50 years of the Volkswagen K 70: The forgotten pioneer

the dress was decidedly simple, but with its inner values of the VW K was 70, fifty years ago, the Wolfsburg-based technology-a Credo on the head. With front wh

50 years of the Volkswagen K 70: The forgotten pioneer

the dress was decidedly simple, but with its inner values of the VW K was 70, fifty years ago, the Wolfsburg-based technology-a Credo on the head. With front wheel drive and water-cooled in-line four-cylinder over the front axle, he drove a hard collision course against the long-outdated rule of three, which said: Volkswagen is the same rear-engine, air-cooling and rear-wheel drive. With its start of production in September 1970 the K 70 has distinguished itself as a today almost forgotten pioneer who initiated in the group, the final reversal of the decades-long, well-kept beetle mono culture.

Curiously, sitting his designers not in Wolfsburg, but in Neckarsulm. Had the NSU motor works, the development work already begun in January 1965 for a middle class car, which should close the gap between the small car Prinz 4 and in the upper class segment-based Wankel engine-icon of the Ro 80. The finished prototype of the NSU K 70 – the "K" stood in the factory for piston engine should celebrate in March 1969 at the Geneva Salon its Premiere, but it was not because of the impending merger of Volkswagen's subsidiary Auto Union GmbH and NSU. Only one and a half years later, in the fall of 1970, came as the VW K 70 knighted four-door car on the market. After all, the wolf paid Burger to their new subsidiary Audi NSU Auto-Union AG for the fallen-down the foundling on a per vehicle 33 Mark as a compensation for the development costs and investments in production facilities.

The body had been drawn by the NSU chief designer Claus Luthe (1932-2008), the later made for Audi and BMW career. He had previously dressed the Ro 80 is inserted. The 4,42-metre-long saloon of the K 70 was impressed by the harmonious proportions and large Windows, the perfect all-round visibility, enabled, true to the principle "Form follows function", which seems to be in many of the modern models under the wheels come. A weak point of the bad cw-value of 0.52, which was the K 70 for a drinker be was, however. Multiple magazines had back then, during test runs, average consumption is between 11.3 and 14.1 liters of premium gasoline is determined.

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Below the self-supporting all-steel body a continue to put advanced chassis and suspension, consisting of MacPherson struts and triangular wishbones at the front and semi-trailing arm axle with subframe rear. In order to reduce the unsprung masses, sat a brake on the front wheel, similar to the Ro 80, or in various Citroen models, to the differential housing when a pad change is a Horror for every mechanic. As a consolation, the clutch disc was without any disassembly of the Motor or the gearbox switch. Passive safety has been written in the K 70 large: He already had a split and angled steering column, crumple zones at the bow and stern as well as reinforced passenger safety cell.

The 1.6-Liter short-stroke engine with an overhead camshaft was 90 HP at 5200 Revolutions per Minute, a short time later there was an argument in addition to a engine with 75 HP, which was able to have thanks to a lower compression normal petrol, then a not unimportant sale. From may 1973 to replaced in the Version of the K 70 LS is a 1.8 Liter souped-up aggregate, the 90-PS Version. It made 100 HP and accelerated the nearly 1100 kg weighing four-door in 13 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h. The maximum speed increased slightly, from 158 to 162 km/h.

Date Of Update: 15 July 2020, 00:19