Volkswagen Ecoracer, Volkswagen GX3

Former VW chairman Wolfgang Bernhard had his faults, no one could accuse him of lacking dynamism and energy. The two cars you see in the photos - EcoRacer and GX3 - were produced during his reign, along with the new Scirocco, and sadly they've all been consigned to the scrapheap along with Dr Wolfy himself.

The EcoRacer, in yellow, was a tech exercise to show what VW could do - it had an advanced turbo-diesel engine rated at 134bhp and weighed only 850kg.

The combination gave it a 0-62mph time of 6.3 seconds and a top speed of 143mph. A proper screamer - and 80mpg, too.

Wow. If VW is capable of producing such a thing, surely the time is right? The GX3 was one of the most striking machines to hit the roads in years - 1.6-litre engine, 125bhp, 570kg, 0-62mph in 5.7 seconds. But it's been killed by US crash protection laws. Allegedly.

Yes, VW is churning out BlueMotion variants all over the place and, yes, there's talk of resurrecting the 1 litre project. But it's all a bit, well, dull.

Come on VW, entertain us, and do it with a shade of green. We know you can.

© Source: topgear
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