About European Cars

• 2009 Volkswagen Scirocco

  20Aug
  Categories: Car of the Year, Horrible Cars, Information, News, SUV Comments Off

  
  Image source: www.thetorquereport.com

  Way back in the 1970’s, the first Volkswagen Scirocco was introduced and just a racy skin draped over the framework of the then-new Rabbit S er, Golf. This year Volkswagen repeated that same method with the introduction of a new front-drive Scirocco that, under the skin, is basically a Golf S er, Rabbit.

  The new Scirocco is currently VW’s only coupe and, thanks to an aggressively sculpted body and a particularly wide-looking nose, it’s a truly stunning machine. It backs up those looks with engines culled from the Golf range < a 197-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter four is the most powerful option and a 138-hp common rail 2.0-liter turbodiesel, the most economical. Transmission choices are a conventional six-speed manual or a seven-speed dual-clutch “DSG” paddle-shifted, automated manual. Even the sportiest Scirocco is reported to get somewhere near 37 mpg while topping out at 146 mph.

• East German Cars and Recycled Cotton

  08Apr
  Categories: Horrible Cars Comments Off

  

  The East German car, Sachsenring Trabant or “Trabi” was famous for one thing: it was made from recycled cotton. Not the whole car mind you but just the exterior panels. The bad news was that the car was known to be noisy and smoked “..like an oilfield on fire.”

  It was a happy accident. Wolfgang Barthel, the creator of the body panel was experimenting on different products to substitute for steel since the government couldn’t afford to purchase large quantities of the material. Russia provided him with a large supply of cotton that he can experiment on.

  Luckily, he was able to produce something that was strong, lightweight, and rust-free: the Duroplast. He then applied this to the steel frame of the car and voila! The Trabi came into existence.

  Source