Volkswagen has today revealed its mid-engined roadster prototype. As is vogue with all manufacturers at the moment the car simply gets the 'R' tag indicating its sporty intent. In this case it's name "Concept R".
Power for the roadster comes from a 265 PS V6 mid-engine which takes the car from 0 to 62 mph in 5.3 seconds, and on to a limited top speed of 155 mph. Without the limiter, top speed would be 167 mph. Peak torque of 258 lbs ft at 2800 rpm is transferred to the road via a six speed direct selection gearbox and rear wheel drive.
What gimmicks do VW have in store for us? There's the pulsator thingy for starters. When the driver turns on the ignition, the Volkswagen logo, which is generated digitally by a display, begins to pulsate in the so-called OLED screen. When the ignition is activated the pulse stops.
Secondly the Concept R’s bucket seats do not adjust in any way. Instead, to find the correct position, the driver moves steering wheel and instrumentation back and forth. The pedals move too.
And for the first time in a sports car, leather-covered active foam is used which adapts to the body shape of the driver and passenger; meanwhile the hardness of the springs in the seats can be adjusted according to whether a harder or softer ride is desired.
1 / 2
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 4 3"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1 1"%3E%3C/svg%3E)