If you study the product lines of the two Volkswagens in the north and south of China, you will find the fact that FAW-Volkswagen is obviously the one that is relatively cheap in the distribution of imported models. Volkswagen's pillar model Golf, the main mid-level car Magotan (synchronized with the foreign "Passat"), the original compact car Suteng (synchronized with the foreign "Jetta"), and the emerging coupe model Volkswagen CC, all settled in FAW-Volkswagen, while Shanghai Volkswagen, which is recognized as stronger in car manufacturing and marketing, is relatively weak, and the only global models in hand are SUVs Tiguan and POLO, and the small car market where POLO is located is the most seriously shrunken market in China.

 

Therefore, Shanghai Volkswagen's style is more inclined to rely on Volkswagen's platform and technology to build new cars, and today's miraculously successful Lavida series is how it was born. In Shanghai Volkswagen's sedan product line, although Lavida has been too successful to be successful, it has always lacked a less old-fashioned boutique sedan that can improve brand positioning - since the mid-size Volkswagen CC has been given to FAW-Volkswagen, it is better to simply rely on Volkswagen technology to build one: this product is the "wide-body luxury coupe" Lingdu launched in early 2015.

 

Due to the overly high-profile publicity in the early stage of the listing, the Chinese people greatly underestimated Lingdu, and some people even thought that it was the appearance of a coupe that Shanghai Volkswagen copied in the case of not getting the speed. In fact, the performance and configuration of Lingdu are almost top-notch in domestic Volkswagen cars, and it should not be self-indulgent at all because it is "independently designed" by Chinese. First of all, Lingdu is the first Volkswagen car equipped with the third-generation EA888 1.8T engine and 7-speed wet dual-clutch transmission, and it is also the first independent suspension model in China to use Volkswagen's latest MQB platform, and its mechanical specifications are actually slightly ahead of the same level of Golf.

 

In Lingdu, the low-speed frustration of the Volkswagen dual-clutch gearbox has finally been basically solved, and its chassis compliance and shock absorption are far better than that of the Golf, and better than the Sutar, which also uses independent suspension. And Lingdu is still a very quiet car, in terms of driving experience, this car has basically achieved "cross-level".

 

However, in terms of applicability, Lingdu's shortcomings are a bit too prominent. The legroom in the rear is very compact, and the lack of headroom in the rear is oppressive, which has to do with the backrest angle being too upright in the back - such an upright backrest is naturally very poor in long-distance comfort. The middle rear seat of the Lingdu is almost impossible to sit in an adult, and in this respect it is much worse than the coupe Volkswagen CC of the same door. Moreover, the front seat of Lingdu is also on the hard side, which will feel uncomfortable when driving long distances, and the position of its supporting foot rest pedal is too far back, which may cause the resting left foot to be more tired than the right foot of driving. In short, in terms of comfort and ergonomics, this car is probably the worst among the "performance cars" in its class.

 

In terms of quality, Lingdu is still plagued by the reliability of Volkswagen's oil circuit system, although it has not been on the market for a long time, and has already received many quality complaints. However, because it uses Volkswagen's innovative platform, there is reason to believe that it is more reliable than most Volkswagen cars on the market today. In terms of safety, Lingdu, as a model independently designed in China and only for the Chinese market, currently lacks sufficient crash test data, but Lavida, which is also an independent model, can get high scores in China's C-NCAP crash test, and there is no reason for Lingdu, which is positioned higher, to be worse than it.

 

In addition to the lack of applicability, the inflated pricing is also a major problem for Lingdu, but fortunately, Shanghai Volkswagen has flexibly adjusted the terminal price, and Lingdu may be the Volkswagen car with the largest discount at present.