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(Is it just me or is there some resemblance to the Pontiac GTO?)

even on a relatively straight road at cruising pace, the steering needs constant inputs. Refinement is appalling, too – there’s plenty of road noise from the tyres, while wind roar from the almost flat windscreen is noticeable from only 50mph. And if you catch a pothole, the stiff suspension sends the crash shuddering through the cockpit. The smoothness of progress is also undermined by the five-speed auto gearbox, which slurs slowly through its changes, and kicks down roughly as soon as the throttle is pressed… it’s only enjoyable in small doses – as a long-term prospect, this G-Wagen is just too extreme. – AutoExpress

... the Jetta’s sits unloved and unnoticed in the lots due to the lukewarm reception the 2.5L I5 and frumpy styling received at launch.

But until now the reviewers hadn’t sampled the Jetta in what might be optimal form for most people:

The engine, as in the GTI, is flexible and powerful, with 207lb ft of torque from 1800 to 5000rpm. It sounds good too, although the exhaust note is more muted than in the Golf – possibly because of the fact that, thanks to the Jetta’s vast 527-litre boot, it’s further away.Overall, it feels a little bit more refined than the GTI, which is probably what Jetta buyers want. Opt for the DSG dual-clutch gearbox, as in our test car, and you’ve got a real smoothie. With 16-inch wheels as standard, rather than the 17-inchers of the GTI, the ride feels better, too. – Autocar

...than what the company has put out over the past decade requires more money and longer development times. Luckily that’s precisely what they’re going back to...

In 2007, European BMWs will be equipped with a stop-start feature that turns off the gasoline or diesel engine when the car comes to a stop. The engine restarts immediately when the driver lifts his or her foot off the brake pedal… A new alternator management system BMW calls Brake Energy Recuperation… keeps the battery charged at 80 percent to reduce the load, or drag, that the alternator places on the engine while the vehicle is cruising. When the driver applies the brakes, a sensor commands the alternator to produce a short blast of electricity to bring the battery up to a 90 percent charge. When the driver accelerates, the alternator is allowed to spin freely so no drag is placed on the engine. BMW will begin installing the Brake Energy Recuperation systems in 2007 on European market vehicles… “BER, together with the stop-start system, it’s about an 8 percent fuel economy improvement, depending on the driving cycle,” Borgmann said. “That’s about half the value of a hybrid system with very simple systems. – AutoWeek

I believe that General Motors has shed more than a quarter-million workers since 1985, and there is absolutely no evidence that they fired the right people. If you grew up in the Detroit area, as I did, the automobile companies were always there, always ready to provide summer work for college students, always ready to hire a bunch of engineers and general-studies graduates from the Midwestern universities, and always paying superior wages and benefits to unskilled workers. Very few of these young men went to work at Ford or GM to create great cars… – David E. Davis, Winding Road

VW isn’t afraid to hire away talent from other companies… When the wanted to make VW/Audis more invigorating to drive they went recruiting chassis engineers of the BMW 3 series and Ford Focus, and more recently they’ve switched to the same advertising agency MINI uses and hired away MINI’s head marketer, Kerri Martin.

At the Chicago auto show VW announced the Golf would once again be called the Rabbit in the North American market. Martin explains, “Volkswagen customers want a relationship with their cars. Names like The Thing, Beetle, Fox, and Rabbit support this.” (Given Mazda’s also dropped the Miata name and Audi the DSG descriptor, you have to wonder if marketers simply like to gamble).

Whatever you call it, those former BMW and Ford engineers have done a solid job with the chassis. The new GTI is being called an icon but even the most basic car has more fahrvegneugen than you’d expect from a modern VW.

Best of all, VW’s priced it at a few dollars under $15K despite standard ABS, traction control, active front head restraints and front side airbags (Electronic Stabilization Program is an option).

[04.03.06] According to Automotive News, buyers of the Maserati Quattroporte will soon have the option of ZF’s excellent 6 speed automatic, fixing one of the car’s few flaws: a sequential manual gearbox that – like most – is too jerky in everyday driving…

UPDATE:

While it has all the ingredients to create a feeling of luxury, it’s hampered by being such a driver-focused car. That infamous paddle-shift gearbox is the biggest problem, making mooching about at low speeds a disaster thanks to a horrible pause between gears that would be masked by the torque converter in a proper auto. Although Maserati claims that its DuoSelect system is ‘one gearbox with two souls’, it’s obviously aware of its shortcomings. Word from the inside is that the QP will be available with a proper ZF automatic gearbox towards the end of the year, leaving the paddle-shifter for the more driver-orientated models. About time too, is all I can say. – evo’s Harry Metcalfe

We spoke to development chief Dr Ulrich Hackenberg and his insistence on talking about the new TT’s sporting abilities bordered on the comical – as in ‘Can we talk about the interior packaging?’ ‘No, let’s talk about the precision of the steering…’ Hackenberg makes the point that the new TT’s structure is much stiffer than the old, and that the car also has a lower centre of gravity… These moves are all an attempt to redress the perception that BMW does ‘sporting’ better than anyone else, and Audi in particular. So while the original TT launch was about avant-garde, concept car styling, this latest one could end up being much more about the driving experience. We just can’t wait to see if the promise is borne out. – 4Car

Four years ago I wrote this; today I came across this on MSN Autos:

The make is the name of the auto manufacturer or brand of a vehicle. The Model is the name of the vehicle. A trim is the level or version of a particular model. Trims typically feature different levels of equipment, different bodystyles or different drivetrains. Each trim has a base retail price.

Brand and model are just part of the story – what really makes or breaks a lot of cars is the trim level and options you specify. Next time someone says “I love my Camry!” ask them for particulars before filing it away in your mental ‘people like Camrys’ folder…