A rear-engine, rear drive Beetle does sound interesting though. I am firm in belief though that a 2.0T would be the top end of the heap and likely be a niche of a niche product in terms of sales. That isn’t to say I don’t hope VW has the brass taxes to do such a thing… I just think a practical efficient performance motor must be realized as well. The 1.5 Twin Charger would likely be a hit in this car and probably be sold for significantly less than the 2.0T. After all… it commands a huge premium in the GTI and GLI over the 2.5 5-banger.

If there’s reliability concerns of the 1.5 Twin Charger… I think you only need to look to the last Golf/Jetta “1.8T” fiasco to notice that there was pretty widespread problems with the precursor to the 2.0T in the states. In fact, it earned VW a pretty bad reputation here on the last generation models despite some strong sales.

Now the new models are too ambiguous in styling (still think they look 100x’s better than the Corolla but the similarities in some ways are equally as scary) and overpriced to really recuperate from the losses of the popular yet unreliable last generation.

Bring me a gussied up Polo GTI equivelant at $17K and I’d likely be all over it though despite the fact it looks like a shrunken Golf/Rabbit. Then again… Seat’s seem to sticker for less than their VW counterparts and offer similar performance and wilder (almost Italian) styling. It seems such a no-brainer to bring them here… but apparently VW/Audi has no brain, or they fear getting beat on by one of their own. LoL

“The Mini gets away with a 1.6″

Great. It still doesn’t change the fact that I am only interested in the Cooper S John Cooper Works version that has (you guessed it!) over 200 horsepower! I don’t like Chrysler 300C’s but I do like powerful small cars that do 0-60 in 6.5 or less.

You’re crazy if you think VW isn’t aware of the demand for a real performance version of said prototype. I agree that there needs to be a fuel miser standard model. In fact, I wholeheartedly expect VW to build *that* version too. VW Beetles have historically filled both niches very well.

the mini gets away with a 1.6

if this vehicle is supposed to go up against the mini (price, performance, features) then 200 hp 200 tq is overkill. if its going to be an all out performance machine like the ktm crossbow or lotus elise then by all means go nuts! what ever happened to that tt5 audi had in the works?

I like it.

This car can be built if VW really wants to. It would make me pay attention to them again, since I cannot afford their $100k+ sportscar offerings and I don’t think much of their current front-driver lineup. It also looks like a practical car for the city in the artist rendition. Giving a practical commuter a real drivetrain layout in the rear would make me feel very good about putting it on my list.

i have heard some bad things about that twin charger, ill take the 2.0t even if it means a weight penalty. would be nice if the car was light enough to make use of a NA 4 cylider. if the car weighs 2600 lbs, the 2.0t is almost overkill.

sounds like an awesome idea to me for a niche market, if you dont like it, buy a GTI instead.

Spaceman3: Maybe it looks that way on paper, but in reality, hardly.

I wonder if VW is maybe considering a microcar along the lines of the new smart, the Mitsubishi i or the Toyota Aygo. Not exactly Mini competitors.

VW should just bring the Polo over to North America. In fact, they should have just left the Golf alone and brought the Polo over and christened THAT as the Rabbit for the North American market.