The revised Volkswagen Passat is a useful but subtle upgrade of the previous model.
The resemblance between the new Mk 7 Volkswagen Passat and the current Volkswagen Phaeton is entirely deliberate – in fact, in its press material, Volkswagen even took pains to emphasise the two models’ styling similarities, such as the trapezoidal headlamps and chrome-slatted, protruberant front grille.
The automaker clearly wants the motoring world to see the Volkswagen Passat as a sort of mini-Phaeton, with all its attendant connotations in terms of equipment, comfort, refinement and quality.
It’s no empty boast either. The new Volkswagen Passat represents useful progress over its predecessor, although this may not be immediately apparent.
It’s almost exactly the same size and shape as the Mk 6 Volkswagen Passat, and the flanks look identical (although every single body panel except the roof is new).
Cabin architecture is unchanged, apart from better-quality materials and some repositioned switchgear. It’s also no larger inside than before, although given that the Mk 6 already provides ample space to stretch out, it’s more an observation than an outright complaint.
To demonstrate its upmarket aspirations, the latest Volkswagen Passat flaunts a lot of new equipment, much of it safety related, and most of which acts off a raft of sensors and cameras mounted around the car.
There is Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) – with cruise control in use, ACC helps sense if there is a vehicle ahead and then maintains a safe distance by braking and accelerating gently as necessary.
A City Emergency Braking Function goes one step further by actually executing a hard stop to bring the car to a halt, if you are about to hit something.
It only does so at speeds below 30km/h though, so don’t expect Front Assist to save your neck if you’re hurtling towards a stationary truck at 100km/h. Apparently, the sensors only detect metal objects – the VW boffins at the launch were unable to tell me what would happen if a carbon fibre-bodied Pagani Zonda suddenly appeared in the Passat’s path.
And there’s a Lane Assist function that senses if you’re straying from your lane – if you do, it vibrates the wheel to shake you back to your senses.
Coupled with this is a Fatigue Detection system, which continually monitors the driver’s steering behaviour and senses if there’s a deviation from the usual pattern which may indicate a dozy driver. If so, it sounds a shrill warning to wake the sleepyhead.
There are other small but useful safety aids such as self-dimming headlights, blind spot indicators incorporated into the door mirrors, and headrests with fore and aft adjustment to reduce the risk of whiplash.
The Volkswagen Passat comes with many new convenience features too, such as a second-generation Park Assist function which now steers the car into a reverse parking lot (previously it only helped you to parallel park) and my favourite: a brilliant system called Easy Open, which (on cars equipped with keyless access) allows you to open the boot just by swinging your foot under the rear bumper – just what you need when approaching the car with a serious haul of grocery.
And the estate (aka Variant) version comes with an optional moveable panel on the boot floor. This panel slides forward and backward on rails, allowing you to place heavy loads and then slide them into the boot, instead of throwing your back out heaving them into (or out of) the far reaches of the boot.
The roll-out cargo cover in the Variant also features a useful one-touch retracting function – just nudge the cover from above and it unlatches itself and furls back.
Volkswagen Passat’s Easy Open boot helps you load “hands free”.
So the Passat is now safer and more user-friendly, but the real improvements are under the skin. Refinement levels are significantly improved over its already quiet predecessor, thanks to extra insulation in the dashboard and doors, and a remarkable new acoustic film integrated into the windscreen.
At a cruise, the car is so whisper-silent, it’s right up there with the luxury-limo set in terms of hushness. So not only might you mistake the Mk 7 Volkswagen Passat for a Phaeton from the outside, you might mistake it for one on the inside, too.
And it rides very well. All manner of bumps are smothered, but impressively, body movements remain in check, too. There is some body roll but it’s by no means excessive, and even when hurtling over the most severe undulations, the Passat remains neatly tied down.
Our test car was equipped with optional adjustable suspension (“DCC Adaptive Chassis Control” in VW-speak), but on the switchback roads of our test route, there was no need at all to activate Sport mode, so well-judged is the damping in Normal or even Comfort modes.
The steering is sharper on the new model, the car turning in more keenly than before. Pushed to the limit, it ultimately still feels front-led, but you’d need to be pressing on quite a bit harder than before for the front to start edging wide.
Our test car was powered by the familiar 160bhp 1.8-litre turbocharged unit already in service in the Mk 6 Volkswagen Passat, and it proves both punchy and refined on the Spanish mountain roads, hauling us up the inclines and down the straights with ease.
Coupled to VW’s ubiquitous (and excellent) 7-speed dry-clutch DSG gearbox, it hits 100km/h in 8.7 seconds – impressive considering the car weighs over 1.5 tonnes.
This sweet 1.8 is the unit we’ll see in the new Volkswagen Passat when it reaches Singapore in the second quarter of 2011. Other powerplants will no doubt follow. Across the board, all engines are more frugal than before, in some cases by up to 18 percent.
The new Volkswagen Passat is ultimately the same dependable, comfortable and spacious device as its predecessor, but with improved economy and chassis dynamics.
It boasts certain features found only in cars at least a class above, and it also rides with limousine-rivalling refinement. So if it looks like its big brother the Phaeton flagship, it has every right to.
Latest Volkswagen Passat might be mistaken for a little Volkswagen Phaeton.
Volkswagen Passat 1.8 (A)
ENGINE 1798cc, 16-valves, inline-4, turbocharged
MAX POWER 160bhp at 5000-6200rpm
MAX TORQUE 250Nm at 1500-4200rpm
GEARBOX 7-speed dual-clutch with manual select
0-100KM/H 8.7 seconds
TOP SPEED 218km/h
CONSUMPTION 14.1km/L
PRICE INCL. COE To be advised (as of December 2010, car arrives Q2 2011)
The Volkswagen Phaeton is no longer in production, but you can check out VW’s current range-topping Arteon model
