VW News: Volkswagen Thinking About Dropping The VR6

[William Maley]

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

January 16, 2012

The Volkswagen VR6 engine, found in the Passat, Touareg, and Porsche Cayenne could be saying good-bye. Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, a member of the Volkswagen board of management who oversees research and development said the company is deciding whether to keep the VR6 in production or scrap it.

As it stands, the VR6 engine is expensive to build and import, and doesn’t sell in many vehicles. Hackenberg said the company is deciding whether to put the VR6 into more vehicles or to ditch it. Hackenberg says he is interested in “a turbo five, as we just used in the Audi [TT RS].” The U.S. version of the TT-RS produces 360 HP and 343 lb-ft of torque.

If Volkswagen was to go with a turbo-five, the engine could be built in the U.S. with the Passat and Touareg being possible canidates.

Source: Car & Driver

View full article

[ocnblu]

Wow, I like VWs and I forgot about the VR6. Hasn't really been in the news much since it first came out many moons ago...

[Robert Hall]

Interesting...didn't realize they still had it..thought the Passat and Touareg had a normal V6.

[Drew Dowdell]

The nice thing about the VR6 is how smooth it is. It is almost an I-6 in that regard while only taking up the space of a longish V6.

[daves87rs]

Interesting....

[regfootball]

"expensive to build"

there ya go....in it's quest for world domination, VW has no intention of maintaining uniqueness.......

not a VR6 fan myself. needlessly complex........

[the_yellow_dart]

Would a VR4 configuration help to make a 4 banger more compact for certain appllications like city cars? For example, would a VR4 fit in the Smart forTwo engine bay?

[Chris_Doane]

The nice thing about the VR6 is how smooth it is. It is almost an I-6 in that regard while only taking up the space of a longish V6.

Plus it makes a pretty nice noise.

[Drew Dowdell]

that too