Category: Large Family 
Price Range: £15,150 to £32,780
Most efficient and lowest polluting in class, common rail's flexibility.
Gearing restricts performance, BlueMotion price premium.
Hugely improved engine plus stop-start increases the BlueMotion's appeal considerably.
In one stroke Volkswagen has addressed the biggest problem with the previous car: it has ditched the 'pumpe duse' unit injection engine. True, it offered good fuel consumption and low emissions in the 1.9 PD Passat, but it went about its work with an unwelcome coarseness. It also had a narrow power band emphasised by the BlueMotion's longer third, fourth and fifth gear ratios.
The new 109bhp 2.0-litre has the same 184lb-ft as the last model, but is delivered at 1,750rpm, some 150rpm lower than the old engine. This helps it to feel more relaxed and punchier around town. The fourth gear is still too long, though, struggling to pull 30mph and always requiring a downchange for meaningful acceleration.
Against the clock the BlueMotion's performance has improved. It now cruises past the 62mph benchmark in 11.7 seconds, six-tenths of a second faster than the old 1.9 - not bad considering the fuel economy. Top speed also rises 4mph to 123mph.
We drove the Passat on snow tyres on cold, damp roads, so we'll have to presume that the BlueMotion 2 normally handles in the same safe, secure but not that engaging manner as the rest of the Passat range.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Volkswagen Passat
wrote on 06 06 2006