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.
Five stars for overall adult occupant protection in the Euro NCAP crash tests, four stars for child protection though just two for pedestrian protection.
Strong, stiff and solid in its structure, the Passat is fitted with dual-phase front airbags, side and curtain airbags, active front headrests which help against whiplash injuries and seatbelt pre-tensioners. Rear side airbags are additional options. And there is a point to that ignition system, after all: it allows the steering lock to be repositioned away from the driver's knee area, reducing the risk of injury in a front-end impact.
New-to-Mk6 features also include LED brake and indicator lights, and automatic hazard lamp activation under heavy braking. Stability control, electronic differential lock and traction control are standard, with trailer stability assist, and there are run-flat tyres. Tyre pressure monitoring is optional.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Volkswagen Passat
wrote on 06 06 2006