DieselDrive Magazine

Now in its sixth generation, the Volkswagen Jetta is as much a part of the South African landscape as biltong and koeksusters and equally as much a part of my life – growing up, my father had three examples in a row, following on from his Passat and even an old Scirocco. Spawned as a [...]

You may not be aware of it, but South Africa is one of the world’s biggest markets for one-ton bakkies, in both single- and double-cab configuration. It’s for this reason that we were the third country in the world to get Volkswagen’s much-hyped Amarok double-cab, and the first country in the world for the Amarok [...]

Volkswagens have for decades been renowned for the quality and affordability it brings to the world of motoring. Thanks to the company’s range of BlueMotion Technologies, it can now add another feather to its cap as a leading manufacturer of some of the world’s most efficient and economical vehicles.   BlueMotion encapsulates all the company’s [...]

Keen followers of the global race to lower emissions and increase efficiency across the board would know that, long before hybrids and pure electric cars become the fight for greenness’ beacons of hope, European manufacturers had turned to diesel to achieve exactly the same outcomes. Europe’s gigantic diesel car park is well documented and it’s [...]

Few manufacturers are as successful in implementing a corporate design language into all their vehicles as Volkswagen. Starting with the Scirocco and followed by the Golf 6 and Polo, Volkswagen’s simple yet striking new looks has breathed new life into most of their current ranges, whether they be mere facelifts (like on the Polo Vivo, [...]

It’s hard to believe that Volkswagen’s Tiguan has been on our roads for almost three years already without any major – or minor – face-lifts. Indicative of a good basic design, it’s perhaps also what has sustained Tiguan sales in the years following its launch, although a repositioning with VW’s new corporate look is probably [...]

In a country where new models in every known and unknown segment and niche are released almost on a weekly basis, few vehicles have created as much attention as Volkswagen’s Amarok did in 2010. With good reason too: it’s Volkswagen’s first real attempt at creating a bakkie, which – in South Africa – brings you [...]

The VW Cross Polo is without doubt a cool car, well if you’re between 18 and 30 anyway. At my age, well people just kept looking at me as if to say, “Hey Grandad, it doesn’t suit you.” Here at the office, we were calling it the angry Polo. Not just a play on the [...]

Here’s the solution, now what was the problem? Mere days after collecting the glorious Audi TT RS from our suddenly forlorn-seeming office, VAG press-fleet manager Athol van Heerden was back again with another of the company’s latest products for us to try! It is the absolute antithesis of the pint-sized demon of course, as you’ve [...]

There aren’t many things in life I truly despise, but mediocrity and conformism are two things that come shockingly close, and especially so when it comes to cars. If you’re spending millions, if not billions, in developing a car, why go about it in such a way that the end result is not up to [...]