Driven: VW Passat Diesel DSG ...

deepakvrao · 20th August 2007, 22:10

Lovely front end - not so nice rear but the engine sounds like it will me marvelous.

AMATMO · 21st August 2007, 01:06

looks lovely,nice pics iraghava

hellspawn · 21st August 2007, 03:17

saw this same car parked outside a petrol pump in noida.imo,it doesn't attract attention the way other cars in its price range do!!
the best profile of this car is the rear end.

kbk_75 · 3rd November 2007, 14:12

Drove a Passat yesterday in the worst traffic on earth. The few times I managed to give it some stick it felt fairly quick in 2nd gear and maybe 3rd, but didn't feel all that quick once it got to around 100 Km/h. Maybe I just needed a better road to get a proper idea.

Having seen the car in the metal, it's not quite as ugly from the back as the pictures make it seem. The features on the car are fabulous, but I noticed that the xenon lights seemed to be bouncing around a bit. I asked the sales people if the lights were adaptive, they said no. Checked the brochures, no mention of it. I could have sworn the xenons were cornering when I took one turn at around 65 Km/h (and I am referring to the main xenon lights, not the yellow halogen "cornering lights").

One other niggle was that I found it quite difficult to modulate the accelerator for smooth, gentle acceleration. A little too much and it would start pulling quite hard, slightly less throttle and it just sat around doing nothing. Also the air con was fogging-up the base of the windscreen, which was very annoying.

Overall, it seems to be a nice car, lots of features, priced well compared to the C/3/A4 but unfortunately I didn't find it much of an upgrade over my Mondy, especially considering it costs 10 Lakhs more than my Ford cost when new.

I think I'll go for another test drive on a better day and hopefully get a better idea of its performance in light traffic. One interesting thing was the on-board comp showed fuel consumption as 5.8 Km/L, but as I said, I was sitting in traffic for half an hour. The sales people claim city mileage of around 11 Km/L and highway of 14-15 Km/L. With a 70 litre tank, this would give the car a highway range of almost 1,000 Kms!!

Fantastic!

GTO · 3rd November 2007, 15:44

Quote:

but unfortunately I didn't find it much of an upgrade over my Mondy, especially considering it costs 10 Lakhs more than my Ford cost when new.

Maybe you will find the ideal upgrade in the upcoming Laura Vrs?

ajmat · 3rd November 2007, 17:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by kbk_75

One other niggle was that I found it quite difficult to modulate the accelerator for smooth, gentle acceleration. A little too much and it would start pulling quite hard, slightly less throttle and it just sat around doing nothing. Also the air con was fogging-up the base of the windscreen, which was very annoying.

This is an issue with the 2.0 tdi 140 - bit all or nothing power b and. TD 170 is even worse. 1.9 TDi noisier and lewss powerful but I understand power delivery is more linear

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO

Maybe you will find the ideal upgrade in the upcoming Laura Vrs?

Quote from an email from Skoda below

Dear Ajit,

Thank you for writing to us.

At Škoda, we constantly endeavor to bring to our customers the latest in technological innovations – and our products in India are testimony to it.

Sorry to disappoint you, but we do not have plans to introduce the Laura VRS or Laura Elegance Automatic in the near future. Nevertheless, we shall continue to bring to the market several other exciting products and technologies.

Good day. Regards,

kbk_75 · 3rd November 2007, 23:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO

Maybe you will find the ideal upgrade in the upcoming Laura Vrs?

I too doubt they will bring that car to India any time soon, now that VW are selling the Passat.

reignofchaos · 23rd December 2007, 00:46

I td'ed the Passat today. Dad is looking for a nice family sedan and asked me to check it out. The first thing that hit me was how much more professional the Volkswagen dealer here was compared to the Skoda dealer. The pre sales experience was excellent. This is a welcome change from the typical I don't care attitude of Skoda.

Here are my observations about the car.

First the good ones
+ The car is loaded with gizmos. The ones I liked were the motorized sunroof, the keyless ignition, motorized boot and bonnet, all covered cubby holes being chilled.
+ The suspension was excellent... soaks up potholes really nicely. Ride quality is probably the best in class.
+ NVH is excellent for a diesel when in D. When in Sports (S) mode, its quite noisy.
+ DSG is awesome. In sports mode, its probably the best auto gearbox in existence today. There's absolutely no lag when shifting.
+ The seats were quite comfy too... especially the rear bench which was as good as a sofa.
+ Decent enough handling for a car of that size
+ Lots of space... decent headroom, legroom, shoulder room
+ All safety features - 8 Airbags, ESP, TCS, ABS+EBD
+ Very nice interiors and build quality. Everything in the car seemed well made and nicely finished. Not one thing looked cheap.
+ Dual zone climatronic AC was rather nice.

Now to the bigger list i.e. the downers

- Engine: The engine is rather sad for such a large vehicle. It has *severe* turbo lag, especially in Drive mode where it feels severely underpowered even with the throttle floored. In sports mode its better but the power delivery is highly non linear. When the turbo is working, there's just a huge wave of torque thats kinda difficult to control while its takes ages to accelerate at lower rpms when the turbo is not spooled up.
- The car seems to run out of grunt once past 120km/hr or so. Takes ages to accelerate beyond that.
- The steering is a bit disconnected. Car does not feel planted. Especially at high speeds. This does not inspire confidence.
- There are quite a few blind spots in the car. Rear visibility is below satisfactory.
- The flappy paddles are a bit too small and hard to reach
- The rain sensors malfunctioned once. Not sure why.
- Reversed wiper/side indicator stalks. Why can't VW adapt it for a RHD country is beyond me. Especially considering the price the car sells at is simply unacceptable.
- Wobbly headlamps. The TD facilitator tells me that the bi xenon headlamps adapt to the cornering direction. However it seemed to wobble even on a straight line. There should be a way to turn this off.
- Audio system was below par for a car costing 25lac+.
- Huge 5.7 turning radius makes parking a problem.
- The braking seemed to be kinda on/off. Modulation was a bit difficult.

IMHO the biggest problem with the car is the engine. The car severely begs for a more powerful engine. Atleast a 3 liter V6 is an absolute necessity. No petrol option is rather lame.

Vid6639 · 23rd December 2007, 00:54

What are the variants and how much is the OTR here in bangalore?

reignofchaos · 23rd December 2007, 00:58

There are two variants. One with motorized seats, sunroof, bi xenons and a few more frills. That one costs 28 odd onroad. The lower end model costs 26 odd onroad.

chetan · 23rd December 2007, 01:56

chaos where exactly on hosur raod is the vw showroom located

reignofchaos · 23rd December 2007, 02:01

The showroom is opposite Dakshin Honda and I believe belongs to the same management.

ajmat · 23rd December 2007, 09:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

- Engine: When the turbo is working, there's just a huge wave of torque thats kinda difficult to control while its takes ages to accelerate at lower rpms when the turbo is not spooled up.
- The car seems to run out of grunt once past 120km/hr or so. Takes ages to accelerate beyond that.
- The steering is a bit disconnected. Car does not feel planted. Especially at high speeds. This does not inspire confidence.
- - The rain sensors malfunctioned once. Not sure why.
- Reversed wiper/side indicator stalks. Why can't VW adapt it for a RHD country is beyond me. Especially considering the price the car sells at is simply unacceptable.
- - Audio system was below par for a car costing 25lac+.
- Huge 5.7 turning radius makes parking a problem.
-.

That is where the "old" PD 110 engine scores - drivability is much better. The TD140 have a all or nothing torque characteristic which one needs to get used to. For normal motorway cruising, it is fine, for our situation, it is fiddly

Rain sensors - does not work on my car either

RHD stalks - go to europe and they will say that the Japs are the guilty party

ram_hyundai · 23rd December 2007, 10:50

see i is defenitely great car,but look wise camry is far ahead of the skoda aswell as the passat.but atlast all beetle maniacs have got a chance to see the vw logo on an indian made product.they are always loaded with all the goodies but looks does matter.
ram

reignofchaos · 23rd December 2007, 11:21

Err didnt get what you mean... the Camry is a cheap jap econobox thats massively overpriced in india because of the lame CBU route. This on the other hand is a much much more sophisticated car. The camry is not even competition for the Passat.

I wonder why VW bungled up on the TD 140 engine when they got it absolutely right with the 1.9TDi. Really strange.

20th August 2007, 22:10	#31
deepakvrao BANNED Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 300 Thanked: 2 Times	Lovely front end - not so nice rear but the engine sounds like it will me marvelous.
	() Thanks

21st August 2007, 01:06	#32
AMATMO Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Bangalore\GOA Posts: 1,456 Thanked: 7 Times	looks lovely,nice pics iraghava
	() Thanks

21st August 2007, 03:17	#33
hellspawn Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: noida Posts: 1,686 Thanked: 7 Times View My Garage Infractions: 0/1 (10)	saw this same car parked outside a petrol pump in noida.imo,it doesn't attract attention the way other cars in its price range do!! the best profile of this car is the rear end.
	() Thanks

3rd November 2007, 14:12	#34
kbk_75 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Bombay Posts: 1,233 Thanked: 388 Times	Drove a Passat yesterday in the worst traffic on earth. The few times I managed to give it some stick it felt fairly quick in 2nd gear and maybe 3rd, but didn't feel all that quick once it got to around 100 Km/h. Maybe I just needed a better road to get a proper idea. Having seen the car in the metal, it's not quite as ugly from the back as the pictures make it seem. The features on the car are fabulous, but I noticed that the xenon lights seemed to be bouncing around a bit. I asked the sales people if the lights were adaptive, they said no. Checked the brochures, no mention of it. I could have sworn the xenons were cornering when I took one turn at around 65 Km/h (and I am referring to the main xenon lights, not the yellow halogen "cornering lights"). One other niggle was that I found it quite difficult to modulate the accelerator for smooth, gentle acceleration. A little too much and it would start pulling quite hard, slightly less throttle and it just sat around doing nothing. Also the air con was fogging-up the base of the windscreen, which was very annoying. Overall, it seems to be a nice car, lots of features, priced well compared to the C/3/A4 but unfortunately I didn't find it much of an upgrade over my Mondy, especially considering it costs 10 Lakhs more than my Ford cost when new. I think I'll go for another test drive on a better day and hopefully get a better idea of its performance in light traffic. One interesting thing was the on-board comp showed fuel consumption as 5.8 Km/L, but as I said, I was sitting in traffic for half an hour. The sales people claim city mileage of around 11 Km/L and highway of 14-15 Km/L. With a 70 litre tank, this would give the car a highway range of almost 1,000 Kms!! Fantastic!
	() Thanks

23rd December 2007, 00:46	#38
reignofchaos Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 2,542 Thanked: 2,450 Times View My Garage	I td'ed the Passat today. Dad is looking for a nice family sedan and asked me to check it out. The first thing that hit me was how much more professional the Volkswagen dealer here was compared to the Skoda dealer. The pre sales experience was excellent. This is a welcome change from the typical I don't care attitude of Skoda. Here are my observations about the car. First the good ones + The car is loaded with gizmos. The ones I liked were the motorized sunroof, the keyless ignition, motorized boot and bonnet, all covered cubby holes being chilled. + The suspension was excellent... soaks up potholes really nicely. Ride quality is probably the best in class. + NVH is excellent for a diesel when in D. When in Sports (S) mode, its quite noisy. + DSG is awesome. In sports mode, its probably the best auto gearbox in existence today. There's absolutely no lag when shifting. + The seats were quite comfy too... especially the rear bench which was as good as a sofa. + Decent enough handling for a car of that size + Lots of space... decent headroom, legroom, shoulder room + All safety features - 8 Airbags, ESP, TCS, ABS+EBD + Very nice interiors and build quality. Everything in the car seemed well made and nicely finished. Not one thing looked cheap. + Dual zone climatronic AC was rather nice. Now to the bigger list i.e. the downers - Engine: The engine is rather sad for such a large vehicle. It has severe turbo lag, especially in Drive mode where it feels severely underpowered even with the throttle floored. In sports mode its better but the power delivery is highly non linear. When the turbo is working, there's just a huge wave of torque thats kinda difficult to control while its takes ages to accelerate at lower rpms when the turbo is not spooled up. - The car seems to run out of grunt once past 120km/hr or so. Takes ages to accelerate beyond that. - The steering is a bit disconnected. Car does not feel planted. Especially at high speeds. This does not inspire confidence. - There are quite a few blind spots in the car. Rear visibility is below satisfactory. - The flappy paddles are a bit too small and hard to reach - The rain sensors malfunctioned once. Not sure why. - Reversed wiper/side indicator stalks. Why can't VW adapt it for a RHD country is beyond me. Especially considering the price the car sells at is simply unacceptable. - Wobbly headlamps. The TD facilitator tells me that the bi xenon headlamps adapt to the cornering direction. However it seemed to wobble even on a straight line. There should be a way to turn this off. - Audio system was below par for a car costing 25lac+. - Huge 5.7 turning radius makes parking a problem. - The braking seemed to be kinda on/off. Modulation was a bit difficult. IMHO the biggest problem with the car is the engine. The car severely begs for a more powerful engine. Atleast a 3 liter V6 is an absolute necessity. No petrol option is rather lame.
	() Thanks

23rd December 2007, 00:54	#39
Vid6639 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 17,727 Thanked: 43,461 Times View My Garage	What are the variants and how much is the OTR here in bangalore?
	() Thanks

23rd December 2007, 00:58	#40
reignofchaos Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 2,542 Thanked: 2,450 Times View My Garage	There are two variants. One with motorized seats, sunroof, bi xenons and a few more frills. That one costs 28 odd onroad. The lower end model costs 26 odd onroad.
	() Thanks

23rd December 2007, 01:56	#41
chetan BHPian Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 487 Thanked: 11 Times	chaos where exactly on hosur raod is the vw showroom located
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23rd December 2007, 02:01	#42
reignofchaos Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 2,542 Thanked: 2,450 Times View My Garage	The showroom is opposite Dakshin Honda and I believe belongs to the same management.
	() Thanks

23rd December 2007, 10:50	#44
ram_hyundai Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Calicut ,trisur Posts: 2,020 Thanked: 53 Times View My Garage	see i is defenitely great car,but look wise camry is far ahead of the skoda aswell as the passat.but atlast all beetle maniacs have got a chance to see the vw logo on an indian made product.they are always loaded with all the goodies but looks does matter. ram
	() Thanks

23rd December 2007, 11:21	#45
reignofchaos Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 2,542 Thanked: 2,450 Times View My Garage	Err didnt get what you mean... the Camry is a cheap jap econobox thats massively overpriced in india because of the lame CBU route. This on the other hand is a much much more sophisticated car. The camry is not even competition for the Passat. I wonder why VW bungled up on the TD 140 engine when they got it absolutely right with the 1.9TDi. Really strange. Last edited by reignofchaos : 23rd December 2007 at 11:23.
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