How best to send off our Four Seasons Passat TDI after twelve months? A road trip -- or better yet, two of them.

Geneva, Switzerland

There's always a bit of a numbers game at Automobile when you're handed the keys to a convertible in the throes of winter. We've learned that 32 degrees F is the point at which it becomes inadvisable to lower your soft-top. Moisture in or on the top can freeze while the top is stowed, damaging it when you stretch everything out again, so we try to get our top-down fixes only above that number. Thankfully, the Beetle Turbo comes with heated seats and a wind deflector. I packed a pair of gloves and a puffy winter coat for my drive, which took place when it registered 34 degrees F in Ann Arbor. Once I found the power top button (behind the Bluetooth controls at the top of the windshield, out of a tall person's line of sight), and erected the plastic wind deflector (which took me, um, a few minutes), I was off.

It's easy to see why the Volkswagen GTI was our first two-time AOY winner (in 2007 and 2010). Everything about this car is almost perfect. The 2.0-liter turbo-four feels much stronger than its 200 hp/207 lb-ft ratings suggest. There's lots of room for passengers and cargo in a compact footprint. Interior materials are as nice as you'd find in a non-luxury car. And the chassis is tuned to be rewarding on a spirited drive without being punishing on a commute. All of that for under $25,000 makes the GTI very special.

At Automobile Magazine, Volkswagen's GTI is something of an icon: the last two generations of 2.0-liter-turbo hatchback have earned our coveted Automobile of the Year award, and the 2015 GTI has already begun earning more praise. So what happens when you take away the Golf's hatchback body and plaid seats, and add a fabric top, and a retro exterior? We have one year to find out with this, the 2013 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible Turbo.

We're rushing up the Col de Vence into the mountains above Cannes, and we've got the windows cracked open. Every time the dual-clutch six-speed transmission shifts up a gear, the twin exhaust tips give a little pop, a clever simulation of the way that the turbo of a racing car would cavitate under the same circumstances.

Jetta shoppers seeking improved fuel economy suddenly have two very strong choices: hybrid or diesel. Most enthusiasts will probably default to the TDI diesel model, but the Hybrid is worth a serious look.

Although it racked up another 3300 miles this last month, our Four Seasons Volkswagen Passat TDI led a relatively boring life in March. That meant fewer road trips and adventures, more commuting and daily chores.

Welcome to the second round of Automobile Magazines Midsize Madness, our comparison test of the kind of car you see on American roads every day, the midsize sedan.

Welcome to Automobile Magazine's Midsize Madness, our comparison test of the kind of car you see on American roads every day, the midsize sedan.

Mainstream sedans--millions of them. Get out there on the road and you'll find them. Not too big and not too small, all built for the way we drive in this country--even if the carmakers labels seem to come from elsewhere. These are midsize cars built to suit American roads and American drivers, so we really should call them American sedans.

Let us celebrate the Volkswagen Beetle convertible, a car that has successfully ridden the wave of chic-on-the-cheap fashion for more than sixty years. As evidence, we present here an example of the first production Beetle convertible, the 1949 VW Type 14A Hebmueller cabriolet. And for perspective, we also present a representative of the demographic group known for the way it embraces the ideal of style at the right price.

January was a busy month for our Four Seasons Volkswagen Passat TDI. Not only did it return from an extended vacation in New York, but it also crested the 20,000-mile mark and went in for a VW-prescribed check-up at the dealer. February, however, was rather quiet.

The seventh-generation VW Golf -- still a year off for Americans -- is already on sale in Europe, with the new GTI about to follow. We borrowed a pre-production model for a revealing eight-hour shakedown drive in the Ile de France region around Paris.

There’s a good reason this new, seventh-generation Volkswagen GTI triggers a feeling of déjà vu: you have, in fact, seen it before. When VW rolled out its all-new Golf VII range at the Paris Motor show last September, it also unveiled an all-new GTI – but said that the hot hatch was merely a concept. No more. The new GTI returns in time for the 2013 Geneva Motor Show, but this time without the pesky concept suffix.

The new 2014 Volkswagen Golf GTD will make its official debut at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show in March. Although this is far from the first Golf GTD model, it is the first that actually has a fighting chance of actually being sold in North America.

If you're a fan of Volkswagen's turbocharged Beetle, chances are you may be interested in a pair of special-edition Beetle Turbo models debuting this week at the 2013 Chicago Auto Show.

The Jetta Hybrid is Volkswagen's second hybrid vehicle sold in the U.S. (after the Touareg), and it represents a bit of a capitulation for the German automaker. You've got to figure that VW would prefer that fuel-economy-conscious Americans just buy diesels, which VW has lots of experience with and which are immensely popular in Europe. VW also offers diesels here, but now it offers both TDI and Hybrid models of the Jetta. So, does the Hybrid come off as a grudgingly developed compliance car?

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