Volkswagen Golf24 (2011): VW's new 'Ring racer

This flame-spitting beast is the Volkswagen Golf24, VW’s new Nurburgring 24hr racer. The Golf24 will race at the ‘Green Hell’ in the legendary endurance event on 25-26 June 2011, but although it’s been built as part of Volkswagen’s celebrations for the 35th anniversary of the GTI, it shares little with the hot hatch that we know and love. All sorts of parts from within the VW Group.

VW Taigun Compact SUV heading for production

It was a good-looking and appealing effort from VW to tap in to the very compact SUV market, with a real family look (a Tiguan on a boil wash), peppy little 3-cylinder 1.0 litre engine delivering 108bhp and a 0-62mph of 9.2 seconds (with 60mpg economy) and enough room to carry stuff and people thanks to an extra 50mm in the wheelbase compared to the Up! Now it looks like the Taigun is heading for production after VW’s Chief designer, Klaus Bishoff, told Autoexpress that he deeply believed the Taigun would be heading for VW showrooms very soon, and could be sold in the UK and Europe as well as in emerging markets. So you can add the Taigun to the list of VW’s SUV offerings, and with new versions of the Tiguan and Touareg (perhaps based on the CrossBlue Concept) and a Polo based SUV on the way too, it looks like VW are covering all the bases.

'Rat run' short cuts make journeys slower

DRIVERS taking "rat-run" short cuts could actually be making their journeys slower, according to a survey. Congestion at the busiest times on local roads is twice as bad as on main highways, the poll from traffic information company TomTom found. It also revealed that traffic congestion in cities across the UK has got significantly worse over the past year.