New Car

An entry from John & Jessica's Blog Our Story...

Back in June I posted about wanting to get rid of our beast, the Commander, and getting a minivan. We have been looking and thinking about it for months but we FINALLY went for it last Wednesday! I wanted to wait a bit to post about it just to make sure I really did like it :) After a weekend trip to St. George I officially love it! So... goodbye Commander, hello Routan.



*pictures were all taken with my iPhone. My computer needs to have the hard drive replaced so all posting will be done with my phone for now. Bummer.

Andy Stonehouse reviews the Town & Country

In September, Andy Stonehouse reviewed the Routan. His review in full is in the previous post.

On October 24, Andy posted a review of the Chrysler Town & Country. His first memorable remark was that in Yosemite, minivans are Grizzly lunchboxes because they smell of children. His other memorable remark was: "It still handles like a minivan — what Volkswagen said about its T&C-derived Routan being re-tuned for better ride and performance was true ..."

I read this as a nod to the Routan--that it DOES ride better than the T&C.

VW's Routan makes the minivan routine more pleasant

SummitDaily.com

September 13, 2009

By Andy Stonehouse
summit daily auto writer


ENLARGE
2009 Volkswagen Routan SEL

Price (as tested): $33,690

Powertrain: 251-horsepower 4.0-liter V-6, six-speed automatic transmission

Includes: Navigation system, power sunroof, power-adjustable pedals, power-folding third row seat, remote start, rear air suspension, power-sliding and lifting side doors and liftgate, leather seating surfaces, power windows in side doors, Bluetooth

EPA mileage: 17 city, 25 highway

If your hauling duties call for a vehicle which can carry at least half of the lacrosse team, and you too have come to the consensus that only Texas tourists drive Expeditions anymore … I may have a solution for you.

And yes, it is a minivan, and yes, I did recently diss the entire genre of minivans, but … Volkswagen has crafted a slight exception to the rule. More impractical supercar coverage soon, I promise.

The Routan, launched about this time last year (you may remember the weird ads with Brooke Shields), is a peculiar but oddly inviting alternative in the box-tastic world of people-haulers. It is, absolutely, a joint project with Chrysler and is, for the most part, a Town and Country minivan with a fair amount of Volkswagen-specific parts and attributes, but don't use that as a reason to write it off entirely.

On the outside, the looks are definitely sexier than the standard American-made model; the interior offers a hybrid blend of Chrysler components (the navigation system and steering wheel setup, for instance) with plenty of totally VW bits and pieces (a new dash, wider and more comfortable seating and the AC system).

Rarely do I get a chance to travel with an absolutely full house of passengers (people at my office have seen me doing donuts in the back parking lot and tend to run the other way), but when a lunch date required room for myself and six riders, the Routan came in mighty handy.

It also gave me a very practical chance to see what happens when that many people need to operate the doors, flop down the access points and sashay themselves into the back of a moderately sized vehicle. I can report, from the relative lack of uncomfortable squeals and whining, that the Routan does the trick.

Unlike the Town and Country, Routan lacks the handy second-row “Fold-and-Go” seats — permanently affixed second-row captains chairs appeared instead in my tester — though the nearly keg-sized storage spaces underneath the carpets remain.
In the third row, there's a 60/40 split seat which can be stowed entirely (or reclined) electronically; my guests reported that they had definite issues accessing the third row, as those second row chairs would only rather indelicately flop forward.

The large side doors both open electronically, as does the tail liftgate (you can do so remotely with the key fob, which is handy, or from the driver's seat) but … despite a self-arresting function, I still managed to nearly get one passenger's leg caught in the door, so prudence is necessary. The side doors also feature power windows, which will roll down about 70 percent of the way.

Out on the highway, some of the key minivan attributes remain (ie., it's still more or less like driving a boxy minivan), though the SEL model's 251-horsepower 4.0-liter V-6 offered quite adequate thrust, even with a full house. You can also generate as much as 25 mpg on the highway, though 21 was more my norm.

The manufacturer boasts that Routan has received special VW-specific ride tuning; I haven't had a new-generation Town and Country so I can't vouch for that, but it was certainly pleasant enough.

VW's Ad Agencies

I just came across finding bee and it's recent post, VW Narrows it Down to Two: What’s Next for the Iconic Brand?. Volkswagen has to select a new Ad Agency, and the post discusses the choices to a degree. It also reminded me of VW's past glorious history of advertising.

When I was in advertising, I read a wonderful book about Doyle Dane Bernbach's (DDB) iconic print advertising for Volkswagen. It was a blank sheet of paper, with a relatively small picture of the original Beetle and a little (often witty) copy at the bottom. Often copied, never duplicated, it put VW on the U.S. map, legitimized "Beetle", debunked or perpetuated urban myths (Can Beetles really float?). If you showed anyone over the age of 40 this ad, they'd recognize it as VW even before they put on their reading glasses.

More recently, VW had some mixed results with their ex-agency, Crispin Porter & Bogusky. It seems the Brooke Shields series of ads for the Routan made people feel uncomfortable. I thought they were funny, and I bought a Routan without having another child (remember, I saw the DDB ads when they were originally published).

The finding bee site also had this commercial. While not for the Routan, it's pretty good.


Do you have a favorite Volkswagen or Routan commercial? Leave a comment. If you can post a link, all the better. I'd love to have a link to the Routan "Future Family" commercial. I didn't fully understand it when I first saw it, then I bought the Routan. I split a gut laughing the next time I saw it.

Manufacturers Offer Richest Incentives Since Cash for Clunkers

Auto Observer

After dismal September car sales due to the hangover from the government's Cash for Clunkers program, auto manufacturers have ramped up incentives in October as they have ramped up production to refill the inventory pipeline, according to Edmunds.com.
The incentives show manufacturers are extremely eager to sell off 2009 models left in inventory. But automakers are also offering incentives on newly launched 2010 models.
"This year has been a wild ride for automakers, and it's not over yet," said Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell. "No segment is unaffected by the current round of incentives, though luxury models and trucks are being discounted particularly heavily."
Low-interest financing, including zero-interest financing, and cash rebates dominate the landscape, but subsidized lease programs, almost non-existent in the past years, are proliferating as well.

Luxury makers, particularly Mercedes-Benz, are offering great deals as is General Motors, which is offering 0-percent financing on many models. Some hybrids and diesels are also on sale.
Here are some highlights of Edmunds.com's True Market Value (TMV) Deals of the Month, which are deals that Edmunds.com has determined offer the most savings to consumers.
General Motors: Back in the Game
… In September, GM launched its massive May the Best Car Win campaign, starring GM's government-appointed chairman Ed Whitacre and including a 60-day money-back guarantee. More recent advertising focuses on GM's four core brands - Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC -- and specific models. GM's Bob Lutz, now in charge of marketing, said last week GM will be "more aggressive" and spend big on advertising.
In addition, GM is spending significantly on incentives. The automaker is offering zero-percent financing on many models. …
October Is Truck Month for All
After lousy sales of big profit margin trucks in September, dealers begged GM to bring back the annual October Truck Month extravaganza. GM obliged and is offering low-incentive financing as well as large cash rebates on trucks.
But, while GM and its domestic competitors Ford and Dodge area also heavily advertising truck month, Nissan is offering the beefiest incentive on trucks, including its full-size Nissan Titan pickup: $5,0000 cash rebates or zero-percent financing for up to 50 months and 1.9 percent for 72 months.
However, despite trucks being a heavily leased segment, the truck segment is the only category in which Edmunds.com's Deals of the Month do not show a lease program.
Lap of Luxury Now Cheaper
Luxury car sales have been pounded by the recession, and it shows in the Deals of the Month in October.
The fashion-conscious luxury segment is particularly sensitive to model changeovers so it's critical for luxury makers to ditch the old models quickly. To that end, several attractive deals are available on leftover 2009 models.
With summer over, convertibles are on sale. GM is overing up to a $4,000 rebate on its Chevrolet Corvette or zero-interest financing for up to 60 months. The 2009 Audi A4 convertible is also discounted this month.
Long-suffering Saab, which is being sold by GM, has $6,000 to $7,000 dealer incentives on the Saab 9-3 Convertible and Saab 9-5.
On the cheaper end of luxury, Mini has been heavily advertising its 1.9-percent finance rate on the 2009 Mini Cooper.
Having reported a 13-percent sales decline in September, Mercedes-Benz, in particular, is offering a number of great deals on 2009 models, mostly as cash to dealers that can be passed along to buyers. For instance, Mercedes-Benz SL has a hefty $15,000 dealer incentive….
Alternate Power On Sale
BMW is offering a "Diesel Credit" on all of its diesel models. It is offering a $4,500 credit on the diesel-powered X5 SUV and the 335d.
In addition to the Saturn Aura Hybrid, GM is offering a $4,000 rebate on the pricey Cadillac Escalade Hybrid. Chrysler is offering $4,500 off or zero-percent financing on the Chrysler Aspen Hybrid, which shares the same two-mode hybrid technology as the Escalade but the Aspen was barely launched before the automaker pulled it off the market.
Even Honda's new Insight hybrid is available with a specially priced $199 a month lease.
Family Deals
A handful of minivans are on sale. The biggest discount is on Chrysler's Town & Country minivan, which has a $3,500 cash rebate or zero-percent financing for up to 60 months. The Nissan Quest has a $3,000 rebate. The Volkswagen Routan, based on the Chrysler minivans, offers zero-percent financing. And Honda is providing a special lease rate on its Odyssey.
Other models on Edmunds' great deals list for October include the Chevrolet Malibu, Dodge Charger, Honda Civic, Mazda6, Nissan Altima, Suzuki SX4, Volvo C30, Volkswagen Rabbit and Passat. -- Michelle Krebs, Senior Analyst and Editor at Large
Photos by manufacturers
1 - GM is offering a $2,500 rebate or zero-percent financing on the Pontiac Solstice. (Photo by GM)
2 -  Nissan is offering a $5,000 cash rebate on its Titan pickup. (Photo by Nissan)
3 - Mercedes-Benz is giving dealers up to $15,000 in incentives, which can be passed onto consumers, on its luxury cars, including the Mercedes-Benz SL. (Photo by Mercedes-Benz)

A blog worth visiting

I just came across a blog that is definitely worth visiting if you are interested in the Routan. It's the Routan Summer blog http://routansummer.blogspot.com/. Their descrtiption is: "Welcome to our family. What you are reading is the story of our summer adventure in a new 2009 VW Routan. Yup, the German-tuned minivan. Our family of four is always going somewhere, doing something. What are those things? Well I guess you will just have to read along and find out. Welcome to our family. Enjoy our ride."

The most recent post waxes poetic over heated seats. I used to thing they were a decadent, bourgeois affectation and surely unneeded in Memphis. (BTW, like the family in Routan Summer, I grew up in northern Ohio--in a town named Madison that was adjacent to Geneva-on-the-Lake. Perhaps, I thought, they might not be so affectative there.) That is, before I took delivery of a new 1985 Peugeot 505S which came with heated seats. Even in Memphis, where we see freezing temperatures, and where we have already had mornings this year in the low 40s, heated seats make driving a pleasure.

Since that time, I have owned 3 other cars with heated seats--another 1985 Peugeot, a 1984 Mercedes 300SD, and a 1994 Infiniti Q45. I have also owned a handful of cars without heated seats--and I was thankful that I owned them concurrently with the cars above. There was one summer where I owned 2 vehicles that didn't have heated seats, but I remedied that quickly.

The Routan SEL (and maybe the Routan SE) come with two-stage heated seats. High is definitely toasty, I haven't tried low yet. But as an added bonus, the middle seats are also heated. Being the father of 3, who also often transports adults, this is a nice "luxury" to offer.

Somewhere in the process of passing 50 and raising the 3 (17-year old girl, 13-year old boy, 10-year old girl) I have developed fibromyalgia. The heated seats allow me to be able to move. I may have to drag myself out to the car, but the heated seats let me walk into work like a man.

Anyway, Routan Summer's post got me ranting and raving. Visit them, and tell them I sent you.

2009 Volkswagen Routan vs 2008 Chrysler Town & Country--cars.com