>We called the Audi twin to the VW Passat (Dasher) the Fox. It was a Audi 80
>in Europe.

In fact it was also sold as Audi Fox in Britain, as well as 80. The
design was pure Audi.

>Not to be confused with the VW Fox (which was called the Voyage
>in it's native Brazil--and I think was called the VW Derby in Europe)

The VW Fox was a Brasilian design. The Derby was the notch version of
the Polo hatch, a VW do Deutschland design. Also sold I think as an
Audi, though I've forgotten the number... 50? 70?

>. I had
>an '81 Dasher Diesel wagon. 1974 to 1978 with slight upgrades from 1979 -
>1981. Wagon only available in 1981 in the USA.
>  Now as to the Quantum/Santana being a first generation Passat? No. It was
>clearly the second and began selling in the US in 1982 to 1989. While the
>configuration of the first and second generation Passats (FWD,
>longitudinally mounted engine) was the same, they shared nothing else but
>some power trains. The Second Generation was larger, clunkier, had room for
>the five cylinder Audi engine. Long, long hood. 1.6L Turbodiesel was an
>option. Syncros came later.

Hve you looked at the outa-of-sight parts... firewall, floorpan, door
openings, inner panels? I think you'd find that these went right
through from 1973 (not 1974) to the 80s. It's easy too to lengthen
the nose of an existing design to accomodate a longer engine. In
those days the Europeans used loooooong model cycles; now they
imitate the Japanese with 4-year cycles, or at least much shorter
ones than previously.

>The third generation Passat, and fourth (without
>much change other than some sheet metal) went to transverse. I have one of
>these little nightmares, a '96 GLX Wagon that I constantly pray it will be
>stolen on a trip to Chicago.

That'[s the way to tell a VW design from an Audi; transverse
engine=VW; inline engine=Audi.

>  The new Passat (which I just hate, by the way) goes back to horizontally
>mounted engine. I hear the new Scirocco comes back in 2008. Sadly, I think
>VW has just come out with a group of soul-less, but expensive cars. Except
>for my '85 Vanagon, I think my VW jag is finally over.

Very much the same here. The Golf 1/Scirocco 1 was a good start,
being quick (in larger-engined ie 1.5, 1.6l versions) and benchmark
handling. Even my 75 Golf L 1100 was nippy. The Golf II spelled the
end of VW as a manufacturer of driver's cars.
--
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin
New Zealand
Fossil preparator
<andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut

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