Archive for the ‘first drive’ Category

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Now that you've read all about the 2010 Volkswagen GTI, we've turned our attention to the next steps down the performance ladder at VW. Don't judge just yet: with the 2010 VW Golf and Golf TDI, Volkswagen's not dropping completely off the performance map. In fact, with the clean-diesel turbo four TDI, the GTI and the base gas-engined models, the Golf now has three different ways to re-establish itself among the compact hatchbacks of choice.

The difficulty this year, though, will be convincing many folks there's actually a new Golf....

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There's a Volkswagen trio headed your way today from TheCarConnection.com--with the latest 2010 VW GTI, 2010 Golf, and a special drive of the subcompact that's coming to America soon, the VW Polo.

First, we're kicking off this mini-suite of all things Volkswagen with the GTI, the car that's sustained the company's image for decades of good times and bad times in America. Known everywhere by the red frame on its grille (and if you can remember, the "kleine GTI" commercial music that aped the Beach Boys), the GTI returns this year in...

Typically, when a manufacturer brings competing models out on a drive event for a vehicle—especially one that involves track time, such as what TheCarConnection.com recently attended—it's a signal that they're serious to prove a point. Such is the case for Suzuki, who very soon will re-enter the mid-size sedan arena and roll out an all-new flagship sedan, the exotically named but quite normal-looking 2010 Kizashi.

Turns out, the most eye-opening part of the day involved a relatively simple exercise involving a slalom of cones and a very wet section of tarmac. Driving an all-wheel-drive 2010 Suzuki Kizashi back to back with a 2009...