Volkswagen Passat

Volkswagen has upped the ante by giving the Passat a fairly futuristic looking cabin layout, which has got a solid sense of sturdiness and plushness to it. The entire cabin of the car is finished in an all-black theme, with the contrast silver finish across the dashboard and on door panels putting in good contrast.

The bits like the full TFT instrument console with virtual cockpit design including audio and navigation inputs and MID as well as the large 9.2-inch touchscreen infotainment system do make the cabin look new-age. The width of the cabin is purely accentuated by the sleek layer running across the silver layer on the middle of the dashboard, which do integrate sleek looking AC vents on the corners as well as above the center console, in the middle of which is placed an analog clock.

Just below the infotainment system, there are simply styled panels for the automatic climate control and the lower panel housing the transmission lever, which is flanked on either side by an array of controls. The Volkswagen Passat is generously equipped with kit like three-zone climate control with rear AC vents, leather upholstery, power-adjustable front seats, ventilation, massage and memory functions for the driver’s seat and a panoramic sunroof.

While designing the Passat, Volkswagen kept the word ‘simplicity’ in its mind, for the car has a tasteful sense of understated elegance throughout its design. The low slung and conventional three-box layout of the Volkswagen Passat is well complemented by the neat and crisp lines, making it a good blend of sharpness and simplicity.

The front profile of the Volkswagen Passat looks quite sleek, with the extended horizontal grille getting three long chrome slats across its entire width. These slats in the grille extend towards the tapered inner edges of the angular headlamps on either ends, which look neat with them housing bi-LED projectors and thin strips of daytime running LEDs below them.

The far edges of the headlamp are connected to each other by a very long chrome lining. The front bumper of the car too looks quite busy with geometrically shaped housings for the LED fog lamps. There are smooth contours flowing from the upper edges of the grille towards the bottom of the A-pillar.

The Volkswagen Passat looks very sophisticated when viewed from the sides, with the sedan having a crisp crease flowing all the way from the front fender to the outer edge of the tail lamp. The door-mounted rearview mirrors add a dash of sportiness to the otherwise fairly simple side profile.

At the back, Volkswagen has kept the things simple for Passat, with a clean design executed for the boot lid, the outer side edges of which get trapezoidal tail lamps divided into two halves – one on the boot lid and the other adjacent to it on the rear fender.

The capable Macpherson struts with lower triangular links at the front and multi-link suspension with stabilizer at the rear in Volkswagen Passat is well assisted by the Dynamic Chassis Control system. This system employs three different driving modes, namely Comfort, Normal and Sport, thus ensuring optimal damping force as per the driving condition.

Powering the Comfortline and Highline variants of the Volkswagen Passat is a 1.8-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine (180 PS/250 Nm), which is paired to a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox. The Exclusiveline variant of the Volkswagen Passat gets a more powerful 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine (220 PS/350 Nm), the transmission option to which is a 6-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox.

The Volkswagen Passat is loaded with a number of safety essentials like the front, side and curtain airbags, ABS with EBD and brake assist, electronic stabilization program, rear assist fatigue detection system, hill start assist, rain-sensing wipers, park assist semi-automatic parking, park distance control in front and rear, rear view camera and tire pressure monitoring system.

The Volkswagen Passat comes across as a smart and sensible option in the sedan space for all those car buyers who shy away from the recent rising trend of SUVs and want that traditional, typical sense of back seat comfort and luxurious appeal of a three-box car.