2009 Volkswagen CC: First Drive

The car industry and the publications that serve it like order. They like to place things into categories and through doing so, exert some illusion of control over the marketplace. The BMW 3-series competes with the Audi A4. The Honda Accord competes with the Toyota Camry. Vehicles are priced to be a few dollars higher or lower than the competition and offer a few percentage points more of some variable or a few less. All this makes for easy Powerpoint presentations, unchallenged marketing departments and easily defined cars; we all know that an Accord is like a Camry, but with a nicer interior and a better driving experience. It’s a nice, comfy way to do business. Then a car like the 2009 Volkswagen CC comes along, refuses to play by the rules and screws everything up. How? By offering more than a Mercedes CLS for less than half the price. More »