The Passat’s journey in North America is an interesting one. The name first appeared here in 1988, replacing the Quantum, which was actually the same car as the European Passat. It’s styling was typical VW-boxy conservative, and sales didn’t exactly take off.
It took a decade, but the Passat finally started gaining attention and sales with more inspiring redesigns, released in North America in 1998 and 2006. By then it had gained a loyal following as an upscale/sporty alternative to Japanese mid-size sedans and a value compared to other German sedans of similar size. Of course we all know what VW did for 2012:
While the current North American Passat is a decent family car, conquering thousands of buyers new to VW, it’s not the car that Passat loyalists wanted. It’s bigger, less sporty, more generic, and has cheaper interiors. I was not at all impressed by the unconvincing, uncomfortable vinyl seats in lower trims.
Despite being rather generic-looking like the current Passat, I’ve always liked the look of these 1994-1997 Passats. The shape is way more appealing to the eye than Jettas of this vintage. Our featured CC wears TDI badges. They don’t look original though, and combined with the removal of all other badging, raises the question to whether or not this is actually a TDI. If it is in fact a TDI, it’s powered by an 89 horsepower 1.9L turbo diesel that gave it an EPA-estimated 45mpg highway. That’s pretty darn good for a 90’s mid-size sedan.
My VW-diesel-loving-sister owned one of these. The story I got was that they were driving an 89 Jetta diesel. They were looking to replace it with a Jetta TDI. Jettas were selling well at the time, and the dealer told them that in order to get a certain number of Jettas, VW made them take a Passat, which they could hardly give away.
Short version, they drove out in the Passat (a 5 speed, making it even harder to sell) at almost the same price of the Jetta. They had it for several years. I had it for a week when it got left with me, and it was not a bad car. I rather enjoyed it for the week.
The styling of the new Passat puzzles me, because it’s so similar to the Jetta. I can’t tell them apart on the road. It doesn’t help that they’re all silver.
Competing pairs of cars like Accord/Civic and Camry/Corolla have a pretty strong family resemblance, but you can at least tell which is which.
I can’t tell them apart either. It’s hard to believe the current car is just 13 years removed from the ground-breaking 1998 model. Copied by both Hyundai and Ford it set new standards for styling, space and handling.
VW must have figured Americans don’t really care how good the car is and that their wonderful brand name at a more affordable price would be enough.
So wrong when there are works of art like the new Fusion to compete with. VW sales are off the mark (look at the high days supply) and that can’t be good for them considering the industry sales disaster in Europe.
When they figure out what it will take in incentives to move their boring new products (I include the Tiguan in with the Passat and Jetta) they will learn an important lesson for next time.
Although Fiat had the first direct injection diesel engine in a passenger car the Volkswagen 1.9 TDI engine gave diesel cars a massive boost in popularity.
It combined the fuel efficiency of the good ol’ oil burner with good performance.
You could actually pick up some speed with a Golf TDI.
In the nineties the 1.9 TDI was everywhere, in all compact and midsize VAG products.
The second boost was the introduction of common rail injection in the late nineties,
that was in the brand new Alfa Romeo 156. (Again, Fiat Group)
We’re now at a point where you can get pretty much any diesel engine you want.
From VW’s 3 cylinder 1.2 TDI lawn mower engine to the BMW Tri-Turbo M550d whiplasher.
going from this first model to the current model seems like a aesthetic disaster. The 1st model was unique, better looking with grill than without. But good looking for the time. The 2nd model was pretty but this recent one is just plain, apparently good selling plane but makes a camry look like a hot Italian model.
The early 2000s Passat was somewhat popular when I was a mechanic in an affluent suburb. I could see why, nicely appointed, solid ride, not too expensive. Decent car for about 80,000 miles. I’d estimate less than half were equipped with the TD. I liked the wagon well enough. Wouldn’t want to own one with high miles though.
Until I saw that last pic, I never realized how much these Passats look like the Volvo 440.
Looks more like a 940 to me.
Looks more like a Nova to me.
My cousin has had a new Passat diesel as a company car for almost a year now. The fit and finish of the car is great. The fuel mileage is outstanding. If I wasn’t so addicted to the reliability and customer service of the Toyota/Lexus camp I would have something VW/Audi.
I rented a Passat last year with the 2.0 T engine and really enjoyed driving it. The car cornered like it was on rails, and the brakes and steering were excellent. The engine had plenty of power on tap, and spooled up instantly whenever I needed to get up to speed. As someone else said, though, I wouldn’t want one with high miles, and they’re not cheap to fix. I used to work with someone who had a ’98 that he bought new. He loved the car, but said it was constantly in the shop, and he’d spent nearly $8000 on repairs in 6 years. Ouch!
I feel your pain about the new Passat’s seats, Brendan. I took a short ride home in my dealer’s valet Passat recently, and I was pitying the poor guy who has to drive it all day. The seat bottoms felt like planks. This from a fellow who’s put in comfy 650-mile days in his VW, but that was a ten-year-old New Beetle.
Actually, the kerbside klassic passat in the picture isn’t a 1988, that’s a phase 2 facelift (a 1992 I think), which ruined the ’88’s rather unconventional face, which looked like this:
As I remember at the time, VW/North America felt strongly that the face needed a conventional grille, so one was grafted onto the front of the car. I preferred the grill-less phase 1.
Funny you post this now – I just ‘resurrected’ my 1996 Passat TDI last weekend, after it languished in my driveway, dead, for over six years (leaky injection pump seals due to the ULSD). The last time I filled up the fuel tank was in 2006 (and I have put almost 300 miles on it this past week)!
The other way to tell if this may have been a TDI is to look at the wheel bolt pattern – the TDIs all had the 4-bolt wheels (and were only available with a 5-speed manual), while the VR6-powered ones had the ‘plus’ suspension with the 5-bolt wheels and could be had with an automatic.
This car is not transportation; it is not even a hobby. I’d call it a ‘lifestyle choice,’ much like daily-driving a vintage Jaguar or Harley-Davidson motorcycle. I have such a love/hate relationship with mine that I punished it by leaving it unrepaired for so long (during which time we had two kids, and bought two Hondas and a Buick Lesabre for DD duty). Now that it’s running, I’m loving driving it again, but dreading the next thing to go wrong. None of the passenger-side power windows work, and the passenger-side mirror glass detached itself and self-terminated while I was driving to work last Monday. Unfortunately, parts falling off and electrical problems are to be expected for a VW of this vintage. Oh, the A/C compressor seal failed while sitting too, so a new compressor is now needed too (not at all surprised about that).
But I’m not complaining – after giving my Lesabre to my MIL since her 3.1l-powered Century lost its engine at 200K miles (zero compression in one cylinder and a loud knocking), I was commuting in my 1990 F350 which gets 11-12mpg. So I am saving around $300 per month by driving the Passat over my truck. And a 1-ton truck on the broken concrete on I-405 (now getting fixed as I type this, NB 405 through downtown Bellevue is closed all weekend) is seriously bad for one’s middle-aged back.
Sorry for the midnight ramblings, and I do agree that the car does look like a Volvo from the rear! Mine is debadged except for the round ‘VW’ in the center of the decklid, and I’ve been seriously tempted to get some Volvo script and stick it on the back.
You can always predict that any VW intro will be greeted with whines about how generic the syling on the new VW ___ is. Seriously people, they’ve always looked generic! Look on the bright side, at least they won’t be outdated in 5 years like the current Sonata.
The B5 Passat was anything BUT generic. It won a whole pile of design awards when released; I don’t recall any complaints at the time about the exterior design. It may have looked generic later on when several automakers shamelessly copied it (and VW applied it to the Jetta), but when it came out it was quite eye-catching.
Really? Never heard or felt that about the 98-06 Passat (B5), the dark blue car in Paul’s article. Perhaps looking at one now it looks generic to you. Completely understandable; the B5 generation ran for eight years and was copied by the 2005 Ford 500 and 2006 Hyundai Sonata.
Never heard anyone call the Gen 3 and 4 Jettas generic either. VW’s market share x transaction price peaked during the life of the models I mentioned, they were breakthrough (i.e. not generic) cars that turned the company around in America.
VW wanted more volume and, apparently, the powers that be bought the argument that “vanilla sells”. They were also convinced the B5 was overkill, after all it was an Audi A4 underneath.
The best selling sedans in the US – Camry, Accord and Altima – sell on their reputations, intrinsic value and price, price being much lower than where Passat has transacted. The dimwits at VW thought it was reputation (their edgier one offsetting Japan’s DQR) and generic styling that sold the cars. They were a German Mazda, now they are a Mitsubishi.
The new strategy has been a disaster, at least in the US.
+1 – The B5 Passat was a modern classic that still looks fresh more than 15 years after it first debuted. VW-Audi was on fire in the late 90s, everything from the New Beetle to the A8 was a knockout.
Most people don’t share your opinion that doubling one’s sales in three years is considered a “disaster”.
Most people know not to compare 2010 sales from the recession period to today. That’s why I spoke about share… and transaction price.
The average maker saw a 50% increase during the same period from improving industry demand alone. When you consider what it took VW to get that extra 50% – a new Jetta, Passat, Beetle, Tiguan, TDI models and a US plant + decontent strategy to allow for lower MSRPs – it’s not impressive at all.
When you consider their record incentives (which they were not planning on) it’s a disaster.
It’s time for you to take off the fanboi cap and do a little reading.
I’m so proud about Ford. Eight short years ago they brought out the Five Hundred which was a pathetic copy of a seven year old Passat. Comparing the new Fusion to the barely two year old Passat you can see two completely different strategies at work. Ford’s current one is more like VW’s in the 90s.
“Later this month, at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant, a massive layoff will occur. As a result of slower-than-expected growth in Passat sales, about 500 Chattanooga-area workers will find themselves jobless, most not knowing how — or when — they’ll get their next paycheck.”
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130713/AUTO0104/307130022/VW-vows-spruce-up-lineup-after-sales-dip-U-S-?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE
Oh, that 90hp TDI engine that powers my Seat Ibiza. Wonder engine. Despite some people had problems, mine is 300.000 km strong… The rest of the car is falling apart, but 80% of taxis in Spain cannot be wrong
Someone who works in or near my office building has a ’96 Passat TDI wagon that I admire every morning when I see it parked out front. It looks like a well-taken-care-of beater, if that makes any sense. I always mean to get pictures of it, but I’m always running late and never have time to stop… and by the time I come back out of the office, it’s gone (metered parking starts around the same time). According to Wikipedia, VW sold less than 1,000 TDI wagons in the US, so it’s a pretty rare bird – though not nearly as rare as a ’98 Passat TDI, which VW supposedly sold only THREE examples of!
I think they are all now in the hands of Vermonters. I really did like the styling of this car. I didn’t really appreciate it at the time but think it has aged quite well. Didn’t like the bubble butt next generation cars very much. Also, can’t underestimate the mpgs these things still get. Rather incredible. Surely would have been a lot more popular if premium fuel was than a $1.20 a gallon back than.
I agree that the “facelift” version of this generation Passat looked a lot like a 940 from the back, though the Volvo was a bit lower and wider. Here’s my much-missed ’91 940SE, circa 2001: