AutoCentrum.pl – Independent Automotive Portal Tests Presentations Reliable reviews Welcome! I met the Passat of the 8th generation half a year ago in Sardinia, but there I had the car for just a couple of hours. Now the car has arrived in Krakow, to our editorial office and we have much more time to show you all the aspects, for which there was no time in Sardinia. I invite you to test of the VW Passat B8. I’m not going to describe the outlook, because since we saw the Passat in Sardinia, nothing changed. Anyway, how the Passat looks, everybody can see. Since the presentation in Sardinia, the engine palette has changed. There are many more engines, but it’s not the end. There isn’t still the gasoline engine with 280 hp.We now have the most powerful diesel engine 2.0 TDI BitTurbo 240 hp at 4000 rpm and 500 Nm, available from 1750 to 2500 rpm. The maximum speed: 240 km / h Up to 100 km / h it accelerates in 6 seconds, that’s what the producer promises, but this car is faster. In front there is enough space, I have already said that in Sardinia, but it is not a matter that I have 2 fingers of free space above my head, although we have a roof window here or that I can take the place easily. The steering wheel can be regulated in 2 levels and in a wide range. We have the memory option for the seats, there is also a massage option (which is an additional option).We can also regulate the lumber part, but only on one level. We can regulate separately the back and the front but also the height. But look in how a wide range we can regulate the headrests, also in 2 levels. The door performance is very comfortable. In front, a really soft material. In the back is worse. It’s not a hard crust but it’s just a bit less soft. There is also enough place in the back. In front of my knees I have still a few cm of free space. Above my head, when I’m sitting normally, I could fit one finger in there, so it’s good in any dimension. The headrest comes up quite high to protect our neck if something will hit our car from behind. Besides that we have a soft armrest, place for 2 cups and the possibility to transport longer items, so everything is done as it should be. If I had to hook on something, it will be this big central tunnel, which ‘reigns’ in here. But we should praise the standard equipment of this car: separate air conditioning for the passengers seated in the back. We have the ventilations in the middle, but not on the ”B
pales”.One more thing to praise for: the pockets in the door. They are formed so, that we can transport a bigger bottle and very solidly performed. The capacity of the rear compartment is 586 l and that’s 80 l more than f.ex. in the Insignia sedan. After folding the back seats (what we do by pulling these grips) we get 1152 l and that’s 100 l more than in the Insignia. We have now a not completely flat floor, because at the end of the rear compartment we have a hump, and the seats do not fold completely flat, so we could hook on it. But we can praise for this 2 hooks, which are really comfortable for transporting some little items. On the right side we have a pocket for a fire distinguisher and under the floor, which we can hang and it’s not as solid as in the Golf we’ll find a 18-inch spare wheel and the audio system.I told in Sardinia about the electronic dashboard, so I’ll repeat fastly what can we see on it. Through these buttons we can switch all the functions: outlook, audio, telephone, car status, driving data, assistents, navigation. In the outlook we can choose the classic and that’s how it looks like. It reminds a standard dashboard. We can choose consumption and range, and then we get additional informations about the consumption and range. We can also choose efficiency and here we can check how we are driving. If we drive agressively those wings go up, if we spare then they go down. On the left we can see the temporary consumption.Then we have the navigation. On the left side we see the position ASL, on the right the compass. In the assistents we can see for example the active cruise control assistent, on the right still the compass and in the middle probably some informations about the switched on assistent. So we have many options to choose from. Besides that we can choose audio and then we are seeing what’s playing from the USB right now, there is an appropriate sign for it. We can switch to telephone, but for now it’s not connected, so I cannot say anything.In the car status we can see the tires’ pressure. I thought that we could see a bit more here. In the driving data we can see the consumption since the start. Now we have 8,8 l/100 km and that’s a great result because we are filming here since 4 hours and we drove quite fast for make it look nice in the video and the consumption did not exceed 10 l. Other cars consume 2 or 3 times more, so for that power it’s really
good. We can see the range, time of travel. We are seeing these informations right now, we don’t need to click to get in the option and see it. Already when we switch between options we get an overview, so that’s really helpful. The navigation is similar as in the Audi TT, although this display is a bit smaller at a glance. When we press OK the clocks become a bit smaller and the map becomes bigger, so we can have a preview of what’s happening around us.At the same time we can switch on the navigation here, so here we are seeing the Google Maps data and here we see the map in this mode. We can change different scales on both dispalys too. That’s also really helpful while driving in a new location. The system is really advanced, really comfortable and it costs just a few thousends of zlotych as an addition to a bigger package, so I think it’s worth to pay for it if you are wondering if buying it or not. Let’s see this map’s options. In the settings we can choose the route options and here we have: 3 alternative routes, economical, fast or short route, dynamic route, which will adjust to some changes, we can avoid paid highways etc. We can choose the refuleing options, so the car will warn us about lack of fuel and will show the nearest petrol station. In the advanced settings we can choose also other informations which should be shown on the display. We can also set the maximum speed, so the car will help us to mind it.The map shows us the traffic signs or it hides them, lane recommendation, Google Earth settings: here we can download informations about attractions from the internet, We can also set which messages should we get from the navigation. F.ex. volume etc. Online service (Car-Net): we can download from the internet our special destinations and control it online to be visible on the screen. There are many options really. Let’s check how the map scale works. It all works really fluently and sensibly. Closer, please. The system Start-Stop decided to switch on the engine. So maybe I switch off the engine – thanks God it still works. Let’s check how we can put a new destination. New destination: and here we can dictate the destination or choose it, f.ex. we choose the Dluga Street 69 – it should be in each city. Uuuh, how do you live without the number 69?! Ok, so maybe let’s take 59 and it shows immediately the satellite photos and we can save it or go there or choose the route settings. That’s
what I wanted to show. We click here and we get the photo and we can see exactly how the address looks like where we are heading to.Isn’t that brilliant? We can also move the image, probably also while driving. Let’s see where I’ve landed, probably in a blind alley. I can even go forward. There is nothing to work up about, it’s like in the computer but… it’s in the car already! It really works great, I like it. Now we’ll try to put a new destination through the voice. Maybe this button here… Mrs., I’d like to give you an address. Ah, maybe it’s just switched off… ok, maybe now. I see that the navigation decided to ignore all my requests. Voice, voice… Hey I paid for you 7180 zl and I’d like to give you the address! Voice… Oh! New destination, uff… I thought that I just wasted my money. New destination… Ok, maybe another way. Voice… new destination.Give the complete address and begin with the name of the city. Krakow, ulica Zawila 69. Should I begin to lead you to the ulica…..? Did you hear? Ulika. There was the same virus in the Audi, where they called ulica ulika. Before in the VW was ok, but now it also says ulika. It’s contagious… We see the photos, we see the ulika Zawila 69, it’s super. But now I’d like to get there. Start! Route calculation. I already know that it’s wrong, because the navigation leads me to under the ban, unfortunately. Here, in this place, there is a turn right order since a couple of years. Each car navigation leads me here to… turn right. And then here I’d have to turn back to go left. Instead of that I should go here and then to the left. At the same time all car navigations lead me under the ban, even such a navigation, that is updated easily, fast and for free via internet or such, that costs 7.000 zl.It’s a pity. But let’s see how it will react when I decide to go to the right on this crossroad. Here we can see it zoomed out and here zoomed in, more clearly without any satellite photos. Let’s go. Early on I got the information to turn left, but I’m turning right, because there is a ban. And? When will the reaction come? Now. Ok, that’s a standard reaction, because each navigation firstly says to turn back and drive where it wanted to. But I’m going forward, to the only sense-having turnoff. And now? It’s even worse. It tells me to drive through stables and some urban roads but it does not want to turn to the main road, which is already
visible on the map. It still wants to go through some narrow roads. Let’s go. Turn sharply to the right. Why should I, if I turn left I’ll be in 10 sec. on the main road, because that’s where we are heading. I’m turning left. Finally it got it! That was the only correct route since the very beginning. Our tested car is equipped in a DYNAUDIO system with a subwoofer in the rear compartment and this system plays really great.It doesn’t matter if we will listen to it at maximum volume or in a reasonable volume range, it always plays the same: very clean, without distortions. And when we turn it to the maximum it really impresses, especially the bass. You won’t appreciate it directly through Youtube, but it really plays fantastically. Besides that we can set many things. F.ex. sound settings, 3 equalizers, surround settings, the canal balance settings through just clicking the appropriate button (front, back, left, right). We can also set the subwoofer, now it’s at -4 and it’s not by accident, because when we set it to 0 then at the last 5% of volume it begins to rumble a bit. We can feel some distortion, if we set it to +9…. well, it’s not that bad. This system plays really great. I think that nobody will complain about that. We can also choose the sound source: we have a very advanced jukebox system, because we can put a dozens or so GB of our own music.We can also see a preview of all the tracks. The VW prepared some list of music for the reporters to let show how it all plays, what the possibilities are and to spend some nice time in the car. Besides that we have SD1 and SD2 cards, DVD, USB, Bluetooth, AUX and even WLAN. In the glove compartment we have 2 SD card spots, also a SIM car spot. The car is online all the time. Besides that we can see the DVD-drive. If it’s about the internet connection, we have some informations about traffic signs, traffics and accidents. We also have a Car-Net and here it downloads data from the SIM card, so we can choose parkings, petrol stations etc.We can also see the weather. I don’t know why it shows Skawina, because I’m still in Krakow, though near to Skawina and here we get some informations about all the weather conditions. We can also get to the news: unfortunately we cannot read it in polish. The same is in Audi, where we also have the news but nobody provides the stream news for Poland. I already drove this car: 240 hp, diesel engine, sedan bodywork,
four-wheel drive, DSG. I already told about that when I was at the presentation in Italy. To be honest, I asked for exactly the same version. Not because I did not want to tell about weaker engines, but because I wanted to check all these sporty driving impressions. Although these are not really sporty impressions and that’s interesting in this car. On one side we have a great performance, this car accelerates very well at any speed. Now I’m driving 100 km/h and there is enough power and elasticity, traction (we have a four-wheel drive). We don’t have to do anything with the gearbox, the DSG handles it all very well, so those paddles are only for some maniacs, which want to show that they have some influence on this car.This car does everything for us and does it really great. On the other hand this car does not provoke us to a sporty, dynamic, agressive driving, which would make us feel more tired after getting out of this car than after getting in. This car makes us drive calmly and set ourselves behind a truck and that’s what I’m doing right now, because it makes me tell you more comfortably what I want to tell you about this car. But actually, that how this car really is. I took this car for a test in Krakow in the same configuration to check how it translates into numbers: consumption and acceleration.The fuel consumption is lower than 5 l / 100 km when are driving 90 km/h but the most interesting is the acceleration. This car turned out to be faster than the producer declares. The producer says 6,1 sec to 100 km/h, but at the first shot and without any wind in the back 5,5 sec to 100 km/h. That’s a huge difference, an abyss. Maybe the asphalt sticks better today, maybe the polish press park has cars, that are more turned on for the reporters to have more fun. Maybe, maybe…. I don’t know how it is really. But I made it to 5,5 sec. to 100 km/h and that’s a great result. You can watch a separate video where you can see the acceleration parameters etc. I have to say that even after that my opinion about this car did not change.This car is still not a sporty car. Although in the individual mode we can set the steering system, drive, ACC, DCC, demonic lights, air conditioning into comfort, sport or ECO. We can change this car as we wish to. But to be honest, even driving all the time in the comfort mode I sometimes cannot recognise this car. Once it becomes lazy and comfortable, another time
I push the gas on a curve and… it still does not lean to the sides, the tires do not squeal. It still goes where I want to. I come out of this curve and say: God, I could drive through this curve twice faster, any tire squealed and I was in the comfort mode. So all these mode changes are not really useful, because even in only one mode this care makes you drive in a relaxing way, another time accelerate fast and even on the highway change the lane fastly, push the gas on a sharp curve.This car just drives really as stably as where I turn the steering wheel, drives as fast as I show it with the right foot, so all I said at the italian presentation is still actual. Since the presentation in October the offer expanded a bit, more possibilities showed up, but I’ll mention the cheapest variants. 1.4 TSI 125 hp which costs 97.790 zl and the cheapest diesel, 1.6 TDI 120 hp which costs 102.490 zl. If somebody has a bigger budget, the most expensive variant with the petrol engine (2.0 TSI 220 hp with a 6-gear DSG) will cost 138.000 zl. If somebody has an even bigger budget, can get the strongest version of the diesel engine, our tested version with the four-wheel drive, 240 hp, 500 Nm, 7-gear DSG for 166.000 zl. The station wagon additional price is always the same 4.400 zl. The top version with the diesel engine is fantastically equipped. We have daylights LED, LED on the back, the headlights are also LED, we have any sensors, any systems caring about our safety, we have the active cruise control, we have alcantara with leather inside already in the standard equipment. Besides that we leave the car showroom with 17-inch rims. The list of additives is really long, so I decided to read a few of them, which I considered the most interesting: trailer assist system, a parking system that can park also with a trailer costs 2.240 zl, for almost 3.500 zl we’ll get a camera set which show this car overhand while parking. For almost 5.000 zl we’ll get a huge panorama roof window. The hook is available for almost 4.000 zl. The 19-inch rims are for almost 6.000 zl. Almost 7.000 zl costs the stand heating and the most expensive option: satellite navigation system Discovery Pro – the most expensive model costs 7.180 zl. The competition in this segment is huge. I will list only the most important players: Mazda 6, Ford Mondeo, Peugeot 508 or Opel Insignia. All these car we have already tested and I’ll already let out that
we will be testing.The order was not random. The resume of the Passat will be easy and pleasant because it will be positive. The car is modern, modern materials have been used, it’s very light, only 1647 kg with a four-wheel drive, automatic transmisson, a heavy diesel engine and the full equipment. Additionally we have a lot of space inside, great performance, care about the details and an appropriate prestige. We could maybe complain about the appearance, because if we put next to it the Mazda 6, then Mazda will for sure attract more. But remember: for a regular customer of the Passat this outlook will be an advantage. We could complain also about the price: in the top version this car costs already about 170.000 zl and that’s a price, for which we could get an Audi A6, BMW 5 or Mercedes E class in the standard versions, of course. The question is: is it better to have a full-equipped Passat or a naked Audi A6? I direct this question to you – what would you buy having 170.000 zl? Would you buy the top version of the Passat or the standard version, but a segment higher, of the Audi A6? Thank you for watching our test.In a moment you’ll see it’s technical part. In the meanwhile I invite you to comment and subscribe. See you in another test! .
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