badge engineering

[Geraint Lloyd]

Mike
I'm bored at work and AutoCAD keeps bombing so I
though that I'd  have a
bit of a babble about VAG badge engineering.
Just my opinion mind!

Some would argue that VW already do badge engineering.

the South african VW polo 4 hatch which is/was a Seat
Ibiza with polo
written all over it
the european polo 4 saloon and estate which were badge
engineered Seat
cordobas.
not to mention the Skoda superb, which is a 2001
passat with a stretch
and a nose job.

from underneath it is pretty hard to distinguish
'twixt a  B5 passat and
a Mk 2 A6.
both were 4 to 6 cyl, fwd or quattro, sedan or wagon
with the same
wheelbase.

the debate has been alive and kicking in europe for
some time with the
2004 models
the golf 4 shares its floorpan with
the TT, A3, Beetle, Skoda octavia, Seat Leon and Seat
toledo.
most had 4wd options with the haldex system so are
often viewed as the
same thin with different levels of touchy feely stuff
in the cabin and
corresponding price differences.

ther is also, the sharan, alhambra, ford (bleargh!)
galaxy thing; the
lupo & arosa; polo  fabia  ibiza to consider.

I agree that the big audis have always been a bit
special, but then
there are no really big VWs (i suppose that there is
the the phaeton,
but i'm not sure that really counts as a  full
production model,  or
rather a fully 'commercial' endeavour) and there are
no really small
audis (apart from the A2 which was special). where the
2 (or rather 4)
brands cross over in terms of vehicle size, separating
them gets
challenging. Especially as the A3 and A2 broke the
Audi in line engine
ideal, and the passat 5 went back to inline after
flirting with
transverse for a bit, although they are transverse
again now........

My first car was a 1979 passat Mk 1.5 which shared
stupid quantities of
components with the concurrent audi 80 including the
doors, screen,
wagon tailgate and bare shell.
the main difference in the wiring was that the passat
had a cigarette
lighter and the audi 80 had a cigar lighter ;-) . I
had that car in bits
soooo many times and got on 1st name terms with
several scrapyards, so i
know that i'm not making this up.

IMHO it would be hard for anyone to sink as low as the
Sunbird/Cavalier
thing.
I have had a go in a couple of these as hire cars and
have to conclude
that GM is some considerable way behind the game as
far as compact car
design is concerned. i'm not surprised that they are
loosing out to the
japanese.

all this and i still love VAG

back to work then (sigh!)
bye for now
Geraint


Mike Arman wrote:
>> From: "David Ullrich" <david.ullrich at gmail.com>
>>     
>
>   
>> My wife has been driving a PQ46 (aka B6) Passat . .
. has been a
>> wonderful car. Not a single unscheduled trip to the
dealer other than a
>> recall. Ad it's a first year car.
>>     
>
> Glad you're having a positive experience on this
car.
>
>
>
>   Saying "its still a vw" seems
>   
>> strange to me, considering an Audi is just a tarted
up VW,
>>     
>
>
> That's not quite correct . . . while *some* newer
Audi models are moving 
> toward being "upscale" veedubs, and there is now
quite a bit of parts 
> commonality in the Audi-VW group, when you get into
the larger Audis 
> (V8Q, A8, S8) there's not a lot of VW there (and as
you can see, the V8 
> crowd sometimes gets a bit sniffy at this ;-)
>
> On the older large Audis, such as the 5000/100/200
(type 44), again, 
> there's not a lot of VW stuff in the cars. By the
way, some Piper 
> aircraft use VW interior door handles (gee, I didn't
know VW made 
> airplane parts or airplanes!).
>
>
> Yes, everything has a VW part number because VW owns
Audi, and yes, 
> there is more and more convergence nowadays, just
like with other 
> automakers. (I have an NSU engine in a motorcycle,
and there are parts 
> in that which have VW part numbers - and I know they
were designed long, 
> long ago, decades before VW bought NSU.)
>
> Hopefully, VW/Audi will never sink to the level of
badge engineering 
> demonstrated by GM with their Sunbird/Cavalier
series of "cars".
>
>
>
>   just like an
>   
>> Acura is just a tarted up Honda and a Lexus is a
tarted up Toyota. The
>> Passat 3.2, when properly equipped, is every bit as
nice and luxurious as
>> the A6, if not more so and for a LOT les money. If
brand identity and "badge
>> whoring" are serious considerations, might I
suggest a BMW? Its not like
>> Audi has the greatest rep in the USA anyway.
>>     
>
>
> Here you are 1,000 percent correct. Audi's foul
dealer and support 
> reputation in the US has been fully, carefully, and
it seems even 
> lovingly nurtured over the past twenty years. I've
owned a 4K, two 5Ks 
> and currently a V8Q in the last dozen years, and I
have *NEVER* been to 
> an Audi dealer in all that time. The few
conversations I have had with 
> them have convinced me that I never will, either.
>
>
> Remember, Vorsprunk through confusion . . .
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Mike Arman
> (off in Audi V8Q land - not just a car, its an
ADVENTURE!)
>
>
>   lol
>   
>> Dave
>> 1987 CGT 2.3 (my toy)
>>     
>
> _______________________________________________
> quattro mailing list
> quattro at audifans.com
> http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/quattro
> ---
> Watch this space for ads :)
>
>
>   

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com