"NOTHING SHORT OF MARVEL"

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXV, Issue 14184, 8 October 1946, Page 4

"NOTHING SHORT OF MARVEL"

GERMAN PEOPLE'S CAR HITLER'S VOLKSWAGEN Hitler's Volkswagen, the people's car which at first was believed to have been nothing more than a gigantic bluff to take money from the German people, has proved, after all, to involve new developments in the building of inexpensive cars. To-day, after six months of constant use, British expeits are of the opinion that this 2GO dollar car with its light, pressed-steel body and its air-cooled four-cylinder engine at the back, is nothing short of a marvel in cheap-car designing. Many of the Volkswagen in British hands have now done between 10,000 and 15,000 miles and they are working much better than they did when brand new, a tour of the British zone in a Volkswagen which had done over ' 10,000 miles, showed. The car developed comfortably and maintained over long stretches of the Autobahn speeds of from 5565 miles per hour. It passed many far more powerful cars on the road. The petrol consumption on long runs on the Autobahn is over 35 miles to* the gallon. The air-cooling-system worked perfectly and the whole tour, made at high speed, was without the faintest sign of engine or other mechanical troubles. Many of the defects noted in the first models have been eradicated in later models. In several of these cars there was no trace of the old fault of the windows breaking owing to the need to slam ill-fitting-doors, and the speedometer worked in every case. Most of them had electrically worked signal arms, absence of which on earlier models had caused unfavourable comment. Even at high speeds and in the wettest of weather, the car held the road well. In the hands of a good driver it is a fine light car for city work and it is not uncomfortable even for long runs. It is not, however, very good for bad roads as the springs, while strong, do not take the whole of the shock when bumps are hit at high speed.