do not be fooled by its commonplace appearance…
January 17th, 2006For those of you who hadn’t noticed, VW products – though seemingly solid and stable on the highway – have been astoundingly poor handlers for oh – over a decade now.
For the new Jetta/Golf/Passat chassis, VW spent some serious money on the body structure, suspension and steering. They even hired away engineers who had worked on the BMW 3 series and Ford Focus. The result is a car that combines some of the best aspects of those two cars, especially in GLI/GTI form. Take for example these excerpts from Car and Driver’s February 2006 comparison:
“What a hoot to drive…”
“Easy to get pinpoint location in corners and squirts out of ‘em with great gusto.”
“...this car rules ! Eager turn-in, nice balance, great grip, good power, outstanding steering.”
We’d prefer it on lightweight 17” wheels and with the 2nd generation Haldex 4Motion system, but then no one would buy the A4…
UPDATE: You’ll find more reviews here...