Re: What car is this?

[Eliot Lim <eliot@u.washington.edu>]

On Sat, 6 Apr 1996, Linus D. Toy wrote:
> >You are forgetting crash testing. This unique combination of powertrain,
> >weight class and body structure would have required a number of
> > more-or-less expensive homologation exercises.

> not certain to the exact procedures here, but i believe there are allowances
> for various "families" to qualify as under a single test program.  so...it
> is possible this combination was essentially tested here under the following:

i remember a couple of years back when vw tentatively decided not to
import the golf vr6.  i happened to be at the dealer the same day that
the vw west coast district rep was there.  i spoke to him about that
decision and he told me in pretty plain terms that it was the cost of
certifying the anticipated small volume of cars that made it
impossible to import the golf vr6.  he said that with the projected
sales volumes, each golf vr6 had to be sold at $26K to break even.  i
asked him point blank if the fact that the 4 cylinder golfs were
certified that the vr6 could ride its coat tails.  the answer was no.

of course those were the days before they even thought of building
the v6 models in mexico, and the corrado vr6 was still being imported.
with the termination of the corrado and the mexican assembly of the
golf vr6, we have the car for sale today.

i had a different conversation at another time with the dealer about
the s2.  i was told that the reason this car would not be imported was
because the crowded engine compartment would mean that it would not
pass the collision test because some engine bits would make it into
the passenger compartment.  now before some of you start jumping
on my case to prove this i'll say it right now that i have no
proof that this is true; this is just what i was told.


eliot