On Wheels by Brooks Peterson

Saturday, May 27, 2000

Passat fully establishes VW's comeback

VW Passat GLX 2.8L V6 4MOTION Five-passenger all-wheel-drive sedan Base price: $27,655 Price as tested: $30,905 Drivetrain: 30-valve dual-overhead-cam fuel-injected V-6, 190 hp; five-speed automatic-overdrive transmission Brakes: Front and rear discs, power-assisted, with anti-lock (ABS) EPA mileage: 17 city/24 highway Web site: www.vw.com

   After Volkswagen reluctantly decided in the mid-'70s to recognize reality and pull the beloved (old) Beetle from the U.S. market, the company went into a kind of swoon from which it has only recently recovered.
   The Beetle's replacement, the Rabbit, was enormously influential as one of the prime exemplars of the new state of the econocar art: front-wheel drive, canny people-packaging and entertaining performance. For the first few years at least, the Rabbit also was something of a dog: It was light years removed from the lapidary build quality and reliability of the old Beetle (which, to be sure, had benefited from about three decades' worth of evolution). In many instances, the old Beetlemaniacs turned their attention elsewhere when new-car time came around.
   That, however, was then. In the last three or four years, VW has risen from its sickbed and come roaring back into the marketplace. Everywhere you look, VWs are poling their way into market niches and kicking some serious . . . uh. . . competition.
   The New Beetle is of course the most spectacular weapon in the revitalized VW armory - reportedly, there are still some dealers around who can't keep 'em on the lot - but it's far from being the only one. The Golf (the Rabbit's lineal descendant) is making inroads; the new Jetta has the motoring press in a swoon . . . and the Passat: Well, the Passat has finally succeeded in what its predecessors, dating all the way back to the somewhat woeful Dasher and the Quantum(which created an urgent need for - what else? - Quantum mechanics), never could quite manage: propelling VW into contention in the midsize-to-near-luxury class.
   The Passat as now constituted is a genuinely impressive contender: Some go so far as to suggest it is right up there with the pricier Audi A4 - not as much of a reach as you might think, given the VW-Audi corporate kinship, and the impressive attainments of the Passat itself.
   More motion
   These days, however, resting on one's laurels is not an option. True, On the Passat menu for 2000, you have the same choices you had least year: the entry-level GLS's 1.8-liter turbo-four, which gets you a far-more-satisfying-than-you'd-expect 150 horses, and the downright lust-inducing 190-hp 2.8-liter V-6 that's optional in the GLS and standard on the GLX.
   Ah, but you have a new choice for 2000, kids: For another $1,650, you can get your Passat GLX (sedan or wagon) with 4MOTION, which is VW's lavishly capitalized way of informing you that you get all-wheel-drive on this baby.
   Good news: Significantly enhanced all-weather capability and improved handling under hairy conditions. Bad news: Comes only with the 5-speed automatic transmission. Whine if you must; darn near everything in this life is a trade-off, isn't it?
   Mid-range punch
   Driving in conditions such as we're enjoying (if that's the appropriate word to apply to steadily intensifying heat and stupefying humidity), the 4MOTION simply doesn't make its presence felt - save perhaps in a bit of added grip in vigorous cornering. (Then again, maybe that's just psychological.)
   What you will notice is the presence of the automatic trans. Yes, it offers the same sort of manu-matic magic that many other carmakers do: You can choose between letting the box shift for itself or "manually" shifting up and down for yourself. Again I say to you: After playing with the manual-shift capability, 95 percent of you will just sit back and Let Fritz Do It.
   (One aside: For reasons I can't quite explain, I was just blown away by the huge chrome surround for the transmission shift gate. Took me right back to my dad's '56 Buick, it did.)
   You will notice one thing right away in the AT-equipped Passat: This powertrain was not devised with leadfoot American motorists in mind. If you're hot to peel out from that stoplight, you might want to look elsewhere. With the set-up on our tester, you sort of amble away from a halt; the emphasis - in accord with the European way of looking at such things - is on mid-range passing punch. And that, my friend, is there in abundance. Once rolling, she'll fly.
   Otherwise, your Passat experience remains fundamentally unchanged, and a darned good thing, too.
   Congenial cabin
   Aside from the complexity of the controls for the stereo (is VW challenging Mercedes-Benz for the world championship for indecipherable radio buttons?), the cabin is a thoroughly congenial place to be: tons of room front and back, comfortable seats (not, happily, as granitically firm as those in the Jetta), every amenity you could reasonably desire, lots of safety technology (including dual front and side airbags), and a sense of solidity and structural integrity that recall the Beetle of old.
   Only on this one, you get a fuel gauge.
  

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