I fully agree with you here though. It is absolutely pointless for Jalopnik to review cars their demographic is not interested in. If you want information about a generic commuter car, this is not the type of website to visit for information.

Giving what these vans costs, I think you would have been better of with a second parts car to scavenge parts off. It would have saved you a lot of time, hassle and possibly money as well.

It is not a compliment, but it is the goal. The goal was cheap and big, and the result was cheap and big. This works in the US and would certainly not work in Europe. Hence the different vehicles VW produces for these different markets.

It’s a difference of demographic. On one hand you have car enthusiasts and their websites like Jalopnik. On the other hand you have people who simply want a transportation appliance. When you let the enthusiast review the appliance, the enthusiast won’t like it. Just like your average person will not like the car the…

Those were not offered in the same markets though.

A new crossover is not horrible. It's just... Uninteresting?

Exactly. Europe got a new Touareg, which is capable but expensive. Europe did not get the Atlas. The Atlas, aimed for the US and China, is simply big and cheap. A people mover.

Fair enough. But he could have spent double for a vehicle that still needed work,but which would have been done by now.

Why not? David doesn't look particularly tall compared to your average German. And they used it as a family car.

There is a huge gap between an obscure €500 shitbox and a sensible $10,000 car. He’s in Germany right now, and there are loads of cars in the €2k range that are interesting and reliable. Or will be reliable after less than 1 day of work directly after purchase.

The Maserati Quattroporte IV will probably explode in price. It was introduced in 1994, so 26 years ago. Eligible for import into the US. And there aren’t that many left.

I’m still stunned by the absurd incompetence they showed in the European market for decades. Mostly GM global sabotaging every possibility their local brands had. Look up how GM rebadged Deawoo into Chevy, and then moved it from the budget segment to almost the same mainstream segment as their main brands. While sellin…

Just look at GM in 2020 and compare it to GM from, what, 2005?

What Would You Like To See From A GM-Honda Partnership?

I visited that place once, with some other guys reading this website. It’s small but very interesting. Certainly worth it if you’re in the neighborhood. 

You can get everything in Germany anyway. When it has to be shipped it merely takes a bit longer. Don’t forget that his minivan was built in Austria and sold new in Europe. The problem is that it’s a low volume 26 year old vehicle from a defunct-ish brand.

My own experience with the German TUV is not bad at all. When I emigrated to Germany 2 years ago I brought my then 18 year old Peugeot with me, with probably about 350k km on the odometer at the time. It had never seen German license plates, let alone the TUV. At the time it had not been worked on for over a year…

It depends on the context. Inside, like in supermarkets and whatnot, everyone in Germany wears a mask. Outside they don’t.

This is why taxing CO2 emissions (= fuel economy) works, as long as the tax is significant. It makes vehicles with higher fuel consumption more expensive. Consumers don’t want to pay more, so to keep costs down manufacturers will strive to lower fuel consumption.

VW legitimately cheated. This was new and was (poorly) addressed.