| Wil Ferch |
06-28-2009 11:24 AM |
I must tell you.....I was amazed....on many aspects, as my long tour in Germany required me to get many, many rental cars. The boxy Touran VAN was the most fun rental I had there. The torque from a turbo 2L diesel was just beyond comprehension for such a small motor...and the top speed ( and rock-solid stability there) was amazing. The other amazing aspect?......I was then wondering why the H%^ll VW chose not to market ....say.... a VAN...in the US....where what.....VANS and SUV's outnumber cars??? Is VW totally stupid or what? Is it any wonder they're losing market share in the US? But that...along with running reliability not shown of the aircooled VW's.....is a story for another time.
PS- Once I had the Touran up to well over 200 on the autobahn....when all of a sudden....the gauge panel went completely blank and a large red "STOP NOW" appeared in the dash with Fonts about 1.5" high !!! Oh no.....what's the boss going to say now that I fried an engine on the rental?. I pulled over on the side of the road.....turned off....waited about 5-10 minutes. Gingerly re-started the car....all seems OK.....gently pulled out into traffic...and went back to my hotel. There I found the clear plastic water overflow reservoir ever-so-slightly low ( another weird VW device.....totally spherical in shape...why?). Added some water and hit over 200 on many occasions thereafter with no issues.
|
