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Volkswagen Passat 2006+

2364 messages,  Last post on Feb 20, 2012 at 6:45 PM

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What is this discussion about? Volkswagen Passat, Sedan

Messages Page 120 of 238

#1182 of 2364 V6 Sport Package 2 by jick

Jan 05, 2006 (11:10 am)

I own a 2006 Passat V6, with the sport package 2.
I had a 2004 Passat, and was having it serviced (oil change) at the VW dealership. The dealer informed me that a new V6 2006 Passat came in, with the sport pkg. 2.
I test drove the car, and had to have it. It is the best car I have ever owned.
I did have a TL pull up next to me last week, but I was not interested in racing. I also enjoy having a car you don't see often. I did drive to Southern California and got 29 mpg, averaging 75-80 miles an hour, not bad.
 
Jick

#1183 of 2364 Re: V6 Sport Package 2 [jick] by fish8

Jan 05, 2006 (11:17 am)

Replying to: jick (Jan 05, 2006 11:10 am)
Sort of sounds like my situation...Kind of...
 
I was getting the oil changed in my 2004.5 Passat yesterday and was just walking thru the lot looking at the new Passat's. A salesman comes up to me and asks me my name. I immediately tell him I am getting my car serviced and am just wasting time. He asks if I am interested in a new Passat and I tell him I have about 2 more years on my lease and he says this is the perfect time to get out of the lease.
 
He said I am at a break even point to get out of the lease. I kept telling him I wasn't interested and I finally had to walk away.
 
Did you get a good deal or did you want the new Passat no matter what?

#1184 of 2364 Re: V6 Sport Package 2 [fish8] by ivan_99

Jan 05, 2006 (11:54 am)

Replying to: fish8 (Jan 05, 2006 11:17 am)
Very dangerous situation…for me…
 
I’ve only had my current vehicle for7 months and was walking through a dealer lot waiting for my service…temptation – yes I’m weak.

#1185 of 2364 Re: V6 Sport Package 2 [fish8] by jick

Jan 05, 2006 (1:25 pm)

Replying to: fish8 (Jan 05, 2006 11:17 am)
Well, I believe I received a good deal.
I got 24K for my trade in (2004 Passat wagon GLX V6).
I then paid 34K for the new Passat. The only idem's I did not get on the new Passat is Nav. and 18" rim' s. I love the seats which come with the Sport Pkg. II.
One other idem, no one is talking about the "S" drive on the transmission. "S" for sport, boy does this car get-up and go!

#1186 of 2364 Re: V6 Sport Package 2 [ivan_99] by jick

Jan 05, 2006 (1:28 pm)

Replying to: ivan_99 (Jan 05, 2006 11:54 am)
It's worth it!
This car is like day & night.
Silver is a great color!

#1187 of 2364 Re: V6 Sport Package 2 [ivan_99] by priggly

Jan 05, 2006 (2:49 pm)

Replying to: ivan_99 (Jan 04, 2006 11:41 pm)
You left out a couple of additional points which beg comparison way beyond minor performance variations: price and reliability.
 
With respect to the former, the TL is the clear winner by thousands of dollars comparing similarly equipped cars.
 
As regards reliability, what really is there to say? VW is on the bottom, the Japanese manufacturers including Acura are at the top:
 
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1400331,00.html
 
And as for safety ratings, the TL actually significantly outranks the new Passat when the two are analyzed for safety beyond the usual cursory comparison:
 
http://www.informedforlife.org/
 
Look under "2006 Vehicle Scores" and click on:
 
"Listing of 2006 Vehicles in RISK Order"
 
The TL is ranked higher with 62 points compared to the Passat's 78. Notice further that the TL is in the "lowest risk category" while the Passat is not.

#1188 of 2364 Re: V6 Sport Package 2 [priggly] by ivan_99

Jan 05, 2006 (4:27 pm)

Replying to: priggly (Jan 05, 2006 2:49 pm)
I think they are both similar in price (especially when initial hype over Passat subsides).
 
32-35K for a FWD vehicle…are within a couple percent of each other.
 
Obviously the Passat should cost a little more since it is the superior vehicle.
 
Hard to tell reliability on a brand new vehicle with brand new engine; CR shows the “previous” Passat with a black dot for electrical and a black dot (up to 03) for the TL transmission. In that case I’ll take the burnt out tail light over the dropped transmission.
 
Personally I have had better reliability of my pervious German cars than I had with my Honda’s…btw I have two Japanese cars now…
 
The article did not say that the German vehicles were getting LESS reliable, it said the Japanese were getting more reliable; which I do no subscribe to based on personal experience from my self and all of the people I know. Plus that article was written in November 2004 (does not include the new Passat)…and just because the new MB S class had reliability problems does not mean the “new” Passat will.
 
Crash test…I’ll just go by IIHS.
The “article” you linked to is created by “a Connecticut nonprofit organization”…which I read as “some guy making stuff up in his basement”; it also makes many assumptions.
 
Adding in fatality numbers doesn’t really reflect a vehicle’s safety…imo. A Camero may have more deaths, but that does not mean the vehicle is less safe. It may just mean a different demographic…let’s say young college frat guys…are driving…versus the geriatric Acura club (ok…that was a shot, I supposed the geriatric club would have just as bad rating as the frat guys).
 
It also makes assumptions that all ABS and ESC systems are equal. I recall reading recently how the Acura ESC system (think it was updated now for 06) was so primitive it could barely be considered an ESC system…whereas most German systems (think Bosch) are much more advanced.
 
It also adds all the gov’t “Stars” as well as adding in the IIHS value. So if the gov’t tested a vehicle and had 4 Stars I would think “Hey 4 Stars”. That document would say a 4 star vehicle is good for 16 points (4 Starts X 4 different measurements) and a 5 Star vehicle is worth 20 points (5 Stars X 4 different measurements)
 
Anyway…Passat > TL

#1189 of 2364 Re: V6 Sport Package 2 [ivan_99] by markcincinnati

Jan 05, 2006 (8:29 pm)

Replying to: ivan_99 (Jan 04, 2006 11:41 pm)
The Passat interior is tops -- the objective info you covered quite well. The folks that do Audi interiors must influence the VW cousins, at least is sure looks that way.
 
Exterior is a closer call, IMO. Interior, the VW is in another class (higher.)
 
That's the way I see it.

#1190 of 2364 Re: V6 Sport Package 2 [ivan_99] by priggly

Jan 05, 2006 (9:24 pm)

Replying to: ivan_99 (Jan 05, 2006 4:27 pm)
It is amusing to read your attempts to discredit my counterpoints by twisting the facts.
 
The cars, comparably equipped, are most certainly not similar in price. A visit to the respective manufacturers' websites using the online price configurator will show you a MSRP for the TL, including delivery and federal and provincial (BC) taxes, of CDN$52,702.20 and for the Passat 3.6 CDN$59,085.00, a difference of over $6,000, hardly "within a couple of % of each other." And the de-contented Passat comes only with the base audio system (Dynaudio not even available in Canada) while the TL comes standard with the high-end ELS 5.1 surround-sound DTS system.
 
Further, it is not at all "obvious" that the Passat should cost more, which you in effect concede.
 
As far as reliability goes, a brand new model of anyone's car is generally considered to have new car "bugs" which take time to manifest themselves and more time to correct. In the case of VW, so much the more, as despite your contention to the contrary and attempt to minimize the significance of comments pertaining to German car reliability, or rather lack thereof, as posted with a link in my previous post, VW is quite literally at the bottom of the rankings. "In it’s latest survey released in August, the UK-based consumer magazine Which? gave VW bad marks, putting it in the lowest “poor” category, a position it has now held for two years."
 
If you have had no problems personally with your German cars, considerate yourself fortunate, not typical of owners as a whole. Conversely, any car including the Japanese cars can have individual reliability issues but as a whole they are statistically far more reliable than their German counterparts.
 
If you wish to try to defend the reputation of a manufacturer in the 'lowest "poor" category,' have at it.
 
Incidentally, the '03 TL was not even the same car as the '04 and subsequent years as the car was totally redone for '04 and so comments about the '03 are not relevant. Of course, the '06 model of the TL, being now in its third year, is the most reliable and trouble-free of all.
 
As far as the safety ratings are concerned, the problem of "just going by IIHS" is precisely why informedforlife.org was formed! Just "going by IIHS" (or NHTSA) is simply not good enough and does not give an accurate assessment of the true safety ratings of cars. The credentials of the organization are beyond reproach so please do not try to impugn them as you have done. Their evaluative methodology and the superiority of their approach are amply described on their website. "Their RISK scores use a calculated composite of NHTSA and IIHS crash ratings, rated according to actual fatality risk in accidents, along with known factors which raise the fatality risk in vehicles . . ."
 
But why pay attention to superior compiled research and the conclusions based thereon when one can simply take a few random points based on more limited data and base your conclusion on that, right?
 
Until the German car makers, and in particular VW with its history of squandering capital on such market blunders as the W8 and Phaeton, can get a handle on their astronomical labor costs and pay more attention to critical manufacturing facets like parts subcontracting, dealer quality, and customer wants, needs and satisfaction quotients, the already gaping divide between them and their Asian competitors is likely to continue to widen.

#1191 of 2364 Re: V6 Sport Package 2 [priggly] by ivan_99

Jan 06, 2006 (12:23 am)

Replying to: priggly (Jan 05, 2006 9:24 pm)
When I price them out they both are close to MSRP 35K US. The Passat appears to give a few more options that are not available on the TL and the choice to exclude certain items…but mostly within “packages”. Stereo…not a biggie for me; either I want to hear the engine, or I’m talking to somebody.
 
Reliability, I’m no automotive prophet, so I can’t say the 3.6L Passat will be more reliable than the TL. I’m just saying I wouldn’t feel any more confident with the reliability of the TL over the 3.6L Passat. Strangely enough, the people I work with that have had the fewest vehicle problems are the people with American made cars…did you see that new Milan…very nice…way off topic here…
 
I was just using the old 03 TL in the example because I was comparing the reliability to the Pre-06 Passat – since there is no data out for it yet. I didn’t think it would be accurate to compare an old Passat to a new TL...
 
The “a Connecticut nonprofit organization”, I just don’t buy. It would be analogous to adding a point for all the Passat performance wins over the TL and saying it’s 20 points higher in performance…when in reality it’s just a little quicker/better in each.
 
The IIHS choose the Passat over the TL as the “TOP SAFETY PICK 2006” not me, perhaps a phone call is in order explaining your new findings…from their own data?!? .
 
My fatality risk is lower anyway…I don’t smoke…or play with a fancy ELS 5.1 DTS stereo while I drive, and I don’t go cruising at 3:00am on Friday nights. Let’s just say they are both pretty good in crash tests (with Passat a little better…jab…jab)
 
I’m not trying to defend VW or German brands, I just think the Passat 3.6L is superior to the TL (although I almost pulled the trigger on one of those fancy Phaetons…amazing lease offers).
 
Just to rebut myself…if I had to choose between the FWD 3.6L Passat or the TL I would go with the TL just because of the 6 speed manual option; although I’d go the G35 route over the TL or an ED 330i, or the 3.6L Passat AWD (more $’s though).

Messages Page 120 of 238

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