World Class Design for the people at reasonable prices

The VW Passat GLS 4Motion Wagon is a world class designed ergonomically correct very comfortable autobahn cruiser for thousands less than others, sold at reasonable prices. This car, as we soon discovered, can be had for a very reasonable price and has features and design befitting luxury cars costing much more. It is the perfect highway cruiser and can haul a lot of stuff, and of course the family where ever life takes you safely. Our car came with the superbly smooth Porsche Tiptronic 5 speed auto/manual and is loaded to the gills with everything you could possibly need while driving. There are things about this car that puts many other cars to shame with it's thoughtful design features and believe me they are everywhere. For instance under the steering wheel there is a little shelf custom made to hold the ample car manual. I read EJHonda's review on the Passat and was laughing when he mentioned that he stored the manual in the glove box where it took up so much room, then he mentions that he stored it in a compartment in the back. From comments like this good design is not for everyone as they unfortunately cannot appreciate it if they had not even notice the spot under the steering wheel. Some of the other thoughtful design features are: the mini-sunvisor for the area over the rear view mirror; adjustable auto volume level control on the superb Monsoon Stereo; ergonomic lighting of the dash, center console and interior(blue lighting provides information while red lighted items such as switches are for functions, who else would have thought of this but the German engineers); Auto close feature on all windows including the sunroof using the FOB key from outside the car; the tool kit contains the wheel lock key and other thoughtfully designed combination screw driver, which can be removed to extract the wheel bolts from the alloy wheels; the laminar clear protective strips on the leading edges of rear fenders and over the bumper top on the rear tailgate, and the heavy duty chrome cover on the leading edge lip on the tail gate; 4 count them 12 volt outlets (one up front at the center console, one at the rear seat center and two on the right hand bulkhead below the window, a full size spare tire which I haven't seen in a while on other cars these days; superb heated seats, windshield nozzles and outside mirrors; adjustable front seat rachet for up and down movement that is effortless to operate compared to other cars with manual seat adjustments; adjustable air condition vent in glove box, which BTW has a cutout molded in to hold a bottle of wine; silicone damped glovebox door and handholds above all the doors; rubber inserts in all the storage compartments to prevent things from rattling around inside them; rear storage compartment on right side for emergency medical kit as well as room for other essential items like a spare can of oil or towels etc; on the other side a fully wired compartment for a CD disk changer which integrates into the Monsoon CD Stereo headunit in the dash up front; puddle lights under all four doors with integrated light reflectors inside the lower door edges when you open the doors at night on a street; Aerodynamic clean underbody with aluminum control arms and nothing exposed underneath to snag something; under the bonnet up front the battery is stored outside the engine compartment area away front the heat of the engine; micron pollen filter for interior cabin air; built like a tank and will protect your family (airbags all around with protective side curtains), great highway cruiser (Autobahn proven) handles like a dream on gas shocks, no blind spots (360 view), rides like a luxury car with fit and finish befitting cars costing twice as much; great engine performance on the highway with a distinctive low growl; proven engine built like a brick. While I love the 1.8T engine unfortunately it is turbo charged and will require synthetic oil as per VW 502.00 spec. It is wise after coming off of the highway to let engine have a cool down period as the turbo glows. The other detractor is the service interval for oil changes. VW recommends change every 5K but with the turbo I just assume do it every 3K.

I almost forgot to mention that this car has the proven reliable Audi Quatro Torsen all wheel drive system. The Torsen Quatro system really shines in the bad weather. It's a 50/50 split during normal driving with no noticeable understeer like you usually get on a front wheel drive car. It's an all mechanical system(no maintenance)so it shifts power forward and aft in nanoseconds so quickly that you don't even notice it's doing it. There is no torque steer what so ever in any condition and when the rear does break loose around a turn you just let up on the accelerator a little and the rear end will swing right back in line in an instant. It seems to have no known vices or bad behavior that I can detect. There is no noticeable slip when driving in slippery conditions, it goes right up hills covered in ice and snow without even a slip starting from a dead stop at the bottom. This is truely an all weather machine for those who live in the snow belt.

If your interested in a well designed wagon this is one you really should look at and test drive.