2. True, false, or not given

   1. The first Passat came into a market in 1973.

   2. Passat was the first station wagon for family usage.

   3. In Europe and America Passat was known under different names.

   4. The first Passat diesel engine was introduced in 1979.

   5. Before 1979 Passat had an engine comprised of four pistons allocated linearly.

   6. Starting from 1981 Volkswagen produced diesel-powered Passat Wagons only the US.

   7. Up to the third generation of Passats, there were only diesel-engined VPs available in the US.

   8. From 1998 to 2000 Volkswagen offered American buyers a choice of either a 5-speed automatic or 5-speed manual transmission.

   9. Passat became a luxury car in 2000 and has stayed in the segment ever since.

   10. There had not been any upgrades of diesel engines before 2004.

   11. Passat will become a more squared vehicle again in the near future.

   12. Volkswagen’s representatives have made some comments on the future development of Passat.

S ome extra texts to enjoy and ponder on

Text A. Criticism

A poster used to promote carpooling as a way to ration gasoline during World War II.

Transportation is a major contributor to air pollution in most industrialised nations. According to the American Surface Transportation Policy Project nearly half of all Americans are breathing unhealthy air. Their study showed air quality in dozens of metropolitan areas has worsened over the last decade. In the United States the average passenger car emits 11,450 pounds (5,190 kg) of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide annually, along with smaller amounts of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen.

Animals and plants are often negatively impacted by automobiles via habitat destruction and pollution. Over the lifetime of the average automobile the "loss of habitat potential" may be over 50,000 square meters (540,000 sq.ft.). Millions of animals are also killed every year on roads by automobiles—so-called roadkill.

Growth in the popularity of vehicles and commuting has led to traffic congestion. Brussels is considered Europe's most congested city.

Fuel taxes may act as an incentive for the production of more efficient, hence less polluting, car designs (e.g. hybrid vehicles) and the development of alternative fuels. High fuel taxes may provide a strong incentive for consumers to purchase lighter, smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, or to not drive. On average, today's automobiles are about 75 percent recyclable, and using recycled steel helps reduce energy use and pollution. In the United States Congress, federally mandated fuel efficiency standards have been debated regularly, passenger car standards have not risen above the 27.5 miles per US gallon (8.55L/100km; 33.0mpg-imp) standard set in 1985. Light truck standards have changed more frequently, and were set at 22.2miles per US gallon (10.6L/100km; 26.7mpg-imp) in 2007. Alternative fuel vehicles are another option that is less polluting than conventional petroleum powered vehicles.

Oil consumption in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has been abundantly pushed by automobile growth; the 1985 – 2003 oil glut (перепроизводство нефти, перенасыщение рынка нефти) even fuelled the sales of low economy vehicles in OECD (Организация экономического сотрудничества и развития) countries. The BRIC countries might also kick in, as China briefly was the first automobile market in December 2009.

Residents of low-density, residential-only sprawling communities are also more likely to die in car collisions which kill 1.2 million people worldwide each year, and injure about forty times this number. Sprawl is more broadly a factor in inactivity and obesity, which in turn can lead to increased risk of a variety of diseases.

Source: http://www.transact.org/report.asp?id=227

John A. Jakle, Keith A. Sculle. (2004). Lots of Parking: Land Use in a Car Culture. Charlottesville: Univ. of Virginia Press.ISBN 0813922666.

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Text B. BMW

BMW entered existence as a business entity following a restructuring of the Rapp Motorenwerke aircraft engine manufacturing firm in 1917. After the end of World War I in 1918, BMW was forced to cease aircraft engine production by the terms of the Versailles Armistice Treaty. The company consequently shifted to motorcycle production in 1923 once the restrictions of the treaty started to be lifted, followed by automobiles in 1928–29.

The circular blue and white BMW logo or roundel is portrayed by BMW as the movement of an aircraft propeller, to signify the white blades cutting through the blue sky – an interpretation that BMW adopted for convenience in 1929, twelve years after the roundel was created. The emblem evolved from the circular Rapp Motorenwerke company logo, from which the BMW company grew, combined with the blue and white colours of the flag of Bavaria, reversed to produce the BMW roundel (маленький диск, нечто круглое). However, the origin of the logo being based on the movement of a propeller is in dispute, according to an article posted in 2010 by the New York Times, quoting “at the BMW Museum in Munich, Anne Schmidt-Possiwal, explained that the blue-and-white company logo did not represent a spinning propeller, but was meant to show the colours of the Free State of Bavaria.”

BMW's first significant aircraft engine was the BMW IIIa inline-six liquid-cooled engine of 1918, much preferred for its high-altitude performance. With German rearmament in the 1930s, the company again began producing aircraft engines for the Luftwaffe. Among its successful WWII engine designs were the BMW 132 and BMW 801 air-cooled radial engines, and the pioneering BMW 003 axial-flow turbojet, which powered the tiny, 1944-1945-era jet-powered "emergency fighter", the Heinkel He 162 Spatz. The BMW 003 jet engine was tested in the A-1b version of the world's first jet fighter, the Messerschmitt, but BMW engines failed on takeoff, a major setback for the jet fighter program until successful testing with Junkers engines.

In 2006, the BMW group (including Mini and Rolls-Royce) produced 1,366,838 four-wheeled vehicles, which were manufactured in five countries. In 2010, it manufactured 1,481,253 four-wheeled vehicles and 112,271 motorcycles (under both the BMW and Husqvarna brands).

The BMW X3 (E83) was made by Magna Steyr, a subsidiary of Magna of Canada, in Graz, Austria under license from BMW until 2010. Over 45.973 were produced in 2009. Starting October 2010 the new BMW X3 (F25) is produced in BMW's plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, U.S.A. From September 2010, the plant is producing MINI Countryman.

It is reported that about 56 per cent BMW brand vehicles produced are powered by petrol engines and the remaining 44 per cent are powered by diesel engines. Of those petrol vehicles, about 27 per cent are four cylinder models and about nine per cent are eight-cylinder models.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW

http://www.ovguide.com/bmw-9202a8c04000641f8000000000009faf

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Text C. Toyota Land Cruiser

The Toyota Land Cruiser 4 x 4 has a long evolutionary history beginning back in 1951 when the vehicle was primarily used by the military overseas. At that time, the off road vehicle that had been manufactured and designed using the army surplus materials available from Toyota's government contract was a lightweight vehicle with a heavy duty engine and transmission. In 1954 the aggressive 4 x 4 was officially named the Land Cruiser.

Years of engineering and design expertise have been incorporated into the Land Cruiser. By 1965 the Land Cruiser was the best selling Toyota vehicle in the United States. Although this powerful 4 x 4 was designed to excel during off road driving, as the vehicle itself grew in popularity, the overall size of the Land Cruiser grew as well to accommodate the needs and desires of a larger group of automotive consumers that did not spend the majority of the time off road. However, off road capability never diminished. It only stands to reason with the vehicle's increase in overall size, upgraded materials, advanced engineering and new technologies that the cost of the vehicle would increase as well. Though the initial investment is comparatively high, the majority of Land Cruiser owners and industry analysts do agree that you get what you pay for with this vehicle-true 4 x 4 off road capabilities and utility within a constantly distinctive exterior and a more lavish interior.

The success of the Land Cruiser in the United States can be measured by high sales and customer satisfaction statistics as well as by the prestigious recognition this hard working and chameleon-like vehicle has received from experts in the automotive industry. In 1980, the Land Cruiser was the recipient of Off Road Magazine's 4 x 4 of the Year Award. From that point on, barely a year was missed when this evolutionary vehicle did not receive a highly recognized award in America, including the 'Most Reliable SUV' from Consumer Reports and the 'Best Buy Premium Large SUV' from Consumer Guide for the 2005 model year.

For the 2007 model year, the full size luxury 4X4 Toyota Land Cruiser SUV is equipped with a 4.7 liter V8 engine and smoothly transports driver and passengers in a luxuriously appointed interior over a variety of terrain. The versatile design of the cargo and passenger areas enable a variety of interior configurations to easily adapt to your changing needs.

Source: http://www.carseek.com/reviews/toyota/land-cruiser/

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Text D. Exterior design

The subject of surface treatments is a very wide one, and I should take a few words to establish the scope of what you are about to read. What this article won’t cover is the broad topic of coatings, which was covered most recently in RET 47 (June/July 2010). The scope here is to deal with heat treatments whose aim is to alter the surface of the material in question, and mechanical or chemical treatments that fundamentally alter the nature of the surface or the state of stress within it. There are always going to be areas of contention (спор, разногласия); nitrided titanium produces titanium nitride and, within the realm of this article, this is a surface treatment, although titanium nitride PVD coating (покрытие, полученное путем физического осаждения в парогазовой среде) on steel is not. I hope the reasons behind this become clear as the article progresses.

Surface treatments allow us to design and develop the modern race engine, to use materials that would otherwise be unsuitable or to develop components that are very much lighter and more durable than they would be in the absence of such treatments. They can mitigate (смягчать, уменьшать, ослаблять) the effects of friction, improve surface finish, decrease wear and improve the endurance limit of many components. By their judicious (продуманный, целесообразный) application, we are able to imbue (насыщать) our new designs of racing components with such attributes. Due to mechanical reasons or those of economy, however, we cannot use them on every component, so we need to give careful thought to which surface treatments we should use, and on which components, in order to obtain maximum benefit.

We can split the subject broadly into two categories – chemical treatments and mechanical treatments – although even here the boundaries are blurred (размытый). Chemical treatments, such as nitro-carburising or anodising, fundamentally change the chemical composition of both the surface and a thin layer beneath it. Mechanical treatments, of which peening (дробеструйная обработка поверхности, обдувка дробью (для поверхностного упрочнения)) and polishing are examples, mechanically change the surface, either by working it or by removing minute amounts of material to produce a different surface topography. Laser texturing isn’t a mechanical or a chemical treatment, but its aims are to engineer the nature of the surfaces of critical components.

Source: http://www.ret-monitor.com/articles/pdf/surface-treatments.pdf pages 46-48

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