I'm typing this on my cell phone so just bear with me, lol.
For the past 3 days I have been using a 2012 Passat as a loaner vehicle. It's the base model with the appearance package. So it has the nice wheels and leather touches on the center console. As you would expect it is an automatic transmission.
At first I disliked the car quite a bit but that's mainly because I was trying to compare it to my last two VWs. The car feels much different but I would say for the average American driver, this is a good thing.
It's lacking the feeling of a "drivers car" that many VWs give you. The Passat drives like it looks. It's heavy, solid, slow, and... Boring. I have to say though it is an extremely comfortable commuter. I can see why people are buying these things up. It's a no frills ride with a soft, boring suspension but the car does feel very refined.
I think it was the critic who described the 2.5L in the Passat as feeling much more refined than in the golf, beetle, Jetta, and so on... This is absolutely true. The engine sounds smooth and efficient. It's a good fit for the new Passat. I'm not sure of what changes they have done to the engine for this vehicle but it seems to behave a little different. It's also worth noting that the car is very slow. This will be fine for any casual driver but for anyone looking for a "fun" ride, this probably won't fit the bill. And even if you try to thrash it nothing happens, it just does its job. Not too exciting but I dont seeing meant to be exciting. That's what the 6cyl Passat is for.
A bit uphill and AC was on, but still, pretty lifeless. Oh well.
The interior is nice in my opinion. The layout is attractive and everything seems solid with good door thunks and no rattles or creaks. The cost cutting is noticeable though. While there's some soft plastics here and there, the rest of the car has very hard plastics and lacks the finer details you'd find in the German built passats from last gen. I find the interior bashing to be a bit overblown though, you couldn't get a 2010 Passat for under 20k. One complaint I have though is that the radio and climate controls are much too low and reaching for them is a distraction. My eyes have to drift too much off the road to change the radio or AC controls.
The car is huge. It has tons of room and you'd probably be able to fit 3 adults in the trunk (not recommended). Visibility is superb, little to no blind spots. That's something rare with new cars anymore.
If you are looking for a larger family car that drives nice I'd have to the reccomend checking out this car. It seems solid all around.
For the past 3 days I have been using a 2012 Passat as a loaner vehicle. It's the base model with the appearance package. So it has the nice wheels and leather touches on the center console. As you would expect it is an automatic transmission.
At first I disliked the car quite a bit but that's mainly because I was trying to compare it to my last two VWs. The car feels much different but I would say for the average American driver, this is a good thing.
It's lacking the feeling of a "drivers car" that many VWs give you. The Passat drives like it looks. It's heavy, solid, slow, and... Boring. I have to say though it is an extremely comfortable commuter. I can see why people are buying these things up. It's a no frills ride with a soft, boring suspension but the car does feel very refined.
I think it was the critic who described the 2.5L in the Passat as feeling much more refined than in the golf, beetle, Jetta, and so on... This is absolutely true. The engine sounds smooth and efficient. It's a good fit for the new Passat. I'm not sure of what changes they have done to the engine for this vehicle but it seems to behave a little different. It's also worth noting that the car is very slow. This will be fine for any casual driver but for anyone looking for a "fun" ride, this probably won't fit the bill. And even if you try to thrash it nothing happens, it just does its job. Not too exciting but I dont seeing meant to be exciting. That's what the 6cyl Passat is for.
A bit uphill and AC was on, but still, pretty lifeless. Oh well.
The interior is nice in my opinion. The layout is attractive and everything seems solid with good door thunks and no rattles or creaks. The cost cutting is noticeable though. While there's some soft plastics here and there, the rest of the car has very hard plastics and lacks the finer details you'd find in the German built passats from last gen. I find the interior bashing to be a bit overblown though, you couldn't get a 2010 Passat for under 20k. One complaint I have though is that the radio and climate controls are much too low and reaching for them is a distraction. My eyes have to drift too much off the road to change the radio or AC controls.
The car is huge. It has tons of room and you'd probably be able to fit 3 adults in the trunk (not recommended). Visibility is superb, little to no blind spots. That's something rare with new cars anymore.
If you are looking for a larger family car that drives nice I'd have to the reccomend checking out this car. It seems solid all around.
