2013 Volkswagen Passat TDI Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

2013 Volkswagen Passat TDI Long-Term Road Test

Pairing a phone is easy in the 2013 Volkswagen Passat TDI, provided someone tells you what not to do.

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quadricycle

Just the tried and true way to learn things. You read the literature (manual), then get your hands on it to figure out what actually does and doesn't work, and finally collaborate with peers (forums) and use supplemental instructions to master the rest (youtube, friends, that dealership video...). To be honest though, I just ignore everything except the radio and navigation, and the driving of course. Sometimes, when I feel really adventurous, I mess with the climate control a little, or change the CD.

hybris

I use everything short of social media to figure out something if I don't understand how to work a given device in 30 min to a hour of fiddling and fuzzing around with said device. Of course I am comparatively a caveman compared to any of the Edmunds editors since I have a phone that pre-dates bluetooth and even if it did have bluetooth I still rather hold the phone in hand to my head. You can survive without pairing your phone to the car. PS WALLS OF TEXT KILL MORE KITTENS PER A DAY THEN CARS *HINT**HINT*

shindig4

I have a 2013 Passat with the same MFI as yours. I'm a pretty techy-savvy guy and usually figure things out by reading the manual and trying it out on my own. In the delivery process for my Passat, though, the salesman sat down in the car with me and walked me through everything. I tried to politely brush him off, thinking that I'd just figure it out on my own later, but he insisted (in a professional manner, of course) and showed me how to pair my phone, set up speed dialing, and use every feature of the MMI. VW and my dealer did a very good job here -- they know this can cause confusion and dissatisfaction down the road if the driver doesn't know how to use the tech, and they get ahead of it by training their salespeople and incorporating it into their delivery process.

flunder

My dad bought his 2015 Passat late in the evening. He won't be getting the training until when he gets his tags. However, the [F] Manual is not helpful at all. His car is the limited edition. The multi-function keys on the right side do not exist on his steering wheel. No where on the manual says about how to pair blue tooth devices without the multi-functions keys. After playing around for about 20 minutes and RTF [not helpful] M and search on the web with no hit for the limited edition, I finally figured out that one needs to press the voice command button and quickly scan BT on the phone for the car's BT interface [VW Phone] to be discovered. Then, the 2nd problem arrives, say both of my parents are on the car, and both of their phones are paired with the car; there is no telling on which one will be connected. That is not a problem as long as there is a menu on the car to allow selection of the pair... I cannot figure out how to do that without doing the disconnect on the phones themselves...
In contrast, it took me less than 5 minutes to figure out the system on my mom's 2013 Accord with both of their phones paired and able to select either one from the car's menu...without even RTFM... VW's interface and documentation left a lot to be desired...