trendsetter
VW’S Passat TDI Trendline: Mileage and power in a luxury package
At first glance, Gary Ham might not seem to be the ideal tester for a dieselengined 2012 Volkswagen Passat. After learning to drive on a ’78 Plymouth Volare station wagon, Ham bought his first car — a $200 ’69 Chevelle.
“I paid too much for it,” he jokes. After that came a ’78 Olds Cutlass, an ’87 Buick Regal Grand National, a ’90 Pontiac Grand Prix and a ’94 Buick Roadmaster.
There was also an ’81 Toyota 4x4, his sole experience with owning an import. Ham’s current ride is an ’02 GMC Sierra pickup.
“It’s a personal preference. I’m big on GM,” he says. “I like rear-wheel drive. I feel more in control.”
Ham understands that other people think cars pulled by the front wheels have better traction when it gets slippery, but quips, “I like doing doughnuts!”
He says “value” is the biggest factor he considers when buying a vehicle.
Being assigned to test the Passat, then, didn’t exactly set Ham’s pulse to racing. As far as the VW brand was concerned, he says he had “no history and no interest, really. I didn’t know anything about VW. I couldn’t have picked out a Passat in a parking lot if you paid me to.”
Passats have been around for a long time — since 1973, in fact. The 2012 version sold in North America is restricted to just that market and China, and was the 2012 Motor Trend Car of the Year.
Our test vehicle was a TDI Trendline, the lowest trim level available with diesel power.
The styling of the Passat didn’t exactly wow our tester.
“I thought it had nice, clean lines — not overly flashy. The styling is quite straightforward,” Ham reports, adding that he thought the front of the car looked better than the back.
“My first impression was that it was bigger than I thought it would be,” he says. “European cars are usually smaller.”
Once Ham climbed into the driver’s seat, the Passat had a surprise for him.
“I was quite impressed with the level of refinement — the materials and the look. It had a nice feel to it. It felt like a high-end car, like a luxury car.”
Even though he is over six feet tall, Ham likes to sit high in the driver’s seat. Although the seat had a height adjuster, he says, “I did not like the fact that it was manual. I like power seats. I didn’t find the seat too comfortable initially. It took me a few days to get comfortable in it.”
The seats, he says, were his biggest quibble with the Passat. “That would be the only thing I would change.”
All-around visibility from the cockpit, Ham found, was “very good” and the electronic info centre and steering wheel-mounted controls were entirely to his liking. As well, he notes, “I thought the heat controls were very well thought-out. There are only three controls — defrost, front and feet — and you can use any or all of them. I thought it was the smart- est design I’ve seen for heater controls.”
The front passenger seat lacked the height adjustment feature, and this was a negative for Mrs. Ham.
“My wife felt like a little kid sitting in her dad’s car,” he says.
The two 12-year-olds and one 10-year-old who were his backseat passengers reported no lack of legroom or headroom, but found the VW a bit short of shoulder space.
The family didn’t carry any cargo, but Ham says, “my impression was that there’s a ton of trunk room.”
Commuting 22 kilometres to work each day and taking a jaunt down to High River gave Ham a chance to assess the Passat’s performance both in town and on the highway.
“It has a nice, quiet ride,” he says. “I liked the cruise control. It’s easy to use and when you set our speed it told you on the info centre what you had set it at.
“I thought the braking was excellent. It had good feel. The steering was very precise. On onramps at speed, there was hardly any body roll. It felt very sporty.”
Ham admits this latter surprised him. “I like bigger cars and I’m used to body roll. It felt like a small car.
“Throughout the week, highway and city, I thought the acceleration was excellent,” he continues. “I wasn’t wishing for more power.”
Ham did find that there was a bit of turbo-lag from a standing start, but says putting the transmission in Sport mode took care of that.
“I got used to it and I think my driving changed a bit,” he says. Along with the leather-wrapped steering wheel and “big, round gauges,” the engine was the feature of the Passat that Ham liked best.
Assessing the Passat against the many family-sized cars on the market, Ham says, “It would be right up there, one of the better ones in its class with the diesel and the fuel mileage and the power. Often you don’t get mileage and power.
“It was a very enjoyable car — an eye-opening experience. It was an education in how good a diesel is in a car. I wasn’t sure what to expect from a diesel car. I think diesel puts a lot of people off,” he explains.
“This didn’t have a lot of diesel noise and didn’t have the smell. Really, I don’t see why you wouldn’t buy a diesel. I don’t know if I had any expectations but I think it certainly surpassed what I expected of a Passat. It definitely surprised me how much I liked it.”
So, would GM loyalist Gary Ham consider buying a diesel Passat?
“Definitely,” he admits. “It’s hard to say that. There are Chevys out there, but I think that for that price range — the refinement and fuel mileage and power — it’s good value.”