Whitby Free Press, Wodnesday. April 21, 1993. Page 25 Au deel car Worth buying By Glen Konorowski I have always said that when someone makes a diesel that performs as weli as the gas version, I would censider buying it. Weil that day has corne, with the VW Passat. The heart of this Passat is the ail new turbo-charged four-cylin- der 75hp diesel engine. This 1.9L 18 ene-of the cleanest diesels on the road, due te its innovative oxidation catalyst. This unit (similar te catalytic converter) catches the burnt hydrocarbons, selid particies and exhaust odeur coînponents. Besides making the diesel in this car run cleaner, the turbo charger gives the car reasonable performance. Now it's ne rocket off the line but once mnoving, it keeps up witf traffic quite weii. Actually the oniy time you realiy notice it's a diesel is at start-up, when yeu hear the clack of the engine warmng up. Like ail Passats, the CL diesel is weil equipped with ail the geodies that make driving a plea- sure. These include power steer- ing and four-wheel disc brakes, velur-covered seats, split-foiding rear seat, full instrumentation and AM-FM steree, cassette. During the time I hade the car, I was able te, put on more than my average mileage. The car easily surpassed its 7.7L/100 km Transport Canada rating. Like ail Passats, the diesel being ne exception, the ride was firm but comfortable. Seating is on the firm side, with ample reom fer legs in both front and 'rear. The Passat will seat five but it is a littie tightin the rear. T'he trunk on the Passat will easii swaliow iuggage for a fam- ily of twe, adults and three chul- dren (my tribe). If more cargo spaoe is needed, the rear seats wiil fold dewn giving you aimost double your capacity. The Passat diesel now oniy cernes in a five-speed manual transmission. The transmission shifts well allowing you te get around trillc easily. Keeping costs down, VW offers anti-iock brakes as an option, as it is net that pepular in Europe. Since Canadians use their seat beits over 80 per cent of the time, \TW has decided not te add air baga te the Passat yet (statis- tics show that a person properly beited in will bejust as safe as with an air ba g). Prices fo0r, the Passat CL diesel start at $21,525, same as the base gas Passat. The GL diesel Passat is siightly higher at $22 975. Iiyou put in a lot of kilometres a year, a diesel is well worth looking at. Besides the economy, the Passat is just one enjoyable car te drive. By Cheryl-Ann MlacÇean Voikswagen Canada thinks that Whitby's dealership is the top i its class. qe ocation at 1425 Dundas St. E. was the winuer of three separate awards presented on March 27. The President's Masters Award was presented te the dea- lership for. departmnents parts, service and sales. "We are the only dealershîp to win this award in al of those departaients,» says Frank Ver- wr. son of owner Frank The criteria on which the award is based is the level of customer satisfaction and the level ef the dealerships's perfor- mance. Owasce aise has the top sales- person for Vlkswagen Canada in ail of Canada. The Whitby dealership has won the Grand Master's Award every year fer the past il years. This year the award was presented te Henry Ziesman. The Ontario Motor League Service Award was the third award wen by the dealership. This award is presented te the dealership with the highest. level of customer satisfaction. The awards cerenieny was held in Toronte and Owasce Voikswa- gen sent a technician, a service representative and a salesperson te accept the awards on beh aif of the dealership.* Verwey believes that WIhitby's dealership won se rnany awards because they have "a lot of long- term employees and people that care." Cruîsing Classîcs: Off the mark FRODMPAGE 23 steering mechanîsm in place of a steering wheel, foam padding on ail interior areas and rear-facing seats. - Motor Trend of October 1967 thought that air power might one day replace the electric and hydraulc motors used in power windows or windshieid wipers, with the air cering frein a centrai supply. Although it wasn't a prediction, my favourite was a return te the good old - days of 1967: "Don't waste the colant flud in yeur radiator. When your engine has becs running hot, request that the servie station attendant rernove the radiator cap only after he has filled the gas tank, cleaned the windsieid and checked the oul and battery." It seems that in a lot of cases, there was a bit of fog in the old czystal halls. But befmr you laugh at these predictions, put yourseif back inte the 1960s and imagine what yeu would have thought if you'd read something like this: "Four-cylinder engines and front-wheei drive will become an industry standard, and eight-cyinders and rear-wheei drive will go the way of the dinesaur, with only a few expensive cars using it. "The average price of a new car wiIl reach $15,000 and some wili corne off the assembly line at more than $50,000. "Small foreign cars wiil outsell many Amnerican medels, and many U.S. cars will be built using Japanese components. Leaded gas wiii be banned and its no-lead substitute will top $2.75 per gallon."~ What 1960s automotive writer wouldn't have been iaughed off the page for something like that? Yet that's what happened, while we're stili waiting for iight-sensitive windshields and air-powered wipers. Myseif, ]Pm still waiting for the return of that attendant, even at $2.75 a gallon. 1993 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT The tlirst dollar Saturn mrade was from' FAR1IINfG!t Before the first Saturn came off the uine, the Saturn Corporation farmed their land. This respect for the future of our world is an integral part of every car Satum builds. MOTORCITY is proud to represent SATURN. !j SATURN SAAB LSUZ 120 DUNDAS ST. E., WH[TBY 430-2350