01 May 07
Hot on the heels of the Polo BlueMotion comes another member of the Volkswagen family with blue/green credentials - the Passat BlueMotion.
Unlike the Polo with its aerodynamically tweaked bumpers and grille, you have to look very hard to notice any difference between a BlueMotion Passat and a regular one. The changes on the Passat happen on the underside, where various spoilers and skirts have been added to give a 12% improvement in slipperiness. It's also been lowered by 15mm at the front and 8mm at the rear.
The 1.9-litre TDI diesel engine remains largely unchanged, but the top three gears in the five-speed box are higher geared, making the engine less stressed under load. The idle speed of the engine has been chopped by 100rpm, making for less fuel to be burnt when sat in static traffic.
To help you drive the Passat BlueMotion as economically as possible, a shift indicator appears on the central information display between the dials, letting you know when the optimum time to change gear is. However, in practice, it's so hidden away at the bottom of the display that you barely notice it - and if you concentrate too hard on changing gears when the car tells you to, you might forget to look out of the windscreen, which isn't recommended. You're better off just using some common sense and changing up at around 2,000rpm.
Driving with a light right foot should see you return a 55.3mpg economy, which in theory will give you an 851-mile range from the 70-litre tank - enough to get you from Land's End to John O'Groats without filling up. But, as with all fuel consumption figures, this needs to be taken with a large serving of sodium chloride - one quick burst of acceleration to overtake someone and your long-range economy will suffer.
