Test Drive: 2012 Volkswagen Passat 2.5

By Kevin Harrison

My uncle used to play street hockey with Cliff Ronning and another friend. While my uncle could do well enough for pick-up street hockey, Cliff Ronning was clearly in another league. Literally. He ended up getting drafted to the NHL. My uncle, on the other hand, decided to take the geology route in life, while his friend decided to have a go at accounting. Let’s call him John.

My uncle still keeps in touch with John from time to time and without fail, John always loves to bring up the time when the trio used to play hockey together. As John remembers it, he used to be able to keep up with Cliff Ronning and sometimes used to best him.

“I probably could’ve made the NHL too,” John always says. He maintains his passion for math (yes, apparently such a passion exists) is what kept him from playing alongside Cliff. But without fail, John always brings up how good he used to be. To be honest, today, John has settled into middle age and likely wouldn’t be able to skate up a rink without stopping to catch his breath at centre ice first before continuing on. And that’s generally what happens when you get older. You become bigger, more sluggish, softer and not quite as agile as you once were.

Some say that this has happened to the new Passat. The car once hailed as a nimble, refined, premium vehicle at a not-so-premium price always scored top marks in the quality and performance part of the family sedan segment. Now, however, it’s much bigger than its predecessor and much cheaper. Does that mean the Passat is starting to settle into middle age?

I took one out to find out.

It’s quite obvious that the Passat is definitely bigger than the previous version. In fact it’s a full 10 centimeters longer making it the biggest Passat produced to date – for North America, that is. The rest of the world gets a smaller version of the North American Passat. Why? Well because traditional mid-size sedans here in North America could probably now be classified as full-sized. Each sedan in the segment is significantly larger than the generation before. To give you an idea, the current generation Honda Civic is the same size as the original Accord was. So, in order to play in the ball game, Volkswagen had to build one specific to our ~~needs~~ wants and as a result it is the third largest ‘mid-size’ sedan available. The size increase hasn’t spoiled the styling at all, in fact the Passat looks to be among the most elegant of the mid-size sedan segment with a conservative and classy design, almost completely echoing the design language of the new Jetta. It works well and gets a lot of looks from VW fans alike.

Speaking of the new Jetta, a big reason why they are selling like hot cakes nowadays is because the price has dropped significantly from the previous model. It seems to be working well for Volkswagen, however critics seem to share the idea that cost cutting measures have made the interior less appealing. While I have yet to drive the new Jetta, I can safely say that this is not the case for the new Passat, which also gets a steep price cut this year. The interior layout and materials exude a quality and premium feel typical of Passats before it. The only hard plastic I could find was the one surrounding the lower part of the centre stack. That’s a pretty small price to pay considering the Passat’s sub $24,000 base price. In fact, I’m still scratching my head as to how Volkswagen was able to cut the price of this car so much with very minimal sacrifice to quality, ride or refinement. On top of it all, the Passat is about the roomiest mid-size car I’ve been in in a while. Even with the driver’s seat back to my preferred position, there was still an abundance of rear seat legroom available. Likewise, trunk space is large enough to swallow virtually anything you throw at it, especially with the rear seats down. There were a few times when I’d get into the Passat, start it up and nothing would show up on the screen, just the time, when I had previously had the Sirius satellite radio on before I turned it off. Pressing the power button did no good either. I had to wait a good two minutes before the audio system finally came back to life. And, as I experienced in the Touareg, the touchscreen sometimes did not respond to commands.

My tester came with the base 2.5 litre engine which makes 170 horsepower and 177 pound-feet of torque. If I’m honest, this isn’t Volkswagen’s best engine as noise levels can be high and the Passat can seem quite sluggish when accelerating from a stand still. That’s not to say that the Passat is a slouch because once the torque chimes in there is plenty of power, especially on the highway. There is some slight torque steer at times, but if driven in a normal everyday manner, the torque steer is virtually non-existent. The Passat with the 2.5 litre engine is rated at 9.6 L/100 kms city and 6.7 L/100 kms highway which is pretty competitive with its rivals. However, the Passat has the ability to blow its rivals away in the fuel economy department when fitted with the optional and more desirable TDI power plant. Not only is it rated at an impressive 6.5 L/100 kms city and 4.5 L/100 kms highway, its torque happy nature likely makes it more fun to drive. With that said, the 2.5 litre engine is adequate for every day driving duties.

Despite the increase in size, handling is still very Passat-like as Volkswagen has extended the wheelbase as well. In fact, the Passat now has the longest wheelbase in the class, which is exactly why there’s so much leg room back there. The Passat seems surefooted and body roll isn’t very noticeable. The steering is a bit soft, but not overly so. Again, quite suitable for daily driving. It may not be quite as nimble as the smaller Passat before it, but I’d wager it’s still probably one of the better handling vehicles in the mid-size sedan segment.

The simple fact of the matter is, this new Passat would make John jealous, in fact he should take a page from Volkswagen’s book. While it has grown in size and is a bit softened down, it’s settling in with middle age much more easily than he is. It’s still just as capable, just as good looking, has just as much of a premium feel, has just as many standard, with the added bonus of a cheaper price and more usable space. So far as I can tell it may be the new benchmark in the ever competitive mid-size segment. It seems the only thing the Passat can’t do would be to beat John at a game of hockey. Hey, nobody’s perfect, right?