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I was hoping that VW would have a new "turn-in" lease to coincide with the launch of the 06, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. I have 13 months left on my 2003 B5.5.. so I will just have to wait it out a bit longer. :mad:
Maskil
But by that time, I'll be in a new IS350 or a TL. I doubt if I can hold out that long..
PROS -
Dynaudio
Arctic Blue Silver color
Full-size spare tire with alloy wheel
CONS -
Generally, the car did not give the impression of being upmarket or high-end
Poor fit and finish in the cabin with for e.g. ill-fitting fabric over the A pillars and tweeter enclosures at the base of the A pillars which appeared to be "tacked on"
Excessive road noise
Excessive wind noise
Anemic engine with noticeable turbo lag
Flimsy little drawers on either side of the emergency light
Flimsy glove compartment door with flimsy CD changer compartment dropping from roof of glove compartment
Seats without full power controls: better to be all power or all manual, not a confused mixture of both
Anaesthetized steering
Electronic parking brake gimmicky and not particularly confidence-inspiring
Ditto electronic key gizmo
Grossly inadequate A/C - car did not cool down to a comfortable level after 15 minutes of driving on an 80 degree Fahrenheit day with thermostat set to coldest temperature on Climatic system
IMHO this car, despite some engineering improvements, is in general a come-down from the previous year's Passat in overall quality and is going to be a tough sell at the MSRP. In Canada, where it is de-contented (no Dynaudio, for example) and even more highly priced, it is going to have tough sledding indeed.
Very disappointed in VW for what seems to me to be a lackluster and unconvincing effort.
2.0T pretty much loaded less the leather/"cat daddy audio" and a few other bells and whoopi-woops.
Really enjoy messin' with the auto-shifter. Good friend of mine has one of the Beeemers with the wheel mounted padels. Good play times going thru the twisties and such.
Overall, the vehicle is extremly quiet on the interstate and bumpy roads. Wind and road noise on par with our Audi. Very quiet car !!!! Body panels and paint job are absolutly top-notch. Interior is well put together and quality fit is apparent throughout. VW's done one heck of a good job QC'ing the interior. All the little pieces parts are solid feeling equaling those i've seen in vehicles costing 2X 3X 's.
The engine response is extremly "peppy" and the turbo adds a sweet punch at low RPM's. Tranny is solid with un-noticable lurches along the shifting pattern.
VW's hit a "home run" with the 06. Our 04 is not missed.
Canadian travels to USA to test drive new car with cool audio system.
Priceless.........
I didn't drive it, so i can't say anything about performance. But the interior looked very nice. Very Audi like to me.
It looked like a nice step up from the 2005 model, and a lot more rich than any Honda Accord or Toyota Camry, or even a 35k Infiniti G35.
On both the Canadian version Passats I examined the interior quality was quite different: no ill-fitting materials, switches and controls seemed of high quality, glove compartment door fit properly and snugly, CD changer compartment dropping from roof of glove compartment also dropped and retracted properly without feeling flimsy, etc.
I did not have the opportunity to drive either car so cannot comment on whether the noise, A/C, etc. were the same as previous.
One gets a very different impression of the new Passat depending upon which particular specimen one examines. Obviously, there are issues with consistency of assembly quality at VW and they need to address this so that first (and possibly lasting) impressions of the car are positive and not negative.
Does anyone know if other colors are being imported or has anyone seen a Granite Green or the new Mocha Brown Passat?
An AWD 330i with every option including Navi can easily top 50 grand with BMW's very pricey options. 40k for the 280 hp 4 motion 06 Passat should have every option that VW will offer.
The free service is very nice with BMW, though. Don't really know about the prestige factor, as 3 series cars are a dime a dozen everywhere you look.
My lie -- and I'm keeping it alive -- is that the only reason people don't drive manual transmission cars is because of some plot by the car manufacturers to force the buying public into automatic transmissions. My other lie is that people, generally speaking, actually do prefer stick shifts but since hardly any are offered any more, they just "go with the flow" (lemming like?) and get the auto trans cars.
Look at me, kicking and screaming, I bought my first automatic -- a new 1997 Audi A8, followed that with a 1999 Audi A6 2.8, a 2000 Audi A6 4.2, then a 2001 A6 4.2 sport and "when I was fed up and wasn't going to take it anymore," I ordered (cause god knows you couldn't find one in inventory) a 2003 Audi allroad 2.7T w/6spd manual transmission when I "smelled" the end of manual transmissions was in the not too distant future.
I visited the Audi dealer (and the VW dealer to be fair) repeatedly ever since my first 1986 Passat -- at the time called a Quantum, as I recall (with the 5cylinder) -- which had a stick shift. The statistics (not my self serving lies) are thus: every time I peer into the windows of the dozens of cars displayed on the dealer's lots, I notice "automatic creep" -- that is, it has become darn near impossible to find any car (and I'm throwing even BMW's into the mix) with a stick shift anymore.
The BMW dealer says "no sticks" will be ordered for inventory unless they are pre-sold. That certainly was the case with my recent purchase of a 2005 BMW X3 3.0 with a stick (it HAD TO BE ordered -- sticks just don't sell.)
So, peek in the window of the Porsches, they must be "keepers of the faith" (another lie I discover I have told myself, it comes to pass.)
A bunch, a whole bunch of left over Audi S4's were gathering dust -- darn few "MT6" versions -- indeed there were no 2004's other than tiptronics.
VW may be a neither nor car -- it is neither a Luxury Performance Car, nor is it truly just a German Camry. It has enough of that German (Audi, BMW, etc.) feel to be attractive to a more "enthusiastic" (you say "nut") customer.
Truth is -- the truth, not "my" lie -- VWoA has brought the cars it thinks it will sell to this country. VW AG has built cars it thinks (and has some evidence to suggest) will sell for export to their various markets. Truth is, if you would buy the manual transmission cars with what C.Wright Mills might call the "Car Buying Sociological Imagination," I would not have to keep my lie alive.
Had I enough money to offer each and every person reading here a sum of money (but not a stupid number) for "electing," for seeking out a manual transmission car, I seriously doubt there would be many takers. The only way to get there to be takers, perhaps, would be to offer something between $1,000 and $1,500 to go with a stick shift.
Oh wait, on many of the cars that offer both auto or stick, the up charge for going with the auto is in that neighborhood. . .must've discovered another lie.
Darn!
Imagine if that new BMW 3 or 5 -- to pick an example -- offered the automatic transmission for "free" instead of ~ $1,200. Seems to me that would literally kill off the remaining stick shift purchases altogether. For people are clearly willing to pony up a four figure number when the exact same car could be had with a stick shift for less.
We "nuts" are really an endangered species.
I just accepted my new A6 with the automatic -- I couldn't even stay in the family and get a stick in the A4 3.2. And, had the new Passat with the AWD and the 280HP engine been offered even, well, it too would have ONLY come with the auto trans.
Statistics don't lie. People are paying through the nose for auto transmissions (and, oddly enough, sunroofs) -- the people have voted with their dollars. Were I in charge of VW, I would have to do the same thing: be responsible to the shareholders.
The stick shift loving customer is a mutant from the norm; most mutated cells die.
I'm pretty certain I've probably, almost certainly, had my last stick shift.
The good news, if there is any in this revoltin' development, is that VW/Audi have a very good clutchless manual called the DSG.
Liar, liar, pants on fire. :shades:
If driver distraction increases the chances of an accident, then manual transmissions should increase the mental load while driving and be less safe.
(What is the deal with VWofA not posting on their web site the miles per gallon of the new Passat?)
MPG on the Passat? They list it for the 3.6L: Something like 22-city, 31 highway. Yep, sound weird, but they claim it. I too am wondering about the 2.0.
I can confirm the 31 MPG for highway driving. Averaging 65-70 MPH.
Wasn't expecting that kinda milage "outta the box" , but indeed thats what i got.
Wife has now taken over as primary driver of "our" new Passat .... so any additional post will only reflect her experiences.
Back to the Audi6 for me. [but i ain't complainin']
Krzys
This is the funniest statement I have read in some time. If anything, manual transmission refocuses one on driving, as it should be a full time job. You see, auto drivers tend to not to know "why" or "how" it drives (you just press gas pedal and it goes), while manual drivers need to be more involved. This increases awareness. If anything, manual may reduce "multitasking", which is probably the leading cause of distraction. But it probably calls for for a good multi-million dollar research project funded by NHTSA/IIHS...
Of course, there still are geniuses defying laws of pysics and common sense, but those people with auto would simply find another task to do.
2018 430i Gran Coupe
My sources include the 160 members of the Quattro Club of America that I met and drove with at the Audi Safety Driving school in Seefeld, Austria (40 drivers over 4 different driving schools I attended with the club between 1997 and 2002) and the owner of the BMW store here in Cincinnati (my wife jumped from the VW/Audi ownership club to BMW in May of this year.) All of these folks -- and I am paraphrasing -- "dis" automatics as "less": as in less fun, less performance, less mileage, and less safe.
You know what? :confuse:
It doesn't make a hill of beans difference. People will pay a four figure number to get "less." They will pay hundreds of millions of dollars (in aggregate) by checking off auto trans on the option sheet or simply by buying the auto equipped car even when a stick shift is [rare as it is] available for purchase.
It is just crusty old me, but I also think "ignorance is no excuse" in this regard too.
Everyone that I have "trained" to drive a stick shift has become a convert -- without exception. Over my 54 years on the planet, I have had many folks ask me to teach them to drive a stick -- not a single one would RATHER have an auto.
The fact that almost all of us do have auto transmissions is, as I said earlier, because of the lie I tell myself (it is a plot by the car manufacturers.)
Pull the other one. :shades:
I currently own an 2004 Accord Coupe V6 6-speed and a 2003 Nissan Murano with a CVT. The CVT is a great automatic and I would happily drive a CVT car, but I love the Accord with the stick.
Finding well equipped sticks is difficult. I would love a new Frontier Nismo V6 4X4 with a stick. It only exists on paper.
My list of sticks: 1962 Ford F-150 (3 on-the-tree, learned to drive in this), 1981 Chevette diesel, 1981 Plymouth TC3, 1987 Toyota Tercel, 1993 Mazda Protege, 1994 Nissan 4x4 pickup, 1995 Mustang GT, 1997 Nissan Maxima SE, 2004 Accord Coupe.
I'm married now and the wife doesn't want to drive a stick.
So how is the the DSG in the VW's?
In 2001, the NADA published a report that stated that during the calendar year 2000 fewer than 10% of all cars & trucks sold in the US had manual Transmissions...And, hoping you are sitting down...25% of all Porsches had the Tiptronic...So, obviously, this is just a continuing trend...
And the new DSG is fanatastic!!!
Generally speaking too, it is much more difficult to prove the other side since the cost of doing so would be a foolish number (the local German car dealers probably have a MAXIMUM of 10% of their cars in inventory with sticks -- and these cars sit and sit and sit unsold -- almost as if they were Phaetons (and I say that with no glee).)
Were I in the car biz, I would probably be just like the BMW dealer owner (or the VW dealer owner) -- I would order and sell automatics all day long and would sell stick shifts "presold" the vast majority of the time.
Life goes on.
Even with the disadvantages of my 6 speed tiptronic, I must admit it is the finest automatic I've ever owned (yea, I know, could be kind of a left handed compliment, but I don't intend for that to be the meaning.)
I believe I actually know people who if you said "free VW Jetta or free Audi A4 2.0T" (fine print: stick shift only and you can't sell the car for 24 months) would not take the free VW or Audi because they "don't know how" to drive a stick.
This, too, is a belief I cannot confirm and will not, since I'm not going to buy a car in order to "gift" it to prove how the car companies have plotted to brainwash us out of our stick shifts.
I'll get over it.
There, I'm over it (sort of).
On the whole, I agree with your statement, however, were my fairy godmother to prang me over the head and make me a dealer for one of the German marques, I'd stock at least a single fully optioned stick shift car for each of the models in the line-up. That would at least make them available for test drives and also make them available for sale. If I was to find that I was too often without a stick shift version of a particular model, I'd start ordering a few for stock to keep up with the demand.
Interesting note #1: The first BMW dealership that I leased from did just that and in spite of the fact that they were located in the NYC metro area, they were moving "over 50%" of their 3-Series cars with sticks and "over 20%" of their 5-Series cars so equipped. Every other BMW dealership that I visited in the area had not a single stick to be had anywhere in their new car inventory.
Interesting note #2: When I dropped my 2002 Sapphire Black/Black Leather 530i 5-Speed, PP, SP, Xenon and Premium Audio off at my local dealership (not the one where I leased it) at lease end the leasing manager (who stated to me on the phone that he didn't really like taking back leased cars that he didn't lease in the first place) took one look at my car and said, "Oh yeah, we're keeping that one!"
I was sort of surprised because I've always heard that dealers cannot stand having well equipped cars with manual transmissions sitting around on their used car lots. With that in mind I asked, "Really? Why?"
"Mr. Shipo, do you have any idea how hard it is to find a nicely equipped E39 SP with a stick these days?"
"Uh, yeah, that's one reason why I usually order my cars directly from the factory."
"Well your car is going to be in very high demand, it'll sell fast."
True to his word, my car was CPOed and on their lot two days later, stickered at an astounding $36,999! To put that in perspective, the U.S. MSRP was $47,395 when it was new in 2002, and I got it for somewhere north of $42,000 via the ED program. Furthermore, were I to have bought it at lease end I would have only had to pay $28,500 (plus or minus a few hundred). I tracked the car daily on the BMW-NA CPO web site and noticed that it sold just over two weeks later, and when I called the leasing manager and asked him how much he got for "my" car, he proudly told me that they got $36,000.
Best Regards,
Shipo
You know, I didn't realize I was opening up a can of worms. Just confirmed my hunch about most VW drivers love a manual G/B. Well, why aren't we hammering out email after email about this to VWA? Well, to be honest, Volkswagen of America are VW's worst enemy. The absolute lousiest service I have ever come across. There are a few individual dealerships who take good care of you, but dealing directly with VWA for warranty repairs is like punching through a brick wall with a dead mouse.
Been there, done that, got the tee shirt. No joy. Back in 1999 I was all set to move from a 1995 Passat GLX 5-Speed into a new 1999 Passat GLX 5-Speed. Unfortunately VW decided to cancel the 5-Speed for the 1999 model year only. I was just one of many TownHall members who wrote and E-Mailed VWAG and VWoA expressing our displeasure. IIRC, Frank Rizzo (of the "Rizzo Method") was part of that movement as well. Their response echoed that of General Anthony McAuliffe's response at Bastogne in December of 1945, "Nuts!"
Best Regards,
Shipo
I just happen to buy a new 06 2.Ot passat,overall speaking i am very impressed,the interior looks little below standard,but what better i can get for 25980/- yeah this is the price i paid for the 06,but the dealer talked me into an extended warranty for which i ended paying 2000$ extra,so this means i had a 90000 miles limited warranty now.Now,
i took delivary like around 9:30 in the night,next day i notice this tyre pressure monitoring system light on,i went to a gas station,checked for the air pressure it was good,then next day i went back to dealer saying that,why the hell this light is on,the dealship service department guys,looked at me with strange eyes,and then they asked me whether i had a flat yesterday,i said no,then they told me that one of the tyres is of diffrent make and size and it doest not have a particular kind of valve installed on it.which is needed to send a radio signal to the TPMS.So now they started saying that,how this miss match might have happened,so finally the marketing manager came in and told them to replace my odd tyre with another tyre from another passat.and then they ordered another one for me.
this is all goofy i need to know,where in stand on this legally.
secondly,the steering of my car vibrates(very slightly) on the highway,as this is my first new car i would like to know why this is happening,i mean the slight vibrations in the steering wheel,and squeaky noise from the suspension,???i thk the squeak is not from the breakes,as this is brand new car,
any thought on this will be highly appriciated.
thanks
puru
ahh so u had the same problem in deed.
i told this to the dealer ship and they are saying that this might due road conditions,i am refering to the slight vibration in the steering.
secondly,when i change the shift/gear,there is some light noise some where in the car (laughs),i am highly confused by all this,what are all these noises,is there a third party apart from the dealer ship which can test this car for me.i am really very novice about cars,:(
dengs
As far as the mis matched tire...I would ask the dealer WHY the car came with a mismatched tire since the car was brand new. How many miles were on the car when you took delivery? The mismatched tire is really no big deal once the correct tire is provided. But, there has got to be a story behind the odd tire being on your new car. Investigate further and enjoy your new car.
Although I now live in semi-rural Pennsylvania, most of my life has been spent in large cities with populations of up to eleven million people, and I still find myself driving in NYC, Baltimore and DC many times each year. Sticks are much more enjoyable for rural, highway or suburban driving, but are a nuisance in heavy city traffic.
The shiftable automatic is a reasonable compromise, not for the boy racers among us, but for everyday real world driving. I routinely use my Tiptronic to brake with the engine and to hold lower gears on downhill stretches. It gives some of the pleasant feeling of control of a manual and saves wear on the brakes. My Passat with 160K miles on the original front pads and rotors just passed PA inspection. The rear brakes and rotors were replaced at 40K (the recall that VW weaseled out of) and also passed inspection at 120K miles.
We just returned from a two+ week vacation in the Rockies driving a rented Mazda 6 four cylinder with a shiftable 4-sp automatic. Although it lacks the power and finesse of the Passat, the shiftable gearbox meant we did not have to ride the brakes on the many descents, or wait for the computer to upshift when climbing.
All in all, I'd rather have a shiftable automatic than a stick on all but sports or high performance cars.