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Volkswagen makes a range of engines known as TDI which is probably a turbo diesel... Go check out the flash 5 movie on VW engines which is really really excellent. Or, just view the VW TDI Specs (PDF). TDI is a 1.9 liter direct-port-injected turbocharged diesel which has intake ports which create a vortex effect - this is not all that unusual in engines by modern standards, but when you put it together with the forced induction, you get quite efficient operation. It has only 90hp at 3750 rpm but will put out 155 ft-lb torque at 1900 rpm, which is plenty to get a volkswagen moving. It's available in several VWs, including the golf and jetta. Some models apparently get 42 mpg city and 49 mpg freeway with the manual transmission, and also manage to make 0-60 in 12.6 seconds. I'm guessing this is the golf we're talking about here, but the point is that it's pretty peppy, and highly fuel efficient. Plus, it runs on diesel, which does not require as much energy input to produce as gasoline, and which can be made out of waste oil, or simulated with water and naptha and some mystery compound (sorry, I don't want to look up that link right now) or a number of other diesel fuels. Biodiesel in particular can be run in almost any diesel (and certainly in any modern diesel engine) without any conversion work whatsoever.

Volkswagen makes a range of engines known as TDI which is probably a turbo diesel... Go check out the flash 5 movie on VW engines which is really really excellent. Or, just view the VW TDI Specs (PDF). TDI is a 1.9 liter direct-port-injected turbocharged diesel which has intake ports which create a vortex effect - this is not all that unusual in engines by modern standards, but when you put it together with the forced induction, you get quite efficient operation. It has only 90hp at 3750 rpm but will put out 155 ft-lb torque at 1900 rpm, which is plenty to get a volkswagen moving. It's available in several VWs, including the golf and jetta. Some models apparently get 42 mpg city and 49 mpg freeway with the manual transmission, and also manage to make 0-60 in 12.6 seconds. I'm guessing this is the golf we're talking about here, but the point is that it's pretty peppy, and highly fuel efficient. Plus, it runs on diesel, which does not require as much energy input to produce as gasoline, and which can be made out of waste oil, or simulated with water and naptha and some mystery compound (sorry, I don't want to look up that link right now) or a number of other diesel fuels. Biodiesel in particular can be run in almost any diesel (and certainly in any modern diesel engine) without any conversion work whatsoever.

mass of average person:
...
number of bodies needed to change the Earth's weight by 1%:
...
Population of Earth:
...
Weight of Apollo 11:
...
Number of Apollo 11's needed to change Earth's weight by 1%
...

Pffft. Who can understand abstract comparisons like that? Here's the proper one to make:

mass of Volkswagen (per VW's specs)
about 1,400 kilograms

Number of Volkswagens needed to change Earth's weight by 1%:
42,672,857,142,857,100,000

Everyone understands VWs as a unit of measurement! ;-)

Go to a VW dealer and ask for the brochure about the red and blue New Beetle special editions. It was partly printed in (badly aligned) anaglyph stereo and comes with a pair of red-cyan 3D glasses. It's free. Find a dealer with this form.

how about a phatbox harddrive-based player for your car? there is probably one that is compatible with your truck's existing headunit (so you don't need to buy a new one), and you can have 20-60 gigs of music, instead of shuffling cd's. and yes it does support ogg.

this product is sold directly at audi and vw dealers so you can bet it's a pretty solid product. it's also the same as the kenwood music keg, but works with non-kenwood stereos.

i have one and i love it. i can't imagine having to deal with switching cd's to find my music ever again.

how about a phatbox car mp3 player. it plugs into your stock stereo and emulates a cd changer with voice feedback. linux software is here. up to 60 gigs.

or a kenwood music keg.

or a vw/audi phatbox.

can you tell i love this product? works with the audio controls on my steering wheel. no need to look down at an ipod screen while speeding.

(The New Beetle is 161.1 x 67.9 inches in dimensions, or 0.00254 x 0.00107 miles. This is 0.0000027178 square miles.

San Francisco is 49 square miles in area. So, dividing 49 / 0.0000027178 gets us 18,029,288 New Beetles, or 18.02 Mega-New Beetles, per San Francisco.

TDI have alot of touque. HP for show and Tourque for go :)

The VWVortex had a week long look at TDI technology

Diesel engines have been proven in europe.

Europe mandated the use of low sulfur. So their diesel engines generate more HP/Torque.

Here in north america, low sulfur diesel will be mandated in 2007 see http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/servicerpt/ulsd/prefac e.html

Another advantage to diesel engines is that you can run different types of diesel.

1) Biodiesel. see http://www.biodiesel.org/resources/faqs

2) 100% biomater Biomater can be Vegitible oil or processed animal fats(roadkill and stuff that can't be processed in meat production)

3) Diesel

In fact you can go to KFC and get your fuel there
Greasel sells conversion kits for diesels http://www.greasel.com/

Anywho... Checkout VW's diesel spec sheet http://www.vw.com/art/engines/complete_specs_TDI.p df and checkout the flash

TDI have alot of touque. HP for show and Tourque for go :)

The VWVortex had a week long look at TDI technology

Diesel engines have been proven in europe.

Europe mandated the use of low sulfur. So their diesel engines generate more HP/Torque.

Here in north america, low sulfur diesel will be mandated in 2007 see http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/servicerpt/ulsd/prefac e.html

Another advantage to diesel engines is that you can run different types of diesel.

1) Biodiesel. see http://www.biodiesel.org/resources/faqs

2) 100% biomater Biomater can be Vegitible oil or processed animal fats(roadkill and stuff that can't be processed in meat production)

3) Diesel

In fact you can go to KFC and get your fuel there
Greasel sells conversion kits for diesels http://www.greasel.com/

Anywho... Checkout VW's diesel spec sheet http://www.vw.com/art/engines/complete_specs_TDI.p df and checkout the flash

this ipod thing seems a little silly, given that they are selling phatboxes as dealer installed options on vw's and audis. (and yes, it runs linux and plays ogg vorbis)

unofficial ogg for the ipod is found here

Apparently, VW hasn't learned, you can't just go around giving away people's mp3s and - worse - posting them on the internet.

just follow the link to the "Pods Unite" link (its a Javascript to a flash... how "Apple/VW) and you'll see VW has mp3's POSTED on their website!!!!

This is just asking for trouble.... /joking

Seriously, though.. i don't get it.

some of the songs on VW's website are copyrighted songs - For example (again, sorry, the VW site is a (really nice) Flash site, so i can't give you a direct link), The Decemberists song is available on the VW site, but they obviously want to sell their music.. but, confusingly, provide an MP3 from the CD on their website too? So, if i share this mp3 with Kazza, does that mean that i'm violating copyright or not? So exactly which songs are copyrighted? Is there a list of the copyrighted and non-copyrighted songs on the CD? Does that mean i have to buy the CD to determine which songs are copyrighted?

The song is clearly on the CD that they are expecting you to pay money for, yet they are indiscriminately providing a link to copy copyrighted materials!

And on the VW site - i don't see any information informing me what rights i have to the mp3s they are providing... are these songs copyrighted?

the rules are so fluffy as to be unbeleveable... yet people are going to jail?

this sucks.

sooner than you think.

the phatbox and kenwood music keg already support ogg.

volkswagen and audi sell these as dealer installed options. and they are compatible with a wide range of car stereos.

here's how to play ogg files on it!

First off, it is "Volkswagen". Not "Volkswagon". Learn how the spell before you crack another joke like that again. Second, Volkswagen makes plenty of large automobiles. Take for instance the Eurovan. I've seen many of these around and they are large and very nice looking. If I needed a van this is the one I'd get, but for now my W8 Passat does just fine. By the way my Passat could beat that piece of shit Honda you drive so shut the fuck up. Also, does this look small to you? Its a 12-cylinder engine wearing a VW badge. Don't miss this link that shows another VW with a V10 5.0 liter diesel engine.

Don't forget Volkswagen's hip commercials.

They were nice enough to put it on their website.

In fact, I just saw the first three--"Chain Reaction," "Squares," and "Bubbles"--they are so much fun.

VW Phaeton link 1
VW Phaeton link 2
VW Phaeton link 2

*g*

That's where you're wrong. Fossil fuels (oil, coal, and their derivatives) can deliver more useful energy than it takes to produce them. It's a cost-effective equation. If, as you claim, it took more energy to produce them then they deliver, we'd be in a sorry state indeed, and would have abandoned their use many years ago.

I think you missed part of my point. It will always take more energy to produce a fuel than it releases. (See Thermodynamics: Law of Conservation of Energy.) We have just gotten used to having most of the energy being put in by natural processes. Which, is also a possibility in using hydrogen, it is currently known that hydrogen exists in large quantities, trapped in sub-surface rocks. (it is mentioned by NASA here.) And, as such could be mined (just like oil). So in the end, we could get H2 in large quantities, with about the same trouble as oil. Moreover, according to the same article mentioned above, the supply would renew itself, quickly, and as such, would not run into the same supply problem we are headed for with oil.

I still say that diesel engines are a much better means of pollution reduction today than hydrogen.

This might be true, though, it would still face the problem that is getting in the way of cleaner technologies today: the consumer. People are comfortable with what they have, and don't want to switch. By the time you get everyone to switch over to diesel, hydrogen power will be available to the public, and then you are facing the same fight all over again. With the advent of such things as the GM concept car and the Ballard Field Tests, I think Fuel Cells are just about ready to mature into widespread use. It'd be better to wait the extra couple of years and only fight to get people to switch once.

Especially since all of the people who tout hydrogen are relying upon the magical appearance of cheap, effective solar power. If we had cheap, effective solar power today, we'd be running our electricity grid off of that instead of producing it by burning coal. Wouldn't that be a nice thing?
There have actually been a number of very successful experiments with solar power, unfortunatly, it only really has a chance in places that get a lot of sunlight. Plus it takes up a large amount of space. Problem is, its not as effiecent as burning coal (or commonly natural gas). So, it hasn't attacted much investment. Also, there is the problem that most power companies already have coal/NG power stations built, it makes terrible business sense to abandon a plant in the middle of its useful life cycle. Even if solar was cheap and effective, they are not going to shutter thier coal plants and build solar plants just because its cleaner, they would lose tons of money in the process, and that is what they care about.

Solar power in sufficient quantities to run even a moderate amount of the automotive traffic in the US is probably decades away. Diesel vehicles could be available today.

I will agree that the amount of solar power needed to run the traffic in the US is a ways away, though I don't think it will be the decades you claim. And yes, diesel is available today, in fact it is available in the US already, people just don't buy it. (VW Golf TDI).
I will agree that someone looking to buy a car today, would be well advised to look into getting a diesel vehicle, if they are looking for eviromentally friendly. Personally though I think they would be better servered holding out for a couple of years and getting an H2 powered car.

VW's "Milky Way" (last one on the page). Like the best silent films, they manage to tell a wonderful story with no words, except this is all in the space of a minute. The music chosen gives further meaning to the video, and vice versa. The fact that it's an advertisement is almost an afterthought. Which, ironically, makes you want to buy one even more. I consider it to be one of the finest short films ever made. If more commercials were like this, I'd pay for that adcritic subscription. Especially if they offered a way to get broadcast-quality copies of these commercials.

Nice troll FUDster:

All of VW's TDI-able models in North America (Golf & Jetta) come with an optional, but very responsive automatic transmission. Surprisingly VW has gotten the transmissions to the point were there is very little power/efficiency loss over the manual.

VW Jetta

The Volkswagen TDI engine (turbo direct injection diesel) gets about 49 mpg city. it's the most fuel-efficent non-hybrid internal combustion engine on the market. here's some linkage for you.

According to VW's site the TDI Manual only gets 49 MPG on the highway. Here is the link to the link to the specs. While the Civic Hybrid is rated at 51 MPG on the highway. The link (pdf) to the Civic's specs is here. Neither of these compare to Insight which gets 68 MPG, according to edmund's listed specs.

Now I'm not sure how you can say that the TDI has the best mileage for any vehicle that uses fossil fuel, when, it does not get the best mileage.

It should also be noted that the Jetta TDI burns diseal fuel instead of Unleaded gasoline. I do not, however, remember if diseal or unleaded burns cleaner.

my chouce would be the hybrid electric civic or the vw tdi based cars, friends of mine say they are wonderful.

It's Volkswagen, d0rk. One 'g', and an 'e', not an 'o'. Jazz up your desk with a German dictionary, or something. Mumble.

On the other hand, there are instances where separate people can come to the exact same solution independently. On the grand scale, you have Newton and Leibniz co-inventing Calculus. On the small scale, you have (for example) me and someone at Volkswagen writing the exact same select-box navigation script.

Theirs: function lnav(selname)
{
var selected = selname.selectedIndex;
var url = selname.options[selected].value;
selname.selectedIndex = 0; // Added 12.15.99
if(url)
location.href=url;
}

Mine: function jumpto(selector) {
var the_url = selector.options[selector.selectedIndex].value;
selector.selectedIndex = 0;
if (the_url) window.location.href = the_url;
}

In some situations, there really is one best way to do certain things, and coders may well converge on a solution.

this mmmm, new beetle al a dune. They got a little pickup truck that looks pretty goddamn sweet too.

VW doesn't stop you from going out and putting a different head unit in your car (in fact, some people I know on an owner's board have put in RioCars or whatever they're called these days), but dealers can't run their diagnostic system on the car most of the time if you've done this. The Jetta and Golf (and I suspect the New Beetle, Passat, Cabrio, and Eurovan "suffer" the same problem) depend on the stereo for some of the system functions.

Is that restrictive bundling? Or is it done for a good reason? I personally wonder why the designers didn't better allow for the possibility of aftermarket upgrades.

It's 8:30am. Do you know where your VW Bug is?

--

If all you're looking for is a car and high miles per gallon, the Honda Insight is far from an ideal choice. Volkwagen's Golf, Jetta, and Beetle TDI's (diesel engines) all get excellent mileage, with the Golf TDI approaching the Insight's mpg average, for about $2 grand less. Plus you get a full size, four-door car (as opposed to the 2-seater Insight which is also quite cramped for luggage space). VW manages to make money on the sale of a Golf, while Honda is currently selling each Insight at a loss.

Even if you're looking at an Insight because you want the lowest emission vehicle possible short of a peddle bike, or you think that some people have to adopt the technology just to prove to other companies that it's the way to go, it might be a better idea to wait a few months Toyota's Prius electric-gas hybrid. It's a full-size sedan that's far less compromised than the Insight, with even higher mpg.

Imagine not having to fill your gas tank for > 600 miles.

Imagine not having to fill your gas tank for > 600 miles.

Clueless.

Idiots.

Whenever a site clims to be down I trie all sorts of URLs. index2.htm[l] index-old.htm[l] welcome.htm[l] help/ images/ main/ english/ etc. Just keep porbing until you hit on something. Is this "cracking"? Hardly.

Try the Golf page. It's still up as of 5PM EST

I went to check on something there, and was faced with a 1960s style television test signal image, saying that VW.com is off the air until the night passed.

This is like cars that do 0-60 in 2.4 milliseconds and can go up to 250mph.

It just doesn't matter to most people, at least practically-speaking. As people pointed out in a recent discussion, even though it doesn't matter, people will still buy the hottest chip around. Very much like how people buy the greatest SUVs, the fastest Porches, etc.

But consider that VW does well with their "0-60? Yes." advertisments. How long will it be until a processor company pops up with a similar ad campaign? I give it 12-18 months.

And I'll get one, too, because I don't need the latest, greatest hardware. 'Cuz I run Linux. :)

This is like cars that do 0-60 in 2.4 milliseconds and can go up to 250mph.

It just doesn't matter to most people, at least practically-speaking. As people pointed out in a recent discussion, even though it doesn't matter, people will still buy the hottest chip around. Very much like how people buy the greatest SUVs, the fastest Porches, etc.

But consider that VW does well with their "0-60? Yes." advertisments. How long will it be until a processor company pops up with a similar ad campaign? I give it 12-18 months.

And I'll get one, too, because I don't need the latest, greatest hardware. 'Cuz I run Linux. :)

I've played MP3s on a 486/75 with 12 MB ram, and windows 95! I was I think I was using the 16 bit version of winplay3.. I had to turn on all the CPU saving stuff, but it played em as well as one would expect anything to sound out of the 25 cent speaker on a ThinkPad. I'd bet you can get it to play on a 486 linux box if I could get it to play on a 95 box. Anyway, there are actually wav's and AIFF's on that site as well, if those'll work better for ya, the page is here.

If you wanna hear a little bit of Charles Mingus' music click here. The song was featured in a recent VW commercial.. this is off their website, and perfectly legal (well, if it's not, then it's VW's problem, not mine.)

Check it out: http://www3.vw.com/vwworld/music.htm

FYI: the commercial with everything in time to the music uses "Jung at Heart" by Master Cylinder.