Category: Large Family 
Price Range: £18,200 to £33,980
Quick; good DSG gearbox; refined V6 engine.
Firm ride; thirsty; concerns over quality.
The undercover R36 hides its power behind conservative styling .
The suspension in the Volkswagen Passat R36 is a little unforgiving: it's not as hard-riding as the likes of the Subaru Impreza, but there's nowhere near the compliancy of the standard Passat. There's inevitably a trade-off in suspension when you make a car sportier, but we think VW probably erred on the side of stiffness.
As you'd expect for £32,150, the R36 is fully kitted out, although there are still plenty of optional extras to push the ticket price up further.
On the outside, there are a number of additions to the bodykit that mark it out from the standard Passat, including a matt chrome grille, three air dams and bi-xenon headlights; extended wheel arches surround 18" alloys shod with 235/40 R18 tyres; there's a set of contoured side skirts; and the rear features a set of smoked-glass light lenses, large-bore tailpipes at each end of the rear bumper and an aerodynamic wing at the top of the tailgate.
Inside, the front seats are heated, with the driver's seat having 12-way electric adjustment and lumbar support memory, and the front passenger's seat having height- and lumbar-adjustment. The outer rear seats are also heated and the rear seats split-fold in a 60:40 ratio.
Also standard are an MP3-compatible CD/radio, a leather-trimmed multifunction steering wheel with paddle shifts, brushed aluminium trim inserts, stainless steel door sill protectors, aluminium pedals, dual-zone electronic climate control with automatic air recirculation, a multifunction computer, cruise control and a tyre pressure monitoring system.
Options include a DVD sat nav/radio system with six-disc CD autochanger, rear-view camera, 30GB hard drive, SD card reader, MP3, WMA and DVD file compatibility and Aux-in socket (£2,595); a cargo management system (£175); heat-insulating tinted glass (£175); Alcantara/leather upholstery (£1,575); and pearl-effect paint (£365).
