Read the latest Volkswagen Magazine

Return of a classic Complete with retro upholstery, the Beetle Classic is relaunched in Montreal
Diary of a record drive An intrepid team goes from Norway to South Africa in a Touareg in 21 days
Volkswagen Magazine
Spring/Summer 2015
Going places in the Golf Sportwagon.
PM 42143018
PM 42143018
The go-everywhere,
see-everything travel companion
you’ve been waiting for.
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EDITOR
Annette McLeod
contents
4
news The Golf fills its trophy case and
auto show season ends.
6
launch Stirring up excitement with
the Beetle Classic.
7
around the world VW invests in the
future and sustains in the present.
8
owner stories Blue Jay hopeful Daniel
Norris is a little unconventional.
ART DIRECTOR
Evan Kaminsky
GRAPHIC DESIGNERS
Aurora Lynch, Stevie Visser,
Vivian Lai
ART INTERN
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Maria Musikka
CONTRIBUTORS
Ina Brzoska, Jo Clahsen, Joe Duarte,
Annette McLeod, Eli Saslow,
George Zicarelli, Rainer Zietlow
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10 Volkswagen Collection Enjoy the
sun in your favourite branded gear.
Spring/Summer 2015
get groovy in a new Classic.
page 6
12 memory lane Karmann Ghia exerts
its influence.
14 cover story Embrace the
Canadian road trip tradition in the
Golf Sportwagon.
20 diary of a record drive 17,000 km,
21 days and 3 continents in a Touareg.
26 Herbie goes bananas The world’s
best-known Bug takes on the
Sachsen Classic.
30 think blue Volkswagen designers
turn trash into treasures.
33 summer’s day VW accessories are
the perfect travelling companions.
34 on the road again Lakeside through
history in Austria.
“...well under the world record time...”
diary of a record drive. page 20
SALES & MARKETING
COORDINATOR
Patryce Bowling
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© 2015 Volkswagen Canada. All rights reserved.
92 miles an hour and $2 million.
page38
Volkswagen Magazine
In good company Innovations and accomplishments from the
world of Volkswagen continue to make headlines — everywhere.
giving back.
news
for the trophy case!
By the time the 2015 Golf made its public
debut in North America in 2013, it had
already been proclaimed World Car of
the Year.
It happened at the 2013 New York International Auto Show, during the media
preview days prior to the gates’ opening
up to the public. Since then, the car has
captured just about every award bestowed
by any publication or association.
Also on a grand international scale, the
2015 Golf also captured the prestigious
Volkswagen recently solidified its commitment to Camp Oochigeas with the
donation of six new Volkswagen Passat
sedans — the “Camp Ooch Fleet” — along
with a cheque to help out with daily expenses. For 32 years, the privately funded
organization has been giving kids affected by cancer unique opportunities for fun
and personal growth.
“Camp Ooch has become Volkswagen
Canada’s Charity of Choice,” said Maria Stenström, President and CEO of Volkswagen
Group Canada when the keys were presented to Alex Robertson, CEO of Camp Ooch.
The organization runs an actual camp
in Muskoka, Ont., as well as programming at Ooch Downtown in downtown
Toronto, and regular programs at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, Newmarket’s Southlake Regional Health Centre,
Scarborough’s Rouge Valley Centenary
and Mississauga’s Credit Valley Hospital.
More information is available at
www.ooch.org.
Golden Steering Wheel from Auto Bild
magazine as an outstanding new release in
the Small/Compact Cars category. And it
took home the Golden Steering Wheel for
Advertising for its launch campaign.
Naturally, the “world” Car of the Year
captured similar honours at home: the Golf
was also named North American Car of the
Year at the 2015 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. A week later, it
was proclaimed the Canadian Automotive
Jury’s Best of the Best, and a month after
that, it was a strong contender for Canadi-
an Car of the Year by the Automobile Journalists’ Association of Canada (AJAC),
where it won its category to become AJAC’s
Best New Small Car (over $21,000).
The 2015 Golf was also named Motor
Trend’s Car of the Year, Motoring TV’s Car
of the Year, and The Car Guide’s Best New
Car of the Year and top New Sports Car Under $50,000 (both in GTI trim). And to top it
off, the gasoline/electric plug-in Golf GTE
hybrid was a finalist for the World Green
Car of the Year award presented at the 2015
New York International Auto Show in April.
catch a ride
this summer.
Volkswagen Plus members know a great
ride! Catch all the excitement with a thrillfilled day at Canada’s biggest amusement
parks or a free, invitation-only blockbuster
screening. Learn more about exclusive
member benefits at: VolkswagenPlus.ca.
4
Spring/Summer 2015
summing up auto
show season.
The Geneva Motor Show provided a lot of
anticipation for the Volkswagen Group
due to the unveiling of the near-production Sport Coupe Concept GTE, which will
not only replace the Passat CC in the VW
lineup, but also shows the future design
direction for Volkswagen cars.
Geneva also marked the auto show
season’s culmination of new introductions
with new Golf models — the Golf GTD
Variant (the first wagon version of the performance-oriented diesel Golf GTD) and
the Golf TSI BlueMotion (the most fuelefficient gasoline Golf ever) — an all new
Sharan minivan and Touran compact
wagon, and the latest iteration of the Passat
Alltrack, the raised Passat Wagon that
bridges the gap between Volkswagen’s
cars/wagons and its SUVs (Tiguan, Touareg and the yet-unnamed seven-seat SUV
that fits in between the other two).
Chicago saw the debuts of a couple of
motorsport takes on the Beetle — the allwheel-drive Rallycross Beetle GRC car to
be raced by Tanner Foust, and the Tanner
Foust RWB Beetle show car created by Japanese tuning house RAUH-Welt Begriff.
Meanwhile right here at home, the
Cross Coupe GTE Concept V6 hybrid made
its Canadian debut at the Canadian Inter-
national AutoShow in Toronto, at the same
time the Tanner Foust Beetle models were
being shown in Chicago.
The 2015 auto show season kicked off in
October 2014 in Paris, where Volkswagen
surprised the world with a sport version of
its super-efficient, motorcycle-engined
XL1 supercar. The sexy concept XL Sport is
strictly a one-off show car... for now.
Volkswagen Magazine
5
Reimagining an icon.
Since its introduction in 1938 and its postwar mass production beginning in 1945, the
Volkswagen Beetle has been one of the
world’s most industry-defining (and branddefining) cars. Tell somebody that you own a
Volkswagen, and immediately an image of
the “Bug” pops into his or her mind, even if
you actually own a Tiguan.
Initially, it was a car for a new generation
of buyers — something affordable to buy and
6
Spring/Summer 2015
to maintain. It was exactly what the world
needed. Even back in the ’60s and ’70s,
Beetle models were bought as much for their
image as for their starting prices and the
simplicity of their presentation.
Recapturing the simplicity and adventurous spirit of the Beetle has inspired Volkswagen to offer the Beetle Classic version of
the new Beetle that was introduced in 2011.
The Beetle Classic was introduced to the
public at the Montreal International Auto
Show in January 2015.
The name Beetle was resurrected in
1997 with a thoroughly modern vehicle that
resembled the original. The latest generation is an even better adaptation of the original car, and the limited edition Beetle Classic takes that a step closer with the
“Heritage” bright dome wheels for which
past Beetle models were renowned.
Other whimsical throwbacks include
two-tone brown and beige cloth and leatherette seating and a dash panel to match the
buyer’s choice from the four classic exterior
colours: Reflex Silver, Moonrock Silver, Pure
White and Deep Black Pearl. But it wouldn’t
be a contemporary Volkswagen without
modern features and the Beetle Classic has a
host of those. As well as all the features found
on the Trendline, the Beetle Classic includes
heated front seats, a touch-screen navigation
system, satellite radio (complete with classic
music channels for the perfect retro soundtrack), Bluetooth connectivity and a 170-hp
1.8-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine
(quite removed from the 60-hp 1.6-litre version of the Super Beetle from the 1970s).
And although it can be equipped with a
six-speed automatic transmission (with Tiptronic sequential shifting), Beetle aficionados will appreciate the fitting of a smoothshifting manual gearbox into the limited
edition Beetle Classic.
And it’s all available from $21,990, to recapture that affordability for which past
Beetle models were renowned. Place your
order now online or through your Volkswagen dealer.
—Joe Duarte
At home in Germany and across the globe Volkswagen sustains and expands
around the world
Berlin, Germany The Volkswagen-supported Gründer-Garage
(Founder’s Garage) jury handed out more than €100,000 (about
$135,000) in prizes and awards at the promotional competition
to choose 2014’s most innovative idea for sustainability. Last
year’s winner was The ‘HIRus – Helden im Ruhestand’ project, a
retirement advisory service that aims to facilitate voluntary jobs
for people facing retirement. The winner got a €20,000 (roughly
$27,000) marketing
consultation assignment
with Volkswagen and its
partner agencies, and
Google (also a prime
sponsor) in California.
Los Angeles, U.S. Volkswagen presented its
HyMotion progressive research vehicle with
a fuel-cell drive at the LA Auto Show for the
oxygen to form pure water. Its cold combustion
process releases energy, which powers an
electric motor and produces zero emissions.
The hydrogen is securely stored in four highof 500 km. It can be refuelled in just three
Puebla, Mexico Volkswagen
announced an investment of about
$1.63 billion for the Mexico plant as
it ramps up to build the new Tiguan
compact utility (toward the end of
2016). The expansion reportedly
includes the addition of about 2,000
new jobs. The plant, which opened
in 1964 to produce the Beetle for the
Americas, produced about 475,000
vehicles in 2014.
Wolfsburg, Germany Volkswagen
has announced an investment of
€85.6 billion (nearly $116 billion)
in worldwide new vehicle models,
factory expansions and technologies.
The lion’s share of the
expenditures would go toward
vehicles and production methods, as
the company strives to meet carbon
dioxide emissions targets and to
work toward becoming the world’s
industry leader both economically
and ecologically.
About €41.3 billion (almost
$56 billion) is being allocated for
new models, including expanding
the range of sport utility vehicles
and developing new hybrid and
electric drives. Some €23 billion
($31.1 billion) will be spent on
new production facilities in Poland
and Mexico, and almost the same
amount will go toward operations
in China.
Tianjin, China Volkswagen
parts production has begun at a
components plant in North China,
building the latest generation
of highly advanced dual-clutch
gearboxes (DSG). Volkswagen
has invested about €265 million
stage of the plant to realize an
annual production capacity of
450,000 units, which will be
increased to 1.2 million units by
2016. By 2019, 5,500 new jobs
are to be created in the region,
boosting economic growth in
Northern China.
Volkswagen Magazine
7
Volkswagen tales Blue Jays best bet Daniel Norris prepares for the season his way:
simple living in the back of a 1978 Westfalia camper
owner stories
The future of the Toronto Blue Jays wakes
up in a Volkswagen camper behind the
dumpsters at a Walmart and wonders if he
has anything to eat. He rummages through
a half-empty cooler until he finds a dozen
eggs. “I’m not sure about these,” he says,
removing three from the carton, studying
them, smelling them and finally deciding
it’s safe to eat them. While the eggs cook
on a portable stove, he begins the morning ritual of cleaning his van, pulling the
contents of his life into the parking lot. Out
comes a surfboard. Out comes a sub-zero
sleeping bag. Out comes his only pair of
jeans and his handwritten journals. A curious shopper stops to watch. “Hiya,” Daniel
Norris says, waving as the customer walks
away into the store. Norris turns back to
his eggs. “I’ve gotten used to people staring,” he says.
This is where Norris has chosen to
8
Spring/Summer 2015
live while he tries to win a job in the Blue
Jays’ rotation: in a van parked under the
blue fluorescent lights of a Walmart in the
Florida suburbs. There, every morning, is
one of baseball’s top-ranked prospects,
doing pull-ups and resistance exercises
on abandoned grocery carts. There he is
each evening, making French press coffee
and organic stir-fry on his portable stove.
There he is at night, wearing a spelunking
headlamp to go with his unkempt beard,
writing in his “thought journal” or rereading Kerouac.
He has been here at Walmart for long
enough that some store employees have
given him a nickname — “Van Man” —
and begun to question where he’s from and
what he might be doing. A few have felt so
bad for him that they’ve approached the
van with prayers and crumpled bills, assuming he must be homeless. They won-
der: Is he a runaway teen? A destitute
surfer? A new-age wanderer lost on some
spiritual quest?
The truth is even stranger: The Van
Man has a consistent 92-mile-an-hour
fastball, a $2 million signing bonus, a deal
with Nike and a growing fan club, yet he
has decided the best way to prepare for the
grind of a 162-game season is to live here,
in the back of a 1978 Westfalia camper he
purchased for $10,000. The van is his escape
from the pressures of the major leagues, his
way of dropping off the grid before a season
in which his every movement will be measured, catalogued and analysed.
If a baseball life requires notoriety, the
van offers seclusion.
If pitching demands repetition and exactitude, the van promises freedom.
He bought the van in 2011, a few weeks
after signing his first contract out of high
Photos: Nathaniel Wood
The man in the van.
school with the Blue Jays, and the Volkswagen has been his best friend and his
spiritual centre ever since. He named it
Shaggy after a character in Scooby Doo.
He sings it songs and writes it poems and
gives it Valentine’s Day cards. He takes it
for hiking expeditions in the mountains
of Tennessee and surfing trips along the
Carolina coast. He drives it each year to
spring training in Florida, and this year he
stretched that trip out over a few weeks. He
drove without a schedule from his home
in Tennessee, avoiding the interstate and
exploring the dirt roads of Appalachia,
sleeping each night in the crawl space behind the driver’s seat with his head tucked
against the back door. When he finally arrived in Florida, he parked illegally on the
beach and camped inside the VW until
local police evicted him.
“Nonconformist,” reads one sign posted inside his home on wheels.
On the morning in 2011 when his
$2 million signing bonus finally cleared,
it unsettled him to see so many zeros on
his bank account balance — “Who am I to
deserve that?” he wondered. “What have I
really done?”
“I’m actually more comfortable being
kind of poor,” he says, because not having
money maintains his lifestyle and limits
the temptation to conform. He never fills
Shaggy beyond a quarter-tank. Instead
of eating out with teammates, he writes
each night in a “thought journal” that
rests on the dashboard: “Where else can
you be as free as by yourself in the middle
of nowhere, or in the middle of the ocean,
or on the peak of a mountain. Adventure
is freedom.”
At 7:30 a.m., Norris reports to the ballpark for his second bullpen session of the
year. Sometimes during these moments on
the mound, his arm feels almost foreign
to him — like a gift, a fluke, all those fasttwitch muscles that for some reason just
know how to fire. “I am always trying to figure out why I can throw like this, because
it doesn’t make any sense,” Norris says.
Later, he drives away from the field,
beyond the sprawling suburbs of the Gulf
Coast and beyond, onto a two-lane cause-
way, a strip of road in the middle of the water, where he can pull off and park Shaggy
directly on the sand, a 25-foot stretch of
beach separated from the road by a line of
palm trees, a place so public that nobody
else seems to notice it. The traffic cruises
by on the causeway at 50 miles an hour,
and he has the beach to himself.
He watches the sun dip toward the
horizon as his dinner cooks on a portable
stove. He calls his father and lets him listen to Shaggy’s engine over the phone.
“Sounds pretty good, right?” he says.
He receives a message from his mother:
“We’re proud of you for being you,” she
tells him. He sets down his phone and puts
on sunglasses. Gulls dive into the water.
Waves crash onto the beach. The sunset
paints his van in oranges and blues.
“Perfect,” he says.
—Eli Saslow
Volkswagen Magazine
9
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“Volkswagen”, the Volkswagen logo and “Das Auto & Design” are registered trademarks of Volkswagen AG. © 2015 Volkswagen Canada.
10
Spring/Summer 2015
In retrospect A closer look at a legendary Volkswagen vehicle.
memory lane
Karmann Ghia: 1955–1974
Enduring spirit.
It only takes one product to change perception. In the case of Volkswagen,
that product was the Karmann Ghia.
Arguably, no other car in its vast model
history was as influential in shaping the
Volkswagen brand as the Karmann Ghia
was. When it debuted in 1955, it began the
transformation of Volkswagen into a company whose cars weren’t just fun to drive,
but also beautiful to behold and priced
within reach of the common person.
The idea for a Beetle-inspired touring
car was first conceived by Wilhelm Karmann, Jr., he of the coach-building enterprise that carried his family’s name. When
the 1940s gave way to the 1950s, Karmann
already had an established relationship
with Volkswagen, having fabricated the
Beetle Cabriolet’s multi-layered soft top.
His enthusiasm for a new Volkswagen
coupé was, at first, met with a polite “no”
from Volkswagen.
Undeterred, Karmann t hen approached Carrozzeria Ghia of Turin, Italy,
and the two firms collaborated to craft a
prototype that would eventually woo VW
executives into green-lighting the Karmann Ghia coupé.
When it debuted at the Frankfurt Auto
Show in the autumn of 1955, the press
were immediately impressed. Based solely on its looks, the Karmann Ghia coupé
so stunned the world, one prominent
American industrial designer called it
“one of the world’s most beautifully designed products.”
But the Karmann Ghia was more than
just a head-turner. The vehicle sported
some technological wizardry, such as
curved glass and frameless door and
side-quarter windows, that at the time
were considered light years ahead of the
competition. The eye-popping good looks
translated into on-road performance, too.
Anyone expecting the Karmann Ghia to
be merely a dressed-up Beetle was soon
set right. The Karmann Ghia was faster
and had crisper handling than the Type
1 Beetle.
Rivaling and often bettering the appeal of more expensive brands, the initial
production of nearly 10,000 units quickly
sold out. The Kharmann Ghia coupé would
cross the ocean and land in North America a year later. By 1970, aided by a clever
advertising campaign that deemed the
Kharmann Ghia “Slower, but prettier than
a Porsche,” the Kharmann Ghia became
the best-selling two-seat import in all of
the United States.
After nearly half-a-million buyers, the
Karmann Ghia would cease production
in 1974, making way for its successor, the
Volkswagen Scirocco.
Karmann workers at the Osnabrück,
Germany, factory paid their final respects
by erecting a sign that, when translated to
English, read: You ran so well, you were so
beautiful, but alas, you must leave us now.
The Karmann Ghia may be gone in body,
but its spirit is bound to endure for many
years to come.
—George Zicarelli
Enjoy a complimentary inspection and a free set of our front wipers
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Spring/Summer 2015
Road tripping in the
Golf Sportwagon.
14
Spring/Summer 2015
Volkswagen Magazine
15
Embrace the
Canadian
tradition with
your people
16
Spring/Summer 2015
.
Tis the season — to jump in your car and go.
Canadians love road trips, and why wouldn’t
we? Few countries are as vast, as diverse or
as beautiful as ours — Volkswagen’s got the
perfect partner for all of life’s travels.
The All-New Volkswagen Golf Sportwagon is more than a vehicle — it’s a companion. For everyday life, it’s a smooth, elegant way to get to work, get the kids to school
or do your shopping with plenty of space and
enough driver enjoyment to take the edge off
even the most dreaded errands. On the
weekends, it becomes a spacious hauler for
everything you need to take to the cottage.
Come summer, it’s a go-anywhere, seeeverything travel mate with impeccable
manners that will never let you down, no
matter how far you go.
Take advantage of the versatility of
60/40-split folding rear seats for a total of
1,880 litres of cargo space when down, or
give your passengers a comfortable place to
stretch their legs with the seats up, when the
Golf Sportwagon still offers 860 litres of
space to load up your gear.
Built on a new, light MQB platform, the
Golf Sportwagon combines powerful acceleration with the versatility of a wagon. Power comes from a choice of two fuel efficient
engines: a 170-hp, 1.8-litre TSI and a 2.0-litre
TDI Clean Diesel. Both add to your confidence as a driver — make the moves the
road demands, even when you’re loaded up,
without breaking the bank every time you
stop to refuel. If you’re a real purist, mate
your 1.8-litre to a five-speed manual or the
2.0-litre to a six-speed manual; both engines
can be mated to a smooth-shifting six-speed
automatic. Volkswagen is the only manufacturer to offer a small diesel station wagon
with a manual transmission.
Take control with the leather-wrapped,
perfectly contoured, multi-function steering wheel and toss your Golf Sportwagon
into the corners. Relish the swift passing on
the straightaways. And when night falls,
configure your car to match your mood,
with a choice of three distinctive colours of
ambient lighting. When it’s time to take a
breather, plug into the standard 115-V power
outlet in the cargo area that lets you recharge your favourite device or even use
your favourite small appliance: inflate an air
mattress, chill your sport drinks or even get
a batch of meatballs going on your campsite
with your slow cooker. Who said you had to
rough it to revel in the great outdoors?
When you’re ready to hit the road again
and discover it’s not quite as warm as you
wish, fine-tune your personal climate within half a degree with available Climatronic
dual-zone electronic climate control. As
Canadians, we especially know how important it is to tame the elements, and not let
them tame us.
Crank up the available Fender Premium
Audio System, a 400-watt audio masterpiece
created exclusively for Volkswagen by one of
music’s truly legendary names, and pick out
just the right soundtrack to accompany the
next leg of the journey.
The vivid 5.8-inch touchscreen infotainment system with proximity sensor uses the
familiar swipe and pinch interface.
Throughout the upscale interior environment, understated, European style keeps the
look clean and refreshing. The cabin layout
puts function first, but crisp design coupled
with excellent visibility and comfortable
seats let you go on virtually forever without
fatigue. Meticulous attention to design details, like the way the hood slopes down into
the front fenders for better sightlines as you
turn, helps you embrace every curve, where
you’ll appreciate the entire absence of slippage, even if the rain pounds down.
Whether you’re in the Rockies, or on the
Cabot Trail, or touring the streets of Toronto,
you’ll notice that road noise never infringes
on your experience. Piloting your Golf Sportwagon around city streets, you’ll also appreciate its small-diameter turning radius.
The standard Volkswagen Golf’s low
centre of gravity and tractable suspension
remain uncompromised by the Golf Sportwagon’s more SUV-reminiscent ride height
for an ideal long-distance tourer. Most of us
appreciate what SUVs have to offer, but
many of us dislike their traditionally floaty
handling and lack of steering feedback.
Now, you can enjoy the sporty experience
you crave and the driver control you demand, in a package that suits your lifestyle.
When you’re back home and faced with
the reality of regular life, let the Golf Sportwagon’s modern conveniences make the
transition a little easier. With Bluetooth connectivity, satellite radio and heated front
seats all standard, the Golf Sportwagon’s got
all the little niceties that take the sting out of
Volkswagen Magazine
17
“... a go-anywhere,
see-everything travel mate
with impeccable manners ...”
18
Spring/Summer 2015
commuting. With KESSY keyless access and
push button start, you can get in and get
going without taking the key out of your
pocket; the first morning you find yourself
laden with kids’ backpacks and cupcakes for
the class party, you’ll remember that little
things mean a lot. The family will appreciate
the large rear door openings too, and you’ll
like the low load height of the tailgate —
especially if the family includes a 100-lb.
retriever who thinks he’s a lapdog.
With the family on board, safety becomes the first priority. A backup camera is
standard equipment, and a Forward Collision Warning system is available. Should
you find yourself in a situation with accident
potential, take comfort from knowing you’re
traveling with Volkswagen’s Intelligent
Crash Response System. Depending on the
severity of an accident, the system performs
a variety of functions to help keep you safer
without your having to do a thing, such as
unlocking all the doors, disconnecting the
battery, shutting off the fuel supply and elec-
trical components, and switching on your
emergency flashers. Help is on the way.
With all its individuality and a body
style Canadians embraced with enthusiasm
when it made its Canadian debut at the
Montreal Auto Show earlier this year, the
motoring press and buyers alike are discovering perhaps the very best thing about the
2015 Volkswagen Golf Sportwagon — it’s a
Golf. And it drives like one. Now in its seventh generation, the Golf has become legendary for putting practicality and sportiness together in one surprisingly affordable
package. Like every Golf, the driving experience comes first. In the 2015 Golf Sportwagon, even adding nearly a foot of length hasn’t
taken away from its rigid structure and excellent handling. It just adds enough extra
cargo space in a package so convenient,
you’ll take it — and all your favourite stuff —
everywhere you go.
The Golf Sportwagon brings all the spirited performance you expect with enough
cargo space and easy roof rack access, so
“pursue your
passions without
compromise”
you can pursue your passions without compromise. Seven exterior colours let you personalize your experience even more. With
the Golf Sportwagon waiting in your driveway, one of the first things you’ll put on every
day is a wide grin.
The Volkswagen Golf Sportwagon is
built for the Canadian experience, with all
the extra space you would want from an
SUV, combined with the economy you need
and the sporty, responsive handling you
love about a great car.
Just think of it as a tight-handling, fuelsipping, fun-first compact car — with a
backpack built right in.
—Annette McLeod
Volkswagen Magazine
19
diary of a
record drive.
Three men aim to drive a Touareg from Norway to
South Africa in less than 28 days. Over the course of
17,000 kilometres they encounter everything from
urban chaos to muddy wilderness, experience a crash,
and ultimately, great triumph.
The team
Rainer Zietlow and colleagues Marius Biela and
Matthias Prillwitz are record-holders in longfrom Tierra del Fuego to Alaska in 11 days. Their
second, in 2012, went from Melbourne to Saint
Petersburg in 17 days. In late September 2014
– driving a Volkswagen Touareg from the
northernmost tip of Norway to Cape Agulhas,
the southernmost tip of South Africa. We present
some of the highlights from Zietlow’s travel log.
Text and photos Rainer Zietlow / Infographics C3 Visual Lab
Through
the north
From Norway we
drive through Finland,
Sweden, Denmark,
then on to Germany.
Day 1
Start in the north
Kristina Hansen, the mayor of North Cape,
presses the start button in the Touareg at
Norway to drive straight down through
Scandinavia.
The tires have amazingly good grip on
the icy roads. That same night we reach the
ferry going from Rødby to Fehmarn.
Days 2 & 3
At the outskirts of the city we are met by
Czech employees of Volkswagen, who
guide us through the congested rush-hour
20
Spring/Summer 2015
Volkswagen Magazine
21
On through
Eastern Europe
From Berlin through
Czech Republic, Hungary,
Serbia and Bulgaria to
the Turkish border.
Merhaba Türkiye! The
Touareg has just left
Bulgaria and crossed the
border. It’s heading for
Istanbul.
Days 2 & 3
Hello Bratislava
From Turkey
to Egypt
Ethiopia
From the Bosporus, the
strait that runs between
Europe and Asia, we
drive right across Turkey.
The Touareg’s home city, where Volkswagen
employees also accompany us for a few
kilometres. About 18 hours later we reach the
border with Turkey and set our course for the
Bosporus.
It’s getting greener. Ethiopia has fertile
plateaus and many small villages. We have to
be prepared and drive more carefully because
here there is a lot of activity on the roads.
Day 6
The crash
Day 4
Up in the air
Through no fault of our own we are involved in
an accident. No one is hurt, but after six days
of driving we are forced to take a break. There
are Volkswagen mechanics in Dar es Salaam,
some 500 kilometres away. There’s hope
An Antonov 74 cargo plane is waiting for us
at an airport in southeastern Turkey. It has
plenty of room for us and the Touareg.
We’re going to Africa by air, and allow
ourselves a short nap. We’ve been driving
non-stop for 70 hours.
we have to wait several days for replacement
parts from Vienna and Bratislava.
Hello Africa
Two hours later we arrive in Egypt, in Mersa
motorway.
Days 5 & 6
Desert
Through
East Africa
Driving through Egypt
and across Sudan
toward Addis Ababa,
the capital of Ethiopia.
22
Spring/Summer 2015
It’s getting warmer. After passing Cairo and
reaching the temples of Luxor in the south,
our on-board computer shows 43 degrees
Celsius. Then comes Sudan. For hours we see
nothing but sand. We are rewarded at dawn
by the most beautiful sunrise yet.
Involuntary
break in
Tanzania
Through the national
parks of Kenya and
Tanzania, repairs in
Dar es Salaam.
Volkswagen Magazine
23
The last few
kilometres before our
destination – the
Touareg approaches
Cape Agulhas.
Day 19
Launch
The south!
Tanzania, Zambia,
Zimbabwe. Our
destination: Cape
Agulhas, Africa’s
southernmost tip.
We can hardly believe that the engine is
actually working again. The mechanics from
Dar es Salaam were able to get it back up
and running at least provisionally with the
replacement parts. We’re hoping that it can
Africa. On rough roads we can only drive at
walking speed.
Days 20 & 21
Final leg
After 13 anxious days at the workshop, the
Touareg now hums smoothly along the roads
of Zambia and Zimbabwe. Luck is on our side
— the roads are surprisingly well-surfaced,
and the weather is also favourable. We strike
a victorious pose 150 metres before our
destination: Cape Agulhas, the southernmost
tip of the African continent. We made it!
24
Spring/Summer 2015
East Africa to
the south
From Dar es Salaam,
we continue on through
Zambia and
Zimbabwe.
Conclusion
Yes, we made it. We arrived at our
destination on Saturday evening at 8:42 p.m.
Brain stopped the time in our car. Despite the
accident and the several days of repair work
in Dar es Salaam we completed the journey
of 17,000 kilometres in 21 days, 16 hours
and 36 minutes. That means we were well
under the world record time of 28 days set in
1984. And the most incredible thing of all:
without the accident we would have arrived
in the stupendous time of eight days and 10
hours. A huge thank-you to Volkswagen
employees in Europe and Africa. We would
not have made it without you. We’re looking
forward to the next attempt at a world record
with the Touareg!
For more information
about this record-setting drive:
touareg-capetocape.com
Volkswagen Magazine
25
Herbie
goes
bananas.
The Sachsen Classic means 180 driver teams in 180
beautiful automobiles competing to win the title of
the most reliable vintage car. They all want to win,
but racing pro Manuel Reuter and I enter the race
with Herbie, the most amazing Beetle in the world.
Text Jo Clahsen
Photos Bernhard Huber
Allow me to present Herbie. On behalf of
those who don’t know the famous film series, Herbie is a Beetle with a lot of character
– and an adventurous spirit. Sporting a mere
30 hp, it weighs only 730 kilograms. This
weekend its driver will be Manuel Reuter, a
two-time Le Mans winner and former pro
driver in the Deutsche Tourenwagen-Meisterschaft (DTM). A big Beetle fan, the
53-year-old is highly motivated on this humid Thursday in late summer.
It’s a squeeze inside Herbie. The seats
barely have enough room for the race driver’s 1.87-metre height. Manuel starts the car
and his eyes sparkle. Can we pull off a kind
of “Herbie Reloaded” with this crazy car?
Yes, we can!
The Sachsen Classic is considered to be
the most demanding of what are known as
regularity or reliability rallies. It isn’t about
speed, but about adhering exactly to the
specified route and finishing it precisely in
the defined time. Any deviations, whether
too fast or too slow, are given penalty points.
26
Spring/Summer 2015
The most consistent team wins. Now in its
13th year, the three-day Sachsen Classic
2014 encompasses a total of 638 kilometres,
from Zwickau via the Czech Republic, the
Fichtelberg and the German-Polish-Czech
tri-border point, all the way to Leipzig.
Manuel, Herbie and I are competing in the
hourglass class, which prohibits the use of
any electronic equipment, the odometer our
only way to get our bearings. Two analogue
stopwatches are on board for timing.
Manuel’s job is to drive Herbie’s ideal
“driving line” with as much care as possible.
It’s my job to brief him on the details. Resting in my lap are the clipboard, stopwatches
and road book, which contains all the details of the route and its special stages: total
distance from the starting line, direction,
possible signage, countdown of the distance still to be driven, the allocated time
and the prescribed average speed of 36.5
km/h. Special stage notes read as follows: 13
km in 1,234 seconds, the final 100 metres in
15 seconds.
Volkswagen Magazine
27
the route
Day 1
The Sachsenring leg is
125 km.
Zwickau, Hauptmarkt
Day 2
Ore Mountains – Czech
Republic, leg covering
255 km.
Zwickau
Day 3
The Dreiländereck leg,
258 km.
Start: Zwickau
Finish: Leipzig,
Augustusplatz
Manuel takes hold of the delicate gearstick. The “standing” clutch takes some getting used to, as do the pull switch for the
lights and wipers and the slender Bakelite
steering wheel, which turns out to have
some play in it. On the way to the starting
line, enthusiastic spectators who recognize
Manuel jump in front of the car. Manuel is
all smiles while continuing to play with the
accelerator.
The first special stage is a disaster. We are
more than four seconds late at the
Steile Wand in Meerane, a very steep
gradient over 200 metres. The best
teams rarely complete a daily stage
with a deviation of more than a second. Another half-day goes by before
we have more or less synchronized
the road book and reality. We repeatedly lose our bearings, but there are
more than 500 kilometres and various special stages still ahead and
every metre brings a better flow to
our performance. Slowly there
emerges a solid mixture of short
commands (“out of next roundabout
at 9 o’clock!”), elegant manoeuvres,
and Beetle memories.
As we turn into the Sachsenring, a
circuit rich in tradition, Manuel is in
his element. He churns out the lap time on
the race track like a driving computer. In the
evening in Zwickau we discuss an “optimized approach” for Day 2: I’ll note the special stage data on a white sheet of paper and
hold them in his field of vision if they are
complicated; for example, 200 metres in 17,
28
Spring/Summer 2015
100 in 15 and 250 in 19 seconds.
Friday morning at the starting line,
Manuel notes, “Our Herbie sounds really
good today.” The second leg of the Sachsen
Classic is quite demanding, as are the
special stages. From low-lying country up to
nearly 1,400 metres altitude, Herbie runs
and runs and runs.
We drive through idyllic scenery and cities like Karlsbad as if on a cloud of goodwill,
ambition and motivation. By our return to
Zwickau, we had played through the Beetle’s
four gears with relish and once even reached
its top speed of 120 km/h. The bulletin board
says 147th place out of 180, after being 165th
the previous day. Progress.
Saturday isn’t particularly warm, but the
sun is shining and Herbie is chipper. Yet af-
ter the first special stage, Manual sends an
SOS. The classic car team diagnoses steering
problems. During the second attempt the
steering wheel’s play has increased to nearly
a half-turn. Manuel: “It might be alright up
to 50 km/h, but we can’t drive a whole leg
like that.” So that was that for Herbie. We
spend an hour in quiet mourning for our
wild little friend with the dedicated technicians from Volkswagen Classic.
Time travel, part two. We skip three decades. The T5 Transporter takes us to
Burgscheidungen, where we can
join the last part of the rally in a 1990
Golf II with a type G mechanical
compressor and 210 hp, a rare edition of which very few still exist; the
“normal” G 60 Rallye had 160 hp
back then. A turn of the key awakens
the racing dragon. Manuel can barely contain his joy in the bucket seat.
Herbie falls out of the standings,
while we at least manage to place
131st with the Golf. Wolfgang
Stracke and Fabian Mohr win in a
1980 Mercedes 123; Christian
Schwamberger and Sebastian Singer garner an impressive 2nd place
with a 1979 Beetle 1303 cabriolet.
The sun beams down on Leipzig’s
Augustusplatz for the grand finale in front
of thousands of spectators. Three long days
full of challenges and impressions, setbacks
and happy moments are behind us. It’s a
pity that Herbie didn’t make it to this point.
He had the makings of a winner. And certainly the personality for it.
our race cars
Beetle Export 1200 “Herbie”
Construction year: 1960
Type: 1200 Export
Engine displacement (cm3): 1,192 cc
Output (kW/hp–at min-1): 30 PS/156 kW at 3,400 rpm
max. torque (Nm – at min-1): 76 Nm at 2,000 rpm
Golf II G60 Rallye
Construction year: 1990
Type: Rallye (type G mechanical compressor)
Engine displacement (cm3): 1,782 cc
Output (kW/hp–at min-1): 210 hp/156 kW at 6,500 rpm
max. torque (Nm – at min-1): 225 Nm at 5,000 rpm
Volkswagen Magazine
29
Everyone has a few colourful toy cars at
home. Exterior designer Moritz Martin
(below left) uses them to construct a
rotating key park.
reimagining
rubbish.
Old furniture, shoes, toys: Volkswagen designers create little works
of art out of things that have outlived their original purposes – an
up!Cycling action in the spirit of Think Blue.
Interview Ina Brzoska Photos Christian Efkemann
30
Spring/Summer 2015
Finding products and solutions that make it
easier for people to live sustainably – that’s
the fundamental idea behind Think Blue. In
the context of this campaign, Volkswagen
caught wind of an environmentally conscious trend: upcycling, the practice of transforming used objects into new, smart items.
Volkswagen designers had their upcycling
potential tested in a Berlin workshop. From
boxes full of used objects, they created a hat
stand, a key park and a soapbox for kids.
While they drilled, screwed and glued, we
spoke with fashion designer Carina Bischof
about what makes the new sustainability
trend so exciting.
Volkswagen Magazine
31
term upcycling?
Upcycling means taking an existing thing – a
material or an object – and turning it into a
more valuable product. By using it in another
context, it obtains a new value. The used look
is the special design feature.
Since when has it been a trend?
The sustainability impulse has been around
since the 1980s. In recent years, the trend
has become increasingly widespread with
the debates about recycling and the secondhand idea.
How did you personally become
involved with the concept?
I worked with the London designer Orsola de
Castro. She’s a pioneer in the field of upcycling and works with industrial scraps from
Italian weaving and knitting mills. I really
liked her products; they’re not at all hippieish or frumpy.
What do you use for upcycling?
Bolts of fabric that retailers use to present
colours or materials. These bolts of fabric
are just disposed of, although they’re 40 by
60 metres in size. I buy them and make shirts
and blouses out of them.
In upcycling, designers imagine a new
use for a used product. Where do your
ideas come from?
We fall in love with materials and think up a
» we fall in love
with materials
and think up a
new context for
them. «
Carina Bischof, designer
he connected tubes with light bulbs hanging
out of them. It looks like the watering can is
dispensing light. Chandeliers made of coat
hangers are also very chic in my opinion.
Or think of musical instruments – they’re
also great for turning into lamps. It’s a very
charming look in an apartment.
Are these products actually cheaper?
Not necessarily. With articles of clothing,
we have to tailor each individual item. But
then you have a product that was handmade
in Germany. It’s custom work, not massproduced.
Who buys upcycling products?
People for whom sustainability is important,
architects and creative types with a taste for
extraordinary design, and people who consciously buy organic food.
new context for them. A colleague of mine,
for instance, wanted the work clothing of car
mechanics or painters because the quality
of the material is so high. He uses it to create
bespoke suits. From originals he takes apart
trousers and jackets and fashions them into
new pieces. The suits look very refined, but
they also have a great used look.
What else do upcycling designers like
to create?
Wallets and jewelry, for example from old
car tires. Lamps are also very popular. A colleague of ours fell in love with the material
and shape of watering cans. To one of them
Do you have any tips for people
who would like to try upcycling for
themselves?
The important thing is to look at the material and set it in a new context. One simple
example is a used can that functions as a pen
container. On the Internet there are countless tutorials that give instructions on how
to make nice furniture out of used materials.
how do you Think Blue?
BLUE BEHAVIOUR
BLUE PROJECTS
BLUE MOBILITY
Sustainability is an attitude and doesn’t
involve just choosing the right car. Often
it is the small things that together make
As part of “Think Blue,” Volkswagen has
established projects all over the world
that have one thing in common in spite
The question of tomorrow’s mobility has
many answers. That is why we are increas-
make your everyday life more sustainable.
Give it a try!
much fun it can be to live a little bit more
eco-consciously.
systems with the same determination that
we apply to projects like e-up! and e-Golf.
It doesn’t matter how you want to stay
it right in a Volkswagen.
32
Spring/Summer 2015
kitted
out.
Are you prepared for a
summer of adventure?
Volkswagen’s got all the
right accessories to keep
you rolling along.
Ah, summer. After an interminable winter,
I am so eager for it, I broke out the shorts and
flip flops on the first of April. Let them laugh
— if I had to wear those winter boots one
more day, I thought I’d go mad.
Instead, I’m planning ahead for the days
to come, when we can’t pursue Canada’s national pastime (talking about the weather!)
without bringing up the humidex.
The season isn’t just about the clothes,
though. It’s about getting away from it all.
You know, hopping in the Volkswagen and
leaving the everyday in the rear-view mirror.
This year, I’ve got it all figured out. Instead of
just daydreaming the winter away, I got prepared. I’ve kitted out our Volkswagens with
everything we need to make every adventure a possibility.
Figured I’d better stay in touch with reality at least a little, so I started with a trunk
liner for the Jetta. The cottage road gets
muckier every year, and you know how it is
after a trip to the beach. It seems like sand
lines every crevice of the trunk. The trunk
liner helps protect my cargo area from whatever I throw into it. Custom molded for my
Jetta and with a raised edge that contains
spills — hey, you never know! Last year, my
kid tried to bring the beach back with him in
the cooler! — it’s got a textured, skid-resistant finish, too, so I don’t have to worry about
anything shifting around. It’s also easy to
clean, so when the weekend’s over and sales
samples replace the pails and shovels, I can
make it fit for business again. Combined
with the Monster Mats I bought this winter,
it’s going to help keep the Jetta presentable,
even when we’re having fun getting dirty.
A bike holder is a must-have for warmer
weather, especially if I get my way and we hit
the road for some camping this summer. We
just leave the Jetta at the site and use the
bikes to get us around. The bike holder attachment comes with all the mounting
hardware, and it’s rugged, just in case our
route leads off the beaten path.
The kids are going to freak out when they
see the T1 Volkswagen Bus Tent I picked up.
The interior is 1:1 scale with the bus itself!
There’s lots of room for the four of us, and we
won’t have to worry about them getting lost
on their way back from the comfort station
again. Even in a sea of tents, this one is really
going to stand out.
I got some splash guards for Maggie’s
Passat, too. She’s so in love with that car, I
think it distresses her to see a little kickedup mud. I got her the spoiler lip too — she
really likes the elegant look.
With everything they offer to help us get
the most out of the season, it’s clear the folks
at Volkswagen love summer as much as I do.
Well, almost as much!
See for yourself how you can
VW.ca > Parts & Service > Accessories
Volkswagen Magazine
33
Roads you will never forget. Austria’s Romantic Road.
on the road again
Vienna
Salzburg
Graz
AUSTRIA
String of pearls.
Sharply pitched steeples, turquoise lakes,
cosy cabins: Austria’s Romantic Road
winds for 417 kilometres from Salzburg to
Vienna along one of the most enchanting
routes in the whole of Europe. Here, on
the edge of the northern Alps, drivers
pass through the Salzkammergut region.
Immense valleys, rushing streams and
imposing glaciers define the landscape.
The journey begins in beautiful, baroque
Salzburg, birthplace of Mozart. Worthy
stopping points include the lakeside
market town of Mondsee and the former
When to go?
Whenever. Some of the most beautiful
landscapes in Austria, almost entirely
at 500 metres above sea level, have
34
Spring/Summer 2015
Maria Taferl
Kremsmünster
Steyr
Gmunden
Schallaburg
Seitenstetten
Mondsee Lake
Scharnstein
Vienna
417 km
Turn your driver’s seat into a front row seat.
Enjoy amusement park perks* and other exclusive benefits. Only for VW Owners,
and only through the Volkswagen Plus Owner Privilege Program.
Salzburg
Visit VolkswagenPlus.ca
Bad Ischl
imperial residence at Bad Ischl. From there
the road follows the shore of Traunsee Lake
through friendly towns such as Gmunden,
Scharnstein and Kremsmünster, where a
baroque Benedictine monastery suddenly
What to pack?
Comfortable shoes. The Salzkammergut boasts some 150 kilometres of
walking paths for outstanding hikes
both long and short.
towers above the surroundings. From
Schallaburg, the road follows the Danube
to Vienna. The entire route along the
Federal Highways is well marked with
brown wooden signs.
What to look out for?
The waterfall at the south end of Mondsee Lake, just a 15-minute walk from
the Landesbadeparkplatz car park. If
you’re planning ahead, it’s particularly
spectacular frozen over in winter.
*This is an example only of past benefits that have been made available to Volkswagen Plus members. Future benefits may vary.
“Volkswagen”, the Volkswagen logo and “Das Auto & Design” are registered trademarks of Volkswagen AG. © 2015 Volkswagen Canada.
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