Automotive & Things That Move

We purchased our Passat with 7500 miles on the odometer. Not a new car per say, but pretty darn close. I’ve been driving VW’s from before I even had a drivers liscence. I’ve owned and driven Beetles(type 1), Ghias, Golfs, Jettas, Sciroccos, and a Corrado of various years and use these as comparison.

This is the quetest VW we’ve driven to date, as is to be expected of this class of automobile. The Passat is similar in size, and sharing many components with, it’s sister car the Audi A6. The Passat features mostly the extra leg room over the Jetta or A4. The next newest VW we had was the 2001 Jetta GLS with the same powerplant. My brother also has a GTI of similar vintage also running the 1.8T engine. The Jetta and the Passat are very similar in noise control with a slight advantage to the Passat. I suspect due to the placement of the engine. The Passat differs from most of the VW line with the crankshaft oriented lengthwise in the car. This orientation places the turbocharger between the wheelwell and the engine instead of between the firewall and the engine as on the Jetta platform. As a result, it seems the whisle of the turbo is more muted on the Passat.

Ride is exceptional. The vehicle feels solid and responsive with little chassis roll in corners yet potholes and road imperfections are absorbed with little notice or sound. Performance is spirited with the 1.8T once the turbo is spooled sufficiently, but this can take several seconds as with any turbocharged vehicle.

Fuel economy is good, but not exceptional. We’re spoiled by out 1993 Honda Civic that routinely gets 38-40 MPG with 230,000 miles on the odometer. But the 27 to 30 MPG of the 4 cylinder wagon certainly beats any gas burning Detroit-made vehicle to date.

Interior fit and finish is also exceptional, rivaled only by its luxury sister vehicles in the Audi range.

My only grievances with the car are in the acoustics and rear hatch operation. Both the Jetta GLS and this Passat GLS are/were equipped with the upgraded Monsoon sound system. Interior noise and audio performance were clearly optimized for the front seats only in the Passat wagon as opposed to the Jetta. The Wagon option sacrifices the extreme rear speakers that are traditionally mounted behind the rear headrests on the sedans. This creates a forward biased soundstage for the rear seats. Also to note while seated in the rear is those in the front seats are not subject to the sound of the sunroof while opened. There is almost no noise from the sunroof perceived while seated in the front seats. On the contrary, it is quite loud by comparison in the rear. So for conversations with rear seated passengers, we recommend you close the sunroof.

The second grievance is in the operation of the rear hatch. The hatch is always locked unless the rear hatch lever is pulled or the key-fob button is depressed. Combined with this, the hatch does not pop open like the trunk of the Jetta with either of these two actions. This means you will have to pull the leaver with that hand that is holding the key since your groceries are in the other hand; a disappointment for a vehicle with this price tag.

All in all, we give this vehicle a rating of A-, if not for the two above mentioned flaws, it would be an A.