Specifications:
Price on the road:
£18 405 (about R212 000 at 01/08/05)
Maximum speed:
208km/h (0-100km/h 9.8sec).
Combined fuel consumption:
6.03 litres/100km
I can remember when VW's Passat was a bit of an embarrassment, a poor substitute for a Ford Cortina. A friend bought one second-hand for R600 as his first car and then hand-painted smiley faces all over it.
I can't see that happening with more modern versions, however. For example, the most recent generation was based on the Audi A4, lasted for almost a decade, and was hugely influential (the Skoda Superb is virtually a direct copy).
In contrast, the new, updated version is built around a stretched version of the current Golf platform. The trouble is, one of the chief selling points of the last Passat was that, essentially, you got an Audi A4 at a heavy discount so, to try to distract potential buyers from the new car's more prosaic underpinnings, it now has an inverted, Audi-style grille plated in the shiniest chrome I have ever seen.
I hear all VW's will have shiny fangs like this in the future but it seems a bit dressy; for me, VW represents quality with discretion.
Despite all of this, the Passat is still a deeply impressive car. The Golf substructure is, in fact, a fine choice, bringing a subtle combination of agility and comfort. The Passat also has several features that have filtered down from its posh big brother, Volkswagen's flagship Phaeton limousine, including complex climate control and bi-xenon headlights that turn to shine round corners.
Less happily, the Passat also has the Phaeton's electronic parking brake - as fine an example of unnecessary meddling as you will come across this year. We all know how to use a handbrake and we all now where the lever is. Move it to a button mounted right of the steering wheel and those of us of a less adaptable persuasion will get awfully distressed when they can't find it in the middle of a hill start.
People have tended to buy Passats, essentially, for their peerless quality. Typical owners are aged from 40 to 50, are conservative (though not necessarily Conservative), relatively well off (to the extent that they are considering a new conservatory even though the old one is only about eight years old) and really like what Anne Robinson is doing with her hair these days.
They live in Guildford, in a cul-de-sac so that young men in hatchbacks with loud stereos can't drive past, and have two young children (Alan and Chloe). For them a BMW is just too flash, a Ford is too blue-collar and Coldplay is just what they've been waiting for ever since Deacon Blue broke up: "a nicer U2, with pianos".
If all this sounds snide, I don't mean to be. Passat owners aren't bad people; they're not pure, unadulterated evil in the way that, say, Volvo drivers are (only joking), and their choice of car is hard to fault objectively.
I spent a half-hour in my Passat trying to break things, but failed. It looks innocuous enough too, although the sedan is a little awkward side-on (the rearward shut line of the back doors is a strident diagonal, which makes it look as if the boot has been grafted from another car), but the two-litre diesel engine, which will most likely be by far the most popular option, is fine as far as diesels go (which is only up to about 4000rpm).
It's a long, long way from the original Passat but I still can't help thinking a smiley face wouldn't go amiss. - The Independent, London