VW has the opposition licked

Chris Knapman likes the European Car of the Year as it looks to shed its vanilla tag. But is it a sundae best?

It is only natural that my colleagues and I should occasionally disagree on how we rate certain cars. That, with a subject as emotive as the automobile, one man’s meat can be another’s Montego. So it was that just days after I’d gone on record saying that I preferred the new Ford Mondeo to Volkswagen’s latest Passat, my co-worker sat me down and explained that I was, in fact, wrong. To compound matters, only a week later the Passat was voted European Car of the Year for 2015, beating a dozen others including, yes, the Mondeo, which scraped into fourth place. So, had I offered duff advice? Having just spent two weeks in the range-topping 2.0-litre twin-turbo diesel Passat Estate I fear that might indeed be the case. At the heart of the matter is how VW has replicated Apple’s product strategy, making one extremely desirable yet eminently attainable product (the Golf) and then simply changing the scale of it for different needs. So using the same basic parts, only in a bigger car, the Passat becomes the iPad of VW’s range. And let’s face it, life’s become a lot easier since we all became addicted to tablets. It’s also interesting to note that whereas the Mondeo works best in hatchback guise, the Passat makes more sense as an estate. Gone is the narrow opening of its Our YouTube channel is the place to see reviews of new cars, including Chris on the Smart ForTwo and Rebecca Jackson’s appraisal of the Kia Cee’d. Watch at: tgr.ph/1zpfGOf saloon sibling; in comes a flat loading lip and numerous small but useful details, such as a parcel blind that retracts in two stages, and a handle that’s hidden behind the VW badge so that it doesn’t get covered in dirt. With 650 litres of load space and rear seats that drop flat, it is beaten only by a container crate when it comes to practicality. The seats themselves are extremely comfortable, with acres of legroom, although the same can be said for the Ford. Where the VW strides ahead is with its incredibly slick infotainment system, which is possibly the best of any car on sale. With 237bhp under the bonnet, and four-wheel drive to help get you off the line, it’s no surprise that this Bi-TDI version reaches 60mph in just 6sec. But it’s the driveability that really impresses, that second turbo ensuring a broad spread of torque that smoothes out the peaky power delivery you often get with tuned four-cylinder diesels. Which is a convoluted way of saying it’s utterly effortless. In the past it’s this very notion of “effortlessness” that’s been my issue with the Passat, because the controls are all so light and easy to operate that there’s little in the way of dynamic appeal. It’s the vanilla ice cream of the motoring world – consistently nice, but not terribly exciting. The thing with vanilla ice cream, though, is that if you use posh ingredients and get the texture just so, it can be a match for anything. And so it is with this latest Passat. Ford, in response, went down the salted caramel route, a flavour bold enough to cover up an occasionally flimsy cone. By which I mean the Mondeo is much more exciting, but lacks attention to detail. Obviously. It’s still a close call, but in estate guise VW’s blend of Apple with vanilla ice cream wins. And the Bi-TDI? Well that just adds a big Flake. VW Passat Estate 2.0 Bi-TDI Price from: £36,040 Power: 237bhp 0-62mph: 6.3sec Average mpg: 52.3 Rating: