Bring Lupo to America

Before you sign, see a few reviews:

for thefuel-effient model that HooHa mentions. It sounds like we'd long for thelate '70s diesel Chevette. It's not a great secret to get a vehicle to getgreat fuel mileage, but rather the secret is to get great economy whiledriving something that you actually want to drive. If you think about it, past a certain point greater fuel economies don't save that much money or fuel. For instance, 1000 miles in a vehicle that gets 40 mpg (Passat TDI) means 25 gallons used (duh!) but in that Lupo it might use 12-13 gallons. After 1,000 miles I'm betting the driver and passengers would gladly pay the extra $20 for the Passat, and one would have to wonder about how much saving only 12 gallons is worth.

Pics of the Seat, er, Lupo at

Most of us here would opt for the traditional Lupo, and find a way to cram a

2.0 or turbo 1.8 into it. Now THAT would be fun!

Tim Wohlford '89 golf

Have a look at the Lupo GTI....I think it's a 1.8 or 2.0 16 Valve...that would be fun...

I don't know about you, but I use a gallon of fuel (at least) per day. I live 10 miles from town and am normally driving my beetle... or my diesel rabbit which has only gotten 30mpg since the rebuild... gas/diesel is at $2/gallon here... I don't make that much (or at least it doesn't seem like it after i pay all the bills, try and remodel the house and restore 16 cars)... so if I could spend $1/day instead that would be great!!! that would be a savings of $365/yr! that's enough to buy a cheap maaco paintjob, or buy the paint and do it myself! maybe it's not the best long distance travel car, but would be a good commuter car. Sure I might not want to take it on a 1000 mile trip... save the passat for that (or the vanagon syncro in my case)... but why do I need a big gas eater car to drive to work and sit in a parking garage and get banged up every day? the smaller car would cost me less, and would even be less likely to get banged up because it's smaller!

I say bring it on!

lupo 16V is a 1.4L

I'd buy one just for the commute to and from work.... gas prices here in San Diego $2.40+ per gallon. The Honda hybrid is an eye sore, made in Japan and had an interior about as appeling as the inside of an ice cooler. I'd save by GTI for the weekends.

That kind of logic works fine if you only ever do a thousand miles. Most people average 12, 000 per year so will save more money, and let's face it fuel prices are only ever going to go one way no matter how much oil we steal off the arabs ;-) Also, IMO the Lupo is a lot more fun to drive that a Passat!

--Steve

Let me get this straight... you're saving $20 per 1000 miles, and you're driving 12k a year. That's a whopping $240 you're saving a year, and all you have to do is to drive a slug with awful seats that is a pain to drive?

And "more fun to drive"?? did you read that review? The traditional versions of the Lupo might be loads of fun, but (judging by the review) that's hardly the case here!

Tim Wohlford

Wait, wait, wait.

Think Metro Car.

Does it get the job done? Not every car buyer thinks in terms of laying down rubber. Some of them want to buy a smaller car, one that runs reliably, gets good gas mileage and doesn't suck. It's the suck factor you seem to be objecting to.

Well, it seems you have options right now that fall within your needs- but some folks would like the OPTION to buy a Lupo, or even a Polo.

It shouldn't be restricted just because it isn't a fire breathing dragon.

TBerk the Devil has more than enough Advocates.

NA will get the Polo...but the Lupo won't be as easy...I think it is difficult to get it to conform to NA safety standards....yet Chevy gets the Aveo to do it, as does Toyota with that lovely little death trap, the Echo Hatchback...

I'm always confused with how Euro cars can't meet our safety standards - I always thought the europeans would be on the cutting edge of safety... as you don't see unsafe european cars here - the ones sold all have 4 or 5 star safety... A lot of American cars have only 2 or 3 star in some areas (tho many are excellent in crashes, don't get me wrong).

I have heard its the bumpers in europe are designed to protect pedestrians if they get hit by the car... and here they are meant to protect idiots who back into poles or drive into walls - they aren't suppose to crush until

8kph or something... Gotta love the bumpers on an old late 80's Volvo, Benz, VW... solid black things mounted on big shocks - my moms Volvo has hit its fare share of posts and walls (mom isn't the greatest at backing up with the large station wagon...) and its mint

If the bloody SMART CAR can pass safety... anything can.

Which Honda Hybrid? The Insight or the Civic Hybrid? The Insight is strange looking, but the Civic is hardly an objectionable design. And we are comparing with Lupo here, far from ugly, but I would say the least visually appealing car in the VW lineup.

Canada gets the Echo Hatchback (=Yaris)? That big country south of you only gets the 2 and 4 door sedan varieties.

I dunno...the New Golf (A5) is ugly, IMHO, compared to the Lupo and A4 vehicles

- Pete

Intresting point...

When I worked at VW, I remember going to the Touareg introduction, and VW made a big deal about how "pedestrian friendly" the Touareg is....I think that the safety issue with the Lupo is more of a seatbelt/airbag/DRL issue....crash safety is on par with most other cars in it's class, but perhaps it's the cost of upgrading said items to meet North American spec?

dunno...

I don't think it's a question of "can't". I think it's mostly a cost issue and is it worth it to the manufacturer and importer (e.g.: will they sell enough units to justify it).

In the Lupo's case, yet again new lighting units would have to be made. Misc. labelling too. And then there's the EPA...each engine/trans combo has to be approved by the EPA. I'm sure the Lupo can probably pass here (after all, Europe has been on unleaded fuel for a good 15 years by now and the differences between Euro and US engines are smaller than they used to be), but note that the Lupo has small engines that aren't in any other model that VW sells here. And the profits on small cars are also small.

So VWoA probably decided that all things considered, it isn't worth it to them to bring it here.

things mounted on big shocks

Don't be so quick to include VW on that. Late 80s and early 90s VW bumpers are *not* on shocks. All A2 bumpers are hard-mounted to the car with pretty much no energy absorption at all. Even in 1985, the shock-mount bumpers on Cabriolets/Rabbit Convertibles were removed and hard brackets were put in their place (and the bumper mounted closer to the body). Not sure about Benz, but Volvos I do agree have had decent bumpers for years. And while VW was putting cheaper bumpers on their cars, cars such as my old Hyundai Excel was sold in North America with claimed 5mph bumpers that met the stronger "old" 1974-1982 US standard and exceeding the current US standards at the time.

And believe it or not, the US actually relaxed bumper regulations in 1983. From 1974-1983, the car had to withstand a 5mph impact with no damage at all. In 1983, the law was relaxed and a car had to protect it's lighting equipment at 2.5mph (half the speed) and the bumper could totally collapse and it'd be OK. Not sure if the US has toughened things back up again or not.

And today, Canada has tougher bumper standards than the US. This is what kept the R32 out of Canada and also what delayed the A4 Jetta wagon's debut in Canada.

I'd agree on the 3-door (the shape on the rear side windows look like mid

90s Civic hatch), but the 5-door works for me just fine.

Matt,

I hate to correct you, but the A2s did have bumper shocks. When my Jetta was rear ended, the impact was mostly absorbed by the rear bumper shock...The front bumpers are hard mounted to the body, but the rears are on a shock absorber system.