Return of the Rear-engine Volkswagen
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CL Community Team
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From: Canada
Return of the Rear-engine Volkswagen
The rear-engine Volkswagen is coming back.
Sources deep inside VW's headquarters have indicated that the company currently is working on a rump-motored, water-cooled small car, one that mimics the original Beetle in both layout and purpose.
Here's what we know so far: Volkswagen's reinvention of its iconic people's car will have its engine situated on top of the transaxle and a radiator in the nose. Three wheelbase options and two body styles will be offered worldwide, but only two variations will come to the United States: a 130-inch-long Beetle reincarnation aimed at the Smart ForTwo and a no-frills, four-door notchback likely to be marketed as a smaller, cheaper Jetta. Pricing will be in the $10,000-to-$14,000 range.
Other details? As a cost-reducing measure, power steering won't be offered, but ABS, satellite navigation, and a sunroof will be available. Although third-world countries will receive a two-cylinder engine (emerging markets may even get a one-cylinder unit), U.S. cars will likely be powered by a turbocharged and direct-injected three-cylinder. According to our sources, reviving the rear-engine everyman's Volkswagen was largely Ferdinand Piëch's idea. Piëch--the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, the man behind the original Beetle--reportedly convinced VW chairman Martin Winterkorn that the dynamically challenged rear-engine layout was charming enough to succeed.
We don't doubt that a rear-engine layout can be made to work safely in an inexpensive small car. One executive has admitted that the company plans to "install [stability control] to address handling issues." But we're still not sold on the rear-engine idea.
VW long ago abandoned the people's car demographic for richer climes. Most recently, Piëch's grand vision for the brand lay in cars like the failed Phaeton. Now it's back to a bottom-of-the-market, rear-engine econobox? Considering the holes and lackluster offerings in VW's mainstream lineup, maybe its leaders should resist going off on wild tangents and concentrate on VW's core business: building cars for--you guessed it--ordinary people.
Sources deep inside VW's headquarters have indicated that the company currently is working on a rump-motored, water-cooled small car, one that mimics the original Beetle in both layout and purpose.
Here's what we know so far: Volkswagen's reinvention of its iconic people's car will have its engine situated on top of the transaxle and a radiator in the nose. Three wheelbase options and two body styles will be offered worldwide, but only two variations will come to the United States: a 130-inch-long Beetle reincarnation aimed at the Smart ForTwo and a no-frills, four-door notchback likely to be marketed as a smaller, cheaper Jetta. Pricing will be in the $10,000-to-$14,000 range.
Other details? As a cost-reducing measure, power steering won't be offered, but ABS, satellite navigation, and a sunroof will be available. Although third-world countries will receive a two-cylinder engine (emerging markets may even get a one-cylinder unit), U.S. cars will likely be powered by a turbocharged and direct-injected three-cylinder. According to our sources, reviving the rear-engine everyman's Volkswagen was largely Ferdinand Piëch's idea. Piëch--the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, the man behind the original Beetle--reportedly convinced VW chairman Martin Winterkorn that the dynamically challenged rear-engine layout was charming enough to succeed.
We don't doubt that a rear-engine layout can be made to work safely in an inexpensive small car. One executive has admitted that the company plans to "install [stability control] to address handling issues." But we're still not sold on the rear-engine idea.
VW long ago abandoned the people's car demographic for richer climes. Most recently, Piëch's grand vision for the brand lay in cars like the failed Phaeton. Now it's back to a bottom-of-the-market, rear-engine econobox? Considering the holes and lackluster offerings in VW's mainstream lineup, maybe its leaders should resist going off on wild tangents and concentrate on VW's core business: building cars for--you guessed it--ordinary people.
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: Oct 2003
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From: Virginia/D.C. suburbs
We'd probably all like to see a rear-engine, air-cooled Beetle replica come back (one of the most successful cars of all time), but air-cooled engines just wouldn't work in today's market, especially in the U.S and Europe with emission requirements. Air-cooled engines have a hard time getting even firing and combustion temperatures in each cylinder, and, of course, constant cylinder temperatures are crucial for low emissions. Plus, air-cooled engines are NOISY and take forever to warm up and get any heat out of them in the wintertime for defrosting and cabin heat.That's why VW dropped air-cooled models from the U.S. market in 1979-1980, but they were built in Mexico and South America until just a couple of years ago.
And air-cooled engines were not the old Beetle's only problem. The swing-axle rear suspension on early Beetles, Chevy Corvair-like, had the same twitchy handling problems with the tire tuck-under that could cause sudden snap rollovers in hard corners. The car's light weight, with NOTHING heavy over the front wheels but steering gear, made the car track left and right down the road and get blown around like a kite in crosswinds. And the fuel tank, just forward of the driver and the firewall, was relatively unprotected in a hard front-end impact. The flat-4 engine was very low on power and rarely went more than 60,000 without a valve job. (the manual transmission only had 4 gears and was quite shortly geared, making the engine spin and putting a lot of wear on it).
However, to at least partly compensate for these problems, the car also had some good, and even excellent points. Its paint job, by the standards of most cars of tghe day, was superb, as its general level of fit-and-finish and assembly quality. These cars may have engineering problems, but they did NOT have factory defects). In addition, though the air-cooled often needed work by 60,000 miles or so, the car, in general, was simply designed and very easy to work on.
And air-cooled engines were not the old Beetle's only problem. The swing-axle rear suspension on early Beetles, Chevy Corvair-like, had the same twitchy handling problems with the tire tuck-under that could cause sudden snap rollovers in hard corners. The car's light weight, with NOTHING heavy over the front wheels but steering gear, made the car track left and right down the road and get blown around like a kite in crosswinds. And the fuel tank, just forward of the driver and the firewall, was relatively unprotected in a hard front-end impact. The flat-4 engine was very low on power and rarely went more than 60,000 without a valve job. (the manual transmission only had 4 gears and was quite shortly geared, making the engine spin and putting a lot of wear on it).
However, to at least partly compensate for these problems, the car also had some good, and even excellent points. Its paint job, by the standards of most cars of tghe day, was superb, as its general level of fit-and-finish and assembly quality. These cars may have engineering problems, but they did NOT have factory defects). In addition, though the air-cooled often needed work by 60,000 miles or so, the car, in general, was simply designed and very easy to work on.
Last edited by mmarshall; May 9, 2007 at 06:19 PM.
We'd probably all like to see a rear-engine, air-cooled replica come back (one of the most successful cars of all time), but air-cooled engines just wouldn't work in today's market, especially in the U.S and Europe with emission requirements. Air-cooled engines have a hard time getting even firing and combustion temperatures in each cylinder, and, of course, constant cylinder temperatures are crucial for low emissions. Plus, air-cooled engines are NOISY and take forever to warm up and get any heat out of them in the wintertime for defrosting and cabin heat.That's why VW dropped air-cooled models from the U.S. market in 1979-1980, but they were built in Mexico and South America until just a couple of years ago.
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Driver School Candidate
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 6
Likes: 0
From: NE
I loved the Beetles that I drove in the 60s and 70s. Good honest basic cars.
Power steering is really not needed in a rear engine car. There's just not much steering effort required with all the weight in the rear of the car. There may be other problems with that configuration, but hard steering isn't one of them. Tire pressure was critical for handling. I usually ran just 15-18 lbs in the front tires.
Valves were a problem. I always kept a couple fresh cylinder heads on hand.
Bad News: You have to pull the motor to do a valve-job.
Good News: Trained VW mechanic can pull the motor in about twenty minutes. I did it in my driveway in less than an hour, and I'm a klutz. The VW clubs used to have engine pulling contests. With the right tools, two guys can do it in about four or five minutes. Takes me that long to find the dipstick in my ES300.
VWs weren't very emissions friendly, agreed, but that was using the old tech, and nothing was very emissions friendly. A modern, fuel injected, computer controlled air cooled engine would probably work out fine.
Onree
Power steering is really not needed in a rear engine car. There's just not much steering effort required with all the weight in the rear of the car. There may be other problems with that configuration, but hard steering isn't one of them. Tire pressure was critical for handling. I usually ran just 15-18 lbs in the front tires.
Valves were a problem. I always kept a couple fresh cylinder heads on hand.
Bad News: You have to pull the motor to do a valve-job.
Good News: Trained VW mechanic can pull the motor in about twenty minutes. I did it in my driveway in less than an hour, and I'm a klutz. The VW clubs used to have engine pulling contests. With the right tools, two guys can do it in about four or five minutes. Takes me that long to find the dipstick in my ES300.
VWs weren't very emissions friendly, agreed, but that was using the old tech, and nothing was very emissions friendly. A modern, fuel injected, computer controlled air cooled engine would probably work out fine.
Onree
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