Category: Large Family 
Price Range: £15,150 to £32,780
Large, solid and impressive-looking; quick and agile; economical.
Feels rather big, looks rather plain; horrid electronic parking brake; poor reliability record.
The consummate company car; does everything it's supposed to do, but lacks excitement.
Good news is that Volkswagen's work to the suspension and chassis make this Passat a much better drive than its predecessor. The handling is precise, the steering well-weighted and despite the car's size and bulk, body roll is well-contained. It can feel rather large and unwieldy - especially at low speeds, and when parking (the saloon's high tail doesn't help: parking sensors are a worthwhile option) - but by and large, it's pretty dynamic.
Bad news? Volkswagen has elected to fit an automatic, electronic parking brake in place of an old-fashioned pull-up handbrake lever. This means much juggling with feet (it'll only automatically disengage if you've hit the brake pedal) and awkward moments on hill starts. Parking on a slope can be difficult, too, as the hill-hold function doesn't kick in intuitively, nor does it hold the car firm on particularly steep inclines. Adding insult to injury is the push-fob ignition, which again demands a particular sequence of actions before firing up. It's more complicated than using a key, still demands that you have to get the fob out of a pocket or bag, and is in no way helpful or effort-saving.
The 2.0 TDI CR engine's good, though. Delivering 140bhp and 236lb-ft of torque, it takes the Passat to a very acceptable 130mph, and accelerates it 0-62mph in an exceedingly creditable 9.8 seconds.
There's no need for the 170bhp upgrade. It's smooth, quiet (noise levels are much-improved over earlier Volkswagen diesels, especially when idling or cold-starting) and more than strong enough; with the six-speed manual gearbox, it makes for a refined motorway cruiser.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Volkswagen Passat
wrote on 06 06 2006