Archive for the ‘2009’ Category

Volkswagen late last week issued a service program covering several Volkswagen and Audi models equipped with Direct Shift Gearboxes (DSG).

In a release, Volkswagen Group of America reported that some owners of vehicles with the DSG transmission have reported “performance issues, due to a faulty component in some of the units.”

The program affects about 43,000 Volkswagens and 10,300 Audis in all, including 2007-2009 models of the Volkswagen Eos, GTI, Jetta, R32, and SportWagen, plus the Audi A3 and TT.

This is unrelated, VW says, to a voluntary recall issued August 20, covering a faulty temperature sensor and affecting a smaller group of...

While crawling along in traffic or responsibly setting the cruise on a pockmarked Interstate, it's quite possible to forget that you're in the fastest American sport sedan ever, with more than 550 horsepower on tap.

That's a huge compliment, as most high-performance cars let themselves be known in ever-present ways, with droning engine notes, bum-busting impact harshness, and stiffened bodies that ring in almost constant protestation on coarse highway surfaces.

The 2009 Cadillac CTS-V—which carries into 2010 with no significant changes, by the way—thankfully doesn't have any of these reminders. It's a car that, on the street, doesn't need...

Many investors and auto hobbyists alike are understandably still pretty shaky about putting money down on the stock market. But that hesitation hasn't shown any lasting sign of translating to the top of the market for collector cars.

That's the verdict after last weekend's big Monterey auctions, long considered some of the top sales of the year, and strong indicators of what's moving and shaking.

According to the LA Times, this year's Monterey auctions together made more than $116 million; that's down from last year's pre-stock-market-plunge $130 million total, but very respectable all considering.

While those without a personal fleet...