Nine friends with modern classic Volkswagens, 2000 miles, a few laps at the Nürburgring, a broken gearbox, 3 hours of oil and dirt and the Alps as a background in an adventure that they will never forget.

Yesterday I found a video of a train driving through a flash mudslide in Switzerland ad the universal response to the video was, forget the train, check out that hot pink camper van!

I've been getting lots of questions about the state of my Beetle since its recovery, and I'm finally happy to say insurance companies have been dealt with, checks have been cut, and work is about to begin. My Beetle will be back on the road, better, faster, and yellower than ever.

The 75th anniversary of Wolfsburg, Volkswagen's purpose-built factory town, was this past weekend. VW didn't make a big deal about it, mostly because of all the associations with those people Indiana Jones liked to kill, but I think it's worth noting, especially with this odd, mostly forgotten relic: the EA 97/1…

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Volkswagen has a problem with their diesel engines: You. You people keep ruining them by filling them with gasoline instead of diesel fuel.

Today in 1873 Levi Strauss patented copper-riveted canvas pants. Eventually switching to blue denim, those tough pants became the jeans we all wear all the damn time. Jeans have also been oddly influential for cars, with several cars sporting jeans-based themes, even to this day.

Most every car you find these days has a six or seven speed transmission. But some people want more. Lexus has an eight speed auto. ZF is working on a nine speed auto. Hyundai will offer a ten speed soon. But now they're going to be outdone by Volkswagen. Beigekrieg, forward!

The number of automakers trying to crack the code to get Millennials to give a shit about cars grows with every major auto show and now Volkswagen has sunk to new lows with the Apple-aping name of the special edition iBeetle. It's a car built around a smartphone.

For years, I was under the impression that the word "coupe" means a car has two doors, but the German automakers seem dead-set on proving me wrong. The latest example is this: the Volkswagen CrossBlue Coupe Concept, which does not have two doors but is called a "coupe" anyway.