlike ethanol--has almost equal displacement per gallon of due to the high energy content of this superior, easier-to-apply, alternative fuel.

Again, Huu76 equates hybrids with gas engines only, when in fact, hybrid means that an electric motor goes in with an internal-combustion engine to help in the propulsion of a vehicle. In other words, a hybrid works just as well for a diesel as it does for the other type of internal combustion.

Now, Huu76 will state that there are no diesel hybrids, but Peugot is marketing one right now that gets over 70 mpg. If you check with the EPA or the DoE, you will find that a diesel uses much less petroleum, on avg., than a comparable, gas-powered car, but you can use Huu76's formula if you prefer.

And besides, VW is not trading in the idea of diesel power for hybrid power; they will use both and any other valid technology, to reduce emissions, increase fuel economy, and lower CO2 output. VW will sell less than one-thousand new diesels in 2007 for the U.S. In 2008, they will sell at least 10,000, so they will not be selling fewer diesels in North America; they'll be selling much more.

Hybrids have not proved to be unreliable, but--in the same breath--diesels have proven to be real petroleum-savers in Europe. European diesels, however, are too polluting. North American diesels to come will be less polluting than gas cars.

Why would a person criticize such a potentially, promising technology as diesel power for light-duty transportation, unless he or she feels that his or her favortite technology would be threatened by such a promising technology?