The MVP of the bunch

I’ve had the new 2006 VW Passat for almost 6 months now, and I felt like I’ve had enough experience with it to write a fairly comprehensive review.

I purchased the Passat primarily for my wife. We were looking for a car that would be safe, practical, comfortable and reliable, and wouldn’t be a Honda or Toyota. Nothing wrong with cars from two other brands, but in my mind they are the imitators, and we wanted the car from an innovator.

The decision came down to 2005 Subaru Legacy, Nissan Altima or the new Passat. The Altima was kind of an afterthought because of fast diminishing values, caused by the Nissan selling Altimas to rental agencies. The Subaru dealerships were all out of 2005 model Legacy and the 2006 model with the equipment we wanted was almost $30K.
One sunny Sunday afternoon, I was browsing local dealers’ websites for new Passat, and all of them were $29+K, when in all the sudden I found one for $25K. It was not the Value Edition, which is a stripped down version of Passat. Needless to say, few hours later it was mine (well, my wife’s). Apparently, receptionist made a mistake by posting an invoice price instead of a retail price.

Almost six months later, I am still in love with my Passat. The 2.0 turbo engine has tons of power and torque, where I’ve never felt like it’s under too much strain, trying to pass someone or going uphill (and living in Seattle area, we have a lot of steep hills). The engine is smooth, although it sounds a little odd if you stand outside and listen to it; it makes a certain whizzing noise, which is probably because of turbo. You can’t hear anything inside though, no engine noise at all.

In my opinion, the biggest improvement, besides design, is the new 6 speed automatic transmission. I owned 2003 VW Golf before, and transmission on it was not the best. Every time you shift from Reverse into Drive, you had to wait 2-3 seconds, and then drive. If I didn’t wait and just pressed the pedal right away, the tranny would jerk pretty bad; I felt like I was killing the transmission. Also, at 70mph the engine would rev around 3300 rpm, way too much for extended highway driving, and if you’d go to 80mph, the rpm would reach 4000. This transmission, is awesome. Driving at 70mph on freeway, the rpm are around 2000, and the car just breezes effortlessly through the curves.

The handling is very good. The day after I got the car, I had to stop really quick to avoid rear-ending a pickup truck, and imagine my surprise when there was no nose dive at all. None. Not even a hint. The car also handles very good on the curvy country back roads. It is really quick and nimble.

The exterior design is awesome. At first I had reservation about the chrome grille being so big; I though it would chip easily on freeways, but now, almost 6 months later, no chips on the grille, or front end, even though we drive on freeway most of the time. The design is clean, very upscale and very distinctive. I can easily spot my car in the mall parking lot.

Inside the car is very quiet. The engine noise is almost non-existent. There is some noise from the tires (them being cheap Michelin Pilots), and after 65mph there is increasing wind noise, but up to 85mph you don’t even have to raise the voice to talk to the passengers. There is ample amount of room on the back seat. A lot of little niches and pockets are scattered throughout the cabin for the small belongings. I like the reading lights in the back; they are directly above the rear passengers, installed behind little bump in the headliner and have directed light, like in airplanes, so when they are on, they don’t bother driver. The seats are fairly comfortable, but there is not enough of side support, and leatherette material has the specific smell that is still noticeable, even after 6 months.

There are gizmos abound throughout the car. First, there is push key ignition; you stick the key in the ignition, push on it and the car starts. There is electronic parking brake, activated by a button on the dashboard. There is a little pocket for umbrella in the drivers door. There are many more details that attract you to the car, long after you bought it. They are not advertised by VW, but you just find them along the way. I wanted to laugh when Lexus trumpeted in their TV ad about the folding key for the RX suv, when Germans has been doing it for years, and I had one in my 2003 VW Golf compact. It seems that it takes Toyota time also, to find all the little details in German cars, and then try to imitate them.

I purchased my VW Passat one day after it officially went on sale in US, and I am still very happy with this car. I had no problems with it so far, after 6500 miles, and hope to have many years of happy driving. I traded in my VW Golf when it had over 45000 miles on it, because it was getting too small for our expanding family, and I didn’t have any problems with it either. All in all, I think the difference in quality between brands right now is almost non-existent (look at the progression of Hyundai or Kia), and cars offered by manufacturers differ mainly in driving experience, personality or innovations. And the new Passat is ahead of the pack in all those categories.

Updated March 29, 2006

Still love the car. So far put almost 10K miles on it with no major issues. The only problems were: rubber bushing fell off the front stabilizer bar, broken seatbelt receptor, and minor squeak when driving over speed bumps - all were fixed promptly, while I was given a loaner car to drive - Great service! What a difference over notorious VW service just few years ago!
The engine have been broken in, and fuel economy seems to be better than when I just purchased the car. The handling and performance is awesome. The biggest plus is the 6 speed automatic transmission. I was hesitant at first to use the Tiptronic feature, because of the slow response on earlier Jettas, but once I tried it and I am hooked now; very responsive. It's amazing that Germans were able to squeze 200 horsepower from 2.0 liter engine.
Engine was a bit noisy when I just purchased the car, but now it is a lot quieter after breaking in. I never thought that would make such a big difference.
I still recommend this car.