The UP! Lite takes what everyone knows following almost a hundred years of diesel electric train and applies it to cars. The sleek four-seater tips the scales at a featherweight 1,532 lbs and is fitted with a 0.8-liter TDI two-cylinder turbo-diesel engine 50 HP mated to a 14HP electric motor and a a seven speed DSG transmission. Acceleration from 0-60 MPH is pegged at a leisurely 12 seconds but still, 70 MPG! It would be like never filling up at all. Of course, this is just a "concept" but telegraphs vehicles VW is planning on rolling out globally in 2011, so we're betting it's pretty close to the real deal. Well, except for those wheels.

Yesterday, a tight, sexy, red dress overcame the sensible underwear of our Contender Puma, in a remarkably tight 52%/48% Nice Price cat fight win. The whole idea of animalistic appellation Brazilian cars was so appealing that we've decided to hit up another today, albeit one that's a canine homage rather than feline.

Starting in the 1970s, Volkswagen began naming their cars after winds- Passat, Scirocco, Golf, etc. With the exception of the Scirocco, these cars came to America under an assumed name- the Golf as the Rabbit, and the Passat as the Dasher- potentially presaging an entire lineup of Santa's reindeer-named cars. The animal names continued over at their upscale branch, Audi, where the Dasher sibling 80 became the Fox in the U.S.. Over the years, Volkswagen has vacillated over maintaining their European names on the cars eventually showing up on these shores, with intermittent sccess (Touareg is apparently a derivation of the name of a slave-trading African tribe), and while Audi has moved to various derivations of alfa-numeric naming conventions, VW has stuck with the names, and even revisited Fox at one point.

Introduced to the U.S. in 1987, the Gol-based VW Fox attempted to provide the German maker with an entry-level model. Available as either a two-door coupe, or four door sedan (a three-door wagon was also available between '88 and '90) that were nearly six inches longer than the contemporary Golf, but on a four and a half inch shorter wheelbase. This provided a commodious trunk, but a somewhat claustrophobic interior, especially in the back. Motivating the Fox was a longitudinal version of the Golf's 1.8-litre four with Digifant fuel injection and 81 ponies giving chase. A five-speed, similar to that used in the Audi Fox of years prior backed that up, and along with that manual gearbox came manual windows, manual mirrors, manual climate control, manual. . . well, you get the picture.

The Fox shared gauge graphics with its German cousins, but little else, including that durability that VW was known for at the time. Because of that, very few have been cared for, or are in as nice of shape as our 1993 example today. For better or worse, this white coupe appears about as clean as the day it samba'd off the ship and into the heart of its happy owner. He's very enthusiastic about the car, and it makes you kind of wonder what is his motivation for selling it. At $3,300, you can guess that he holds it in pretty high esteem, despite its need for an alignment, or the broken mirror. A mention of rust is a warning flag as these cars are magnets for the red plague, some losing floorboards to the extent that Fred Flintstone would feel at home padding around in them.

So what do you think of this other Brazilian immigrant? Does $3,300 put it in the fox hunt? Or, would you only pay that much if it came with Megan Fox?

You decide!

Windy City Craigslist or go here if the ad disappears. A shake of the ol' foxtail to the anonymous tipster for the link.

Help me out with NPOCP. Click here to send a me a tip, and remember to include your commenter handle.

The VW Amarok is officially slated to debut on the December 15th, but here's a sneak peak courtesy of PickupTrucks.com. These pics show off Vee-Dub's latest pick-em-up which will be sold in places with names that don't start with "United" and end in "States." It'll debut with a 2.0-liter common-rail diesel with 163 HP and 295 lb-ft of torque but will later get a second diesel with 122 HP and 250 lb-ft of torque. Still, it's no Rabbit Pickup. [PickupTrucks.com]

That's not to take away from the accomplishment of Pandamonium Racing's BMW E30; I'll post about their overall win once I'm back to civilization. Now I"m going to pack up the Crown Vic and head south 130 miles. Check in later for more LeMons Arse Freeze roundups!

Though BMW and Toyota aren't the only major automaker to not make the list of 27 vehicles, they're the most notable considering Chrysler managed to get four vehicles on the list and Volvo managed the same despite having belts on their XC60 disengage in a side-crash.

Click on the thumbs in this gallery and you can see the full list of IIHS-ordained cars in each category. For the most part, it's a sign of the cars you're least likely to want to drive. For instance, they explicitly exclude the WRX and SI versions of the Impreza and Civic.

Large Cars:
Buick LaCrosse
Ford Taurus
Lincoln MKS
Volvo S80

Midsize Cars:
Audi A3
Chevrolet Malibu built after October 2009
Chrysler Sebring 4-door with optional electronic stability control
Dodge Avenger with optional electronic stability control
Mercedes C class
Subaru Legacy
Subaru Outback
Volkswagen Jetta sedan
Volkswagen Passat sedan
Volvo C30

Small Cars
Honda Civic 4-door models (except Si) with optional electronic stability control
Kia Soul
Nissan Cube
Subaru Impreza except WRX
Volkswagen Golf 4-door

Midsize SUVs
Dodge Journey
Subaru Tribeca
Volvo XC60
Volvo XC90

Small SUVs
Honda Element
Jeep Patriot with optional side torso airbags
Subaru Forester
Volkswagen Tiguan

It was little more than half-a-century ago the armies of Rome, Berlin and Tokyo were defeated by Detroit's "Arsenal of Democracy" equipped by American carmakers. Yet to hear it lately from conservatives and leaders in the Republican Party, American automakers are what's wrong with this country, should be boycotted, and go bankrupt.

Senator John McCain told reporters that we should have never bailed out Chrysler and GM and let them go under.

"No, I don't think we ever should have bailed out Chrysler and General Motors," McCain told The Detroit News. "We should have let them go into bankruptcy, emerge and become viable corporations again."

This, of course, while he was out drumming up support for his 2010 Senate run while serving as the grand marshal of a NASCAR event where the very good ol' boys he was drumming up support from were watching Chrysler and GM products race. And, as The Detroit News points out, we did let them go into bankruptcy. We're still waiting to find out whether they'll emerge as stronger companies.

Confusingly, McCain seems to be channeling John Kerry in being for the bailout before he was against it. Now, of course, he's going so far as to refer to it as "Socialism."

And just this weekend RNC Chairman Michael Steele responded to the news of GM going further in debt by pointing out this statement:

"Today's release of General Motors' financial results is further proof that President Obama's economic experiments are wrong for America."

Of course, GM lost $4.2 billion in the third-quarter last year so this is actually an improvement, of sorts. And GM also announced they'd be repaying loans ahead of schedule.

So who do the Republicans like? At last year's Detroit Auto Show we had a conversation with Senator Bob Corker, the Republican who lead the charge against the bailout, and he talked about the Volkswagens he loves. Not a surprise given VW is joining Nissan in building a huge plant in his state.

In fact, there have been a number of foreign car companies moving better-than-minimum-wage assembly plants into states represented by Republican senators, including BMW in South Carolina, Toyota in Texas, Nissan/VW in Tennessee, and Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai in Alabama. Of course, we can't blame the Chrysler-Fiat "Global Strategic Alliance" alliance on the Republican party.

So when the far right goes to Boycott GM they're doing so for the benefit of companies like Volkswagen and Toyota, who have both surpassed GM as the world's largest automaker in the last year.

Ironically, this is the same Republican party upset about the Chinese purchase of Hummer. As Republican Representative Duncan Hunter told the Wall Street Journal: "Any money that is going to China or to Chinese companies is contributing in some way to China's military buildup."

So supporting American car companies is socialism and supporting every other country's investments in production capacity is capitalism and therefore good for America.

But hey, the Germans, Japanese, Chinese and Italians are our friends so who says we need any domestic car production or car companies? Of course, we're probably just paranoid. Maybe the real reason the Republicans hate GM and Chrysler is just that they really like Ford.

Photo Credit: DiggerHistory

This information can be heavily qualified because this is only through the first three quarters of the year and comes after Toyota drastically cut back on production in the first half while Volkswagen took advantage of cash-for-clunkers schemes and other government support for its vehicles in markets like China.

But none of that changes the fact that Volkswagen has quickly passed Toyota and GM at the top of the heap. We'll see if it lasts all year and, hopefully, if it works out any better for them. [The Guardian]

Photo Credit: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Speaking of not coming back, I've considered axing the entire Down On The Junkyard series. Why? Because dudes will find an 18-month-old DOTJ post with a car they're looking for via Google (for example, a search for "Renault 16" will show a DOTJ post as the 3rd result), and then start pestering me to sell them the parts from "my" car. When I tell them that the junkyards I frequent turn over their entire inventory every few months and that the car was crushed long ago (not to mention the fact that I'm not in the parts-selling business), they refuse to believe me. Look, the pictures are right there! Sell me parts! It was tolerable the first few hundred times, but now I'm getting so damn many of these demands for parts from long-ago-crushed cars that I'm approaching Clueless Internet Incomprehension Burnout. So, let's say it's 2012 and you're looking for parts for your Squareback and you've found this post: THIS CAR IS GONE! CRUSHED! RENDERED INTO CHEAP WASHING MACHINES IN GUANGZHOU!


Where were we? Oh yes, this '71 Squareback. Look, it's the carbureted engine, and the twin Solexes are still there! In fact, everything is still there. Fresh junkyard finds are fun!

The interior is pretty well thrashed, but a few usable bits remain.

Turns out the Bus has led an interesting life since it was pilfered in Washington so many years ago. When the original owner reported it stolen, and the vehicle didn't turn up, Allstate settled the claim for a grand total of $2,500. It's been shuffled around since then, sold and resold and ended up in the hands of a restorer who completely renovated the van. It was on the way to the Netherlands, presumed a legitimately titled vehicle when it was seized by Port of LA customs officials. The estimated value? $25,000. Unsurprisingly, Allstate will be taking back it's van now, thank you very much. [LATimes]

Photo credit: Department of Homeland Security

Those of you who come to 24 Hours Of LeMons races already know Jeff; he's the guy who makes the LeMons carnival function correctly when it clanks into your town. A former pro racer who got his start in his early teens with a hooned-out autocross MGB, Jeff now prefers Italian iron. Remember his DOTS '65 Giulia SS?

When he first obtained the Cortina, it was powered by a semi-hot Fiat Twin Cam engine. After the punishment of quite a few rallies, the ol' Fiat gave up. What next? Hmmm... you can get wrecked Honda S2000s pretty cheap these days!




My crappy photographs don't really convey the super-slick setup of this Anglo-Japanese monster; Jeff was a fabricatin' demon to get this Hell Project together. All the Honda wiring and ECMs are in use, and it runs fine; all that remains is a bit of brake work and a couple of thousand little details. 1,800 pounds and 247 horsepower is a combination that sounds pretty good to us! And with legendary wheelman Jeff at the controls, it's gonna be terrifying a blast! Anyone who has ridden with this guy in a rental car on a race track can vouch for that. Did you know that a Honda CR-V can do 110+ at Carolina Motorsports Park? Neither did I!

And that's just the beginning of the fun stuff to be found under Jeff's house. The entire footprint of Chez Jeff's Oakland abode is taken up by an 1,800 square foot garage. For starters, here's Mrs. Jeff's ride: a lowered 1966 VW Transporter with a built-to-the-hilt 2,000cc engine.

Just inside, you'll find this 1971 Fiat 850 Sport Coupe, also belonging to Jeff's SO; don't those Alfa wheels look good on it?

When she doesn't feel like driving the bus or the Fiat, there's always her '69 Alfa Romeo Duetto.

Sometimes Jeff needs to change things up with this 1971 BMW 2002Tii with "lots of mods."

Tired of four wheels? Hop on one of the Lambrettas!

Tired of internal combustion? Hop on a Bianchi!

VW showed us and a bunch of elderly curmudgeons auto journalists sketches of that mid-size sedan (code named "NMS") at their Wolfsburg plant last week. While we weren't able to take pictures, just imagine a CC/Phaeton love child that sits somewhere between the two in terms of size. It's swoopier and more closely related to the CC than the sketch above. Arriving as either a 2012 or 2013 model, the VW NMS will be larger than the Passat, which VW had determined is too small to achieve strong sales in America.

To keep the price free of currency fluctuations and to appeal to patriotic buyers, the NMS will be built at a new factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee that'll open in 2011 with production of that vehicle. That plant's annual capacity is 150,000 vehicles, a healthy chunk of the 800,000 vehicles VW wants to sell here annually by 2018.

Even as other automakers go bankrupt and face a huge downturn in sales, VW increased its global market share to 12% as of July and reported a $1.77 billion operating profit during the first half of this year.

Joining the NMS to reach that sales goal will be a new version of the Ford Fiesta-rivaling VW Polo, likely equipped with a choice of 1.2 and 1.4-liter supercharged and turbocharged TSI engines. Those engines are sort of a lower-cost, lower-weight alternative to hybrid powertrains, offering the power of larger, 2.0 or 2.5-liter engines with the fuel consumption of the smaller capacity. Expect to see the larger of those two engines in the Golf, too.

We had the opportunity to try that 167 HP 1.4-liter TSI engine in the VW Passat on the Oschersleben track and found its lack of capacity wasn't detectable over the 2.5-liter five-cylinder Golf we drove on the road earlier in the day. In fact, the 1.4 makes equivalent torque (177 lb/ft) to the 2.5, but across a much wider rev range (1,500 to 4,500 RPM) without any turbo lag or other downsides. Blindfolded, you couldn't tell the difference between the two engines until it came time to pay for fuel, the 1.4 achieves well over 30 MPG in the heavy Passat mid-size. Expect to see similar technology roll out across the VW and Audi lineup in a variety of engine sizes.

Also on the Eco front, the fully-electric VW E-UP ! will go on sale in 2013. The four-seat subcompact will be equipped with 18 kWh Lithium-Ion batteries powering an 80 HP electric motor good for 84 MPH and and 80-mile range.

The company also plans an all-new 2013 VW Beetle that'll be larger inside, with more leg room for rear seat passengers, yet the same size outside. That'll be thanks to less ridiculous, more sophisticated packaging designed to make the Beetle less of a joke and more of a halo car for the entire VW range.

Speaking of halo cars, the next-gen 2011 VW Phaeton will likely return to the US. Based on the same platform as the upcoming Audi A6 and A8, it'll cost in excess of $50,000, giving VW one of the most extensive ranges of any single brand, starting with the sub $15,000 Polo and running through the E-UP ! Golf, Beetle, Jetta, Eos, Tiguan Passat, CC, NMS, Toureg and Phaeton.

Last week we reviewed the US-market 2010 VW Golf TDI and found that it exorcised the Ghosts of VW's somewhat ill-spec'd past to create a nearly ideal practical car. It combined quality, luxury, fun and economy to create one of the most complete packages on the market today. If VW can do as well with the rest of its new products, that 800,000 US sales a year goal sounds totally feasible.

After over 450 miles of oil was sprayed all over America's freeways, the Beetleballers (well most of them) arrived on the Las Vegas strip to complete the endurance rally.

Beetleball headman, Jimbo, stood in the middle of Las Vegas Boulevard waving a checkered flag as the Volkswagens cruised (flew actually) down the strip to the finish.

First place overall with a time of 6 hours, 18 minutes and 20 seconds (and first in Open Class Beetle) Jim's Auto Center #1116 driven by Nicolas Nieto and navigated by Daniel Cummings. The car not only ran very well it was the only VW that didn't vomit oil at the finish line.

Second place overall with a finishing time of 6 hours, 34 minutes and 16 seconds (and first in the Baja Bug class) was Krider Racing #1118 driven by Randy Krider and navigated (while simultaneously blogging for Jalopnik) by Rob Krider.

Third place overall with a finishing time of 6 hours, 50 minutes and 13 seconds (and first in Stock Class Beetle) was #1108 driven by Damon Dayton and navigated by Rosie Almaraz. There were unsubstantiated rumors that there was some curb hopping and sidewalk driving to get to the finish line on the strip. Damon's response, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."

Damon was also kind enough to stop to help any broken down Beetleballers on his journey, however the conversation along the roadside went like this:
Damon, "Hey, you guys alright?"
Poor Sap with a Blown Motor, "Yeah, our motor is finished though."
Damon, "Bummer. Hey, uh, with that blown motor, I guess you guys probably don't need that extra two gallons of fuel. Throw that in my tank would ya. Thanks!"

Earning the coveted D.F.L. trophy (last place) with a finishing time of 9 hours, 35 minutes and 25 seconds (and ironically first place in the Vintage Bus Class) Bugformance #1164 Bus of Greg Hawkins and Dominic Descent. These guys had some minor mechanical issues and replaced the ignition, fuel system and anything else they could think of during the rally. They came absolutely prepared for any issues and had a complete engine assembly in the rear passenger compartment of the bus. The extra weight contributed to their mountain climbing speed of 44 miles per hour.

The overall Beetleball champion for the 2009 season (after running three events) was Jeff Copelan driving his very clean 1965 Beetle in the Stock Division. He will be honored with the #1100 number plate for the 2010 season.

If you have the guts/lack of sense to try to run an endurance rally in an air cooled VW then check out the different events at www.beetleball.com. They also run a rally from Vancouver to Ensenada. Rumor has it in 2012 they are going to run from Manhattan to San Francisco.

The Beetleballers are revving the life out of their Volkswagen motors as they head through California, Arizona and Nevada on the way to Vegas with a quick stop in Amboy (if they can find it).

The beginning of the Beetleball Long Beach to Las Vegas began with high drama as the cars headed down the 710 freeway only to encounter a non-rally vehicle impaled on the back of a Cal Trans sweeper truck. Most teams found out at this point that Volkswagens don't stop particularly well. Everyone slipped through unscathed as they headed into the darkness.

Krider Racing had the early lead with the Beetleball Indy Pace Car passing them near race mile 108. That pass gave them the lead until the little VW packed it in around race mile 374. The engine seized leaving the driver and navigator to stand on the side of the road until another Beetleballer picked them to give them a ride to the finish.

The first checkpoint in Amboy, California gave many teams grief. Namely Krider Racing who had one of their 24 Hours of LeMons drivers, Steve Kuhtz, standing in the desert all night waiting to give them 11 gallons of gas. The only problem was he was standing on the wrong road and the team missed him (and their much needed splash of gas).

Speaking of gas, the GT40 replica beetle ran out of the precious fluid a few miles prior to the Hoover Dam. Their driver stood on the shoulder waiving a red gas can. Other Beetleball teams stopped to help them (and will have their assistance time subtracted from their overall time). How about that for sportsmanship?

This post was concocted in the Blog Bug with me attempting to type and hold on to the requisite VW dashboard mounted "I'm gonna die!" bar. Few more miles to go before the winners can be crowned in Las Vegas (or a few more miles so more Volkswagens can die).