Mondo Motoring » VW http://mondomotoring.com For people who love cars. Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:12:39 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Scirocco Cabrio? http://mondomotoring.com/2007/09/28/scirocco-cabrio/ http://mondomotoring.com/2007/09/28/scirocco-cabrio/#comments Fri, 28 Sep 2007 16:23:21 +0000 Michael J. DeWane http://mondomotoring.com/archives/76 It’s hard to believe it was back in 2003 that VW showed the Concept R roadster. No doubt Porsche put the kebosh on VW’s bargain Boxster. Rumors have been bouncing around for the last 10 years of a VW roadster at one time there was even talk of a retro Karmann Ghia following the New Beetle’s success, so take this one with a grain of salt. Word is now slipping out that the people’s car company is planning a roadster version of their new Scirocco sports coupe. Autoexpress is displaying exclusive images of a very fetching roadster based on the upcoming Scirocco. It’s no Concept R, but a sharp looking roadster nonetheless. The original Scirocco never appeared in cabrio form, at least not off the production line. You can see the Auto Express images here, and for a view of what might have been, there are some Concept R photos after the jump.

vw-concept-r.jpgconcept_9_lr.jpgconcept_10_lr.jpg

]]> http://mondomotoring.com/2007/09/28/scirocco-cabrio/feed/ 0 Stanford’s Junior Makes IDF Appearance http://mondomotoring.com/2007/09/19/stanfords-junior-makes-idf-appearance/ http://mondomotoring.com/2007/09/19/stanfords-junior-makes-idf-appearance/#comments Wed, 19 Sep 2007 09:09:47 +0000 Michael J. DeWane http://mondomotoring.com/archives/41 junior_1.jpgI’m out here at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, and was thrilled to see Junior on display. It’s not exactly the kind of car you want to drive, but what an amazing piece of technology. Stanford’s Junior is their entry in the DARPA Urban Challenge. Stanley, Stanfords entry in the DARPA Offroad Challenge won quite handily. That contest seemed pretty simple by comparison. In the offroad challenge an autonomous vehicle had to successfully navigate miles of desert to a designated finish point. In the Urban Challenge the competing vehicles are still driverless, but they have the added responsibility of obeying traffic laws and avoiding pedestrians and regular road traffic.


The first DARPA offroad challenge was a complete failure, no contestants completed the task. Junior is a Volkswagen Passat and, as shown in the pictures below, heavily modified with sensors and processing equipment.

It will certainly be interesting to see what transpires in the first DARPA Urban Challenge. In the meantime, be sure to enjoy the pretty pictures.

junior_1.jpgjunior_2.JPGjunior_3.JPGjunior_4.jpgjunior_5.jpgjunior_6.JPGjunior_8.jpgjunior_7.jpgjunior_9.jpgjunior_10.jpgjunior_11.jpg

]]> http://mondomotoring.com/2007/09/19/stanfords-junior-makes-idf-appearance/feed/ 0