It's actually horrible. It needs TWO balance shafts that can seize and grenade the engine, the factory coolant was the infamous silicate free G12 that gels and also tends to allow corrosion, the belt system was known to blow tensioners, it was hard to get to stuff without service position etc etc....

Still would be totally worth it IMO, it's on my list of wanted cars

 

That same generation also had a V10 Turbodiesel, which is just insane for a vehicle that size.

Even more crazy is WHERE the W12 is in that car.

 

I don’t completely understand Taycan Turbo S. I don’t get why they call it turbo. It’s a nice looking car though. I am amused that Pluto.tv is flooded with ads for cars starting at $78K. It’s free TV.

 

His was a manual sedan. It was originally owned by another one of our friends and then he bought it.

Oh it was a disaster, something only as true enthusiast could appreciate given how unreliable it was

 

ok i guess the reports aren't that exaggerated lol... and after watching this teardown vid and seeing how much needs to come off just to access simple things like the thermostat, as well as just the sheer number of little parts and bolts involved for everything make me glad i don't have one! the power output figures also are rather underwhelming for something that's 4.0 liters and 8 cylinders

 

don't forget that compactness is the main advantage to W engines, the W12 is more or less 2 VR6s on a common crankshaft



and VW had already made the golf R32 with a VR6

 

marketing. Just like iForce or iForce Max. What is that?

 

Oh it's bad. It's like everything they did good on the W12 was just tossed in the trash for no reason, they could have just used the exact same accessory and coolant config with some extra stuff in the back for the balance system but I think they went weird since it simply HAD to fit in the Passat/B5 platform for pure bragging right as the only midsize car with an 8 cyl and AWD.

 

I just think it’s awesome the even made anything like that lol

 

Oh I didn't forget either of those things. But it's still too big to fit in the front, so they put it in the back. Remember, the Golf platform is a transverse mount. And while the VR6 design made it easy to fit a 6-cylinder between the shock towers, that doesn't mean you can mount another whole VR6 engine right in front of it.

 

i get the impression that ferdinand piëch was a very impulsive and eccentric kind of a guy... someone who might, on a whim, order the entire retooling and reorganization of a plant just because he didn't like the tone of an email from dieter zetsche about hypothetical packaging limitations lol

to my untrained eye at least, it seems like VW more than anyone is all about make it happen now and we'll just figure the rest out later

 

That VW won a comparison test with entry level luxury cars in 2002ish. I35 and ES300 tied for second place.

They loved the ES300 interior but the Infiniti was much more powerful. I had 2 I35s, pretty good cars. They looked great in their day.

 

If I'll give that W8 anything, it sounded wonderful. The automatic wagon I drove later made much more sense as a E-class wagon competitor on the cheap. The manual was just such a huge disappointment.

 

Paging @SW17LS

​​​​​first time I’ve ever seen this generation in green. I must say it actually look quite nice. I also had a little fun with the pic




what could have been….


 

LOL

Yeah thats a nice green, verdigris mica