Think Volkswagen and you probably think ‘sensible’. Sensible cars like the Polo, Golf and Tiguan in sensible colours like silver, white or grey bought and driven by sensible people. 

By and large, you’re correct. But every now and then a moment of madness bursts forth, like a jet of lava erupting from a usually dormant volcano. 

From oddball models to bizarre engine combinations, to celebrate these frissons of excitement here are our Top 10 weird Volkswagens, presented in chronological order. 

1967 Volkswagen Country Buggy

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 A little local flavour to start. A project originally intended for the Australian army, who requested an amphibious four-wheel drive vehicle, given the Country Buggy ended up as a rear-wheel drive that couldn’t float, the army never ordered any. 

Three prototypes covered more than 50,000km of testing to ensure they could handle Australian conditions, but in the end fewer than 2000 were built, including CKD kits and exports. 

If you see one driving around Melbourne, there’s a strong chance it’s longtime friend of Wheels, photographer Cristian Brunelli. 

1972 Volkswagen SP2 

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For many years Volkswagen Brazil has acted almost as its own entity, much as Ford Australia did, and that includes the creation of one of the brand’s few sports cars.  

Designed, developed and built in South America, the SP2 is a terrific looking car, though sadly the go didn’t match the show as it was powered by a 48kW 1.7-litre four-cylinder for a quoted 0-100km/h time of around 15sec. 

While not a huge success, more than 10,000 were built between July 1972 and December 1975. 

1978 Volkswagen Iltis 

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The VW Iltis is most famous for donating its four-wheel drive system to the prototypes of the original Audi Quattro, but ironically this rugged military off-roader tasted motorsport success first, winning the 1980 Paris-Dakar Rally. 

Once again, the German military was after an amphibious four-wheel drive, but with that project continually delayed the Iltis was conceived as a cheaper and simpler stopgap for troop transport and the like. A civilian version was also made, but only 181 are said to have been built. 

1998 Volkswagen Bora V5 

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For a while, Volkswagen seemed hell-bent on offering every conceivable engine configuration. One of the weirder ones was the VR5, a 2.3-litre five-cylinder with a very narrow 15-degree vee, which allowed it to be as short as a three-cylinder and have a single inlet and exhaust manifold. 

It was offered in a number of cars, but we’ve chosen the Bora as it adds some intrigue to an otherwise pleasant but unremarkable small sedan. Initially offered as a 10-valve with 110kW/209Nm, it was updated in 2000 with 20 valves and variable valve timing for 125kW/220Nm. 

2001 Volkswagen Beetle RSI

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In an effort to butch up the New Beetle, Volkswagen came up with the wild RSi, which wedged in a 3.2-litre V6 with 165kW/320Nm, a six-speed manual gearbox, all-wheel drive and that motorsport-inspired body kit. 

Just 250 were built, all in left-hand drive, and they cost a fortune (around AUD$125,000) but that didn’t stop Volkswagen Australia entering one in Targa Tasmania, where it crashed into a bus stop. It also converted another to right-hand drive, so where is it now? 

2001 Volkswagen Passat W8

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Another one for the “weirdo engine” files. A bit like the smaller Bora, the B5 Passat was a competent but otherwise forgettable sedan, except when it was facelifted and a 4.0-liter W8 was introduced as the flagship engine. 

Two narrow-angle V4s joined by a common crankshaft, it produced 202kW/370Nm,m but buyers weren’t that keen, with only around 11,000 being built over its three-year lifespan. The Holy Grail? A wagon with the six-speed manual, with 100 or so said to exist. 

2002 Volkswagen Phaeton W12 

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Never do things by halves. If you’re going to try and build the best car in the world and make it a giant VW sedan, you might as well give it a preposterous engine in the form of a 309kW/550Nm 6.0-litre W12. 

Like the W8, the W12 was made up of two narrow-angle V6s on a common crank and the added smoothness of the W layout was a fine fit for a car with extreme luxury pretensions. While it wasn’t popular with VW buyers, in twin-turbo form it became a mainstay of the Bentley range for two decades.  

2008 Volkswagen Touareg R50 

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The fact you could get the first-generation Volkswagen Touareg with a 5.0-litre V10 turbodiesel was weird enough (though they also made W12 versions!), but then things got really kooky when a high performance Touareg dubbed the R50 was revealed at the 2007 Australian Motor Show. 

Only the third VW to be given the ‘R’ treatment, it developed 257kW and a thumping 850Nm, the latter making it a popular towing choice for well-heeled motorsport enthusiasts. Sadly, when the second-gen Touareg arrived, the V10 disappeared. 

2014 Volkswagen XL1 

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Bugatti Veyron? Pah. The Volkswagen Group’s greatest engineering challenge of the 2000s was “The One-Litre Car”, which could travel 100km on one litre of diesel. After a couple of concepts, the production XL1 appeared in 2013. 

Carbon-bodied, exceptionally aerodynamic and with a two-cylinder electrified diesel engine, the XL1 was rated at 0.9L/100km on the combined cycle. With just 250 built it’s twice as rare as a Veyron, though at €111,000 it was about the same price as a Porsche 911 Carrera S. 

2025 Volkswagen Saveiro 

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Another creation of Volkswagen Brazil, the Saveiro is a light ute built off the Gol small car (yes Gol, not Golf). First introduced in 1982, the Saveiro has been a staple of the lineup in developing markets until the present day. 

Available as a single-, extended- or double-cab (though still with two doors), it has a useful payload of around 700kg, though with an 88kW 1.6-litre four-cylinder and front-wheel drive, we’re not sure it would be tempting Aussies out of their Amaroks.