#golf

Volkswagen just made the famed Nurburgring 24 hour race even more exciting by announcing their Golf24 touring car will compete at the historic endurance event this year.

MR Car Design has taken Volkswagen‘s Golf R and added a touch of spice with a new tuning package. The tuning package increases horsepower from the factory 266-hp to a respectable 325-hp while torque jumps from 256 ft-lbs to 345.

So what exactly do you do when a manufacturer doesn’t sell what you want? You build it of course. Front end conversions are nothing new to report, some are done right and some… not so much. But this one we’re huge fans of, especially since it’s on a platform that wouldn’t be the first thing that pops up in our head.

Volkswagen will debut a new set of ultra-efficient BlueMotion diesels at the Frankfurt Auto Show in just two weeks. Included in the list are the new BlueMotion versions of the Polo, Golf and Passat.

First up is the ultra-efficient BlueMotion Polo sub-compact, which is powered by a 75hp 1.2-liter diesel engine. Improving even on the already impressive Polo TDI that gets 56 mpg, this new car gets 71.3 mpg! Equipped with a 12 gallon (45 liter) tank the BlueMotion Polo has a theoretical travel distance of 847 miles (1,363 kilometers).

Next is the BlueMotion Golf, which gets 61.9 mpg, while still producing 105hp and 185 ft-lbs of torque, allowing it to hit 62 mph in 11. 3seconds and top out at 120 mph (190 km/h) on the German autobahn.

Finally, there’s the BlueMotion Passat, a mid-sized car that gets 53.5 mpg. It might not get up to speed very quickly, taking 12.5 seconds to 62 mph thanks to the same 105-hp engine as found in the Golf, but with a large 18.5 gallon (70 liter) tank it can travel 989 miles (1,591 km) at a time, which Volkswagen says equates to just seven fill-ups per year.

We’ll be sure to bring you more on VW’s new BlueMotion models from the Frankfurt Auto Show, starting September 15th.

Official release after the jump:

Today Volkswagen officially launched the return of the Golf GTD – a Golf that is high in both performance and fuel economy, thanks to its diesel engine. With 170hp it outstrips the TDI model by 30 ponies. The real difference, however, is in the torque where the GTD makes 258 ft-lbs of the good stuff.

UPDATED (October 2, 2009): Volkswagen has now officially released details on the 2010 Golf TDI. The new model is rated at 30/41 mpg (city/hwy) for the manual transmission and 32/42 mpg with VW’s advanced DSG automatic transmission. The car is priced from $21,990.