Comments on: Ach du lieber! Give me back my Fahrvergnügen!

By: jojowasher

jojowasher — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:51:08 +0000

Pretty sure i read somewhere they have announced already that they are not making any more of these, didn’t sell well enough.

By: mchinsky

mchinsky — Thu, 14 May 2009 12:46:58 +0000

I’m not saying I disagree about the car. I looked at it at its definitely just a coat of pain and a logo on a chrysler. But still, for the average reader, if it were a true ‘volkswagon’ (which in Europe is the Chevy of cars) what would be different?

What we are really saying is the vast majority of american made cars don’t have the fit and finish (especially the interiors) vs. similarly priced foreign cars.

If you’ve been in virtually any chrysler made cars, the interior looks and feels like something Walmart would import, yet they charge similar pricing to foreign cars.

By: David Goodspeed

David Goodspeed — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:53:05 +0000

Sorry, I guess I did not make that point clear enough. In Chrysler form, this is a competent minivan worthy of scrutiny by any in the market, such as yourself. I have owned 2 Chrysler minivan products myself over the past couple of decades and appreciate them for what they are.
However, (making my point here once again) I do not buy this as a Volkswagen. Every VW I have tested, and all of the VW owners I have spoken with in recent years, appreciate the brand for providing owners with a bit more than what Chrysler provides (except in their performance vehicles).
The Routan is not what I expect from a brand such as Volkswagen, but perhaps this is their way of showing consumers they want to distinguish themselves towards being more of a daily grocery-getter than being more driver-oriented as their Audi brand. Perhaps we will see more future VW product being minor makeovers of North American product and telling us “Hey, I know you had Audi dreams, but you have to settle for VW reality”.
And I agree that Sienna and Odyssey are superior in style, quality and performance over the Chrysler (and Volkswagen) product.

By: mchinsky

mchinsky — Tue, 12 May 2009 21:40:23 +0000

This ‘review’ makes no sense. You say the Chrysler is a good minivan (although as a Sienna owner who studied the new chrysler/Dodge minivans and found them lacking in many ways) but then you say you don’t ‘care’ for it.

What are the specifics? Poor handling? Poor power? Doesn’t have a european handling feel?

You can’t say you don’t care for a car and call it a review. It’s just not credible.

You might just hate minivans in general. I know there is a big stigma. If you’ve got 3 or 4(like me kids) you have little choice since flipmobile, gas guzzling, over priced, minimal storage, hard to enter/exit mega-suv’s are hardly a good alternative.

There is simply nothing more efficiently designed as a minivan for carry people and/or cargo in comfort.

That being said IMHO the Sienna and Odyssey are superior.

By: Christopher Gavula

Christopher Gavula — Tue, 12 May 2009 20:34:42 +0000

This isn’t exactly the first deal these two have had together (remember when VW used to supply the engines for the original Dodge Omni – oh yeah baby!) or when VW leased space at a Chrysler factory to build Rabbits (that didn’t work out too well either), but this is the worst. They barely disguised this thing!

By: NewTe.ch

NewTe.ch — Mon, 11 May 2009 21:07:46 +0000

Ach du lieber! Give me back my Fahrvergngen!:
Quite often I am asked What happens when you get a vehicle you .. http://tr.im/l48i

By: Michael Anderson

Michael Anderson — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:03:35 +0000

… but since Chrysler would make money selling it to VW, and many people buying the VW are thinking they are cool and hip and not buying a traditional ‘Caravan’ … isn’t it all win for Chrysler anyway?