PH Blog: Passat power
Harris won over by diesel VW estate car shocker
VW lent me a Passat estate over Christmas. It got me thinking about the role of the everyday car.
I have vacillated terribly on this subject for years, veering from championing the one-car-fits-all mantra in the form of Imprezas, M3s and the like, to thinking it far more interesting having something nuts for the weekend and plodding about in an ordinary tackle when the traffic is bad and there's little to be gained having big performance available.
The Passat obviously fits into the latter territory. It's about as exciting as wholemeal bread and doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it is: painless transport.
Harris in a Passat? You saw it here first
On a stop-start 15-mile journey it did 42mpg. On a shortish motorway run, four up, it was in the mid-50s and climbing when we got back home. Oh, and it appears to have more rear legroom than a Mercedes E-Class.
I can't help myself trying to maximise fuel economy in cars like this. There has to be a hook to every motoring experience, normally getting the most intense flavour of what the particular vehicle you are driving can do best: just as you want to bruise your kidneys in a GT2 RS and see if a Defender will climb up that hill, so I always want to know just how miserly these new diesels can be. The answer is very.
It handles well enough (on winter tyres), the ride is too firm for UK roads, the interior is another demonstration of VW indulging in just enough design to stop occupants thinking they're in a municipal swimming pool changing room. The whole thing feels like it'll take decades of abuse.
But what you have to ask yourself about the Passat is this: how would you feel if this was the only car you could drive for a whole year? I think I'd need something else, just to keep me sane. Anything, a grotty hot-hatch - so long as you could rev the blighter and grab it by the scruff. Just to release some energy now and again.
How many of us grapple with this dilemma, running something efficient and bolstering it with an occasional toy - or remaining faithful to a single, juicy, high-performance everyday car?
I still can't decide what's best. Probably never will. If I landed on the former, the Passat 2.0 TDi would be my car of choice for the daily grind.
Chris
I started with a Citroen Xantia diesel which was magnificent big floaty armchair that did billions to the gallon, effortlessly cruised and towed well. Sadly it spent the best part of one year not working and showing Citroen service staff (I refuse to call them mechanics) to be incompetent fools. Then I had an Freelander, again great towcar and mini-tonka fun.
For a change I tried an Impreza to do the fun commuting car thing, which it was. Frugal it was not. Towed effortlessly mind you, but you could watch the fuel gauge charging towards the E.
I went for it bangernomics stylie after that, especially as I no longer needed to tow. So got a Rover 200 for peanuts. That was magnificently cheap to run. But was, on the whole, the most hateful car ever conceived. It had no redeeming features.
Which brings me to my current. Not quite bangernomics as I bought it at 16 years old with 26000 miles on the clock. But now at 19 with 65000 on the clock it has proved to be the cheapest car I've ever run. One of the most comfortable, reliable and characterful. It's also made me more than a little smitten with early 90's and older mercs. I love my 190E. Even though it does inexplicably occasionally smell of garlick (the food, not the man...).
t when comparing the fuel computer to reality. Suprised the Daily Mail hasn't started chanmpioning a case against the lying Hun
it's relatively fun and quick but easy on the juice too. On a 12 mile trip to work it averages between 65/75mpg and managed 71mpg on a recent run from Birmingham to Cardiff.I would forever be wishing I was driving something else however ideal it was. I mean a fridge keeps food cold but is merely a white good.
OTOH I saw the reserve light come up at 80 miles on the R1.
Probably will go for an estate when the company car is up for renewal. Do people recon the auto (DSG) is really better for economy nowadays?
Maybe Ravon and me (and you) are greedy? For me, Big chunky V6 diesel small saloon for every day, grubby little Clio with some decent suspension mods for hassling exotic stuff and, of course, a thoroughly outrageous 911 for real "kidney bruising stuff"
Also, scrolling down through this post made me go "yeessss!!" out loud. Good work!!
Weekday dullard (170 bhp Sport): which does everything I need for work and family.
NB: your Passat does about 42mpg overall. Do not believe the lying trip computer.
Weekend licence botherer:
I'm then free to make my missus use whatever shed/euro-econobox we have as the family car. The fact, that the shed is a vRS Octavia and struggles to return a regular 35mpg is a different matter (If I had my way it would have been a v8 MG ZTT, but that's a battle for another day)...
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