Originally, this wasn’t going to happen. Early last year, when Volkswagen introduced the new Passat in its estate-only form, we were told it would not be coming to Ireland.
Why? Well, the short version is that it’s our fault. Entirely down to us, and our car-buying habits. We’ve all gone nuts for SUVs, and that means that Volkswagen Ireland just didn’t see a market here for the new Passat, especially with no four-door-saloon option.
Well, it’s always worth asking again, isn’t it? VW Ireland has had a change of heart, and so, arriving at the end of March or early April, the Passat will go on sale here once again. And the price? VW Ireland brand boss Alan Bateson said it would be very competitive, “starting well below €50,000″.
“We’re bringing it back after demand from our customers. We’ll bring it back in Phev (plug-in hybrid) and diesel, as the market demands.”
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Is the new Passat worth the wait, though? Well, we’ve had an early drive to find out.
The new Passat uses the same platform as the current Tiguan, and shares all of its engines so you have a choice of two plug-in hybrids (204hp and 272hp), both of which can manage up to 130km on electric power alone. VW Ireland has confirmed that there will also be a diesel-engined version available, most likely with the 2-litre 150hp TDI engine.
Impressively, the Passat is about 50kg lighter than the equivalent Tiguan, even though it’s substantially longer, knocking on for five metres. It’s also much lower-slung, a fact verified by its slippery 0.25Cd drag figure. All of which adds up to a more efficient use of the same basic mechanical package, and a reminder that SUVs really are the worst kind of snake oil.
You need more proof? Check out the boot. With the rear seats up and the luggage cover drawn across, the Passat can hold 690 litres of whatever you need to carry.
The Tiguan – bigger, taller, supposedly the more practical and versatile vehicle – can carry 40 litres less. The Passat’s boot expands to a furniture-shop-destroying 1,920 litres if you fold the seats and for the first time that means that the Passat can match the Skoda Superb when it comes to boot volume.
The cabin is essentially a clone of the Tiguan’s, but with about six inches lopped off the height. So you get the impressive new touchscreen in the centre of the dash, which rights most of VW’s recent infotainment wrongs.
It has ChatGPT software in the voice-control system, but we found the responses and interface with this new robo-tech to be clunky and unsatisfying. You’ll enjoy the spectacularly comfortable (optionally massaging) seats much more, not to mention the exceptionally good build quality. And then there is the limo-like leg room of the rear seats.
Being as it’s much lower down than the Tiguan, the Passat is also much better to drive. The Tiguan is no slouch in the corners, by SUV standards, but the Passat is a reminder that you always need the qualification of “by SUV standards”.
Compared with the Tiguan, the Passat feels like an MX-5 through the bends. The optional DCC Pro adaptive dampers really help here, keeping the body level in the turns but without letting the ride quality become too intrusive.
The 1.5 TSI petrol engine is hardly a powerhouse, but it rows along perfectly well, and experience with the Skoda Superb plug-in hybrid suggests that it should be able to average about six litres per 100km when taking on long motorway runs, even with the EV battery drained. And there’s 50kW DC fast-charging to ensure you won’t have to endure that flat battery for long.
I will never truly understand why Irish car buyers have so consistently shunned estates for all these years. They are, almost inevitably, the best compromise between space, practicality, performance, and poise.
They run the gamut from the compact electric MG 5 to the snorting 727hp BMW M5 Touring, and yet we ignore them, time and time again, and just lash out our cash on compromised, thirsty SUVs that are never as good to drive as an equivalent estate, and that will always be more expensive to run, like for like.
The Passat is a perfect exemplar of this. It’s a really good all-round car, mixing comfort and refinement, with practicality that would benefit a house move, and handling and ride that an entertain and cosset in the same corner.
Yet we’ve ignored estates so much in the past decades that it’s actually a newsworthy story that VW Ireland will finally import the new Passat here.
The new Passat is sufficiently smooth, slick and likable that I’d like to think that might spark some kind of anti-SUV revolution, but I’ll not hold my breath.
