The Passat is Europe’s Car of the Year... but then I did pick it as my 2014 top drive
VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT
IT came as no surprise in March when, at the Geneva Motor Show, the Volkswagen Passat was named European Car of the Year for 2015, beating its nearest rival, the Citroen C4 Cactus, by 340 to 248 points, and also surging ahead of the Nissan Qashqai, BMW 2 Series Active Tourer and Renault Twingo.
At the time, Hakan Matson, chairman of the jury of journalists that decided the award, said it was ‘ a car that sits comfortably between the premium and mainstream market segments’, and he is right. Earlier this week, I parked my test car beside a 3 Series BMW and in styling terms, I felt the Passat actually shaded it. Only our obsession here with premium marques would stop serious cannibalisation f rom the 3 Series, the Mercedes-Benz C Class and the A4 from VW’s sister brand Audi, because everything about the Passat, especially in Highline spec, should make it a genuine rival in the real world.
When I say the win came as no surprise, that’s because I first drove the car at its European launch in Sardinia last October and raved about it, and later chose it as my personal favourite car of the year in my roundup of 2014.
This, trust me, came as a big shock, even to me. Of all the cars in the VW range, the Passat always seemed the most anonymous and, yes, boring; even VW admitted in Sardinia that previous versions lacked emotion and were driven by travelling salesmen. And yet, rather surprisingly, it is Wolfsburg’s best seller, even ahead of the Golf, with a new Passat sold somewhere every 29 seconds.
My new-found admiration for the car is not just down to the looks – tidied, refined and understated, they give this eighth-generation Passat a feeling of genuine substance – but to the new engines.
I have yet to drive the 1.6 diesel, but I did manage to put the twin-turbo 2.0litre diesel through its paces at the launch. With 240bhp on tap, that car is an absolute belter, but it costs €49,470, a price that gives it a very niche appeal.
The 125bhp 1.4 petrol in the Trendline and Comfortline models is fine, but uprated to 150bhp and with active cylinder technology (ACT ) in the Highline model, it soars. It really is a fine engine, endlessly responsive, yet purring like a kitten. At steady speed, the ACT shuts down two of the cylinders with no impact on performance, and this can lead to fuel savings of up to a litre per 100km in urban driving.
The car drives as well as I remembered, and brings Golf-like handling to the segment above. The suspension is terrific, even on bumpy surfaces, and positively joyful on the motorway. Here, the leather/Alcantara seats also help, because they offer great comfort with sufficiently rigid lumbar support, making longer drives a pleasure rather than an endurance test.
My test car also came with adaptive cruise control that slows the vehicle automatically when it detects a closing gap with the car in front; on the motorway, there’s actually very little driving to be done at all as you sit back and let the technology do the work for you.
If that sounds a little detached as an experience, it’s not, because you can have as much or as little fun as you wish here, and always be confident that you will be safe.
The test model came with 17-inch alloy wheels, Bluetooth connectivity, parking distance control, three-zone air conditioning, 6.5inch infotainment touchscreen, heated front seats, interior ambient lighting, premium LED tail lights, tyre pressure monitoring, tinted rear glass, auto-activated headlights, full-size alloy spare wheel and exterior folding mirrors. Metallic paint added €695 to the price, for a total of €36,830.
Best of all, though, is that cost of ownership is low for a petrol car, with annual motor tax of €200, based on carbon emissions of 115 grams per kilometre, and fuel economy of 4.9 litres per 100km in the combined cycle.
All that said, what really won me over with the Passat is the looks. The louvered grille makes it seem wide and pert at the front, while the straight shoulder line adds dynamism to the profile. It’s a very attractive car that deserves all the accolades that have been thrown at it and driving it in Ireland only solidified my first impression. In its segment, it really is the one to beat.