VW Passat 2.0 BiTDi GT 4Motion first drive

The new, eighth-generation VW Passat – which has quietly become a very important model for Volkswagen. Only a handful of cars have ever had the lasting popularity to break through the 20 million mark on cumulative worldwide sales. Volkswagen’s made three all on its own.

In Europe, we’d recognise two of those three as genuine automotive institutions: the Volkswagen Golf and the original Beetle. 

If you’d pick the Passat as Wolfsburg’s third sales titan, you’re smarter than me. In China, they would; North America, perhaps. Us Europeans may not realise it but, on the back of huge success in those markets in particular, the Passat (and its derivatives) has now become the fastest-selling VW on the planet.

Success breeds confidence – and the new eighth-generation Passat, which is coming to UK showrooms early next year, though orders open this month - reeks of it. This is still a deeply conventional, conservative, evolutionary car, as you’d expect of something so established – but it’s ambitious.

VW’s intent is clearly to present the mature European markets with a genuine alternative to a fully-fledged, premium-branded compact executive option; something that asks them to trade just a touch of brand cachet for the sort of quality, refinement, comfort, technology and space that better sets a car apart.

This time around, VW’s versatile MQB platform forms the basis of the car – and brings with it some telling gains. On average, 85kg has been saved from each version of the Passat in the jump between generations, while the car’s interior and exterior designers benefitted from the opportunity to stretch the wheelbase while simultaneously making the car shorter, lower and wider.

Cabin length is up by 33mm, and rear headroom by almost as much, and available boot space grows too. 

The car feels as spacious as almost anything in the class now – and yet it’s actually shrunk. And, as ever, it’s as solidly constructed, generously appointed and meticulously finished as even the best premium saloons.

The Volkswagen Passat’s cabin isn’t one to delight you with colour or a theatrical flourish, but instead to gently soothe with its simplicity and substance. From the climate control knobs to the trip computer and multimedia buttons, every rotor and switch feels solid, intuitively placed. 

The boldest feature is a grille-aping spar running the full width of the dashboard that turns the air vents into a unifying styling theme.

Elsewhere, the satin chrome trims are tastefully deployed and every single above-the-knee moulding is soft and tactile. Every storage cubby is flock-lined. The doors close with the kind of ‘whump’ that could seal a space shuttle’s airlock. This is a Passat alright – done with even greater commitment to the car’s familiar ideals.

All versions come as standard with conventional instruments, but a few months after launch VW will offer the optional 12.3-inch Active Info Display of our test car, with its configurable dials and handy multimedia screen nestling between them. A head-up display is also optional, while the upper-trim 8-inch Discover Pro infotainment system atop of the centre stack carries plenty of new functionality such as app-mirroring for Android smartphones, and live traffic and Google Earth functionality.