It is during the challenging times when people know they are associated with the right groups and organizations. A couple groups I belong to demonstrated their true colors over the past few weeks. The TDIClub, a Volkswagen diesel car club of which our local CinciTDI is part, rallied around a long standing and giving member. Brian Johnson, known as "Oilhammer" on the forums, has been dealing with an onslaught of family medical and financial problems this past year. He has been a long giving and active member of the TDIClub and his expertise has been appreciated by all. A few friends (and vendors) in the club decided they might be able to lend a hand. I don't think anyone expected the caring to be so overwhelming, but the generosity and compassion of "good" people was amazing. Our local CinciTDI group was chosen to hold the raffle this weekend and shockingly saw a simple raffle of parts raise $13,125. Wow, it feels good to have helped out and be a part of this great group of caring people.

According to Car and Driver, American VW buyers have a shot at getting the 2014 turbocharged 2.0 liter diesel powered Volkswagen Golf GTD. The new performance model will resemble the gas GTI, but offer a 184 horsepower and 280 lb-ft of torque diesel. Revs for this performance are incredibly low at not much above an idle -- 1750 RPMs. Transmission choices should be what is offered in Europe -- the six-speed manual and a six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission -- but who knows .

(Thanks for the link Tim)

Discovery Planet Green named the VW Jetta TDI one of the most fuel efficient cars of 2009.

"This guy gets 31 city and 41 highway. It only eats 11.6 barrels of our petrol and emits 6.1 tons of CO2"

Despite choosing another distinctively horrible name VW has the idea spot on by ramping up the city car to get ready for production in 2011.  The city car came from the UP! line of concept cars which was considered tiny when it debuted in 2007, but with theincreased trend towards small cars such as the Smart Fortwo or Toyotas upcoming iQ it's in the works.

VW will introduce the "Chico" as a class-leading 141mpg and emit less than 60g/km of CO2.  The diesel variety is a three-cylinder, common-rail design to be introduced in next year's VW Polo but surrounded by other energy conserving extras such as excellent aerodynamics, stop-start tech, and very low rolling resistance tires.

Volkswagon has decided to tease us yet again with what they are calling the VW GTD which is the diesel variant on the GTI, they even say its coming for 2009.  It will go into production in April 2009, with 170 horses and nearly 260 lb.-ft. moving through either a six-speed manual or VW's DSG gearbox.

If VW actually delivers on this I will be intrigued, I will have to see the final specs to see if its worth buying and driving.  Rumor says its 1 second slower the the gas model but gets better mpg of course.

The idea of a GTI Diesel is nothing new, but this might actually have some merit.  I won't hold my breath until I drive one.

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/09/29/rumormill-volkswagen-working-on-gti-p...

It's been rumored for quite some time that automotive companies have kicked around a diesel hybrid.  Its now much more then rumor according to leftlane news.  The VW Golf Twin Drive is going to be limited in Germany right now where they will produce 20 for the German government.

The electric motor is rated at 82 horsepower, and when its energy is spent, a 122hp 2.0-liter turbodiesel engine kicks in to extend the range.

The 235mpg VW 1L will become reality in 2010, or so VW says.  VW named the 1L after its usage of 1L/100 km of fuel.  Power, such as it is, will come courtesy of a tiny 0.3-liter engine, pushing the car to a top speed of around 75 mph.

If VW actually creates the VW 1L on time I still wont hold my breath for it to show up in the US

http://gas2.org/2008/05/07/vw-confirms-1l-concept-will-become-reality-in...

Lets start with the good news: A 2.0-liter TSI diesel availible to US buyers delivering 200 horsepower at 5100 rpm and 206 pound-feet of torque starting from 1800 rpm. with this motor, VW says the Passat CC is capable of reaching 62 mph in 7.6 seconds.

The technology is loaded, pretty much everything VW has to offer will be on it.

The bad is that VW decided there was a hole to fill between the Passat and the upcoming new Phaeton and decided to make the formally known as Passat CC to CC, silly.  Its also "a four door coupe", someone needs to inform VW of the rules a coupe is two doors.

More to be found at leftlanenews.com

http://www.leftlanenews.com/vw-to-market-passat-cc-simply-as-cc.html