Vehicles from Honda, Ford and Volkswagen had the lowest number of repairs in 2009, according to figures compiled by Warrantech, a U.S. aftermarket warranty company.
The Bedford, Texas, company analyzed its paid claims records on different vehicles driven by its customers during the past year to determine the vehicles that consistently required the fewest number of repairs.
As if it wasn’t bad enough that we don’t have the wonderful little Polo in our market yet, but now Volkswagen teases us with news of a hotter than hot Polo GTI
The Polo GTI, launched yesterday at the Geneva auto show, is more like the original Rabbit/Golf GTI of the late ‘70s/early ‘80s than the much larger current Golf GTI, and would no doubt be welcomed in our market if the price could be kept near the current City Golf.
VW 1.4L TSI - International Engine of The Year
The 1.4L twin-charged TSI motor earned 354 points (just 4 more than BMW’s 3.0L Twin Turbo) to capture the Engine of The Year award for 2009. The VW victory prevented a 3 year sweep of the award by BMW and comes at a perfect time as many people are increasingly looking for smaller engines with better fuel economy. The engine also took home the award for Green Engine of the Year and won the 1.0L to 1.4L category.
International Engine of The Year
Volkswagen 1.4-litre TSI Twincharger (VW Golf, Touran, Tiguan, Jetta)
Best New Engine of The Year
Porsche 3.8-litre flat six (911)
Green Engine of The Year
Volkswagen 1.4-litre TSI Twincharger (VW Golf, Touran, Tiguan, Jetta)
Best Performance Engine
Mercedes-AMG 6.2-litre (CLK, S, SL, CL, CLS, ML)
Sub 1L
Toyota 1-litre 3-cylinder (Aygo,Yaris/Echo/Vitz, Citroën C1, Peugeot 107, Subaru Justy)
1.0L - 1.4L
Volkswagen 1.4-litre TSI Twincharger (VW Golf, Touran, Tiguan, Jetta)
1.4L - 1.8L
BMW-PSA 1.6-litre Turbo (MINI Cooper S, Clubman, Peugeot 207, 308)
1.8L - 2.0L
Audi 2-litre TFSI (Audi A4, A5, Q5, VW Scirocco, Golf GTI)
2.0L - 2.5L
Mercedes-Benz Diesel 2.1-litre (BlueEfficiency E-Class & C-Class)
2.5L - 3.0L
BMW 3-litre Twin Turbo (135, 335, X6, Z4, 730)
3.0L - 4.0L
BMW 4-litre V8 (M3)
4.0L+
Mercedes-AMG 6.2-litre (CLK, S, SL, CL, CLS, ML)
For a complete write up on each of the categories, click here.
The Ford PowerShift
It seems that the future of transmissions lies with the DSG, as we’re staring to see production dual-clutch units become available from more and more manufacturers. Ford already has a DSG in production, a wet-clutch unit similar to ones available fom VW, but it’s only available in the Euro Focus with the 2L diesel powerplant.
PowerShift provides the full comfort of an automatic with a more sophisticated driving dynamic, thanks to uninterrupted torque from the dual-clutch technology, which consists essentially of two manual transmissions working in parallel, each with its own independent clutch unit. One clutch carries the uneven gears – 1, 3 and 5 – while the other the even gears – 2, 4 and 6. Subsequent gear changes are coordinated between both clutches as they engage and disengage for a seamless delivery of torque to the wheels.
The newly-announced dry-clutch PowerShift unit looks to be ready for debut in the new Fiesta, and even provides 9% improved fuel economy over the 4-speed auto also available in the Fiesta. That’s not an insignificant figure, especially in an already efficient small car. The downside is that while it’s more efficient, it’s likely to add a significant chunk to the Fiesta’s base price. That said, is it worth it to have a DSG in a small, fun car with clutchless manual control? You bet!
I’m not sure if this is a case of poor car maintenance, or if it was some sort of failure but I saw this while driving home today. Excuse the poor quality picture, its from my Nokia N95 camera phone. I talked to the driver afterwards and he was pretty upset and wondering how a wheel could just fall off. I asked him if the lugnuts were still there and he didn’t know.
As I glanced up the road where he came from, there they were, four lugnuts glittering in the road. So, what exactly happened? I’ve lost a lugnut before but never did all of them come off causing my wheel to fall off.
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