Test drive Volkswagen Passat B5 2000 - 2005 sedan

The magic of numbers

Each car has its own price, and the price, in turn, depends on what it is and what equipment, standard or additional, it is installed in it. Almost every model manufactured on the market is offered in several modifications that differ not only in characteristics, but also in the price. Outwardly, these cars are absolutely the same, but inside can be hidden something capable of half, or even three times, increase the price of this car. Most often, we are talking about the presence of some expensive options, but sometimes the main factor affecting the cost of the car may be internal content. It is about such an option that today we will talk - on our roads the first serial car of the middle class with an eight -cylinder engine - VW Passat W8 appeared. Meet ...
 
The VW Passat, as the leader of his market segment, has always attracted the attention of customers precisely the magnificent price/quality/equipment ratio. And among his classmates, Passat almost always looked advantageous due to a rich basic configuration and an attractive retail price. Another middle -class representative was pleased with the presence of many modifications and versions that differ not only in the power or type of engine. Similar versions of competitors were either more expensive, or represented a much less high -tech product.
 
Now, competitors, as the drivers are expressed, have disappeared from rear -view mirrors. The new Passat W8 is not only the most high -tech product in the gamut of the concern, but also a completely unique model. The Germans themselves in comparative tests most often choose ... BMW 540i as an opponent W8! Despite the difference in classes and price, the new folk car most clearly competes with this prestigious model in quality and running characteristics. True, Passat has one advantage that may be useful on our roads: the W8 version is serially equipped with a 4Motion all -wheel drive transmission. But the most interesting in this car is, of course, the engine. For a long time, engaged in concepts, engines with a W-shaped cylinders finally went into mass production, and a rate is being made on the design of promising models on the motors of this series. The first in the W-shaped series was a 6.0-liter gasoline unit with 12 cylinders for the long-playing Audi A8, and now Passat has received a similar unit. However, here the motor is more modest than in Audi: only eight cylinders and 4.0-liter of working volume. This W-shaped eight, longitudinally located in the engine compartment, develops a power of 275l.s. and 370 n/m at 2750 rpm! But the most amazing is the weight of the power unit: for the first time, an eight -cylinder engine weighs only 190 kilograms. Given its incredibly compact dimensions, this unit has truly unlimited possibilities for adapting to models of various classes. If desired, it will probably be possible to stuff it into the engineering space of Golf or even Polo. However, this will already be a real supercar, because with this ratio of power and mass, such a car will be more dynamic than any Lamborghini model.
 
But VW engineers did not set such a task for themselves, therefore, even with an eight-cylinder engine, Passat is still, first of all, a comfortable, and then a high-speed car. Dynamics - at the level of the cooler, no, a very good sports compartment. After all, 8 cylinders available under the hood of this Passat turn it into a formidable opponent on the highway. By the way, the car speedometer unobtrusively hints about this: it is marked to a magic mark of 300 km/h! Of course, on serial cars there is an electronic limiter that does not allow to develop more than 250 km/h, but if you delete it in some tuning studio, then who knows ... Maybe in a couple of years this version of Passat, due to its relatively low cost , will become the most popular blank for serious tuning. However, for most consumers Passat W8, it may seem too dynamic. Acceleration from a place to a hundred at a car with a manual gearbox takes 6.5 seconds! Not weak ...
 
A five -speed automatic machine with a tiptron, standing on a tested car, slightly increases the acceleration time, but even in this case the Passat W8 remains very dynamic - 7.8 seconds to hundreds. It is only a pity that all this dynamics is somewhat conditional. On the Belarusian roads, Passat W8 is still a little uncertain because of his seventeen -inch wheels with low -profile rubber - any normal pit can be the last moment in their life. Therefore, when driving around the city or highway, you have to carefully iron your strip with a look at the presence of various defects or extraneous items on it. The clearance allows you to drive even through primers, but the wheels must be protected. Even their signature origin does not guarantee that they will withstand the test of our directions. The problem is quite solved: it is enough just to change the rubber to a higher -profile one and you will not have to press the brakes with horror before each pit or pothole. But not everyone, apparently, will prefer to do this, because the tires installed at the factory allow the maximum to use the potential of the car. They guarantee a lightning -fast reaction to the rotation of the steering wheel: the side departments of the tires are minimal, and the car clearly reacts to the smallest change in the trajectory with snake tagging.
 
But what is most amazing, while the car remains quite smooth and predictable and does not require special training or driving experience at high speeds from the driver. That at 120, that 180 km/h - Passat equally confidently holds the road, allowing to steer with one hand.
 
Incidentally, thanks to its tires, the W8 does not respond to road surface defects at all and does not require correcting the steering wheel. Acceleration from the cruising speed resembles the take -off of the fighter: the car sharply crumbles to the stern, the salon is filled with a rumble from rolling tires and the noise of wind, passengers presses into the seats, and the speedometer arrow begins to move to the right side. Passengers feel especially acutely: sensitive ladies even begin to complain about well -being. By the way, having traveled on many powerful cars, including at very high speeds, I came to the conclusion that most of them have a maximum speed of them are some kind of indicator from the field of theory.
 
Yes, if the passport says that such a version of such and such a model can accelerate to a maximum speed of 250 km/h, then it will certainly accelerate to the above limit. But! The question arises by itself: how much time will you need so that the speedometer arrow reaches this mark? Some, in appearance, are very dynamic, models for this require at least four to five minutes and an absolutely empty highway. After 150 km/h, many of them just rest on the wall - the speed set turns into something absolutely inconspicuous, and the speedometer arrow rises with such reluctance as if it, like Ostap Bender, presses 200 tons of atmospheric pressure. In this discipline, Passat with his W8 showed himself simply in the best way: by pressing the gas, you immediately understand that the car will easily give out the maximum speed at the first request and for the minimum period of time.
 
By the way, VW Passat W8 engineers initially expected that the car would often cover distances at high speeds, and to increase the radius of action, they even installed additional gas tank. Considering that fuel consumption at high speeds is in the range of 12-14.5 l/ 100 km, and the volume of the gas tank is 80 liters, it turns out that our republic, even on such a super-powerful and super-speed car, can be overcome for literally two gas stations. And you can go to Passat to infinity for a long time. Inside, the car is still one of the most spacious in its own and neighboring classes. In the eight-cylinder version, by the way, there are many options for the surcharge that even more increase the level of passenger comfort: heating the rear seats, the electric drive on the rear window, a hatch with photocells, etc. And also in the distance version of very comfortable chairs. As a basic equipment, a leather interior is offered, and you can get exclusive, designed specifically for the W8 version of the interior decoration. In the tested car, the Recaro seats with a combined finish, a complete set of adjustments and electric drives were installed. By the way, when ordering, the client himself, without any surcharge, can choose the option of salonas with wooden inserts - it looks very elegant and expensive. Moreover, in this case, not only the central console or door panels will be finished with a tree, but also the lever of the machine gun and even the rim of the steering wheel. And all this, I remind, without surcharge.
 
For a more clear awareness of the advantage of a particular model, especially when it comes to some truly outstanding car, it is customary to compare it with competitors: the struggle of the shoulder to shoulder most clearly allows you to evaluate the degree of advantage. But VW Passat W8 has one very big problem for this part, namely, the lack of worthy rivals. The W8 modification, in fact, does not: in the middle class, which Passat is still belonging to, cars with eight-cylinder engines are simply not offered. Of course, there is Alpina B8, made on the basis of the BMW 3, but there are all sorts of brabuses, but this is, as they say, a completely different song. And no one has yet been producing normal, serial cars of the middle class today. Hence the conclusion: VW Passat W8 is a car out of competition ...
 
Subjective opinion:
 
(+) Excellent build quality, good running qualities, magnificent dynamic characteristics.
 
(-) too modest, for a car of this cost, appearance
 
Text: Pavel Kozlovsky
 

Source: Autogazet / N 6 (352) dated 02.20.02