Volkswagen Passat 2.0 FSI S 4dr

The ride is smooth and insulation is reasonbly fair, good design of interior and comfortable seats. The car isnt roomy for its class, small family cars based on Golf Mk4 had more space for the driver. This car is based on Golf 5 with longer wheelbase, while previous Passats were based on Audi A4 which is far better platform.

Pedals are positioned in way that are difficult to operate, no room for the right foot and each time I move my foot from breake pedal to gas pedal it strikes plastic shield. Steering wheel is electrically assisted and not informative at all, syntetic feel of a feedback feels for me like a computer game.

Engine is very unresponssive, there is significant lag between press on the pedal and when it actually changes something. Engine is equipped with direct injection, variable timing and requires premium fuel 98 octane, octane 95 also permitted. But I dont see any reason for 98 octane which is much more expensive for only 150 horse power it develops. I had two litre 150 horse power car it was far more responsive and worked on 95 octance. I use 95 octane in this car too, it might be the reson for performance issues, but I wont pay extra mney for the premium fuel, because then all the fuel economy saving costs will be lost.

Gearbox program could be better, yes it shifts fast and smooth and has 6 speeds, but in every single moment it strugles to reach the highest gear and every maneuver requires kickdown and even then weak engine hardly provides any adequate reaction. Every maneuver requires to reach with revolution meter to the redline (first car I ever witch such petformance). I understand that everything is tuned for fuel economy, and normally engine runs on a lean mixture but performance is really suffering and so do I when I drive it.

Suspenssion is very hard, it helps enlarged Golf to handle better the road, but I cannot accept it as I drove other cars and know that good suspension can be comfortable and handle great in the same time.

All this car feels like a very big economy in everything, starting with engine compartment, wheels are seperated from it with some plastic instead all metals like on all other cars Ive got used.

I see that this car bult to have features on the paper that will attract customers. But it lacks many values that I would expect from a car of this class. I owned Golf Mk4 some time ago and it was better by many means. It had less gadgets, but more real value.

Im quite dissapointed, because I like driving and appreciate real values more than gadgets and featires on the paper.

Summary: Important to say that this car is reasonably comfortable and looks good, drives smooth and quiet. Big trunk, space for rear passngers and it is practical by many means, advanced and safe car (5 starts in the crush test). But this car is not an old school, it doesnt have all of these driving and comfort values, instead it offers new values. I guess with more powerful engines it drives much better and I guess then it would earn more stars in my review.

Volkswagen Passat FSI is a great car, very quick and a joy to drive.

Excellent fit and finish. The attention to detail is ...well what would expect from the Germans if not near perfect. Handling is precise and feels light for its size. Lots of space with adequate pace. Very good looking too. Looks and feels much more expensive than it is. Some nice tricks too - electric parking brakes, key fob, auto hold etc.

Probably too early to make a definite judgment, I've had the car for about a couple of monhts only. But overall this is a great improvement over the last model. This could be a credible challenge to the Japanese stronghold on the mid-sized sedan market (provided the reliability issues that plagued the last model have been addressed).