The Downfall of Volkswagen - The Brand That Let Us Down

As I lay awake at night, tossing and turning at the thought of the Volkswagen Tiguan, I was reminded that Volkswagen was once a spectacular brand with great ideas. The auto group? Totally fine. The brand? Soiled.

Here's why - the Type 1 Beetle was the dawn of Volkswagen in 1938 - an innovative car for the time, cute, nicely designed & still a timeless classic today. As time went on, volkswagen produced some really off the wall ideas and turned them into metal in driveways. The Bus, the Karmann Ghia, the Thing, the Type 3, the Brazillia, etc.

In 1974 this changed with the introduction of the watercooled cars, the Rabbit took the world by storm as the coolest little hatchback and one of the first european hatchbacks sold in the USA. The diesel and gas variants offered some diveristy, as well as the option for a two or four door - this led to the GTI ultimately in 1983 - the performance variant. To most modern day volkswagen enthusiasts, they are broken up into two main segments - Water Cooled & Air Cooled enthusiasts. The GTI was the first step in creating the water cooled cult. Of course, over this time the Jetta and subsequent Jetta GLI were debuted, offering a performance variant to their sedan... the Scirocco, Corrado etc. led to quite the slew of spectacular Volkswagen products for the enthusiast.

The MK1, MK2 & MK3 Golf & Jetta shared the idea of lightweight, fun, quirky, adorable little cars. A car that ignited a "feeling" inside of its owner, a want to drive, a want to use the car for its intended purpose. Something you didn't quite get when driving that years Chevrolet Cavalier or Honda Civic. Volkswagen went on to produce some great engines in these periods like the 16v 4cyl, the 2.8L VR6, even the punchy 8v 4cyl. These engines lent themselves well to easy modifications, and you could make a really great car out of these "economy" class cars.

Special editions were introduced like the Drivers Edition MK3 GTI, the 16v GTI MK2, The Rallye golf (not sold here in the US) the mk2 Pirelli Edition GLI, to name a few. Bringing more excitement to the brand as time went on... THEN - we were introduced to the MK4, the next generation of the Volkswagen watercooled saga. Volkswagen killed the Scirocco/Corrado, and a majority of all other variants to focus on the Jetta & Golf, creating multiple variants of these cars. We thought all hope was lost, until 2003 when the golf 337 came to production. A limited edition GTI with recaros seats, finished in silver with BBS wheels, this left the enthusaists wanting more. In 2004, Volkswagen created the 20th Anniversary edition GTI, and the updated GLI sharing that dna with Recaro seats, BBS Wheels, a cool lip kit, and a banger 1.8l Turbo 4 that was a HOOT to drive.

The R32 was also debuted in 2004, pairing a 6 speed manual, leather bucket seats, a 3.2L VR6 engine, and all wheel drive to make one of Volkswagens first true sought after "sports cars" - a great example, ruined shortly after.

As time went on, the Mk5 came out... the beginning of the end - the eggs hit the road, removing all body lines and creativity from the design. The DSG was introduced (one of the only good things to come from the MK5) & we replaced the the stout 1.8t for an unreliable 2.0l FSI engine, the GLI was met with the same fate, nothing special. The mk5 did introduce plaid seats, which all things considered is the only other good thing that came from the MK5. The Tiguan was introduced in this model run too, which was the beginning of the end. Still a glimmer of hope though from the special edition fahreheit GTI & GLI.

The MK5 R32 was debuted in 2007, losing the amazing 6 speed manual in favor of the clunky first generation DSG. They put a jetta front end on a golf, painted it blue, and paired a DSG to the marvelous 3.2L wookie sounding heart that we all know and love.

Then there was the MK6 - the death of the Jetta. Up until this point, the jetta and golf were effectively the same car, sharing a majority of their DNA and sharing driving characteristics. The Golf & GTI effectively were facelifted MK5s with a TSI 2.0 - the Jetta was turned into a prime Kia Optima competitior, losing all of its luster and turned into a stereotypical econo box sedan. I don't have much to say about this generation, other than it was soft, disappointing and utterly horrible. Volkswagen also decided to replace the 3.2L with another 2.0L 4cyl for the golf (was R32) now R - a big turbo all wheel drive GTI was not the answer, but here we are anyways!

Now with the Jetta dead in the water, Volkswagen had to do something. What better to do than make a good GTI again? They did. They really did it. They brought back the DNA we asked for - a real drivers car. The LSD in the performance package and mag ride options really livened up the car, making it a sheer joy to drive and own. (I have had 5 of them, I love them). While still not the cars of old, you can't expect them to be, but they are spectacular. The R of this generation was very good, I still miss the 3.2, but the immense power and built quality of the car outweighed that longing. As a quick note, quality is going to take over the remainder of this segment. The MK7 GTI was over engineered in the best way. Spectacular interior quality, reliable heart, quite, strong, heavily reinforced and just a great place to be. This is a GERMAN hot hatch, and it showed. Something we lose later on in life. The Jetta is dead to us now, the tiguan & gti are the only things keeping VW alive as the TDI scandal began, leaving their diesel counterparts useless. There was a silver lining in this generation with the Spektrum Golf R - bringing back Volkswagens fun loving energy - this is the reason we loved the brand!

Fast forward, it's 2022 and the MK8 GTI is hitting the street, still offered in a manual, more mdoern tech, and (while at first hideous) a spectacular looking little car. The GLI is dead, the taos and tiguan are keeping vw going but alienating all of their enthusaists, volkswagen has to hit the ball out of the park with the GTI. They did! But they also didn't... The car? Spectacular to drive. Proper suspension set up, dog water tires out of the box, and standard with that LSD diff. The car handled the road like nothing else in its price point, and was still offered in the coveted manual gear box. (We know the DSG is faster, but for those of us who use backroads to have fun, the manual is better)

Where it lost some luster was in the build quality department. The tech was clunky, but tolerable to use, the haptic steering wheel buttons were annoying but liveable, but the materials used to put together the interior in comparison to the out going car took the biggest blow. Hard plastics, creeky pieces, piano black plastic as far as they eye could see, and strange packaging choices left the MK8 a question mark for a while for a majority of GTI buyers.

As time has gone on, we have learned to live with it. After all, this and the R are the only two good cars volkswagen still makes for their original customer base, the enthusiasts. BUT THEN! Volkswagen said "hey guys, you know that manual box? Yeah... it's going out to pasture." THEN Volkswagen said "hey guys, you remember that GTI, you know the last good car we make? Yeahhh we're going to make it electric".

Now, here we are, scared, alone, and no more Volkswagen of old. Everything this brand stood for from the start is gone - leaving a hollowed shell of what it once was - After this last run of GTI's, I will never buy another volkswagen. I should have known when they killed the Beetle that we would end up here, but I really wish we hadn't.