Interesting piece on the decline of VW's character

[12,000 RPM]

I'm pretty much sick of Dieselgate coverage but I thought Jalopnik had an interesting take on just how much VW changed. I forgot they used to be a company that sold cars to hippies (which was a masterful image turnaround after WWII)..... crazy how things have completely 180'd.

http://jalopnik.com/how-volkswagen-went-from-the-most-honest-car-company-to-1740320295

[MrH]

I'm interesting in dieselgate because it just keeps getting worse. Now all the 3.0 liter diesels are affected and some gas engines too? Fire sale on all VWs I hope.

[GoCougs]

Meh, VW has always been a for-profit organization that has had a developed PR department, and crafted whatever image/message they felt appropriate for them for the times.

VW has been as honest as it's ever been (and again, bet many other automakers are up to similar shenanigans WRT regulation, emissions and otherwise).

[Soup DeVille]

Not a bad piece at all, and that's becoming something Insay less and less commonly about Jalopnik these days.

I've always wondered myself what led VW from being the company that prized simplicity over all else to being the most complex and intentionally difficult to work on vehicles on the road.

I am willing to put money on it that there are more individual parts in the driver's door of any given current Volkswagen than there are in an entire real Beetle.

[shp4man]

Weirdly, the air cooled VW died because of emissions regs.

[Soup DeVille]

Weirdly, the air cooled VW died because of emissions regs.

And pretty much every other reg.

[280Z Turbo]

Not a bad piece at all, and that's becoming something Insay less and less commonly about Jalopnik these days.

I've always wondered myself what led VW from being the company that prized simplicity over all else to being the most complex and intentionally difficult to work on vehicles on the road.

I am willing to put money on it that there are more individual parts in the driver's door of any given current Volkswagen than there are in an entire real Beetle.

VW engineering has always been contrarian.

[12,000 RPM]

Not a bad piece at all, and that's becoming something Insay less and less commonly about Jalopnik these days.

I've always wondered myself what led VW from being the company that prized simplicity over all else to being the most complex and intentionally difficult to work on vehicles on the road.

I am willing to put money on it that there are more individual parts in the driver's door of any given current Volkswagen than there are in an entire real Beetle.

Monkeys and keyboards and all that.

I want to say VW's trajectory is reflective of snapshots of German culture over time? Beetle and air cooled VWs were born out of the rebuilding of post WWII Europe. Didn't the 2CV come out around that time too? Europe was just trying to put the pieces back together and cheer up. Then over time people got sick of all the austerity and wanted to recapture ze pride und excellence of ze fahdrelande. There was some kind of sea change culturally, I think.

[Rich]

From a PR perspective it's an absolute disaster.  Sitting back and waiting for a government to find additional cheating is not a plan.

[Soup DeVille]

Monkeys and keyboards and all that.

I want to say VW's trajectory is reflective of snapshots of German culture over time? Beetle and air cooled VWs were born out of the rebuilding of post WWII Europe. Didn't the 2CV come out around that time too? Europe was just trying to put the pieces back together and cheer up. Then over time people got sick of all the austerity and wanted to recapture ze pride und excellence of ze fahdrelande. There was some kind of sea change culturally, I think.

Well, that may be legit, but good engineering doesn't necessarily mean more complex. Often times elegance is a better design goal than complexity.

[12,000 RPM]

Well, that may be legit, but good engineering doesn't necessarily mean more complex. Often times elegance is a better design goal than complexity.

In your opinion and my opinion yes. But apparently not in Wolfsburg.

For me it blows mega chunks because VWs are at the top of my list. I could easily do a GTI PP 4dr 6MT and see wifey in the next Tiguan. VW has made their cars desirable but not dependable, when I think car buyers really need it to be the other way (if they can't have both). Civic will be around for a while but even in the 3-4 yr horizon I'm not really seeing anything I want besides a GTI. Maybe a basic bitch Mazda 3.

[cawimmer430]

Monkeys and keyboards and all that.

I want to say VW's trajectory is reflective of snapshots of German culture over time? Beetle and air cooled VWs were born out of the rebuilding of post WWII Europe. Didn't the 2CV come out around that time too? Europe was just trying to put the pieces back together and cheer up. Then over time people got sick of all the austerity and wanted to recapture ze pride und excellence of ze fahdrelande. There was some kind of sea change culturally, I think.

Both the Beetle and the 2CV were developed well before World War II in the 1930s.

They only reached finalized and mass production after World War II when Germany and France both needed mobilization for the masses. 

[12,000 RPM]

Both the Beetle and the 2CV were developed well before World War II in the 1930s.

They only reached finalized and mass production after World War II when Germany and France both needed mobilization for the masses. 

Im just saying, post war America was putting out cars with automatic transmissions and vacuum operated switches/controls. Essentially Europe had to stick with cars it had developed before the war because it didn't have the resources to develop post war cars.

[AutobahnSHO]

In your opinion and my opinion yes. But apparently not in Wolfsburg.

For me it blows mega chunks because VWs are at the top of my list. I could easily do a GTI PP 4dr 6MT and see wifey in the next Tiguan. VW has made their cars desirable but not dependable, when I think car buyers really need it to be the other way (if they can't have both). Civic will be around for a while but even in the 3-4 yr horizon I'm not really seeing anything I want besides a GTI. Maybe a basic bitch Mazda 3.

Keep a Honda DD and VW fun car

[12,000 RPM]

Keep a Honda DD and VW fun car

There is no VW fun enough to warrant that. If I got a fun car it would be something like a swapped MR-S or an Exocet. Something extreme. VWs are all-in-ones

[Char]

I sound like a broken record, but...I told you so.

VW's have always struck me as poorly engineered, half assed cars. Good to see everyone  else wising up to it.

[FlatBlackCaddy]

I sound like a broken record, but...I told you so.

VW's have always struck me as poorly engineered, half assed cars. Good to see everyone  else wising up to it.

I bet you masturbate to these vw articles.

[Rich]

I bet you masturbate to these vw articles.

Unnecessary, premature event happens during reading.