I was turning onto a street and noticed a Mustang GT (newer) and a W8 were going fast so they were racing. At the next stop light, I was behind the W8 and the Mustang was next to the W8. There was another car in the far left (3 laner) The light turns green, obviously the Mustang blows us away, but the interesting thing is that I was reeling in the W8 and I had to get over to the other lane and He shuts down when I'm at his rear door Mustang turns off as we come up to a newer SHO (V8) and tries to race the W8 but the W8 doesn't give. Then all of a suddent, I hear the W8 (I was right behind him) guy floor it and I did also....I cool thing was that I was right behind him until I shifted to 3rd gear, thats when he SLOOOOOOOLY started to walk away and he shuts down at about 85mph-ish...I had an extra passenger in my car who weights about 200lbs also

 

man, what is a w8??

 

w8 is an 8-cylinder, $40,000 version of VW Passat.

 

i've wondered how those W8's run... heard mixed reviews about the engine. actually I have yet to see one on the road. good job tho keepin up

 

Those are hi-14 to low 15sec cars. They have near the 300hp mark but they also weigh alot so it counters the hp somewhat. If you started at a roll from 55-60mph in not surpized you kept up as well as you did.

 

a 40 grand VW, wtf, i rather have an audi.

 

that's why they don't sell well

 

Those W8s weigh 4000 lbs. So the 270 hp innovative VW motor has to work hard to push all that stuff around.

DW

 

yeap just too heavy....impressive engine tho...but 270hp simply is not enought to push the bigass around

 

So when anyone is going fast.... they are racing.....

 

270 HP is not very much - I would have expected 300+ from 8 cylinders. I'm sure that this will be the first of a family of engines, next year's with more power, and so on. SOrt of like the VQ, every generation gets better.


I agree $40,000 is way to much for a Volkswagen.

 

Oh, 40 is too much. Then I guess the 70k they are asking for the Phanteon is too much too then? VW is heading down a bad path. Do ou think that a person who pays 70k for a car is going to want to pull it into the same service bay as the snot nosed 16 year old with their Beetle? Besides VW's have terrible reliability.

 

Those cars can't hit 14's stock. They have great top end but thats about it. I'd be suprised if you saw one break mid-15's.

 

You are right on the reliability part. All that hard-earned dough for a car that can't make 100,000 miles without major repairs? I guess they have their loyalists, just like Nissan and other brands.

 

loyalists ?
in order
toyota corolla
plymouth grand voyager
94 ford explorer sport
ford f150 NITE
ford f150
89 ford mustang GT
94 chevy z28 camaro
2003 nissan maxima se

im now loyal to imports
my mustang was the best of those cars
450+ HP and got rid of it cause at 150,000 expensive things were starting to happen... lesson learned? ... 20,000 in aftermarket performance and suspension + 8000 in the car eguals 5,500 3 years later :-(

 

When two people in different lanes are going fast and you hear the V8 rumble from a mustang, you know something is up

 

I think I would have reeled him in on the last "race" in 2nd gear and stayed with him in 3rd gear if I didn't have my passenger. I thought these things would be faster? 2k2-2k3's shouldn't have a problem with them if I didn't

 

why is it a bad path? Mercedes sells a 25k car and you have to go in for service with the rest of the 40 50 60 70-100k benz.

 

VW is going upmarket whereas Mercedes is going downmarket . . actually every market now, but mainly down. Mercedes has the easier path to lead to. Like someone else already mentioned, VW may be better off leaving the up market to all the other comapnies it owns, like Audi and Rolls Royce. Stick to the low market, like make a Beetle that costs 10 grand, not 16.

DW

 

Mercedes going down market is a bad idea too. They bought Chrysler to take care of the lower end of the market. Now they are going to start putting Benz parts in newer Chryslers and they are making it obvious (have you seen the gauge cluster of the Pacifica or the center stack of the Crossfire). Also, look at Mercedes' quality numbers now and as many probs as my neighbor has had with his M-class makes me believe it. Benz was known as a rock solid vehicle in the mid 80's, now they rank below Chevy in just about every quality study. Have you ever heard the Supercharged 4 banger in the C-Class, they sound like crap, like they are gonna die at anytime. I refuse to pay 30k for a freakin 4 cyl, I don't care who's name is on the dash!

I was at a party last night and was giving a friend crap for buying a Jetta. I started naming off all of the common probs (rear brakes have no indicators and wear out before the fronts, windows go down and never come up, MAF's) and this girl who was listening in (who I didn't know) started laughing. It seemed that she has a Jetta and had teh very same probs that I had mentioned.

Sorry to vent, but their aren't many brands that I hate more than VW. I think their reputation (as a good car) is very undeserved.

 

Lotus

 

ok, point taken!! But they don't even sell 4 cyl here now, the Esprit is a V8.

 

I'm totally with you on that. I can't afford a Merc, but if I could, the only ones I would consider would start at the $50K E320 and go up. I'd bypass the M class and look at the G and S class. And as for Benz superchargers, only if it's got AMG on the badge will I be OK with it

Too true about the VWs reliability reputation as well.

DW

 

not even the new WRX STi?

 

oh yeahh....i would pay 30k for an STi

 

D@mn it people, you're making me back track!!!! Ok, let's say:

"I refuse to pay 30k for a freakin 4 cyl lux or near lux car, I don't care who's name is on the dash!"

 

The Elise is on the way for the 2005 model year. About a 2000lb car with a Toyota 2ZZ-FE engine (Celica GT-S powerplant) under the hood. A co-worker of mine if from the UK and a Lotus fanatic. He's like #37 on the waiting list.

 

Nice run!! The Passat W8 is pretty sweet, but when you figure in the 3900 lb curb weight and the $40k price tag is loses most of its appeal from an enthusiast perspective. I hear there's a 6spd manual version available now though. That would be an extremely rare car.

The Elise is on the way for the 2005 model year. About a 2000lb car with a Toyota 2ZZ-FE engine (Celica GT-S powerplant) under the hood. A co-worker of mine if from the UK and a Lotus fanatic. He's like #37 on the waiting list.

 

the w8 is an engineering failure. everyone whom i have talked with and ever heard anything about it is moslty problems after 10k. You do also realize that you have to take out the engine to change and O2 sensor, and we all know how long these last on a VW. Let alone the W8 engine is being pulled out of production. For whatever reason.

now lets keep this maxima oriented...

 

I've always thought that the W8 was over-engineering. It's like the Germans need to tinker, but they take it too far sometimes. Like the Mercedes Benz 1 wiper system. Notice how that's disappeared? So, they can stuff an 8 cylinder engine where a V6 would normally fit. It would've been really cool if that W8 produced alot more than 270 hp. Sheesh, Nissan can practically match that hp with a V6, so it kills the novelty significantly.

OK, last digression. Can you imagine trying to find all the spark plugs on that W8 motor?

DW

 

I second that!!! And i'll also add that the new Audi SR6 is what people should be watching out for.. those things are suppose to be vicious.

 

If you saw the commercial....they did have it racing a 9 year old on his Huffy.