The Local Petrolhead - Volkswagen Fest 2019
If you happen to stumble upon this article at the time of publication (31st of August 2019, Happy Merdeka!), good news! As there is still one day left to visit the Volkswagen Fest 2019 held at (the lawn outside) Setia City Convention in Setia Alam.
If you are looking for a deal on owning a Volkswagen, this is the place to go. However if you are an enthusiast looking to enjoy a proper Volkswagen organised event, might I suggest joining the Volkswagen Owners Club TT session instead?
Volkswagen Fest, contrary to the name, isn’t a festival celebrating the German automobile brand, but instead a giant sales push for various Volkswagen dealers to shift stock, both pre-owned (used) and new.
However if you are a Volkswagen enthusiast with nothing to do on a Sunday, there are still some worth-while things to do if you are bored enough tomorrow (at time of publication) to visit.
Editor’s note: This was the recollections of the author’s experience at Volkswagen Fest 2019. All thoughts, recounts and opinions are that of the author and does not represent the views of Drive Every Day.
First off, there is a lovely (albeit small) display of Volkswagens on the lawn. The display ranges from vintage Bugs to modern modified Golfs.
There’s also a couple of VW T2 vans in the mix along with some rare VW models that you won’t see on the road everyday. Like a VW Thing…
Or a Karmann Ghia. Yes it is based on the Beetle but you wouldn’t have known looking at that sleek svelte body.
However the crowing glory of this small collection of cars has to be the NOVA kit car. It may be based on the underpinnings of a humble Volkswagen Beetle, but it looks totally rad here with the that bare interior, crazy paint job and the orange engine with its quad exhausts sticking out from beneath the deck-lid.
It is not just the cars on the main lawn that would catch the eye of an enthusiast, the cars (or more appropriately vans) at the far end of the event also deserve a mention. It is a shame that there isn’t an auto-jumble style event where there are vendors selling parts for Volkswagens or even the promised car-boot sale, but all is not lost as there are some vendors there who rocked up in their vintage Vans and those VW vans were amazing.
It is cool enough seeing a couple of T2 bay windows but there was an unlikely VW workhorse that caught my eye, and it was this T3 Syncro 4x4 pick-up — a very rare truck in Malaysia that is still being used for what it was designed for, being a workhorse.
Moving on from the vintage to the latest offering by VPCM, which would be the new Volkswagen Arteon taking centre stage at this year’s Volkswagen Fest. Having been launched in the rest of the world for some time now and made its Malaysia debut during paultan.org's PACE event last November, the Arteon is set to be launched in October priced at roughly the RM300k mark.
As for thoughts on the car itself, the Arteon follows in the trend of latest sedan offerings from Europe by having a lift-back tailgate alá Audi A7. Styling wise, the Arteon is, like most Volkswagens being conservative verging on plain, but it is reminiscent to that of its predecessor, the Passat CC with its more coupé like rear compared to its sedate Passat stablemate.
The interior is also on par (read: nearly identical) to the more premium Volkswagen products on offer with the usual assortment of gadgets and features like the large centre screen and digital dials. Materials and quality is as you’d expect as well for the supposedly flagship Volkswagen (in Malaysia at least).
Editor’s note: To prevent this article from being a full-on Op-Ed on the new Arteon, please refer to this paultan.org article for a full run-down on the specs of the Arteon.
It is at this point after admiring the Arteon that one might discover there isn’t a whole lot more to do if you aren’t interested in strike a deal on a new/used/pre-owned/display Volkswagen.
If you do indeed own a Volkswagen you may enquire about the Volkswagen Tint (there are better alternatives elsewhere), the walnut decarbonising process (independent specialists are cheaper for this too) or even have a free cursory (limited in scope) check-up on your VW, but that’s about it.
There are also other non-car related events like food trucks (you’re next to a mall, and that’s where you probably parked since there’s no allocated parking, so you might have a better time eating there instead), purchase some official (and overpriced) VW merchandise, hot air balloon display (in the evening only), but it’s probably a better use of your time to spend it walking around aimlessly in the adjacent air-conditioned mall.
However if one is patient (and lucky) enough, there is one more thing that might interest the car-enthusiast. Throughout Volkswagen Fest, one is allowed to test drive any Volkswagen model, so hypothetically one is allowed to take a Golf GTI or even a Golf R for a quick spin around the block.
So there, the round-up of what is there to do at Volkswagen Fest 2019 — a massive sales push with a bit of Volkswagen enthusiasm lightly sprinkled among it. It would have been nicer to have a more enthusiast centric officially sanctioned event like this, but if you are in the area and/or have nothing better to do, it is worth going.
It is also a good place to go just to chat with other like-minded enthusiasts, both when the TT session is ongoing or even at the odd hours as there’ll always be a couple of enthusiasts present to strike up a conversation on cars. So if you are reading this and there is still time maybe consider heading down to Volkswagen Fest 2019, but even if you missed it the pictures here should give you 80% of the experience.
Since you have made it this far, and you have as you’re reading this line why not check out the POLO Log where I write about the experiences of owning a Polo for the past year. Or check out the About section to know more about this fledgling automotive site. Or if any reader would like to be featured in The Common Car section I’ll be more than happy to hear from you all. Thanks!