Volkswagen Europe USA Volkswagen USA: Different People

With all the buzz surrounding the Daihatsu brand, we recently delved into the brand's specific lineup to see what else they really have to offer in Japan. Short answer: small cars with funny names. You can click this link for a longer answer. But on the other side of the lake to the west of us, we see another distant land with a different people. and other peopleWagons, obviously. Below is a summary of the difference between our Volkswagens and the US.

Why is America so big?

Everything in the United States of America is slightly (or three) larger than continental Europe. Think of all the times you've seen a Dodge Ram drive by and immediately the housings appear to crack and the lights change. And it's not just because Americans are big kids who like big toys. Actually there is a reason for that.

Look, Europe has been around for a while. Now I don't want to pretend that the continent of North America didn't exist in the past, but we certainly don't know anything about it. When America was discovered, there were cities here that had already existed in Europe for decades, if not hundreds of years. Everything was small, cramped and narrow back then, and we, the people of culture, wanted to protect those inner cities.

When America was discovered, everything was open and spacious. The cities that developed there also started from nothing. There is no old city or forts to build around. Everything can be wide and straight. Roads are the same. All roads became wider due to lack of space. Wider roads make room for bigger cars. And voila. Now of course there are more reasons, but this isn't an anthropology site, so let's leave it at that.

“Compact cars” and sedans

America is big, and so are the cars in it. So, as expected, many of Europe's smaller Volkswagens aren't available in the US. These are Up!, Polo, Tyco, T-Cross and T-Rock (interchangeable).

There is a category called compact cars. Here we see the Golf GTI and Golf R with a wider range. Interestingly, the European GTI has 245 hp, four full horsepower more than the one in the US. Our R has 333 hp and the other side only 315.

The next small car is in the segment called sedans. In this category we see three cars, two of which are Jettas. We're looking at the regular Jetta, Jetta GLI and Ardian.

The regular Jetta is powered by a 1.5 turbo petrol with 158 hp. Only that engine is available. The Jetta GLI, on the other hand, is a completely different breed of fish. It's powered by a slightly detuned 2.0 from the GTI. It has 228 HP to play with.

Ardian is also well known in Europe. In Europe it can only be ordered with the 2.0 with 190 hp. Not wrong. It's only available here as a shooting brake, and in the US it's only available as a sedan. In the US you get the same 2.0, which only produces 300 hp. We're not sure why you need this, but whatever.

SUVs

Now we come to the territory of the Americans: large SUVs. In Europe we can choose between Tiguan and Touareg. The latter is rarely bought here, so you don't see much of it. In the US they also have the Tiguan and surprisingly a smaller model called the Taos. The Taos gets the 1.5 with 158 hp and the Tiguan 2.0 with 184 hp.

Strangely, the Touareg isn't available… American range. After the Tiguan, about three steps were promptly skipped and we reached the Volkswagen Atlas. It's a gigantic SUV, no V6. Here too they keep it semi-modest with the 2.0 with 269 horses. And wood in the interior, even in the cheapest version.

Electric Volkswagens?

Let's talk about electric cars briefly: id.4 of them. ID.3, ID.5 and ID.Buzz are not available. They fall prey to IT just like us.7. It seems that it will come in 2024.