As a former owner of a sturdy 1991 1.8GL Estate I was pleased to get my hands on a brand new Passat diesel yesterday. Did about 6-8 miles all urban. Refined, but very dull and some of the interior materials, such as door pulls felt surprisingly cheap. Not a car that will linger in my memory for very long....
This doesn't surprise me in the least...I recently decided that the new shape Passat is one of my most despised cars, having been tailgated by these badly proportioned monstrosities once too often.
In days of old the Passat was a perfectly acceptable car that went about its business with no fuss, and you hardly even noticed they were there... a good thing due to VW's usual token attempt at 'styling'. This was not a problem though, as the cars were unpretentious and generally driven by decent people.
However, these upwardly mobile new repmobiles all seem to be driven by red faced, pig headed salesmen who haven't sold enough loo brushes to get the Audi they really want. Ironically, Audi drivers all want to be BMW drivers, and BMW drivers just want a slap.
So that's why I don't like it. Oh, and the fact that VW are still hanging onto the coat tails of their 'quality and reliability' image which is frankly no longer the case.
Really? I would have thought anyone driving an Audi could easily step in to a BMW for similar money. I considered a BMW instead of an Audi, the Audi won hands down.
I would rather stick pins in my eyes especially if i had the ones with the chrome beards on the front, they look awful. Not as bad as the "performance" model the Americans get though with a load of grey body additions! mind you at least they get a 3.6
In fairness Nox, there are a few fast diesels now, like the one i had. The 4.2 V8 from Audi goes well too. Not your cup of tea i know, but they go well, especially when remapped. The new alloy 335d goes to 350 bhp and 525 lbs-ft, decent numbers really.
I dont mind a diesel as long as it doesnt sound anything like that old isuzu engines astra i had years ago! I love the new diesel in the XJ just a shame they havent updated the interior since 1968!!
I find the few BMW diesels i have driven 330 and 525 to be a little to audible and obviously diesel for my liking but once on the move they are usable which is what its all about
anyways lets not start another petrol vs diesel thread
My dad owns a 2006 Passat 2.0 TDI Sport, finished in black with the tints, sat Nav, full black leather, parking sensors and upgraded alloys. It looks awesome! He has owned 3 passats in total, his last one being an 02 Sport model in inky blue. The new Passat seems well built, better than the Vectra and Mondeo. Loads of room inside, only downside is that the continental rubber creates too much tyre roar. He also hates the the electronic handbrake!
Something puzzles me. Why the irrational hatred of everything German, something i see quite often on forums, aamoi?
Most family-type cars are boring remember. To an extent they are designed to be boring and staid. I.E. practical.
It's as narow-minded as those who hate everything American, everything Korean or everything automatic, etc. It makes no sense at all. In my own experience, German cars are reliable, brilliantly engineered and built and do their respective job very well.
I have just driven the new BMW 335i for example and that has a lovely look, fantastic powerful and torquey engine and handles well. The 335d i drove had a fabulous engine, same car otherwise in the main.
i admire most german machinery, just find it devoid of character....the passat, like most new vw models, is now guilty of resting on the laurels won by its previous incarnations...it is no longer dynamically or aesthetically the class leader it once was......vw seem to be falling into the trap that mercedes did in the ninties by letting their once unparrallelled engineering excellence and build quality dip for the bean counters.......my all time favourite car was german....a '72 1200cc beetle owned for 2 years..(a lifetime by my standards....)
Originally posted by Noxide: Nearly all TDi drivers are like this nowerdays, especially those from the VAG group. It seems they really feel they have something to prove.
Oh dear, its the bloke with a modified AX and a big chip on his shoulder again! - Pot calling the Kettle black again, eh, Nox!
Something puzzles me. Why the irrational hatred of everything German, something i see quite often on forums, aamoi?
Germany produces an enormous array of cars; Mercedes Benz' line-up for instance contains a frankly dazzling variety from the wee A-class (of which I'm a fan), to the monstrous R (of which I'm not). Not sure there's a hatred of German cars on here per-say, it's just that they produce so many they're always likely to provoke opinion. Where that's negative, you also have to remember that their popularity alone will be sufficient to attract comment from those who like their cars a bit "different", a group that will by definition be disproportionately represented among enthusiasts (Hence the generally positive reception on here for cars such as the 159 (oooh-yeah if you ask me, even if the wrong wheels get the oomph) and the C6 (eeeeurrggh, style-over-substance piece of crap IMO, but there you go). Horses for courses n' all that.
Many German cars rank among my all time favourites (968, any SL from any period, E30 325i, 190E, Corrado, M5, Golf GTi, Passat W8 ... see below ... the list goes on) but there are many that don't do it for me at all: Audi's, SLK, Cayenne, Z3 etc. Wouldn't take it personally.
Back to topic, not at all a fan of the new Passat. VW took a car that was nicely styled and nicely put together and replaced it with one that isn't, and isn't. Not to mention dropping the eight-cylinder engine. In the W8 they had the dowdy girl-next-door who turned out to be an animal in the sack .... they ditched it in favour of a range with more diesel options, giving them the dowdy girl-next-door .... who's ginger.
_________________________ "Forward", he cried, from the rear, and the front rank died. And the General sat, and the lines on the map moved from side to side.
Yep, back to topic and I've just been having a look on the VW site - I've always liked the Passat and I like this one too - I'm not a fan of the OTT styling that seems to be the way many firms are going, so its pleasant to see a company that have kept it simple, clean and still kept the looks.
They've done it right, Peugeot with the 407 and its "open mouth" have got it wrong...
But of course that's my opinion and others may not agree...........
Normally the suggestion that I somehow deserve to be set on fire for preferring a rip-snorting, W8 range-topper to an expanded set of options for fleet managers would impart an unsettling sense of concern; but coming from someone who claims to be a car fan yet can't spell Diesel (let alone properly pluralise the word head), I shall rest assured in the likelihood that this inability to grasp even the most basic tenets of English will be acompanied by an equally astonishing incompetance when it comes to the effective operation of a match.
Now go to the back of the class, and shut up.
_________________________ "Forward", he cried, from the rear, and the front rank died. And the General sat, and the lines on the map moved from side to side.
Something puzzles me. Why the irrational hatred of everything German, something i see quite often on forums, aamoi?
Germany produces an enormous array of cars; Mercedes Benz' line-up for instance contains a frankly dazzling variety from the wee A-class (of which I'm a fan), to the monstrous R (of which I'm not). Not sure there's a hatred of German cars on here per-say, it's just that they produce so many they're always likely to provoke opinion. Where that's negative, you also have to remember that their popularity alone will be sufficient to attract comment from those who like their cars a bit "different", a group that will by definition be disproportionately represented among enthusiasts (Hence the generally positive reception on here for cars such as the 159 (oooh-yeah if you ask me, even if the wrong wheels get the oomph) and the C6 (eeeeurrggh, style-over-substance piece of crap IMO, but there you go). Horses for courses n' all that.
Many German cars rank among my all time favourites (968, any SL from any period, E30 325i, 190E, Corrado, M5, Golf GTi, Passat W8 ... see below ... the list goes on) but there are many that don't do it for me at all: Audi's, SLK, Cayenne, Z3 etc. Wouldn't take it personally.
Back to topic, not at all a fan of the new Passat. VW took a car that was nicely styled and nicely put together and replaced it with one that isn't, and isn't. Not to mention dropping the eight-cylinder engine. In the W8 they had the dowdy girl-next-door who turned out to be an animal in the sack .... they ditched it in favour of a range with more diesel options, giving them the dowdy girl-next-door .... who's ginger.
excellent...haha...and you b308....the pug 407 is yet another example of a bottom feeding flat fish on wheels....peugeot for so long produced elegant saloons and coupes, and now these...yeuch....
Loads of manufacturers seem to be at sixes and sevens with their styling at the moment.
Ferrari have given their cars flared nostrils, Peugeot have gone all "poisson", Audi and Volkswagen have taken to fitting comedy beards, Fiat, whilst now producing some nice looking cars have clearly stolen the drawings from the cupboard at Maserati (probably fearing that left to their own devices the design team might copy what are arguably the ghastliest looking Lancias in history) and Porsche have clearly not noticed that their designer gave up and went home some time in 1997.
It's not looking good....and I didn't even mention BMW.
_________________________ "Forward", he cried, from the rear, and the front rank died. And the General sat, and the lines on the map moved from side to side.
