Volkswagen New Santana test drive.

By Mark Andrews

Talk Magazine. May 2013

China really loves the Santana and over 4 million of them have been sold here since 1983. But now production of the ubiquitous Shanghai taxi has reached the end of the line and the New Santana is on sale. Does it have what it takes to make China fall in love again?

Certainly whilst parked during our lunch break it attracted attention. The car itself is only slightly shorter than the original Santana and bigger in every other way, but is over 20 centimeters shorter than today’s Santana Vista – the current standard taxi.

Based on a stretched version of the Polo platform, the new Santana is the first of a quartet of similar cars from the Volkswagen family due to hit the Chinese market over the next few months – the others being the new VW Jetta, Seat Toledo and Skoda Rapid. Externally, it is bland looking, but very much in keeping with the rest of Shanghai Volkswagen’s range.

You can read the full article here

Mark Andrews has written about everything from Japanese houses to heli hikes on New Zealand glaciers, test drives of Chinese cars to bar and restaurant reviews. He currently specialises in travel articles and reviews of Chinese cars plus articles about the Chinese auto industry.

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