Help: Can't find a worthy upgrade to my VW Passat at a reasonable price

It's a 2018-19 Highline variant with many interesting features such as ventilated seats, adaptive dampers, 360-degree camera, etc.

BHPian elampumpkin recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Greetings to everyone!

My family currently owns a late 2018/2019 Passat Highline. Even though we don't have plans of changing the vehicle anytime soon, I was just checking the options out there. To my slight disappointment, I couldn't find a car which had all the features offered by the Passat (Adaptive Dampers, 360° Camera, Ventilated Seats) under a reasonable price point.

I am open to considering pre-worshipped vehicles as well, so suggest away.

Here's what GTO had to say about the matter:

You are driving a car that is extremely difficult to upgrade from. For one, the Passat itself is very accomplished. Second, after a certain price point (say 35 lakhs), the law of diminishing returns kicks in. From 40 lakh rupees and up, increasing the budget by 30% (as an example) doesn't necessarily lead to 30% more car.

Either go pre-worshipped, buy another car from a similar price band (e.g. Camry Hybrid, Kodiaq, Ioniq 5) or be prepared to pay through your nose for a new luxury German.

Here's what BHPian rGT had to say about the matter:

A pre-owned 530d G30 (pre-LCI or LCI) is a possible upgrade, or else, a 330Li LCI, if rear seat space is a necessity. If you want both space and power, then you can look for pre-owned W213 E350ds, as the rear seats can gobble up entire galaxies, and the smooth V6 can provide you with driving pleasure when you want.

The Passat is such an accomplished car, that there are only a handful of cars within a fathomable price that can feel like a genuine upgrade from it, much like the Endeavour 3.2. So taking the pre-owned route is the only probable option for a genuine upgrade.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.