Test drive Volkswagen Passat B5 1996 - 2000 sedan

Half-octaves higher

The main role in my choice was played by a neighbor. The used Volkswagen Passat for a long time was the subject of my envy and his pride. Upon learning that a new Passat appeared in Moscow, I firmly decided - I want! The car was purchased and neatly put on parking next to the place of a neighbor.
The neighbor appeared a week later ... in a new car. From the window of the apartment on the eleventh floor it seemed that also on the new Passat, only a different color. Trouble! But here he is, the moment of the celebration! On the hood of a neighboring machine, a familiar emblem, reminiscent of the headdress of the Indian, is flaunting from childhood - this is Skoda! True, with a new face - Skoda Octavia.
We meet on clothes
There was no envious grimace on the neighbor's face. On the contrary, pride overwhelmed him:
You know that Skoda has been entering the Volkswagen concern for six years, it should somehow be reflected in its products. The motor, they say, the main nodes and assemblies in Octavia are purely Volkswagen. And Skoda herself has been producing cars or less - since the 20s. Hands remember! Take a look, here they are nearby. Octavia is slightly smaller, but this is not golf. For all sizes - a typical middle class. Compared with Volkswagen - something between the Passat and Vento. The appearance is original, but at the same time without complaints. Czech designers worked well.
Sorry, old man! The new Passat is also not much like its predecessor. If your old man was more suitable for trips to the country for the harvest, then in this jeans to sit ashamed. So it pulls on a strict suit with a tie for trips to the holding to engage in realizing ...
And then a neighbor with a gesture of a professional magician throws the trunk lid. At the first moment I was confused. The opened space resembles a decent hole in which a large raccoon could live quite comfortably. And the back of the rear seat folds, and the already considerable volume of the luggage compartment increases almost three times. There is enough space for everything. Here, and to spend the night, if you really want, will not make problems. That's just the back of the rear seat could be made separately, as in Volkswagen. Hooray! - Here it is a point in my favor. But a good neighbor raises the trunk rug, and I am humiliated again - in Octavia a full -fledged reserve against a typically American bagel, which was equipped with a passat.
Capitalist integration
Looking at me with a sense of superiority, the tormentor opens the front door of my Volkswagen in order to finally enjoy the victory. Apparently, the impression of his old Passat with touching miniature LEDs and several clumsy front panel trim were not yet erased. Having settled in a driver’s place, the neighbor looked around, and a joyful smile slowly crawled from his face. Yes, ”he pulls thoughtfully,“ they are great ... it’s right ... Here it is ... All this time his fingers feel the upholstery of doors and seats, touch the pens and buttons. Interestingly, this upset him so upset - the set of devices in Octavia and the Passat is completely identical? The necessary minimum. A speedometer with a digital mileage meter and odometer, tachometer, temperature indicators and fuel level. Please receive the rest of the information from control lamps.
My neighbor was upset that in comparison with the previous model, the new Passat was trimmed inside with greater care. The concept of a folk car has changed a lot lately in Germany. The people clearly want more comfort. The front panel made of pleasant to the touch of classic black plastic, tissue dark inserts in the door panels, a gearbox leather handle - obvious signs of a higher class car than the previous passat. The standard package now includes windows and electric mirrors.
Octavia is equipped in the same way. Moreover, the switch -on -turning handles, turning switch, electric power control panel and other official options are made of the same parts. Here it is, the proof that Skoda is a full -fledged member of the Volkswagen family!
The similarity of differences
In the process of picky study of both machines, we found two fundamental differences. Firstly, the lighting of the devices. The Passat has a calm green color. And on Octavia - amber red. They say that this color is annoying. But the neighbor claims that the matter is in habit - they say, on the contrary, red flashes create a feeling of warmth and comfort, especially the dank December evening.
Secondly, an interesting option was discovered in the glove compartment of my Volkswagen. On the back wall is a switch, which can direct a stream of cold air from the air conditioner into the glove compartment. And if you want to cool a jar of lemonade with a hot summer day, then an impromptu refrigerator is always at hand.
Octavia retorted with a more useful option - a triple -computer. The most convenient and useful thing, especially when it allows you to find out that in the city the average speed during the day rarely exceeds twenty kilometers per hour! And the standard package includes fog lights integrated into one block with the main ones - but this is like in the Volkswagen.
In general, a preliminary inspection of my neighbor upset - on the decoration of the front panel of Octavia clearly loses: a simpler plastic, the absence of a removed armrest between the front seats and the cup holder on the front console - this is, of course, trifles, but insulting ...
Complexion and equipment
My neighbor and I have completely different complexions. I still get into jeans size 31-32, and my opponent will be higher and thicker. All his life he is sitting in the car, pushing the driver's chair back until it. Settling for the first time in Skoda, he automatically moved the seat and could not reach the pedals!
In Octavia, Torpedo does not appear as on the passenger, as on the Passat, and is trimmed with light gray plastic. We bought it for this - it seemed that in the Volkswagen there is less space for the driver and the front passenger. But this is not so. Moreover, the steering wheel is adjusted not only up and down, but forward and forth. As, however, in Octavia - obviously, this is the standard knot of the Volkswagen concern.
The volume of the cabin in two cars is almost the same. Passat's dimensions are only not much more. Due to this, the salon is more spacious. Those who prefer to use the back door are a little more comfortable.
UNDER THE DOME
So the time has come for the main test, and we taxi from our parking to the streets of the city. And immediately we get into the cork. Not the same when everyone stands and swear, but in large and stupid, when everyone slowly stretches forward, with varying success crawls from the strip to the strip.
In this crush, one feature of both Octavia and the Passat was clearly manifested: in the third gear, the motor easily picks up from 30 km/h and confidently disperses the car to 60-70 km/h. And in the already become normal, sluggish regime of the hour of the peak with the second, you can not switch - pulls, as with an automatic machine. Wonderful quality for city cars!
Having escaped to the tactical expanse, we begin to seriously measure the forces - the motors in both machines are the same, 100 hp each, and much in our competition depends on the secondary factors - gearboxes, frontal resistance and other things. Unfortunately, Octavia behaved much frozen at a short start. It turned out that Skoda had the first and second gears not as short as in the Passat, and with intensive acceleration from the driver, less switching is required. The whole neighbor glowed with joy and only then admitted that he did not really like how these programs are turned on - the gearbox is a little long and does not allow you to work with a slight movement of the fingers, as in Volkswagen.
Both of us were upset that all the pedals were piled in a heap and shifted somewhere to the right. Winter boot when braking often clings to the gas pedal. But there is a platform for the left leg, and just where all the others have a clutch pedal. Practice has shown that this site, given the aforementioned abilities of the machine to crawl in the cork, is very useful.
The steering is very light on both cars. It is acute and informative, but the to a neighbor a little water steering. He has a very energetic and aggressive manner of driving, he just needs to feel the way, and the octavia hydraulic wrap takes too much.
The suspension is a little harsh on both machines, but he practices bumps and potholes, vibrations to the body are practically not transmitted.
But when returning home to the parking lot, we both pounded both. The dome shape of the roof, which has become so popular and fashionable in the last year with many automakers, creates inconvenience in both models. A very gentle rear window exclusively complicates the maneuvers in reverse during parking in a narrow place. It is extremely difficult to carry them with a contactless way. Yeah, they could put parking sensors at least on a more expensive Volkswagen.
We see over the mind
After all the running trials that ended in a friendly draw, we, as usual, decided to wash our purchases. After the third toast, the neighbor began to be inquired for which such a difference in price is about $ 10 thousand. After all, not only for ABS, which the Passat is part of a standard package! Let Octavia be noisy inside than my beloved Passat, let him lose to him as an interior finish - for such a price she can be forgiven all this. And about the prestige - also to argue. Yes, with her external data, she does not look like a poor relative. And all that I could argue is that Volkswagen is MADE in Germany with the hands of the highest paid workers in the world, and Skoda is Made in the Slav brothers. And the place under the generous capitalist sun still needs to be earned.
A few days later, the neighbor put the final point in our dispute - a new Skoda Felicia appeared next to his Octavia. For the wife. Two schools cost the price of my Volkswagen! True, my wife does not know how to drive a car ... for now.
The autopilot thanks ZAO ODVA, (095) 971-6122, 971-6205, for cars provided for the test.
 

The fact that the new Passat was loved in Russia is far from news. We express love in numbers. Since January last year, the VW official dealers have sold about 700 passats with us (almost everything in Moscow). And in line today costs no less than 2 thousand customers. That is, only 30 percent of those who loved the new machine were able to reciprocate. Car dealerships, by the way, are called the numbers even cooler: according to the company Avtoprestus, for example, demand is more than ten times more than ten times.
What do the first Moscow buyers of passators say? Among them, Siemens, which is quite natural, is Coca-Cola, which is quite strange and, in any case, not patriotic. With the question of how it happened, we turned to the representative office of a non -alcoholic giant.
Here, you know, patriotism had to be sacrificed, - honestly answered in Kolya. - Volkswagenes are more reliable for our roads, if you compare them with the Americans. We have a year soon, and so far we have not presented a single unpleasant surprise. In the cold, by the way (remember, in December what was happening?), Willed perfectly.
And the last about the Passat. For some reason, the leaders with a large margin entered the leader with a 1.8 turbo engine.
As for Octavia, the demand for it, although the car has no glorious past, in general, is also nothing. This is the Czechs with advertising, ”Alans, responsible for the school sales from the company, shared with the autopilot. - They placed 100 stands of Skoda with a new face in Moscow, spent 1.5 million marks. But the demand was stimulated, and our market is underestimated. For example, I would easily sell fifty cars a month. Then the price, by the way, could be reduced. Thousands for two. Easily. But more than 20 cars do not give me. At the factory in Mlad Boleslav, do you know how? President Czech, but his deputy is German. He runs out to everyone. And the manufacturers are all Germans. On the one hand, good - it means that the quality will be more likely German. And on the other hand, the Germans still do not believe in our market and do not give us Skoda.
Model/Modification Skoda Octavia 1.6 Volkswagen Passat
Skoda Avtomobilova Volkswagen Group manufacturer
Czech Republic Czech Republic Germany
BODY
Type hatchback sedan
Number of doors/places 5/5 5/5
ENGINE
Gasoline type with multi -point electronic injection gasoline with multi -point electronic injection
Front location, transversely in front, longitudinally
Working volume (cubic cub) 1595 1595
Number/location of cylinders 4/rowing 4/row
The diameter of the cylinder x the piston stroke (mm) 81.0x77.4 81 x 77.4
Compression degree 10.3 x 1 10.3 x 1
Power, kW (L.S.) at about./Min. 74 (101) at 5800 74 (101) at 5300
Moment, NM at about./Min. 145 at 3800 140 at 3800
The number of valves per cylinder 2 2
TRANSMISSION
Mechanical five -speed mechanical five -speed mechanical
Front wheel drive on the front wheels
SUSPENSION
Front independent, such as MacPherson on cylindrical springs with a reptile stability stabilizer independent, such as MacPherson on cylindrical springs with a pine stability stabilizer
The rear dependent, pendulum type, a beam with a torsion effect, cylindrical springs dependent, pendulum type, a beam with a torsion effect, cylindrical springs
STEERING
Type gear rack with a hydraulic booster gear-rake with a hydraulic booster
Brakes
Front disc ventilated circular ventilated
Rear drum disk
ABS option Standard equipment
Wheels
Tire size 195/65 R15 195/65 R15
6j x 15 '' 6j x 15 ''
Dimensions/about EME/Weight
Length/width/height (mm) 4510/1730/1430 4675/1740/1459
The dimensions of the luggage compartment (cubic meter) 530/1330 475/745
Wheel base (mm) 2510 2705
The track front/track of the rear (mm) 1515/1490 1500/1500
Min. Road clearance (mm) 140 138
Fuel tank volume, l 55 62
Dry/full mass (kg) 1190/1700 1275/1750
Dynamic characteristics
Maximum speed (km/h) 187 192
Acceleration to 100 km/h (sec.) 12.4 12.3
Radius of turn (m) 10.8 11.4
Economy
Fuel consumption, l/100km
90 km/h/120 km/h/city cycle (l) 5.5/7.0/9.0 5.6/7.2/9.7
The price of a waste car in Moscow is $ 21,000 $ 33,000
 
What else
We foresee the indignation of a picky reader who carefully studies various automobile publications with a pencil in his hand. Like, we put not quite equivalent cars nearby: according to the European classification, Skoda Octavia is considered a classmate of another Volkswagen concern, the new Golf IV. Like, they are built on the same platform. In response, we can object: did you personally see this platform? We personally saw one thing - the tested machines have almost the same characteristics: from the volume of the engine to external dimensions. The only significant difference between them is the price.
And what can be the options if you proceed from the price factor and engine volume? And taking into account the relative accessibility of maintenance, which is characteristic of Volkswagen cars? Fans of pure Aryan blood can offer Opel Vectra. For the price, this car approaches Volkswagen and is not much different from it in running characteristics and comfort. Unless it loses a little in prestige.
An English car with the Japanese name Nissan Primera can be a good alternative. For the price - practically Skoda in the coolest configuration. In addition, Nissan has a stable reputation as a manufacturer of strong and reliable machines that are well adapted to Russian reality.
Mitsubishi Carisma, which the Japanese are just starting to promote it in our market, is more suitable for those who want to purchase a model. And if a firm decision to stop on this brand comes to you in the middle of the year, it is quite possible that your car will already be equipped with a new gasoline engine with directed injection. Of course, it will cost a little more, but it will be the most.
Andrey Timofeev,
Nikolay Kachurin,
Stepan Rybakov (photo)
 

Source: "Autopilot"