Used Car of the Day: 1981 Volkswagen Pickup

The Ford Maverick has gotten a lot of attention over the past year, but it was preceded by many a small pickup. Including this 1981 Volkswagen Rabbit.

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Report: Foxconn Could Work With VW to Bring Scout Back

Foxconn, the company known for building iPhones (and putting workers through grueling conditions), could help Volkswagen bring Scout back to the States.

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QOTD: Who Has the Worst Infotainment System?

Today's Volkswagen news has me wondering: Does VW have the worst infotainment system? Or is it someone else?

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Volkswagen Finally Admits Its Infotainment Is Terrible

Car reviewers, myself included, have spent the past year or two ripping Volkswagen infotainment systems. Even when the vehicles have otherwise been positively received, the infotainment systems have gotten poor grades.

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Used Car of the Day: 2001 Volkswagen Eurovan

Let's go camping! This 21-year-old Eurovan has the 2.8-liter VR6 engine, and it's all yours for $39,900.

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Cary's Garage: VW Valve Adjustment

Cary,

I have a 1981 VW Caddy with a 1984 turbo Jetta engine and trans. I rebuilt it 20,000 miles ago. Do I need to adjust the valves? If you could give me some tips, I would appreciate it.

Thanks, Brian

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Volkswagen Group Pulls Twitter Advertising

Earlier this week, General Motors pulled its Twitter advertising. Now Volkswagen Auto Group is following suit. The company is recommending that its brands pause advertising on Twitter for the time being.

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Used Car of the Day: 2005 Volkswagen Phaeton V8 AWD

Continuing the Volkswagen trend, we have a 17-year-old VW luxury sedan on today's docket.

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No Performance EVs Coming With MEB Platform: Report

Volkswagen is one of the few automakers that have consistently offered at least one “fun” car here in the United States. The Golf GTI has remained on sale at times when other companies were killing cars altogether, and VW steadfastly offers vehicles with manual transmissions. Volkswagen is going electric, though, and rumors have floated that it had plans for hot versions of its ID EVs. Unfortunately for enthusiasts, the person overseeing VW’s R vehicle lines told Top Gear not to expect any R-branded EVs in the near future.

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VW Brings Jetta GLI Performance Concept to SEMA

The Volkswagen Jetta GLI has long been the middle ground in performance for people who wanted a Golf GTI but needed sedan legroom. At this year’s SEMA Show, however, VW is giving the car its due with a motorsport-inspired concept car. Given its stated goal of going electric, it's unlikely we'll ever see this car in production, but it would be a great day for enthusiasts if it did.

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Used Car of the Day: 2003 Volkswagen GTI 20th Anniversary

Our first used car of the day comes from Maryland -- a 20th Anniversary 2003 Volkswagen GTI 1.8T.

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Argo AI Shuts Down

Autonomous vehicle start-up Argo AI is set to shut down.

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Porsche IPO Could Happen This Month

Volkswagen AG is moving forward with its plan to list a minority stake in Porsche, with the latest details suggesting that the initial public offering could manifest by this month – if not early October. It’s set to be one of the biggest IPOs ever. But it’s also sounding like Volkswagen Group may abandon the scheme if the larger political or economic situation continues to sour. Considering the continent’s present trajectory, that doesn’t sound like it’s beyond the realm of possibilities. However, the quick turnaround for the offering may mean VW can get out ahead of any social unrest and financial upheaval. Ideally, the automaker still wants to see the sale happen. 

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Junkyard Find: 2003 Volkswagen Passat GLS 1.8T Sedan

After all these years of writing about junkyard-found vehicles (15 years, to be exact), I'm trying to fill in some of the thin spots in these automotive history lessons. I've caught up on some of the post-1980s BMWs I'd neglected, I'm trying to add more SUVs to the mix, and now I realize that I haven't paid much attention to discarded VW Passats built since we called that model the Dasher or the Quantum over here. So, I decided to document the very first Passat I found in a junkyard with a manual transmission (just to make the search more of a challenge), and that turned out to be this '03 GLS.

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2022 Volkswagen Passat Review - An Early Preview of The Heritage Collection


Most automakers have some stuff in their past of which they’re rightfully proud. Certain landmark models are fondly recalled long after they’ve been relegated. Pristine examples of those beauties will often be rolled out and dusted off either during launches of new, tangentially-related models or during serious lulls in the product cycle where everything on lots is dull. Sometimes, these heritage cars will even be loaned to us journalists for a brief time.


Volkswagen has done this in the past - I’ve seen my colleagues joyously cruising in stunning Beetles and Microbuses. What’s remarkable is this 2022 Volkswagen Passat is nominally a new car, but it doesn’t appear on the Build-And-Price tool at vw.com. It seems to be a curious case where a brand new car has been prematurely shuffled off to the heritage fleet.

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  • Probert They already have hybrids, but these won't ever be them as they are built on the modular E-GMP skateboard.
  • Justin You guys still looking for that sportbak? I just saw one on the Facebook marketplace in Arizona
  • 28-Cars-Later I cannot remember what happens now, but there are whiteblocks in this period which develop a "tick" like sound which indicates they are toast (maybe head gasket?). Ten or so years ago I looked at an '03 or '04 S60 (I forget why) and I brought my Volvo indy along to tell me if it was worth my time - it ticked and that's when I learned this. This XC90 is probably worth about $300 as it sits, not kidding, and it will cost you conservatively $2500 for an engine swap (all the ones I see on car-part.com have north of 130K miles starting at $1,100 and that's not including freight to a shop, shop labor, other internals to do such as timing belt while engine out etc).
  • 28-Cars-Later Ford reported it lost $132,000 for each of its 10,000 electric vehicles sold in the first quarter of 2024, according to CNN. The sales were down 20 percent from the first quarter of 2023 and would “drag down earnings for the company overall.”The losses include “hundreds of millions being spent on research and development of the next generation of EVs for Ford. Those investments are years away from paying off.” [if they ever are recouped] Ford is the only major carmaker breaking out EV numbers by themselves. But other marques likely suffer similar losses. https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fords-120000-loss-vehicle-shows-california-ev-goals-are-impossible Given these facts, how did Tesla ever produce anything in volume let alone profit?
  • AZFelix Let's forego all of this dilly-dallying with autonomous cars and cut right to the chase and the only real solution.