Category: Large Family 
Price Range: £15,150 to £32,780
Decent motorway cruiser, good fuel economy, low emissions.
Firm ride on economy tyres, bit too taxi-like inside.
It's decent enough car for a sales rep, but they might want a bit more standard equipment.
This is the Passat BlueMotion's ace card. You'll pay 2% less company car tax than you will on the standard 1.9 diesel Passat and you'll pay less in fuel and road tax.
According to official figures, driving with a light right foot should return between 47.9 and 55.3mpg, 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 dose of salt - one quick burst of acceleration to overtake someone and your long-range economy will suffer.
The Passat BlueMotion emits 136g/km of CO2, which puts it in VED tax band C and that'll be music to the ears of fleet managers who need to show that they are reducing their carbon emissions. For company car drivers in the 20% tax band the tax payable is £616 per year, and those in the 40% band, will pay £1,217. Insurance is in group 7.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Volkswagen Passat
wrote on 06 06 2006