Volkswagen Passat - Pass(at) with flying colours

Although the Passat is not as breathtakingly enjoyable as the BMW 320d, the 2.0 litre TDI engine is no slouch. The 4-pot diesel mill comes alive after 1800 revs, below which it feels a tad lethargic, taking a lot of time to gain momentum. Well, actually, it is not very bad, but since you get used to a rapid progress once the turbo kicks in, the response at lower revs feels like it is taking an eternity! This is pretty evident during overtaking maneuvers. Volkswagen claims that Passat will dismiss 100 clicks on the speedo in 9.8 seconds. Good number that, which we were hard-pressed to match or better, but sadly could not. We did over 30 acceleration runs but the average time we could churn out was 11 seconds to get to 100kph.

The DSG gearbox is quite nippy and you get an “S” mode in which the engine note and response becomes crisper and shifts happen at the boiling end of the rev counter. You can also shift manually through a selector lever or paddles, which add to the sporty character. We were extremely unlucky while doing the speed runs and could only manage a 194kph; the claimed number is 206kph and the way she was going, we can only but be sure that she will get to that speed with ease. That characteristic diesel engine clatter is there but thankfully it does not translate into irritating vibrations in the cabin, owing to the balancer shaft that has been developed for this engine which keeps the vibes in check.

The Passat sports a unibody structure that is lighter as well as more rigid compared to its forerunner. When driving, it comes as an afterthought that you are driving a long luxury car, such a nimble set of wheels it is. It is quite well endowed too, the Passat, I mean. Handling is taut but not as involving as... the BMW. There’s a hint of understeer which feels ever so controllable. The electro-mechanical power steering is quick and well weighed and the body-roll, rather the lack of it, is impressive. The electrical and IT engineers who’ve worked on the Passat feel like talent well spent. You have electronic assistance available all the time. ESP, EDL, TCS, ABS… name the damn thing and the Passat smiles, affirming the presence of them all. All this techno gadgetry robs the fun somewhat when you are in boy-racer mood, but you are always safe. And that’s what matters, at the end of the day, does it not?

We were a little disappointed by the brake feel and the suspension. Not that they are bad, no, but things would have been excellent if we got more feel from the brake pedal and the suspension noise would not intrude into the silence of the excellent cabin. These tiny niggles notwithstanding, the suspension does a good job of absorbing craters and the brakes have good bite. We tested the cruise control system and it holds whatever speed you set it at perfectly, hence making it quite a tool to have while doing long-distance cruising.

Yes, the Passat has a 2.0-litre diesel engine that is laced with technology. But it is also a 4.7-meter long luxury sedan that tips the scale at a little over 2-tonnes. And that, by any measure, is modestly heavy. To top it off, the Passat has an automatic tranny which has its own effect on mileage. Still, conquering all these aspects, the Passat returned an overall 11.6kpl which is worthy of praise. Its in-city figures hovered between 10-11kpl while on the highway, maintaining a steady 2200rpm, it did a pretty commendable 14kpl.

I’ve not given in to my urge of telling you the fact I’ve suppressed thus far. There’s a reason to test the Passat after so many months of its launch. VWs have always been praised for the way they tolerate rash treatment from both nature and man, but never complain and just keep going, without breaking into a sweat. We wanted to see whether or not that is true, hence we asked for a car that had done quite a bit of running and got a car that already had 82,000km on its odo and we managed to add another 1000 plus to that number during the test. Despite of such a high number of miles on the clock, there were no signs of squeaks, rattles or whatever that could give us one chance, just one, to cow it down! As it pains me to say this, since I do not like to shower praises on a car all through the road-test report, but yes, the VW Passat is as refined, reliable and fault-free a car as there can be. I was discussing the Passat with a friend of mine and he said “that’s engineering, at its best”; I extended it by saying “that’s not just engineering, it is German engineering.” So, in retrospect, yes she has all that it takes to do what the fifth-gen Golf did. Go ahead; change the name to Passatsburg for a week.