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- Unusual compliments for the new Passat
- The Jetta can almost compete with the Passat
- The basic model costs 25,875 euros
- The C-Class is just a little long
- New Cadillac doesn’t play in this league
- Now also with trailer assistant
- Heinz-Jakob Neuber, VW Board Member for Development
Unusual compliments for the new Passat
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The new VW Passat has become wider and flatter, but no longer. Today it is a stately notchback sedan, while it …
Source: Volkswagen
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… In 1973, when it was the first VW with front-engined and front-wheel drive to hit the market (before the Golf), it was a hatchback model – the basic version even had two doors.
Source: Volkswagen
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The eighth generation Passat has grown to 4.77 meters and weighs at least 1387 kilograms (despite a diet of up to 85 kilograms compared to its predecessor). The generation…there was one thing against it …
Source: Volkswagen
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… downright petite. The car was just 4.20 meters in length and in its basic version with 54 hp weighed only 880 kilograms.
Source: Volkswagen
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In Europe (and especially in Germany) the Variant is more important than the sedan: In its home market there are nine Variants for every sedan. The station wagon is just as long as …the sedan, but weighs 42 kilograms more.
Source: Volkswagen
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As early as 1974, VW put the Variant on the side of the hatchback Passat. The 4.29 meter long car offered a load space of 750 to 1520 liters – which was measured differently at the time a…ls today.
Source: Volkswagen
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Pay attention to the massive center console and the large infotainment screen in the new Passat. There were both …
Source: Volkswagen
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… in 1973 not yet. Back then, they didn’t have any big ideas for the space between the seats: gear stick, a small shelf, that’s it.
Source: Volkswagen
The mid-range station wagon currently rolls off the production line every 29 seconds: it leaves the staid mediocrity behind without aiming for the luxury class. He lacks sex appeal, but he still has something from BMW.
D.he Italians on the phone are almost overflowing with enthusiasm. He’s currently in Balocco, where the Fiat test site can be found, but the man is talking about a new VW. Paolo Tumminelli is a professor at the Cologne International School of Design, a well-known specialist book author and now also a juror for the “Goldenes Lenkrad” car award. He has just driven the new Passat in Balocco, where the jury meets once a year, and describes it as "minimalist, intelligent, stylish and not too flashy".
Such judgments were not always heard about the Passat, on the contrary. The mid-range VW, the best-selling car in Germany after the Golf, is generally judged the same by everyone – as somehow solid, but also average, without sex appeal. Representative car, family carriage, next topic please.
But although the Passat lacked charisma for most of its 41 years, it won over a large regular audience: since 1973, 22 million people worldwide have opted for precisely this inconspicuous car.
The Jetta can almost compete with the Passat
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In Germany, the Jetta has a rather staid image. In the USA, however, the notchback version of the Golf has been a bestseller for years. A facelift should now help that…s the car sells a little better in this country too.
Source: Volkswagen
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It can only get better, because the sales figures in Germany are very bad: The Jetta only found 2500 buyers in this country in 2013.
Source: Volkswagen
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However, it is questionable whether the revision will bring the desired success, because the changes are marginal.
Source: Volkswagen
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For example, the LED daytime running light strip is new. But this little gimmick won’t convert a Jetta skeptic.
Source: Volkswagen
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A few technical subtleties maybe: Because VW is now offering extras such as a blind spot warning in the Jetta.
Source: Volkswagen
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The cockpit of the revised Jetta is typically Volkswagen: matter-of-fact, sober and well thought-out.
Source: Volkswagen
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The VW all-purpose weapon: The revised two-liter TDI engine that meets the Euro 6 emissions standard is now also available in the Jetta.
Source: Volkswagen
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When driving past, the Jetta could almost pass through as a Passat: At 4.66 meters in length, the Jetta is only slightly smaller than the popular mid-range sedan. the …measures 4.77 meters.
Source: Volkswagen
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The trunk is also generous: 510 liters fit into the luggage compartment of the Jetta. For comparison: 565 liters fit in the Passat. Incidentally, the starting price for the Jetta is 21….725 euros. This makes it around 4,000 euros cheaper than a Passat.
Source: Volkswagen
A Passat currently rolls off the assembly line “every 29 seconds”, says Development Board Member Heinz-Jakob Neuber, “you also have to master that in terms of logistics”. VW’s top engineer doesn’t just drop these numbers; pride is unmistakable in his speech. But although the Passat principle works so well worldwide, with the eighth generation of the car, VW dares to take a step that deviates from the line.
As is usually the case, the Passat was not longer than its predecessor. But more noble. At least interested parties who, like Paolo Tumminelli, take a second look at the car, notice this quickly. “The Passat has become wider and flatter, it now has interesting BMW features: there is more aggressiveness, delicacy and dynamism. The new car now wants to be more than the Passat ever was. "
Ascent is a socially accepted pursuit, also among customers. Everyone always wants something more, be it money, luck, job position or any combination of these ingredients. This is how the Passat developed with the people – from the family limousine it quickly made it to one of the most popular company cars in the country, especially in the estate version.
The basic model costs 25,875 euros
The next step on the automotive career ladder would be: Premium. In other words, what the Mercedes C-Class, BMW 3 Series and Audi A4 almost exclusively stand for in the Passat environment. In addition to the mostly better technology and the more sophisticated design, premium cars have one particular advantage for the manufacturer: They can be sold more expensively.
However, this temptation is still resisted in Wolfsburg: The basic Passat model, a gasoline engine with 125 hp, is offered for 25,875 euros. That is only a few hundred euros more than the previous model, and the price of the three German premium competitors is not nearly as low.
The C-Class is just a little long
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You hardly associate the C-Class with qualities such as emotionality or sportiness. That could change significantly with the new generation.
Source: Daimler
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From behind it looks a bit sportier than its predecessor.
Source: Daimler
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It also looks more dynamic from the side.
Source: Daimler
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It now holds 490 liters with the rear seat upright…
Source: Daimler
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… and can be expanded to 1510 liters by moving a three-part rear seat.
Source: Daimler
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The luxuriously equipped cockpit with the curved consoles and the head-up display has been taken over from the sedan…
Source: Daimler
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…and the touchpad and the many assistance systems from traffic jam pilot with steering intervention to traffic sign recognition with wrong-way driver warning.
Source: Daimler
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Nothing changes with the engines.
Source: Daimler
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It remains with the well-known diesels from 115 to 204 hp, the gasoline engines with 156 to 333 hp..
Source: Daimler
On the other hand, VW is also throwing a pebble into the premium pond with the top model of the Passat: a technically unbelievably sophisticated Passat with seven-speed dual clutch transmission, all-wheel drive and an engine that no one has yet to offer in this form costs 44,625 euros.
The VW engineers squeezed 240 hp and a torque of 500 Nm from the two-liter displacement of their turbo diesel. These data help the Passat to achieve performance on a top-class level (240 km / h, 0–100 in 6.1 seconds), paired with a standard consumption of 5.3 liters.
“One wonders: What else can Audi offer now,” says Paolo Tumminelli, but only wants to know in terms of design. VW units are also often used at Audi and vice versa, but the design of the Passat also fits in with the powerful technical appearance of the Passat.
New Cadillac doesn’t play in this league
Walter de’Silva, again an Italian, as the group’s chief design officer, has a very clear design language developed. The cars hardly have any curves, the horizontal is emphasized, and the few lines are pressed into the sheet metal so precisely that it is impossible for other manufacturers to copy. Today, good design also needs perfect implementation in production, otherwise it won’t work.
That would again meet a premium criterion, and Paolo Tumminelli also says that there is “no noticeable difference in value” between the Passat, the Mercedes C-Class and the BMW 4 Series (the Coupe to the 3 Series). He had these three cars as candidates for the "Golden Steering Wheel" to judge, plus a new Cadillac, which "does not play in this league".
No, this is not the new luxury class from VW. It’s just a little more than we’ve had before.
Heinz-Jakob Neuber, VW Board Member for Development
Nevertheless, VW does not want to officially combine the words Passat and Premium. Of course, during the development process, the A4, C-Class and 3-Series were extensively dealt with, as Chief Development Officer Neusser explains. Nevertheless, he says about the Passat: “No, this is not the new luxury class from VW. It’s just a little more than we’ve had before. "
This refinement must also be because the Passat has to maintain a certain distance in the group: to the Audi A4, whose development has been delayed by the change in the positions of Head of Design and Development; to the Skoda Superb, whose successor will take a big step towards VW and Audi. And to the VW Phaeton, which represents the actual upper class from VW, even if it is not particularly well received in Europe.
Now also with trailer assistant
All in all, it will be more difficult in the future to differentiate between brands and models. And soon it will no longer be so easy to see what status the person at the wheel has. Mercedes driver? Premium, the car was expensive. Passat pilots? Maybe they have enough money and rank and everything, but don’t show it that way. “Very contemporary,” says Paolo Tumminelli.
The extremely fast technical development is also to blame for the blurring of the differences. You don’t have to buy a luxury car for a long time if you want to have the best assistance systems, as you can see on the Passat‘s surcharge list. The differences have become small, and when they exist they are quickly leveled out again.
At the moment, after all, VW is exclusively offering a technology in the Passat that could even appease electronics critics: Trailer Assist. For a surcharge of 620 euros, the car helps when maneuvering with trailers. A blessing for anyone who only moves the caravan once a year. The driver only has to determine the point of turning, all other steering movements are carried out by the car. On the other hand: caravans – that’s middle class, right??
Heinz-Jakob Neuber, VW Board Member for Development
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