Volkswagen Passat reviews

2000 Volkswagen Passat Driving Impressions

The Volkswagen Passat is more enjoyable to drive than the Honda Accord or Toyota Camry. Its chassis was tuned to offer an excellent blend of ride comfort and responsiveness. There's little body roll during cornering. Precise, low-effort steering makes aiming the car easy. Most of the hardware that contributes to handling characteristics is shared with the superb, but more expensive Audi A4. The Passat was not intended to be driven as hard as the Audi A4, and its all-season tires scream loudly when pushed to their limits. However, it felt stuck to the road on a rainy day in Maryland. Handling is markedly better than that of competing Japanese models and the ride is a bit firmer. Ride quality is quite smooth. Wind and engine noise are well muted.

Passat GLS offers quick acceleration. There's a surprising amount of low-rpm power given its 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine. This double overhead-cam engine is turbocharged and uses five valves per cylinder. It generates a healthy 150 horsepower and, more important, it delivers 155 foot-pounds of torque at just 1750 rpm that continues past 4600 rpm. That allows the Passat to pull briskly away from intersections and accelerate athletically up hills. It also gives it lots of power for driving around town. The 1.8-liter turbocharged engine delivers the performance of most V6 engines with better fuel economy.

If that's not enough, you can order the Passat with a V6 that delivers 190 horsepower. With five valves per cylinder, variable intake valve timing and a variable-geometry composite intake manifold, this engine produces 206 foot-pounds of torque at just 3,200 rpm. It's a smooth engine that provides progressive pulling power at all engine speeds.

The five-speed manual gearbox is smooth and precise, making it easy to change gears.

Buyers who choose the optional automatic transmission instead of the excellent five-speed manual will be in for a treat. The five-speed automatic can be left alone to change gears automatically. In this mode, it's a smart transmission that uses adaptive electronics to control shifting based on whether the driver is being gentle or is seeking maximum acceleration performance. Those seeking greater control can shift the transmission into the Tiptronic mode, a design licensed from Porsche. Sliding the shift lever into a separate area to the right of the normal shift gate permits manual shifting. A forward push on the lever causes upward gear changes, with a light pull back for downshifts. To protect the engine, it won't downshift when speeds are too high, and it won't start from rest in fifth gear if you forgot to downshift while waiting for the light to change. The Tiptronic is a fine dual-purpose transmission, sporting or unobtrusive as the driver wishes. It provides some entertainment value in heavy traffic and is useful for holding the transmission in a particular gear when driving on twisty roads.

New for 2000, is the addition of Anti-Slip Regulation, or ASR, to the Electronic Differential Lock or EDL system. EDL is a low-speed traction control system that detects wheel slippage and applies braking force to that particular wheel. ASR uses sophisticated electronics to control throttle response to maximize traction and minimize slipping. It sounds like alphabet soup, but these two traction control systems work very well, making it easier to control the car when the front tires lose traction. It makes this car easy to drive in rainy conditions. ASR can be turned off by pressing a switch on the dash.

A better way to control slippery conditions is Volkswagen's 4MOTION system that has been added as a Passat option for model year 2000. This full-time all-wheel-drive system continuously distributes power to all four wheels all the time at all speeds. An automatic-locking Torsen center differential distributes engine torque to the front and rear axles. Torque is normally split 50/50 front to rear, but the wheels with the best traction receive more pow