[ilovecars2]

VW has been moving almost all transverse front-wheel drive/all wheel drive cars to the MQB platform for a while now. This includes sub-brands such as Audi, Seat and Skoda. The benefit is that all cars based on this platform become much cheaper to design and build. The downside is that the cars end up being the same, drive the same, feel the same, etc - which I find quite boring, but that might not be an issue at all for the average motorist.

[bgarbiak]

Only the cheapest (and TT) Audi models are based on MQB. From A4 up it’s MLB – the luxury variant. Also, for the new cars Audi will share the tech not with the cheaper makes, but upwards: with Porsche, Bentley, Lamborghini and so on. It already happened with Q7/Q8/Urus/Betayga.

It’s also not exactly true that the driving characteristics are the same across the board. Usually Seats are on the sporty side with stiff ride and precise handling, Skoda is softer, and VWs are in between. Same chassis, different setup. It’s not FWD vs RWD magnitude of difference, but it’s there. The same goes for Audi: Q7 is not the same as Urus.

But yeah, the unification is bad from the car enthusiasts POV. The Ateca not only has the same chassis, but the whole body (bar the front fascia) and even the colors palette is straight from Skoda.

Another worrying thing is that apparently someone in Wolfsburg noticed that Skoda sells better than VW, despite the cheap plastic interiors, and now the new VW cars (T-Roc, Tiguan) also don’t have the premium quality that had been reserved for the mother brand. Could be an aftermath of the dieselgate as well.

[ilovecars2]

Sure, a Golf GTI and Leon Cupra has different suspension set up, but the cars more or less drive the same and feel the same, at least on track. I love the EA888, but it’s ubiquitous in the VAG range. I’m super pleased that the hot hatch market is so competitive in 2018 because there is so much consumer choice now.