Introduction
My first experience with a Passat left me gobsmacked, because it was a car with 89,000km on the odometer but there wasn’t a single rattle, squeak, discolouration or any signs of age, for that matter. It even had that new car smell! I wasn’t too impressed by its looks, though, and even the yardstick of whether you’ve got an expensive car or not, the rickshaw driver, wasn’t sure if he should let the car go by based on its size, or assert his right of way because it didn’t look exciting enough to be a really expensive car.
Design
They’ve certainly managed to address that confusion with the 2011 Passat. Sharp new lines that follow the new design language at VW have ensured that the Passat looks expensive at the very least, even if they’ve retained the Teutonic solidity without giving in to flair. At the front the bi-xenon headlamps flank the new grille’s four horizontal strips of chrome. They’re cornering lamps, these, just like the outgoing model’s, but they’ve also got static cornering lamps in the fog lamps as an addition to light up sharp bends. If you don’t know what this means, look at the fog lamps of any Skoda except for the Octavia – there are two bulbs in them. The inner ones light up when the steering wheel is turned through more than 360 degrees to either side, lighting up the corner much better. The new headlamps have also got VW’s string-of-pearl white LEDs that debuted on the Audi range.
A strong shoulder line links the headlamps to the tail lamps, and there’s a traditional silhouette to the Passat. What does catch your eye from the side view are the new wheels – they are sober yet interesting. This is also the case with the tail lamps; they appear staid at first glance, but once the driver hits the brakes, you notice that they echo the daytime running lamps at the front, coupled with the rectangular tail-lamp elements from the first Audi Q7 and R8. The trick rear-logo-cum-bootlid-release remains, now with added tricks up its sleeve: the reversing camera is hidden under the logo and shows itself only when reverse is selected. The Passat may be just an update, but almost all its exterior panels have been replaced, making it look completely new. It is offered in India in sober colours only – black, white, silver and the brown you see in the images.
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