2003 Volkswagen Passat

2004 GLX
I thought I would provide my experience given the tremendous assistance I found in the many personal reviews I have read. This is intended as food for thought to the extent it helps other consumers. First, I come from a group of Automotive Engineers (How many can tout the ability to converse with an PHD in Automotive Engineering, who by the way looks favorably on the Passat) and we more than understand every technical aspect of most any vehicle. However, we nearly all believe that a vehicle is very personal and whether you like one car over another has more to do with subjective viewpoints rather than specifications. Having said that I will simply tell my story from the car enthusiast viewpoint as opposed to that of the engineer in me.

I had pretty much decided to by a Passat GLX over many other choices for many reasons that need not be elaborated here. Lets just say I need to be able to put kids in the back seat and I liked the vehicle for a lot of reasons. I was wavering between the 4 motion with tiptronic automatic transmission and the 5-speed manual. The test drive to decide between the two. IF the 4motion was adequate I would likely purchase it. I pre-negotiated a price with a dealer for each vehicle and arranged to test drive each vehicle. The first car brought out to me was the 4 motion silver stone gray with gray interior. I opened the door and thought Ugh, this does not look like a 30K vehicle. I didn't think I would buy either car at that point. I was that turned off. That together with the layout of the automatic gear shifter I was a bit disappointed. Then I test drove the vehicle. It got worse. I pulled out of the dealership hit the gas pedal and was tremendously unimpressed. Very disappointed. Sad actually. I thought I was back to the drawing board. I did not have high expectations with the 190HP but with the adequate torque curve (205 ft-lbs @3200rpm)it should have produced more, something, anything to promote some liking of the vehicle. It did not. I immediately brought the car back conveying to the salesmen, "There's no way I'm buying this car." He said "There's something not right with this particular vehicle perhaps another 4 motion. I said "no, not a chance".

Then they brought out the 5sp manual. Again silverstone gray exterior. I had originally wanted silver, but the gray grew on me and I liked it quite a bit. This is a personal choice for anyone. Then I opened the door, black interior. What a difference in visual appearance. I was shocked at how different I reacted. I do not think the gray interior is favorable to this vehicle. Other combinations might be more to people's liking, but the black interior gray exterior looked quite nice. The gear shifter on the manual even looks better. My point here is that the combination between exterior color and interior trim can have a dramatic difference on one's impression of this vehicle. I went from "yuck" to 'I like" simply by changing the interior color. Look at all them. You might be surprised at how you feel from one combination to another. I was amazed at the difference.

Then I test-drove the vehicle. Enormous difference. The car performed more than adequately. I can see how more HP would be great, but that would be a bit over the top in my view for the 5 speed. I had no problem accelerating from 70-80 mph in 5th gear. I also didn't feel like I had to drop a gear when hitting the gas pedal. The Engine is right for the car, just not overkill. I liked and continue to like the combination of this engine with the 5 speed. It matches favorably. One thing people need to understand, this is a German built car and nearly everyone in Europe drives a standard transmission. Thus this engine was designed with the 5 speed manual transmission. The automatic is for the American market. Thus I believe the engine is somewhat underpowered for the automatic and especially for the 4 motion. The result, nice car with the 5 spd, a bit underpowered with automatic. Perhaps this is why 2005 will have a larger engine in the range of 240HP and increased torque as well. That will be some car to drive with a 5 spd manual. The way it should be here in America, power the engine to the automatic, and the manual gets better performance for the enthusiast.

I have heard some people snicker tat the throw in the shifter, I don't see that. I like it. It feels solid, shifts smoothly and does not vibrate. I also heard some people don't like the clutch engaging early when releasing the clutch pedal. Personally I like this and have gotten used to it quickly. The brakes have a softer than expected feel when initially depressing the brakes. I like this too for every stop is not sudden. If you press down hard, the brakes are quite responsive. If you're strolling to a stop or just need to slow down, the initial depression is nice. If you press down hard you stop hard.

I did not find this car to nose heavy. It is a front wheel drive vehicle and I thought it did nicely for a FWD. This is most likely do to the longitudinally positioned engine. Most FWDs are transversely mounted pronouncing torque steer. You can't get rear wheel drive performance in a FWD vehicle but the Passat is better than most FWDs. I also liked the way it handles. Sportiness and comfort are competing interests. For me, I think they got the happy medium. A bit sporty and comfy. Luxury vehicles will be more comfortable and genuine sport sedans will perform better. It's hard/impossible to balance the two and where the line should be drawn is personal to the driver. I like where the Passat lies. While on tighter curves, there is an ever so slight feel of roll, but I never felt like control was an issue. I do think it a mistake on the part of VW to drop the option of "Rear fully independent double wishbone suspension coil springs, telescopic shock absorbers and stabilizer" for the GLX. Some people will want that suspension.

The creature comforts are nice although I have not played with them all yet. I did use the heated seat this morning and surprisingly liked it. It didn't get too hot like I expected.

The car is very comfortable, and put together very neatly, as in tight. I like it a lot. I like the displays, indigo blue lights at night, but this is subjective.

One gripe, the radio doesn't get great reception, the am/fm in my '97 ranger gets better reception and the sound while not bad, is not what I would expect in this vehicle.

Lastly, I didn't not test drive the Gl or GLS vehicles. I wanted the creature comforts. While the GLS can come in leather and V6, so much of the other little things are not there. I also have heard many gripes about the turbo lag in the 1.8L.

A final surprise, when I went to transfer my Insurance I was surprised it was not that expensive to insure. The sedan is full of safety stuff and I don't think it is listed as a sports sedan.

I hope this is useful to some. Again, I intended this review to express the impressions from a driver's perspective and not a technical comparison/evaluation of the vehicle per se. Good luck.