My wife likes to keep a clean house. Compared to what I was used to living in with my old roommates I was convinced she had a little obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) until I realized my place with my roommates was just a bit of a mess.
She likes to keep the place tidy and have everything cleaned up instead of having things all over the place for days at a time and this is all good until I go to look for some of my things I left on the dresser. Apparently they get cleaned up and put away, even though I think they were in a perfectly good spot in the first place. I just can't find them when I go to look for them.
When I got into the new Volkswagen Passat TDI this week I decided to put my notepaper and pen in my pocket for fear of someone cleaning it up and placing it neatly in one of the storage bins.
The interior of the Passat looks like someone wit a touch of OCD was involved in the design, as everything seems to be immaculately laid out. There are a minimal amount of buttons and knobs and the appearance is, for want of a better word, clean.
There is no clutter and no wondering what each button is for, or where certain buttons are. My wife would be proud.
Volkswagen has also done something with the Passat that seems to be the opposite to what other manufacturers have been doing lately. While some are making cars smaller with less room and girth making for better gas mileage, Volkswagen has decided to make the Passat larger to try to keep pace with the ever-growing North American bums.
Although only a few inches larger than the outgoing model there is way more room inside, especially in the back and trunk. Sitting in the second row you would have to slide your bum to the front of the seat to have a chance of your knees hitting the front seat. And the trunk could easily house a ton of bags all neatly laid out in OCD fashion.
Even with the growing dimensions of the Passat, Volkswagen is, as they have done for long time, leading the way with diesel-fuelled vehicles.
This Passat, in turbo diesel trim, gets 4.9 litres per 100 kilometres on the highway (58 miles per gallon) and with a 70 litre fuel tank that means roughly 1,430 kilometres before you have to fill up again.
That is just bloody amazing. I know it is the season of Christmas miracles and all but even Santa's sleigh doesn't get that sort of mileage.
It also doesn't have four one-touch up and down windows, a power moonroof, power seat, heated seats, dual zone automatic climate control or safety features like EBD, EBA, ABS, TC, ESC, satellite radio, iPod dock, Bluetooth, leather, heated washer nozzles, heated mirrors and a bunch of airbags.
Nor does it have what I consider to be the silkiest transmission in the business.
Every time I drive a Volkswagen I hope it equipped with the fantastic direct shift gearbox (DSG), or what some call the double clutch gearbox.
It is fantastic. I love flipping up and down through the gears in manual mode trying to catch the gearbox out and get a reaction from it, but it never happens. Drop down a gear and the computer blips the revs to match the engine speed and changes gears after it increases the revs, all in the blink of an eye.
I play this little game with it every time I drive a DSG and as frustrating as it is to not catch it out, it is doubly exhilarating to amaze at the technology behind the system.
The DSG is not the only thing that is quick in the Passat. Sitting in the parking lot at Hub City Motors I turn on the ignition, hit the seat heater button, move the outside mirrors to where I like them, adjust the rear view mirror, move he seat back a bit and head off. By the time I get out of the parking lot my seat is already warm.
The Passat also puts out no identifiable fumes thanks to the ultra-low sulphur diesel and unless you are a few inches away there is no way of telling the Passat is a diesel.
If you want more room in your vehicle with class beating mileage and a super slick shifting transmission, or you just happen to have a touch of OCD then you need to Double Shift your Gluteus (DSG) over to Volkswagen and see what ultra-low sulphur diesel has in store for you.
Vehicle type: 5 door sedan
Transmission 6-speed manumatic
Engine: 2.0-litre four cylinder
Horsepower: 140 @ 4,000
Torque: 236 @ 1,500
Mileage: 6.9 l/100 km 41 mpg City 4.9 l/100km 58 mph hwy
Price: $33,340
