B5 W8 - Peter Noad looks at how VW made a W out of two Vs and promoted the B5 Passat into the C-segment

摘要

THE FIRST STATEMENT in the brochure for the Passat W8 was: 'After V comes W.' This is true alphabetically and, by a happy coincidence, also applies to the abbreviation of Volkswagen's name. With the introduction of the W8 engine, which evolved from the V6, the words 'after V comes W gained a third meaning and made an even greater impact as one of Volkswagen's clever catch-phrases. Everyone is familiar with engines of 'V' configuration; they have been used since the early days of the motorcar to combine power with smoothness in a reasonably compact package, and it is easy to visualise the two rows of pistons in vee formation joined to a common crankshaft at the bottom of the vee. But how were the pistons and crankshaft arranged in a 'W' engine? Did the 'W formation infer two crankshafts and three cylinder heads?