Not Your Mama's GTI

Clearly, I've been living under a rock.

Why do I say that?

Because yesterday I pulled into a gas station and came nose to nose with a pretty sleek car I’d never seen before. I’m quite sure the guy pumping his gas thought I staring at his hipster style (Kudos on the sweet beard and Wayfarers, man!), but I was admiring his car. I’m a sucker for red, of course, but I was most interested in the fact that it wasn't just another run-the-mill-everyone-already-has-one rides. I took quick notes on whatever branding was clearly visible and finished topping-off.

As it turns out, what turned my head was a new VW GTI. The last one of those I remember well was from high school, circa 199-no-one-needs-to-know. You know the model I'm talking about.

The car I encountered yesterday wasn't even close. It was sleek and cool and pretty. I did a little more homework and let’s just say the reviews are in, and they are glowing. According to Car and Driver, “This latest GTI…is similarly unflappable. Misjudge a decreasing-radius turn? No worries, the GTI has front-end grip for days, and the tail stays planted. And should you have really overcooked it, there’s a stability-control system that you can’t fully turn off anyway. Jab your big dumb right foot into the accelerator too aggressively on corner exit? No sweat. A trick optional electronically controlled, multiplate, limited-slip differential goes to work, guiding the GTI’s faceted nose without interrupting the power delivery. It is a model of decorum.

With the GTI’s quick, new progressive steering rack (2.1 turns lock-to-lock), this car never feels darty or unbalanced, even when pushed hard on the squirrelly hill roads in southern France where we tested European-market versions. The GTI simply says confidently, “Don’t worry, I’ve got this handled.” On the same roads, the Ford Focus ST, the GTI’s most direct competitor, would be hollering, “Woohoo!” and shaking its tail, possibly with its pants off. Which suits you better?

Part of the GTI’s stability comes from its slightly wider front track and a wheelbase 2.1 inches longer than the previous GTI’s, but it’s also simply the product of a company that values dynamic fidelity more than frivolity. The cars we drove were all equipped with adjustable dampers, an option in Europe that won’t be making it to the States (oh, the humanity!). So we’ll have to wait for a final assessment on the finer points of the ride-and-handling picture. Volkswagen has aimed to reduce the body roll, which has always been a part of the GTI’s character. And the company has done a tremendous job of making the GTI feel more planted and agile without sacrificing ride quality. In any of the three damper settings, the GTI is smoother and more compliant than the Focus ST and much more so than the Mazdaspeed 3. This is one hot hatch for adults.”

All I can say is, “Amen.”

But don’t take my word for it. Go see Carlos at Ken Garff Volkswagon of Orem, take a test drive, and fall in love.

Time for a GIVEAWAY!

At Ken Garff Volkswagen, we love our customers.  What better way to show that, than with a fun Facebook Giveaway!

But we don't know what to give away!  We know that Volkswagen fans love tech gadgets.  But which gadget should we give away? Can you help us choose?

We narrowed it down to:

JVC 39" TV

Bose Soundlink (Bluetooth Speaker)

Go Pro HERO 3 Silver Edition

iPad Mini

This weekend, tell us which one you'd want and enter to win a $15 iTunes Gift Card.

The winning gadget will be up for a giveaway on April 25th - May 30th, where you can enter every day to win.

So, what gadget is it gonna be?

Meet Dieter (a.k.a the Passat TDI)

motortrend.com

In my normal life, I drive a very standard car that might rhyme with Shonda. But this week, Carlos, the executive manager at Ken Garff Volkswagon of Orem let me take one his beauties off the lot.

I confess, I was intimidated.  Me?  Driving around in a diesel-powered Passat? It seemed counter-intuitive to my white-bread-middle-class self.  But I was curious.  I'd been reading for a while about how diesel is essentially the new black in fuel, so off I drove.

Let me just say, it took me about one second to fall in love.

Hallo, Dieter.... Where have YOU been all my life?

Honestly.

This is a car that begs to be driven.  It almost felt wasted on city streets because it's so elegantly powerful. I hardly wanted to drive it from stoplight to stoplight, so I decided to grab a friend and go find out what Dieter was made of.

We loaded up and headed up the canyon on a photo shoot. Let it be known, that you can get a lot of stuff in the back seat of a Passat! I was a little bit amazed. But as impressive as that was, I was about to be a lot more impressed.  

Let me just tell you a couple of reasons why.

A) This car is whisper quiet. If we hadn't been moving, I wouldn't have known the car was even running.

B) You can go from 0 to 80 without feeling a single thing but pure joy.

C) We drove all over kingdom come (literally...we did the whole Alpine Loop, Stewart Falls, Midway, and back.) and barely touched any fuel.

I was shocked.  I've made that drive a fair few times, and chewed through a half a tank of gas (and thought nothing of it!).

So let's talk about how that was even possible.  Because the Passat isn't a little light-weight, under-powered, commuter car.  This is a driving machine with serious prowess that can cut through mountain curves like butter.

The secret is in the TDI clean diesel.  Get the quick and painless overview here.  But for the moment, I'll give you some stats that might blow your mind a little bit.

Ready?

• Clean Diesel partner vehicles are on average 18% more fuel-efficient on the highway than their gasoline counterparts 
• Over one-third of Clean Diesel partner vehicles getting an EPA-estimated 42 MPG hwy
• Clean Diesel vehicles run much more quietly than those powered by their traditional diesel counterparts. Let's just say, you've got to hear it to believe it.
• Clean Diesel that meets the highest standards in all 50 states, thanks to ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) fuel and innovative engine technology that burns cleaner.

Impressive.  

Believe me when I say that I was reluctant to hand back the keys. Driving the Passat TDI was like a luxury vacation.  Because beyond all the well-engineered power under the hood, it also had the most remarkably perfect steering wheel.

Great driving: it's all in the details... 

Something Special

I have real misty nostalgia for a Volkswagon van. No, I’m not a tree-hugging hippie who trekked across America, singing Peter, Paul, and Mary songs and sleeping in my pop-up.  

For me, the year I fell in love with Volkswagon was 1995 and my family was on our first international adventure. Friends in Germany had invited us for a visit, so we headed to the land of schnitzel and the Autobahn.

I’m not exactly sure what (the back seat of a sleek, black Mercedes, perhaps?) I imagined all NINE of us touring the Black Forest in, but it wasn’t a humongous, red, VW bus. Nevertheless, we loaded it up with hundreds of pounds of teenage girl luggage and off we went.

Every morning, my dad would say something subtle, like, “You know, I wouldn’t mind taking a turn on the Autobahn…”  Our host, Udo, would just chuckle and hop in the driver’s seat.  It was obvious that driving a van on the Autobahn was not a job for a mere American. Parking that monster surely wasn’t. We folded in side-view mirrors more than once to squeeze in places we didn’t belong. But my dad’s a persistent man and Udo was a generous guy and so, one morning, keys and manly words were exchanged.  It was a very serious affair.  

“It’s been a little while,” my dad confessed, revving the engine, “but I used to drive a stick shift all the time on the ranch…and you never really forget how to do it.”  

On. The. Ranch.  

My dad had been a suburban desk jockey for at least the last 25 years.  “On the ranch” was a long, LONG time ago.  And interestingly enough, even if you don’t actually forget, you can get pretty darn rusty.  Also, it should be noted that a fine German engine and John Deere tractor don’t have very much in common.

At all.

“See, it’s just like riding a bike!” my dad announced happily as we lurched painfully onto the Autobahn.

We were clickety-clacking down one of the world’s most elegant roadways, our faces pressed against open windows, trying not to barf.  Udo kept trying to offer useful tips (and muttering words I hadn’t learned in high school German) to keep my dad from grinding the engine to bits, but it wasn’t really helping. The only one who wasn’t thoroughly disgusted with the driving debacle was my new brother-in-law, who got a horrible case of the giggles.  The rest of us were too busy trying to keep from getting whiplash.

Years later, we still laugh about that short jaunt my dad took down the Autobahn in ‘95.   We tease my poor, motion-sick mom who finally ended the odyssey by saying something rather wifey through clenched teeth.  But you know, I think my 16 year old self missed something important that August afternoon.  I think I missed my dad’s midlife dreams coming true.  While we mocked and gagged, my dad’s inner Wyoming-ranch-kid was driving THE people’s car on the world’s most famous highway.  And THAT is something special.  

Would You Get a Diesel Car?

When I walked into the Ken Garff Volkswagen store for the first time a couple of months ago, Executive Manager, Carlos Iglesias, had something he was dying to share with me.

"Take a look at this picture."

Carlos had just comeback from Salt Lake City and 50 mpg was his average consumption in his new 2014 Volkswagen Passat.

I had to do a double take.

"It's because it's diesel," Carlos informed me.

I knew zip about diesel in cars, but figured it was about time to learn.

Turns out that TDI (turbocharged direct inject) diesel vehicles are some of the cleanest running with phenomenal gas milage and an engine that can get up and go.

This Bankrate article explained that a typical diesel engine gets around 30% better gas milage than it's gas counterpart. Obviously, that's a big advantage. People who want to save on gas money are often compelled to go, well, tiny.  If driving around town in a subcompact hybrid isn't your style, or doesn't fit your family size, diesel offers an amazing advantage.  You don't have to sacrifice size to get great gas milage.

Another bonus? Resale value.  TDI vehicles tend to get more money at trade-in than their gas-powered counterparts. TDI's are also a long-lived engine that make them a hot commodity in the used-car market.

Torque is another major benefit of the TDI vehicle.   Torque is best described as the feeling of power you get when you set on the accelerator.  TDI engines have a lot of torque, even in a small engine.  Thus, you get better milage all while having the power of a larger engine.

No wonder 50% of vehicles in Europe are diesel!

German engineered Volkswagen has an impressive line up of 7 TDI vehicles that span from a large SUV in the Touareg all the way to the adorable Beetle.