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.
As soon as you get in the driver's seat of the Passat BlueMotion you do get a familiar feeling - the feeling that you are in a taxi. It feels a bit spartan and plasticky and although it's well built, you would want some more home comforts if you are spending a lot of time cruising up and down Britain's congested motorways.
It's not too noisy: the diesel is a bit vocal on start-up and when you are accelerating, but once you get to cruising speed it's pretty peaceful in the cabin. Wind noise is well suppressed but the economy tyres mean you get a bit more road noise than you would like.
In terms of equipment offered, the Passat BlueMotion is just about adequate. There's semi-automatic climate control, CD player cruise control, a multi-function computer, electrically heated body-coloured rearview mirrors and 16" alloy wheels.
The seats feel comfortable and offer enough support at the back and sides to make you feel reassuringly cosseted and the steering wheel adjusts for height and reach. If you want, you can fit a DVD sat nav with rear view camera and an MP3 socket for an extra £1,710. Metallic paint is £365 extra.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Volkswagen Passat
wrote on 06 06 2006