By Tony Swan
R-Line is the marketing name for a series of VW trim packages aimed at adding a little more glamour—and customization, and price—to various vehicles, and the recently launched Beetle Turbo convertible is the latest. READ MORE ››
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Way back in 1973, Volkswagen decided it was high time to take the loveable air-cooled Bug racing. No, it wasn’t painted in Herbie colors – Volkswagen called its sport-tuned machine the Beetle GSR, “Gelb Schwarzer Renner” or “Yellow Black Racer.” Hence, the somewhat shocking paint scheme.
VW is bringing its sporty black and yellow Beetle back for 2014, and you can see live photos of it above. It’s got a 210-horsepower turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine under the hood (that’d be the hood up front, unlike the car’s forebear), and a six-speed manual or DSG automatic transmission sends those ponies to the front wheels. Note that this car’s output is up 10 horses on other turbo VWs, and the Jetta GLI and Beetle Turbo for 2013. The 0-60 run takes 6.6 seconds, and top speed is limited to 130 miles per hour.
Besides the in-your-face black and yellow paint, the GSR is outfitted with a large rear spoiler and 19-inch wheels shod with 235/40 tires. The bee-like hue carries over inside, with yellow stitching on black leather. Only 3,500 will be produced, each with its own unique plaque. Pricing has not yet been announced, but you’re free to read through the press release below all the same.
Continue reading 2014 Volkswagen Beetle GSR is black and yellow, black and yellow
2014 Volkswagen Beetle GSR is black and yellow, black and yellow originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 07 Feb 2013 13:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Autoblog
At Volkswagen’s new factory in Silao, Mexico—the company’s 100th worldwide—the company will assemble turbocharged 1.8- and 2.0-liter fours for the Passat, Jetta, and Beetle. Production is still ramping up, so the rollout will phase in over the next year. We first broke this news over a year ago.
Both engines are closely related, being members of what VW calls the EA888 engine family, and share 90 percent of their components. Importantly, both are the third generation of this engine, which exists in first-gen form in the Jetta GLI and Golf GTI in America. (We got a deep look at the engine last July courtesy of Audi.)
The 1.8T replaces the 2.5-liter inline-five as the primary motivator in the Beetle, Jetta, and possibly the Passat. It’s rated at 168 horsepower and 184 lb-ft of torque—the outgoing engine makes 170/177—and should vastly improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions for the cars. It will be offered with a five-speed stick and a six-speed automatic transmission.
As a bit of a surprise, VW also announced that the Silao factory will begin building 2.0-liter turbo fours for the Jetta GLI and Beetle Turbo. Versus the current 2.0T, the new version is lighter, has reduced internal friction, and an integrated exhaust manifold with its own cooling circuit. The engine will offer an almost identical amount of power and torque as does the current engine, but we’re told that the internal upgrades will give a meaningful boost to the cars’ fuel-economy ratings. This engine might be chosen to replace the 2.5 in the Passat rather than the 1.8T. If it is, Volkswagen will mate it with the traditional torque-converter automatic, while the GLI and Beetle Turbo will stick with dual-clutch DSGs in addition to their available manual transmissions.
Other VW models that use the 2.0-liter turbo four are built in Europe, and get their engines from a plant in Hungary. Although the company didn’t say so today, we’d expect the GTI, Tiguan, and CC will switch to the newer version of this engine, too.
The new Silao facility will have capacity to build 330,000 engines per year once it ramps up to full steam—enough to also supply the next-gen Q5, which will begin production elsewhere in Mexico in 2015. We’ve learned that VW is considering building its latest four-cylinder diesels (full details here) in Silao also, but it would require pretty significant expansion of the plant.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Car & Driver
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