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Guest Opinion: R32 Versus the World
By By: VWvortex Forum Reader: TechEd
Feb 6, 2004, 16:42

Who really understands the works of Leonard Cohen, Talking Head David Byrne or Peter Gabriel? Consider the images of Salvador Dali or Picasso. At the very least, appreciating them and others like them comes only to those with an open mind and an adventurous spirit.

These artists did not let the burden of popular perceptions and judgments influence them, and the challenge of balancing artistic impression with commercial success is common to them all. Luckily, a select few who value, seek and embrace alternative views will always exist. Undoubtedly, times are tough when the vast unwashed masses immediately label artists as weird and inaccessible. Whether the perceptions that result in these judgments are based in fact or driven (as they are in most cases) by the misinformed masses is irrelevant - followers of the uncommon are often judged to be elitists or just plain weird. The weird elitists judge others to be mouth breathing, uncultured morons. Perception is always reality. In this, the art does not change.

“I asked her name and in a dark brown voice, she said Lola”

Do we pity the poor sod in the Kinks’ song “Lola”, or do we admire the open-minded and positive tone at the end of the song? When it comes to these and other forms of passion, people are vulnerable in their perceptions. All psychobabble aside, automobile enthusiasts are similarly afflicted, and things are not often what they seem.

Long before the first Volkswagen R32s rolled up the loading ramp bound for eager USA patrons, key questions began to surface. What did it represent? To what might it be compared? Volkswagen’s history in the USA has always struggled with a uniqueness and lack of convention that not everyone was able to embrace. The R32 seemed to fit that mold immediately.

The root may lie in heritage. The conservative automotive engineering community of early 30s Germany saw Dr. Ferdinand Porsche’s vision of a rear-mounted air cooled engine on an radical stamped steel platform/backbone frame suspended by torsion bars as preposterous. But it would be this focused technical innovation, use of new materials and creating a market that would forever ingrain itself in Volkswagen’s brand DNA. In times relevant for us, Volkswagen’s pioneering spirit gave us the first mass market application of electronic fuel injection (1968 Type III) and front wheel drive (1974 Golf/Rabbit). These innovations are now the cornerstones of the industry, despite their initial quirkiness.

And then there is the phenomenon of Volkswagen in the USA. Volkswagen’s presence on these shores is very brief at only 5 decades and was fraught from the outset with negative perception. In 1949, VW boss Heinz Nordhoff dispatched a bespectacled Pen Pon to New York with a Beetle and some parts. His mission was to generate Importer interest, but initial reactions were that he had perpetuated a joke. Judged to be a small, ugly, underpowered lump of a car, Pon’s valiant attempt was met with failure. In fact, the first Beetle ever sold in America was an act of desperation. Pon had run up a considerable tab at the Roosevelt Hotel, and a local importer agreed to buy his car and parts to settle the debt. Undaunted, Nordhoff solved key supply problems, got commitments and thus forged what would become a truly remarkable experience for both his company and Americans alike. Inexplicably, a select few with an open mind and an adventurous spirit, embraced the Beetle.

For both past and present, those drawn into the Volkswagen family of owners see themselves as truly different and unique. An oversimplification indeed, but ask any dedicated Volkswagen owner and they’ll state the same thing: They have no idea how to define it for others to really grasp, but, well, they just “get it”. If it’s remotely definable at all, it is that there is a passion and kinship that transcends the object itself. While all Volkswagen owners have experienced both good days and bad days since 1949, these unusual souls, with their unusual cars, maintain the most atypical man-machine relationship of any in the realm of automotive history. Indeed, GM thought it understood this and attempted to create a similar buzz when establishing its Saturn brand. They neglected to recognize that it could only ever emerge from the hearts of the owners’. The conclusion of “Lola” comes to mind.

Now, I’m not suggesting the R32 be compared to a drag queen, but on these shores, to this date, it is mostly misunderstood.

Ah, …the American auto marketplace. Known in the worldwide auto industry as the most competitive and volatile market in the world. The Paris-Dakar Rally of all global auto markets, it is embedded in consumerism unparalleled anywhere else. Its sordid scope begins with the most demanding, fickle, self-righteous, litigious consumers, through the most convoluted, restrictive and insanely expensive government certification requirements on the planet. Unlike the rest of the world, a vehicle’s design intent seems immaterial in America. From the outside looking in, when pick up trucks rarely pick anything up, and Sport Utes never go off road, but are wrongly assumed to be a safer alternative to cars, European manufacturers are easily puzzled. Thank goodness there are us enthusiasts, but all is not well in our house either. Declaring our passion for a particular marque and defending our perceptions often results in vicious attacks and disrespect leveled at our peers. Sadly, this seems the norm among those that don’t yet own the object of his/her desires. Angry youth, I suppose.

The buff-books that feed these young’uns, like so many open beaked, squawking baby birds in their nest, might be to blame. They consume and interpret numbers and specifications ravenously without regard for subjective relevance. When perpetuated by a magazine’s desire to rank compared vehicles, a .5 second difference in 0-60 times between cars is deemed an eternity. When stuck in traffic on the way to school or work, all this loses its significance. But don’t fret, the young among us all get over this innocence when they’ve actually owned several cars, driven them in the real world and hopefully embraced a deeper appreciation. They’ll discover it has more to do with refinement and intangibles like heritage than it has to do with raw numbers and holding a road test editor’s word as that of God. When the juvenile bragging rights and petty posturing is forgotten, an entirely new and different demographic emerges.

Popular consensus concerning the presence of the R32 in America has it being no match for the boy racer WRX Sti and Mitsubishi Evo VIII. The numbers are thrown about like manure off the back of the farmer’s wagon. The fact that the R32 was never meant for the US market is not accepted in its defense. The USA was the furthest thing on the minds of Volkswagen’s planners when the R32 was conceived. VWAG is well known for seeking and emphasizing uniqueness within certain boundaries as a marque value point, and they saw it to be in Europe where the R32 would shine.

The R32 is in reality another of Volkswagen’s attempts at balancing technical impression with commercial success. They accept that few will appreciate it, but that’s okay. Many late hours were spent on crafting how to present it to the small and unique group of target buyers. These would be early 80’s Golf GTI owner’s that seek the same level of passion, but in a more refined and understated package. Angry youth matured. This strategy is supported very subtly by the name. Notice how the R32 is not a GTI?? In that assessment, VWAG would be correct. The fact that everyone in the US was quick to throw the R32 into the Evo/Sti argument may be to its detriment. One characteristic of the US auto market is that perceptions are based on comparison, and that there must always be a winner and loser in this regard.

Let's not be so quick to judge this or any other distinctive car. Remember that it was a group of US journalists with only good intent, and little foresight that twisted Pischetsrieder's arm to subsidize the existence of the R32 here. Be grateful and seek solace in the fact that the R32 is unique, more refined and better executed for daily use that the Evo or STi will ever be. Intended for the enjoyment of those with an open mind and an adventurous spirit, it is a Volkswagen in the purest sense. To me personally, The R32 serves as a loud and clear assertion that we in the VW community remain opposed to the rampant "ME TOO" movement that just doesn't "get it". The value for us is pure, and beyond reproach.

Many people enjoy eating apples and oranges, but in the end they are still… just apples and oranges. The R32 is passion fruit.

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