After reinventing the hot hatch as a V6 nearly 20 years ago, Volkswagen has ditched the concept and returned to its four pot roots. But is the new 2010 VW Golf R different enough from a GTi to justify a £30k price?
Not much, at least in terms of the way it drove. The 247bhp V6 made the right noises and felt suitably swifter than the contemporary GTI. It’s all to do with CO2.
Miss Middleton and Prince William will travel separately to the wedding service using State Cars from the Royal Mews.
Miss Middleton will travel in a Rolls Royce Phantom VI, accompanied by her father. The Rolls Royce was presented to The Queen in 1978 for her Silver Jubilee by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
Prince William will travel in a Bentley, accompanied by Prince Harry. The State Bentleys have been uniquely designed enabling greater use to be made of the vehicle’s interior space. The Bentleys are 6.22 metres long and, at 3.84 meters, their wheelbase is 1.3 metres longer than that of an average family sized saloon.
Fancy a Dakar winning SUV as your daily driver? Volkswagen’s Race Touareg 3 Qatar concept offers just that. It was unveiled at the Qatar motor show and is completely street-legal despite being based on the Race Touareg 3 which won the Dakar rally in January.
Under the bonnet is a 306bhp 2.5-litre turbodiesel engine borrowed from the race-car, which allows for a 0-62mph time of around six seconds. The chassis and carbon composite body are also completely identical to the Dakar car’s.
Changes include a new metallic white paint-job and gold painted 18-inch BBS alloy wheels. Inside, the cabin is noticeably more luxurious than the race-car, with black leather upholstery for the seats and the dash board covered in ‘Matt Carbon’.
After Nasser Al-Attiyah overtook Volkswagen teammate Carlos Sainz over the previous two stages, most would have expected the Qatari to open the gap on the ninth stage of Dakar – but Sainz demonstrated some WRC prowess in chasing Al-Attiyah down and battling it out till the end of the shortened 207 km special.
Al-Attiyah started out in front yesterday, but lost precious time due to a puncture halfway through the stage. This allowed Sainz to catch up with, and pass his teammate. Afterwards it was pretty much neck and neck as the two tussled for position on the rough terrain. Sainz eventually crossed the line just 4 seconds ahead of his teammate.
“I’m happy with my day, especially since dunes, desert and off-track terrain aren’t my favourite type. We drove a good special. After 100 km we caught up with then overtook Nasser Al Attiyah. He had a puncture, but afterwards he clawed back a bit of time on us,” said Sainz.
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