2008 Volkswagen Passat Reviews

Discerning Passat buyers went for the German comforts and dynamics — but well-versed owners know they have to keep topping up the engine oil.Having started out as the maker of the humble people’s car, Volkswagen is no longer a single-model brand. From its vast range of cars, there is a model to suit almost everyone. The Passat was the next step for those graduating from the Golf. The badge was affixed to many variants: sedan and wagon, diesel and petrol, fours and a V6, driven by the front or all four wheels.If a little bland at first glance, the Passat had smooth lines, sleek shape and well balanced proportions. The German penchant for efficiency over bling perhaps meant it had few trinkets.The cabin was typical VW, clean and clinical but with lots of grey trim.That said, there were plenty of features to please the discerning buyer: six-way powered driver’s seat, leather steering wheel, cruise control, auto headlights, rain-sensing wipers and a six-CD audio.A turbo diesel opened the bidding, bringing decent performance and good economy, its turbo petrol counterpart had plenty of get up and go and the V6 was an out-and-out goer.All were mated to automatics, the petrol engine to a regular six-speeder and the others to the new six-speed dual-clutch transmission.The V6 came standard with VW’s 4Motion all-wheel drive, the other two were front-drive.On the road the Passat displayed fine road manners with balanced, responsive handling.There is a lot to like about the Passat, it’s well built and comfortable, lively yet refined.There are also a couple of issues that buyers need to be aware of.One is the oil consumption of VW engines. Not all — but those that do can consume a lot. In most engines, this usually results from high mileage and associated wear but VW engines often use oil right from new.Some owners have had major engine failures on their new cars simply because they didn’t bother to check the engine oil and it ultimately ran out. Always check the oil in your engine, especially if it’s a VW.Dealers seem unable to fix the problem, and owners who are unlucky enough to have an oil user have to put up with it for the car’s life.If you’ve settled on buying a Passat talk to the vendor about any oil consumption issues the car has had.The other abiding issue concerns the DSG dual-clutch transmission fitted to diesels and the V6.Thoroughly test drive your chosen car if it’s fitted with the DSG transmission, observing for anything that might suggest a problem.Again, talk to the vendor about the transmission and any problems they have had with it.While you’re at it ask to see the car’s service record and check its maintenance record.Mike Page: I’m very happy with my 2008 turbo diesel. It’s good around town and great on the highway with plenty of grunt when needed. It averages 5.5L/100km on the highway and between 6.9L and 7.5L around town. The biggest bugbear is the Clive Atkinson: I’ve owned Audis and BMWs and my V6 wagon is right up there with them for quality, dynamics and performance. The DSG works well but, leaving the lights, you’d think a car has bumped you. I fear for when the warranty runs out.Jon Hill: My 2010 petrol wagon is a dream to drive. It’s now done 200,000km and has used oil from day one. Now it’s a litre every 500km. Smoke pours out — I guess it’s the rings and only a rebuild will fix it. I’ve also replaced the water pump twice.The infamous dual-clutch issue was resolved by changing the software at about 120,000km. An independent service agent saved me heaps. The comfort level is terrific, fuel consumption is great — 6.0L highway. I’d like to keep it another 200,000km, but the oil consumption is ridiculous.It’s a good car that’s under-appreciated. Beware of the DSG niggles and high oil consumption.

Volkswagen Passat is a medium-large car aimed at those looking for a solid machine that should stand the test of time. Stylish it's not, but that's the way VW does its shapes, intending them to be timeless. There's an exception in the Passat range, see the upcoming notes on the model tagged the "CC". Passat shares

Most carmakers have a hot car division dedicated to turning mundane everyday drivers into fire-breathing, tyre-shredding, road-burners, and VW is no different.

Passat is a medium-large German car that appeals to those who refuse to pay big dollars for a similar car from one of the more prestigious marques from the same country. Audi won’t thank us for saying so, but there are quite a few out of sight components that are shared by Passat and upmarket Audi vehicles.The Passat in all its formats offers better than average comfort thanks to well-shaped seats and suspension which is able to soak up just about anything thrown at it. Handling is good, with virtually neutral road behaviour at normal speeds, gradually changing to safe understeer if the big car is pushed hard.In the earlier days almost all Passat imports were four-door sedans but with the introduction of the 1998 model, five-door wagons were offered. Wagons have been a popular choice ever since as their squared off rear end makes for a practical load area.An interesting style called Passat CC was introduced in February 2009. Virtually a four-door coupe in the manner of the Mercedes-Benz CLS, the sleek CC is just right for those who seldom use the back seat but want the convenience of rear doors. The back seat is reasonably comfortable and is certainly much better than that of the typical two-door coupe.Volkswagen went all cute with the marketing of the latest CC when it arrived in June 2012, dropping the Passat from its name and calling it simply the CC. Don’t forget to check out both names if you’re doing a search for the pretty coupe on used-car sites.Engine options show a fascinating variation, with four-, five-, six- and eight-cylinder layouts. The V5 and V6 use an interesting design with a narrow-angle V which enables it to run one cylinder head covering both cylinder banks.Though smaller engines aren’t always accepted by Australian buyers, even the four-cylinder Passats have enough performance for many buyers. Many of the later petrol – and all diesel – Volkswagen engines use a turbocharger to generate significantly extra torque.Volkswagen started a strong push on turbo-diesel engines in Australia in 2006 and these days the company often sells more diesel cars than petrol ones in Australia.A four-speed automatic was used in the pre-1998 model, followed by a five-speed unit with tiptronic. The forward ratios were increased to six with a DSG installation from 2006, and to seven forward ratios from early 2010.All-wheel drive isn't all that common in Australian Passats but gives better traction coming out of corners and on slippery surfaces and is worth considering if you are doing a lot of driving on unmade surfaces, or even on the snow and ice for which it was originally designed.For the revhead, Volkswagen imported the Passat R36 from June 2008. R36 has a 220 kilowatt engine, all-wheel drive and is sold in both sedan and wagon bodies.Volkswagen Group Australia has put a lot of work in recent years in getting its supply of spare parts up to international best practice. Prices are similar to those of other European imports in its class. Similarly, the dealer group has grown markedly in recent years and VW is represented in most population centres of significant size.Passat is a relatively complex machine in the modern manner, but a competent home mechanic should be able to do a fair bit of work on it. Always have a workshop manual on standby, and please leave safety items to professionals.Insurance is generally not expensive but make inquiries from a number of companies as there can be quite a difference in premiums.WHAT TO LOOK FORLook over the condition of the interior in case the Passat has had a hard life. It’s not common in a car like this, but can happen and rectification can be expensive.The engine should start within a second of the key being turned and should settle into a steady idle within seconds. If there is a flat spot in acceleration there could be fuel-injection problems.Check the insides of the front wheels for signs of severe brake dust build up, indicating hard driving. This is more likely on one of the sporting models, but Passats do seem to attract people who like to pedal along hard.Look over the body for signs of crash repairs, especially paint that doesn’t match and panels that don't fit exactly. Check the complete body, including hard to reach areas under the bonnet, in the boot and under the car.CAR BUYING TIPBefore settling on any car it makes sense to check on availability of spare parts and servicing in your home and work neighbourhoods. 

Being a prestige model the Passat was generously equipped with standard gear.

You take an unassuming passenger car, harden up its drivetrain and ramp up performance. You add visual appeal with go fast bits and badges. And you wind up with an embellished shopping trolley or worse, you get a crass dork in a bad suit; like the TRD Aurion.So why does the latest edition of Volkswagen's R series convince in a way that the models preceding it in the distinctively deep blue paint and chrome grille haven't? If the Passat R36 followed the form book, we'd be saying the currently top whack Passat sits too close for the R version to offer sufficient reason to spend the extra thousands.And for what, exactly? Both cars have part-time all-wheel-drive, twin clutch gearbox and a direct injection V6, it's just that the R engine has 400cc more.Somehow though, the R car, at least in the wagon form we sampled, does it in a way the other Rs don't. It helps not a little that the regular Passat is visually anonymous, so the blue paint and shiny bits at least make it less indistinct. As does the interior statement, with suede-like inners on the leather seats and a lovely, fist-filling steering wheel.While calling it the “sportiest Passat of all time” is a bit like claiming to be the fittest player at the local bowling club, the R36 has the output and performance figures to make it quite the Wolfsburger in chic clothing. On the whole this fitness is wasted in a country without autobahns. Still, the 220kW/350Nm on tap can shove this near 1.8-tonner from standing to 100km/h in less than six seconds.Unlike the 3.2 V6 in the regular Passat, that torque arrives later in the piece, making this an engine to rev and it goes appreciably harder to towards to the top of the rev range.DSG has never captivated us to the extent it has many of our fellow hacks, being as ever apt to over-ride your gear selections even in manual or sport mode. Best leave it in Drive, where it's an adroit conductor. You can always effect temporary manual over-ride, using the left paddle shifter to engine brake, shortly after which it resumes automatic mode.Essentially the R36 is a big, secure cruiser, entering a corner like the powerful front driver it essentially is, transferring torque to the back axle via the Haldex coupling. Feel through the wheel is adequate, if muted, the position from which you command it is excellent.The assertiveness and composure with which it shoots out of the bend is abetted by the sonorous note of an engine that's more usually found in VW Group SUVs and Porsche's Cayenne.That's just one reason why this cargo carrying R car kills off any logical reason to go down the Touareg route.The other is monumental cargo capacity (near enough 1800 litres with the back seats flat).The weekend excursion from the city really is the R36's milieu.Because, although the ride on anything but the smoothest blacktop is terse, even irritating, this is a car capable of dispatching family business in comfort while imbuing the ageing chap behind the wheel with at least the notional ability to step over obnoxious youths in their thrusty rice rockets.It's that breadth of ability which makes this R car that bit special. Bottom LineVolkswagen's only current R edition that justifies the spend. 

And it's not the swoopy new Scirocco coupe . . .The boxy Passat R36 takes lines honours with a combination of a 3.6-litre V6 engine that makes 220 kiloWatts and gives the family hauler - sedan or wagon - the potential for a 5.6-second sprint to 100km/h and a top end well beyond Australia's legal limits.The potent Passat proves the point on Volkswagen's R shop upgrading, which is done in-house at the Individual division and mirrors similar go-faster tweaking done by M for BMW, AMG for Benz, and TRD, HSV and FPV for the three homegrown Aussie brands.The R36 rolls in alongside the existing R32 Golf and R50 Touareg to complete the R-car lineup — for now, anyway — with prices from $64,990 for a manual sedan to $67,590 for a wagon with DSG manu-matic gearbox.Like all the other R cars it hits with sports suspension, a better brake/tyre/wheel package and a cabin upgrade. Oh, and all-wheel drive.The R36 also comes with the same bold Biscaya blue paintwork available on the R32 and R50 - and a like like Subaru's WRC battle colour - although there are other colours for people who are not so keen to make a statement.In any case, the car trumps anything seen before from Volkswagen and is a significant twist for a company which is making most of its advances in Australia with diesels. The Golf GTi is still its best seller but more than half of all sales are diesels as the German brand lifted its sales by 17.9 per cent by the end of July to take number seven in the passenger-car rankings.“Australian customers have been very kind to us this year,” says Jutta Dierks, head of Volkswagen Group Australia.She is hoping for more kindness on the R cars, and particularly the Passat R36, but admits total sales will probably still only amount to around 1000 across the three models through 2009.“For us, R line is special. And we have plans to expand it,” says Jutta Dierks, head of Volkswagen Group Australia.“Basically, we can do this with every single car. It fits every model in our range.“Personally, I would like to do this on the Jetta, but there are no plans. And it should be very special, that's the way it should be.“It gives a kind of excitement that goes through the whole range.”The mechanical package for the R36 is built around its V6 engine and slick DSG six-speed gearbox, complete with paddle shifts. It is basically front-wheel drive until there is any slip, when the rear wheels - giant 18-inch alloys - are called into action.The engine is much the same as the 3.6-litre unit already fitted to the Touareg, but tweaking for the R36 drops the torque slightly but takes power up by close to 20 kiloWatts.The suspension is lowered by 25mm with tauter springs and dampers, there are vented disc brakes at each corner, and the body is tweaked with deeper side sills, a rear spoiler, chromed exhausts and the inevitable R badges.It also comes with bi-Xenon lamps, a combination of leather and microfibre on the sports bucket seats, and a thumping 250-watt sound system.Volkswagen is not talking about sales numbers but admits supply from Germany, which limited sales of the original R32 Golf to just 200 cars, will not be a problem.Following the R36, it is most likely the next R model will be based on the Passat CC which is set for Australia in the first half of 2009.And what about the Scirocco coupe, which has the potential to take king-of-the-hill rights from the R36 either as a regular model or with tweaking for an R badge?“We have not made the decision, but the door is not closed,” says Dierks. DRIVING:The go-faster Passat is like the rest of Volkswagen's R cars — quick and enjoyable, but not as sharp as you might expect.It gets along briskly enough, and gives plenty of feedback and enjoyment, but is missing the 'wow' factor we expect after years with HSV and FPV Holdens and Fords.The R36 is more like a TRD Aurion, although that is probably unkind to the Volkswagen because the driving position is a lot better and it has a much better transmission than the hotted Toyota.It has a classy look and feel, and the R upgrade is a well-balanced package, but it is not a cheap car and there are some shortcomings in the ride.Volkswagen used the arrival of the R36 to roll out the whole family for a drive day at Phillip Island, which did its best to make the MotoGP track a challenge with a combination of Antarctic temperatures, showery rain and very blustery winds. It was a good way to see what the cars could do.The R36 showed well on the track but, because it the circuit is so fast and open, it tid not feel all that fast. Punchy out of the pits, and with a nice cornering balance, but not what you would expect from a car trumpeted as the fastest Volkwagen in the business.The R32 Golf was sharper again, thanks to the smaller body and a responsive engine, and it also had a nicely rorty engine note.The surprise, though, was the Touareg. The family hauler looks much more aggressive as the R50 and it punches beyond its weight on the track.The big surprise is the incredible torque from its 5-litre V10 diesel, which gives it the sort of punch you expect from a Porsche Cayenne or AMG Benz ML. It really can get up and go.But weight works against the R50 in corners and it was blown around badly on the approach to turn one at more than 200km/h - not what you really want. And you have to remember to shift early and often, unlike the smaller V6 models, to keep it moving along.All three R cars were also available for a carpark motorkhana, which was fun but did not prove much beyond their off-the-line pace.It was a fun day despite the weather, and proved Volkswagen has the basic building blocks to build some quicker and more enjoyable R cars. But we still think the Golf GTi is the one to beat in the Volkswagen lineup. FAST FACTSVolkswagen Passat R36On sale: nowBody: four-door sedan, five-door wagonPrice: from $64,990 ($65,590 with increased luxury tax)Engine: 3.6-litre V6Power: 220 kW/6600 revsTorque: 350Nm/2400-3500 revsTransmission: six-speed DSG, all-wheel drivePerformance: 0-100km/h, 5.6s (5.8 wagon); top speed 250km/hEconomy: 10.7 litres/100km (ADR 81/01)Emissions: 254 grams/km of CO2 

That's a comparison to flatter the latter, that most anodyne of family cars, and one to richly annoy the Volkswagen customer who has, after all, spent as much as $14,000 more.Annoyed would be mildest I'd feel at having to pay a fat premium that's been blown out by the 10 per cent tariff for a car that's more economical, environmentally friendlier and, pedestrian though it is, about twice the drive.Barely conceivable in the days when the locals were smug and secure behind the tariff ramparts, we've bought diesels this year as never before. That makes the newest version of the Passat sedan and wagon to arrive here very much of the moment.Like the latest Golf variant tested here recently, the Passat comes with the newly tweaked 125kW/350Nm edition of the the VW groups's two-litre turbo diesel workhorse, although the standard 103kW/320Nm mill continues in the entry-level Passat.The new version is priced at $44,490 for the sedan, $46,990 for the wagon, a premium of $1500 and $2000 respectively over the milder versions.Although it's listed as the “2.0 TDI 125kW”, it's the “350” torque figure that counts. After minor but annoying hesitation off the mark, the maximum Newtown metres pile on from 1750-2500rpm. This gets the enhanced Passat oiler to 100km/h from standing in a claimed 8.6 seconds, more than a tick of the hand quicker than the standard car. More mumbo, though, means only the most marginal increase in consumption and emissions — 6.7 litres per 100km/h sipped in combined testing and 181g of C02 per klick emitted.Although the VW Groups' DSG tranny has been around for a good few years, sufficient punters have logged “please explains” for a brief digression.Basically it's an electronically controlled, twin-shaft dual-clutch manual gearbox, without a conventional clutch pedal, with full automatic, or semi-manual control and a sport mode.In any setting, it shifts faster and moves more economically than a conventional manual. For all that, it's probably left in Drive by most owners most of the time, so remember that, while at idle, it creeps forward like an auto, when facing up an incline it will roll back very like a manual.DSG is very clever no doubt, but I could live without the gaps between the lower of the six forward gears. These can become obvious at low speeds with a laggardly response to a throttle input.While functionally DSG isn't much different from any torque converter auto with a good tiptronic function, it does imbue even a basically specced Passat such as ours with a degree of sophistication otherwise lacking.The sports suspended V6 with all-wheel-drive is capable to the point where it not only justifies the extra over local and Japanese six potters, but seriously embarrasses supposedly more prestigious Euros. The diesel is the more utilitarian device, a large family car by German standards, quite big enough for the parents and 2.5 children, and a 565-litre black-hole of a boot for all their stuff and more.It looks globulous from front angles and, unoptioned, the accommodations remain some way from opulent, all cloth trim and grim grey plastics. The two-tiered dash remains a visual hit, the dials more legible than a Golf's with a neat push-start key fob that slots in near the push-button parking brake.If the cabin seems basic, at least the Passat is bolted together in Germany, rather than outsourced to the Americas or South Africa, something of which would-be critics of VeeWee make much.With all that oomph going through the front wheels and a suspension tuned toward absorbancy, this Passat's no dynamic dream. Nor can much enthusiasm be summoned for the steering which is better weighted than most in the cardigan class but still some way from providing intimate feel.As with most aspects of the Passat though, its performance is wholly adequate for the prescribed purpose. The mid-range punch that comes when wound up is impressive and you'll come to appreciate its planted, composed feel, an attitude it maintains under strong braking.While the rivals we list here all happen to be French, equally viable alternatives come from within the VW group. From the same marque actually. Be very sure that you need the space the Passat provides before you select one over the less expensive but still voluminous Jetta with its 525-litre boot.And for a few grand less than the $37,990 Jetta with 103kW TDI and DSG, consider the Skoda Octavia, which uses exactly the same drivetrain and comes in a wagon variant.Still, the newer Passat oiler makes a case as family hauler, well worth the extra spend over certain cars that we have to pay taxes to support but we may not want to buy. The bottom lineThanks to the tariffs you have to pay more than you should but you do get a premium product with plenty of European sophistication