Volkswagen Passat B7 test drive since 2010 sedan

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As one movie hero said: Francis, when I get rich, I will definitely buy myself such a thing
What he meant by a plane or parachute, now he can’t remember now, but during the VW Passat Ecofuel test this phrase was recalled more than once ...

A couple of years ago, your correspondent had a chance to visit the holy of holy brands at the headquarters in Wolfsburg and chat with Ditmar Korzkekva, then only appointed by the authorized VW in Russia (today he combines this post with the post of general director of the company Volkswagen Rus). In the conversation, the theme of methane machines was also touched. As it turned out, by that time, a trial batch of Touran single -combatants equipped with branded gas installations of single -combatants, equipped with branded gas installations. Everyone was delighted, but the matter did not go further. And Ditmar asked with reproach: why do you need gasoline, when there is so many cheap and rapid fuel in the country? The Germans would have been moving to natural gas cars for a long time.

The colleagues and I couldn’t give a clear answer then, however, this answer, as, in fact, the question itself, seemed extremely non -obvious, even abstract at that time. Some kind of incomprehensible installation, some kind of gas why? The methane is explosive, the equipment requires regular and high -quality maintenance, and we have no gas stations as far from reality and the Passat Ecofuel universal test was planned. Another incomprehensible, abstract car. How many were there? The same Germans with green turbodiesel, hybrid Lexus, the same Toyota Prius from heaven to the earth lowered the check issued at the gas station. For 70 (!) Rubles. For 6 cubic meters of liquefied methane (21 kilograms) pumped into a tank under a pressure of 200 atmospheres.

This amount of blue VW is about 200 kilometers in a mixed cycle. Say right away, the brain accustomed to think with other categories at first simply refuses to believe in what is happening: for this money today, at best, you can buy 3 (!) Litter of high -octane gasoline and immediately stand for half an hour in a sluggish cork.

Stupor. Minute pause. Then the clot of gray matter begins to move and checks the hearing. The author of these lines forced the my dear cashier to repeat the amount three times. Then a relatively large bill was used in the hope that this was still a hallucination. No. To consolidate the result, the dessert, more precisely, a pair of runs along the Kolonkakass route and checking the fuel level in the methane tank (this, by the way, should be done after refueling: if you request the rest in the process, the sensor will reach half, after which you will have to turn off and turn on again ignition). All in vain tanks are full, wallet too. And on the face a stupid, but happy smile from a commercial about the same VW. Not acting, sincere.

And further along the rolled. This VW itself decides what to go to: it warms up on gasoline, then automatically goes to methane, and when it ends back. To control the balance in the tanks on the instrument panel, two sensors. One standard gasoline, the second gas located at the site of the temperature indicator. Instead of the latter, a blue lamp, extinguishing when reaching a working range. This, by the way, is almost the only difference between the Ecofuel station wagon and the simple Passat Variant.

It does not differ on the go. The Germans tried here. The average supply of about 500 kilometers, if you do not anneal about 600. The change of fuel occurs unnoticed and, characteristic, without loss in power or dynamics. Whether the branded straight -wing TSI or a turbocharged in conjugate is guilty of it, or maybe both systems will not immediately judge, but the effect is amazing. Plus, by no means the most modest 150 horses of power recoil ...

The main thing is not to get used to it. It is more difficult to return to gasoline reality than to get out of it. But 1.3 million rubles, which would cost a car similar to the test, stop. And this is far from the most advanced Variant: neither leather nor DSG ... I see, single import is not official deliveries, so with proper demand, the price tag will lose ten percent by ten, but this is in the future. Possible. In general, Francis, when I get rich, will definitely buy such a thing for myself. But not right now...


SPECIFICATIONS
VW Passat Ecofuel TSI

Dimensions (mm) 4765x1820x1472
Wheel base (mm) 2709
Road clearance (mm) 150
Mass (kg) 1480
Trunk volume (L) 5651650
Engine operating (cm3) 1390
Max. Power (L.S.) 150
Max. Twisting the moment (Nm) 220
Max. Speed \u200b\u200b(km/h) 213
Acceleration 0100 km/h (c) 9.9
Cf. gasoline consumption (l/100 km) 6.8
Cf. methane consumption (kg/100 km) 4.6
Price (rub.) 1,378,000

 

Source: MKOMBILA magazine [June/2010]