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Old 14th October 2019, 13:55   #16
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Re: The ownership experience ...

Congratulations on your new Passat Highline. There is something to be said for the understated elegance of that design that often gets overlooked.

And what a well articulated and yet concise thread that was very enjoyable to read!

Quote:
Originally Posted by pnredkar View Post
When the car was delivered, the passenger airbags were disabled. There is a switch on the passenger door side of dashboards that can only be accessed when the door is opened. I used a small coin to toggle this switch and enable the passenger airbags. I also disabled the DRLs as I am not a fan of them. I reviewed other car settings in the car menu and let them be at their default settings.
Isnt this a miss from the factory and showroom PDI? Was this informed to you by the dealership or did you discover this yourself?

Im sure 99.9% of owners would not even think of checking something like this on their own and would assume that all the airbags are functional from day 1.
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Old 14th October 2019, 13:58   #17
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Re: My search for an automatic car ends with the Volkswagen Passat Highline 2.0 TDI DSG

Quote:
Originally Posted by pnredkar View Post
It has been more than four months since I got possession of my new car. I have been postponing writing up the review for my purchase for some time now. And as they say, better late than never, so here goes...

It all started about one year ago, when I had completed more than 6 years with my manual geared petrol Vento 1.6 MPI. About then, frequency of our highway trips had increased. Since my wife is more comfortable with an automatic car, we decided to change to an auto-geared car so that the burden of long drives is shared. While we are at it, why not also upgrade to the next level of cars. It was decided that we will look at cars for which the top-end automatic comes under 30L on-road. Safety was paramount: minimum six airbags along with some form of ESP was mandatory. The other mandatory requirement was a flat highway ride as we are a family that easily gets car sick.

With the priorities sorted out, we started to shortlist our options.
Congratulations on your new ride & welcome to the Passat owners' club.

Picked mine up back in December of 2018 and have loved every minute of the experience till date. I am very surprised the Passat doesn't sell as much as the Superb. IMHO, it looks more elegant than the Superb. Mine still seems to be the only Pyrite Silver one in Kolkata.

Looking forward to more amazing pictures of your beauty. Wishing you countless happy and safe miles!
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Old 14th October 2019, 19:21   #18
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Re: My search for an automatic car ends with the Volkswagen Passat Highline 2.0 TDI DSG

Quote:
Originally Posted by neil.jericho View Post
Congratulations on your new Passat Highline. There is something to be said for the understated elegance of that design that often gets overlooked.

And what a well articulated and yet concise thread that was very enjoyable to read!

Isnt this a miss from the factory and showroom PDI? Was this informed to you by the dealership or did you discover this yourself?

Im sure 99.9% of owners would not even think of checking something like this on their own and would assume that all the airbags are functional from day 1.
Thanks for the wishes! There are large and separate indicators on the center of dashboard for passenger airbag ON and OFF. The user manual indicates mechanism to enable/disable the airbag. It mentions that airbag should be disabled if rear-facing baby seat in installed on front seat (did not know baby seats are allowed on front seat). I presume as almost none of the Indian users of this vehicle will install such a seat, it should have been set to ON position while delivering.

Quote:
Originally Posted by fordfreak View Post
Congratulations on your new ride & welcome to the Passat owners' club.

Picked mine up back in December of 2018 and have loved every minute of the experience till date. I am very surprised the Passat doesn't sell as much as the Superb. IMHO, it looks more elegant than the Superb. Mine still seems to be the only Pyrite Silver one in Kolkata.

Looking forward to more amazing pictures of your beauty. Wishing you countless happy and safe miles!
Thanks! The brief interaction on PM with you about pricing helped me close the deal on mine.
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Old 15th October 2019, 03:16   #19
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Re: My search for an automatic car ends with the Volkswagen Passat Highline 2.0 TDI DSG

Congratulations on the Passat! I also loved the way the old Civic looks and feel that Honda didn't do justice with the new Civic's design. I still feel that the Old Civic looks better than most of the newer cars!

I loved your review. Very precise and on point and your views on other cars considered are pretty convincing. Passat has been my all time favourite in the segment and I wonder why doesn't it sell more, or even close to what superb sells! It even has DCC and AFAIK it is the only car which has this feature in this segment!
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Old 15th October 2019, 04:57   #20
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Re: My search for an automatic car ends with the Volkswagen Passat Highline 2.0 TDI DSG

Great ownership review for a rare and elegant, understated car-speaking of which, not sure whether/why you didn't consider the Tiguan. That would have been an even more capable car (4wd) and with more interior/boot space.
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Old 15th October 2019, 05:20   #21
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Re: My search for an automatic car ends with the Volkswagen Passat Highline 2.0 TDI DSG

Congrats on your Passat from a fellow Passat owner. I love those headlights, sadly they introduced LED ones only in 2017 and mine is 2016. Enjoy the drive, space, and German engineering.
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Old 15th October 2019, 06:51   #22
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Re: My search for an automatic car ends with the Volkswagen Passat Highline 2.0 TDI DSG

Awesome car! I vividly remember that while TD'ing (I was actually sitting in the back, behind the driver) it sometime in April-May, there was this noise- wind or tyre I couldn't really figure out. We were doing good highway speeds of 120+. And no, the windows were all raised properly and the doors shut. I didn't get the same noise on our Rapid though. Can someone confirm this, please?
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Old 15th October 2019, 08:15   #23
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Re: My search for an automatic car ends with the Volkswagen Passat Highline 2.0 TDI DSG

Quote:
Originally Posted by pnredkar View Post
Thank you for your wishes. I too am a fan of sedans. If you like a fast corner, MUV/SUV just doesn't cut it! I had good experience with the Vento, hope the Passat experience is equal or better.
If your driving experience with Vento is good, then the experience with Passat will be great. The only exception to this is when we look at the spare & labor costs for the services.


Quote:
Thanks! I sincerely wish that the sedan market remains alive in India, but that seems to be a diminishing possibility. That's why I bought one while they are still available.
I don't think sedan market would see any negative changes. Maybe relatively more models of SUV/hatchbacks will be released but sedans will always be there, for fans like us.
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Old 15th October 2019, 08:32   #24
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Re: My search for an automatic car ends with the Volkswagen Passat Highline 2.0 TDI DSG

Quote:
Originally Posted by parth.jain View Post
Congratulations on the Passat! I also loved the way the old Civic looks and feel that Honda didn't do justice with the new Civic's design. I still feel that the Old Civic looks better than most of the newer cars!

I loved your review. Very precise and on point and your views on other cars considered are pretty convincing. Passat has been my all time favourite in the segment and I wonder why doesn't it sell more, or even close to what superb sells! It even has DCC and AFAIK it is the only car which has this feature in this segment!
Thanks for your comment! I agree with your views on Civic, the older Civic is a beauty!

Quote:
Originally Posted by fhdowntheline View Post
Great ownership review for a rare and elegant, understated car-speaking of which, not sure whether/why you didn't consider the Tiguan. That would have been an even more capable car (4wd) and with more interior/boot space.
Thanks! The reasons for not considering Tiguan: higher cost (there were no discounts then), lower power, no DCC, but most importantly I love sedans over SUV form factor.

Quote:
Originally Posted by motomaverick View Post
Congrats on your Passat from a fellow Passat owner. I love those headlights, sadly they introduced LED ones only in 2017 and mine is 2016. Enjoy the drive, space, and German engineering.
Thanks! But your version is still considered the benchmark in build and ride quality. Enjoy it!

Quote:
Originally Posted by TheHelix0202 View Post
Awesome car! I vividly remember that while TD'ing (I was actually sitting in the back, behind the driver) it sometime in April-May, there was this noise- wind or tyre I couldn't really figure out. We were doing good highway speeds of 120+. And no, the windows were all raised properly and the doors shut. I didn't get the same noise on our Rapid though. Can someone confirm this, please?
Thanks! That mostly would be tyre noise; maybe due to wrong tyre pressure. Please read deep_behera's insightful posts on this topic in the official preview; particular the post here (Driven: Volkswagen Passat).
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Old 15th October 2019, 09:32   #25
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Re: The ownership experience ...

Quote:
Originally Posted by pnredkar View Post
I could not find any way to remote open all windows. This feature was present in the Vento and was very useful when approaching a car parked under the sun.
- Prasad
Congratulations . We wanted to buy one recently but no stock anywhere and no clue on when the next batch will arrive . If it was available, it would have been amazing to have a Jetta and a Passat next to each other lol

Regarding remote open of windows, it could have been disabled. Ask the service center to enable it for you through vcds. It's a 2 min job. Enjoy the car.
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Old 15th October 2019, 11:36   #26
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Re: My search for an automatic car ends with the Volkswagen Passat Highline 2.0 TDI DSG

Hi congratulations on your new car! Was not a Passat fan but the photos you shared made my change my opinion; what a beauty! Thanks for the great post and wishing you happy miles!
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Old 15th October 2019, 13:36   #27
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Re: My search for an automatic car ends with the Volkswagen Passat Highline 2.0 TDI DSG

Congrats on the Passat from another fellow owner!


The review is very fair too. One thing I'd like to add to your list of practical annoyances is that there is no good space to keep your phone. Especially considering that android auto requires a physical USB connection. The sliding tray in the central console is too small for today's 5 plus incher smartphones.


Am adding a couple of pics of my car. Mangan Grey(difficult to maintain) About 6 months old and 5k on it.


Here's to many many miles and years of enjoying this lovely car..
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My search for an automatic car ends with the Volkswagen Passat Highline 2.0 TDI DSG-img_20191015_1014132.jpg  

My search for an automatic car ends with the Volkswagen Passat Highline 2.0 TDI DSG-img_20191015_101250.jpg  

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Old 16th October 2019, 08:31   #28
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Re: My search for an automatic car ends with the Volkswagen Passat Highline 2.0 TDI DSG

Quote:
Originally Posted by saisailendra View Post
I don't think sedan market would see any negative changes. Maybe relatively more models of SUV/hatchbacks will be released but sedans will always be there, for fans like us.
Hopefully what you say turns out to be true!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Astonite View Post
Congratulations. We wanted to buy one recently but no stock anywhere and no clue on when the next batch will arrive. If it was available, it would have been amazing to have a Jetta and a Passat next to each other lol

Regarding remote open of windows, it could have been disabled. Ask the service center to enable it for you through vcds. It's a 2 min job. Enjoy the car.
Well, that's a bummer! The SA had mentioned that new kits were expected this festival season, but I wouldn't wait with bated breath. As for the remote opening of the windows, I will contact the service station and see if this can be fixed. Anyways, thanks for the wishes!

Quote:
Originally Posted by fastturtle10 View Post
Hi congratulations on your new car! Was not a Passat fan but the photos you shared made my change my opinion; what a beauty! Thanks for the great post and wishing you happy miles!
Thanks! Glad to have changed your opinion. Such designs are actually timeless and would look fresh even after many years.

Quote:
Originally Posted by srgntpepper View Post
Congrats on the Passat from another fellow owner!

The review is very fair too. One thing I'd like to add to your list of practical annoyances is that there is no good space to keep your phone. Especially considering that android auto requires a physical USB connection. The sliding tray in the central console is too small for today's 5 plus incher smartphones.

Am adding a couple of pics of my car. Mangan Grey(difficult to maintain) About 6 months old and 5k on it.

Here's to many many miles and years of enjoying this lovely car..
Thanks, and congratulations to you too! The car looks smashing. Can you share photos which shows the car colour a little better? And yes, the phone space issue is an annoyance. For me the space is just about usable, as I have the smaller iPhone 8 tied using a 3 inch USB cable.
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Old 16th October 2019, 12:54   #29
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Re: My search for an automatic car ends with the Volkswagen Passat Highline 2.0 TDI DSG

Congratulations sir on your new acquisition. Wishing you thousands of safe and happy miles in this steed of yours.
Looking forward to more pictures.
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Old 16th October 2019, 14:17   #30
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Re: My search for an automatic car ends with the Volkswagen Passat Highline 2.0 TDI DSG

Quote:
Originally Posted by TheHelix0202 View Post
Awesome car! I vividly remember that while TD'ing (I was actually sitting in the back, behind the driver) it sometime in April-May, there was this noise- wind or tyre I couldn't really figure out. We were doing good highway speeds of 120+. And no, the windows were all raised properly and the doors shut. I didn't get the same noise on our Rapid though. Can someone confirm this, please?
Seems to be an intrinsic issue with the Passat. From the TBHP review: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...ml#post4344790 (Driven: Volkswagen Passat)

<We must however add that while the Passat's engine sound is controlled, road noise and wind noise creeping into the cabin is rather high, especially when the speedo nears 120 km/h. This is disappointing and not something we'd expect in a premium car. Similar observations were made on the Tiguan, so we don't understand why VW is messing its NVH up.>
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