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.
This 2.0 TDI CR should be one of the cheaper Passats to run: it'll return 48.7mpg, a figure which seems realistically achievable in everyday driving, and it emits 153g/km of carbon dioxide, putting it in tax band D (currently £145 a year).
Servicing is as indicated by the onboard computer - if you drive smoothly and carefully, you should be able to get away with long intervals - and the buyers' package includes a bog-standard three year/60,000 mile warranty, three years' paint cover, 12 years body protection and a year's breakdown assistance.
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wrote on 06 06 2006