Behind the wheel: A new type of feature

Something is missing these days. That something is honesty. Something that I don't think there is really enough of in the VW and Audi world today, is an accurate portrayal of what it's really like to get behind the wheel of the cars so often featured in magazines and on websites. This is not all that surprising really since so many are merely supposed to look good, and whether or not they actually go, stop and turn is immaterial. Sit super low, have 400 horsepower to the wheels (that can't be used) and a set of scene-approved wheels and you're the king of the world. Never mind the fact these cars (usually) can't drive themselves out of a wet paper bag. I don't know what that means either, but just bear with me...

To continue: I feel it's done all of us in the 'scene,' and those interested in the VW and Audi cars a disservice. We've lost the plot. Many people no longer modify cars for better performance, even though they spend quite a bit on performance parts.The basic fact remains; Volkswagens and Audis are genuinely good performing cars. In terms of the overall driving experience, they were and still are heads and shoulders above many others at a similar price point. Now don't think I'm a slide-rule, pocket-protector policeman of suspension geometry, or indeed any other aspect of a car. After all, I do like a well-executed look, but people are so afraid of going against the 'lower it' grain they just slam it down and don't consider what else the car might be good at, and that a lowered car doesn't have to ride like a box of rocks. After all, if you don't think being on the ground is the way to go, you're just a hater, and who wants to be that?

The looking-good / good-performing thing is not mutually exclusive. You just need the right set up, the right (decent quality) parts, and to perhaps make a small concession to the fact that you're not going to be able to run your car on the bump-stops all the time, and still have a car that handles. Don't try to keep up with the Joneses just because they have the biggest house (or lowest car) on the block. The Joneses are show-offs anyway, and probably should have bought a mini-truck so they can 'lay frame' and all that fun stuff. I've also heard the Joneses rarely drive their cars with anything close to full throttle.

Part of the plague is the ever-shrinking tire size, where basically every time you go down a tire size for a bit more stretch, you have to lower it more to keep it looking 'right.' For a while this was fine...215/40 on a 9" wide wheel, no problem. But the natural tendency to keep pushing the limit leads to some extreme fitments and goofy looking cars if they are anything other than on the ground, literally. We've all seen the parking lot kings raise up on air ride to get out of the parking lot, looking less than graceful, to say nothing of the alignment.

Pushing a car to its (and sometimes your) limit is way more fun than sitting it in a parking lot. Too many times the 'top' cars won't actually run much at all. Nothing like those VR3 show cars...

But I digress. I'll have my first one up shortly. My drive in this particularly car happened a while ago, but thanks to some soon-to-be-reveled awesomeness, it's been on my mind a lot lately.

Stay tuned,

_WRS