Germany's idea of an average family car

Depending on what you are looking for, the Passat may or may not be your idea of the ideal family car. To illustrate what you are getting into, I will offer a comparison between the Taurus, the Accord, and the Passat. (I traded in an Accord to buy the Passat, and I recently rented a Taurus.)

NOTE: Keep in mind that this entire review is subjective, and may or may not contain sterotypical assumptions on my part. If you want a completely objective review, read Consumer Reports.

The Taurus is what Ford thinks an average mid-size sedan should be. It is relatively inexpensive, compared to the other two, has an unsophisiticated, but perfectly adequate, engine. When you push down on the gas, it answers with a healthy, throaty, growl. The suspension is not exactly taut, but it will keep you connected to the road just fine. The car is created to be merely a form of transportation. While it isn't torture, you aren't going to get up in the morning looking forward to driving to work. This is reflected in the suspension and steering. The suspension is safe, and not particularly floaty, but it doesn't feel as if the driver is connected to the road. The steering is strictly a point-and-shoot affair. (I would call it overboosted.) The steering isn't loose in the way that there is slop in the wheel, but there is little to no feedback from the car or the road. The interior parts are ergonomic, but there is no sense that much effort went into their design or construction. The buttons do push, and the lights do light, but there doesn't seem like they put much effort into the whole affair. The front seat feels as if you are sitting on a firmly padded bench in a public place. The leather is nearly indistinguishable from stiff Vinyl. The doors don't seem flimsy, but they feel as if they are just attached to the car, as opposed to part of it.

If driving is a chore for you, than this is a perfectly reasonable car. It will get the job done. Reliability is much better than just a few years ago, and the parts are cheap and widely available.

The Accord is the quintessential sensible, reliable, car. It is reasonably priced for the car you get, the engine is smooth and quiet, and will scoot the car along as fast as most suburban parents will be pushing it. The car is no rocket, but you feel confident that it will do exactly what you ask it, no more, no less. The interior is not elaborate, but again, it will do exactly what you need it to do. While servicing it will be a little more difficult than the Taurus, everything seems to have a feel that it will last longer. The parts you can touch don't flex or creak. The doors don't feel like a bank vault, but you get the feeling that the car is as exactly as sturdy as it needs to be.

If you are the type of person that wants a 100% adequate car, the Accord will do just fine. The price is reasonable, and while you won't relish driving it, it is never something you will dread.

That brings us to the actual subject of this review, the VW Passat. (This review would apply to all model years 2001.5-2004) This car is a German-with-a-capital-G car. VW isn't kidding when they say "Driver's Wanted".

It is more expensive than the other two cars, but you feel as if you are getting more car for your money.

The engine in my Passat is the 1.8T, making a solid 170HP. When you hit the gas on this thing, it quickly spools up (with the faint whine of the Turbo in the background), and you get pressed back into your seat. The steering is taut, and you can feel exactly what the car is doing. There is no sense that you are just pointing the car, while it does all the moving. It isn't necessarily faster than the other two cars, but it feels that way regardless. The Passat was built to go on the Autobahn, and it shows. While the relatively weak low-end torque is not optimal for city driving, the highway performance is superb. Everything about this car feels like it was made for long-distance high-speed driving. Make no mistake, it is not a sports car made to twirl on a tight track. It is constructed to smoothly take you to where you are going at high cruising speed.

The way to describe the construction of this car is SOLID. Everything from the doors to the ashtray is built with no slop whatsoever. Nothing in this car bends, creaks, or wobbles. Real care went into the interior design. All the lighting matches, every switch and button requires the exact same amount of firm pressure to push. Little thoughtful touches abound. There is a slot beneath the steering wheel that will fit the owners manual, so it does not take up space in the glove compartment. The glove compartment has an A/C vent, to keep food cool. (There is even a recess in the bottom exactly shaped to hold a wine bottle.) The grab handles fold in, and are damped with silicone so they don't *slap* when you let go. The screws that attach those handles to the car are hidden behind small hinged doors, so as not to break the harmony of the interior. In fact, there is not a single exposed screw in the entire interior. The sunroof is operated by an ingenious dial that you simply turn to where you want to go, and keep driving while the roof moves to the chosen position. (No messing with a rocker switch.) It never ceases to amaze me, and I am always finding new things like that. On the other hand, this car is made to be driven, not keep the driver amused with distractions from driving. The cupholders are small (but sturdy), there is NO place to stick a cell phone while it is charging, and convenient storage space is scarce. It as if the engineers are shouting at you: "Keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road! You can't drive and fiddle around in some roomy cavern of a console at the same time!"

The styling is elegant, with little ornamentation. The shape is simple, with no superfulous creases or needless plastic body cladding. It isn't boring, but isn't flashy either.

Alas, nothing in life is free. The parts for this car are almost uniformly expensive, and usually available almost nowhere else but your friendly neighboorhood VW dealer. If you were to dare to put standard green coolant in this car, you would quickly destroy the engine. The only acceptable one (VW spec. G-12) is about $7 a liter, and available only via mailorder or from the dealer. VW strongly suggests you use 5W-40 oil in this car, and it is damn hard to find in anything but diesel oils, or again, what the dealer sells. Ditto with the power steering fluid, the wiper blades, etc. To be sure, if you lived in Europe, none of these things would be hard to get, but most readers of this review don't live in Europe, so we must suffer. (As a side note, most maintenance parts are available at reasonable prices from any number of internet retailers, so you aren't tied to the dealer for everything.)

Servicing this car can best be decribed as fussy. If you know what you are doing, it really is quite straightforward, but don't dare try and and even change the oil without a service manual. (May the deity of your choice save you if you take this thing to Jiffy Lube.) On the plus side, there are several on-line forums full of enthusiasts who probably have more experience than they would like learning how to maintain their VW.

The Passat is the first car I have owned that I actually look forward to driving. Even on the longest trips, the car never lulls me to sleep.

The Accord and Taurus are cars designed for Average Americans that want Average cars. (We called the Accord "Jane Car" because of how many identical ones we saw on the road.) The Passat is designed for Drivers. You get the German way of building a car at far, far, less than what a similarly-sized BMW, Mercedes, or Audi would cost. No, this car is not as luxurious as a mid-size Mercedes, nor as sporty as a BMW or Audi, but it certianly is much closer to that than any other car on the road.

(As a side note, the Passat is built on roughly the same chassis, and uses the same base engine as the Audi A4. The Passat is slightly larger, though.)