Volkswagen Passat B7 test drive since 2010 sedan

Volkswagen Passat. Bread with garlic

Volkswagen Passat. Price: Not defined. On sale: from the first quarter of 2011

It would seem that a German folk business car with Catalan cuisine can have in common? To answer this question, we will transfer to Barcelona, \u200b\u200bwhere during the premiere test drive a four-wheeled German bestseller and actually reminded us of a typical Catalan dish Pan Con Tomate. Simple, but damn tasty!

Test pilot
Vladimir Makkaveev, 33 years old, automobile journalist, driving experience of 14 years, personal car - Volvo C30

Before getting behind the wheel of the seventh generation of a folk business car, let's first have a snack in one of the many restaurants of Barcelona.

Amazingly, the elegant simplicity of old Catalan dishes, flavored with the aroma of fresh olive oil and Win Raymate and Transfigurations, sometimes give a hundred points ahead of the hypocrisy of exquisite French gastronomy and overated Gallic wines. Food here is prepared not for the sake of enjoying the ritual of possessing it, but in order to eat deliciously. And the classic Catalan bread with tomatoes is completely a masterpiece of elegant culinary constructivism. The food of the Catalan poor people, when the dried bread was rubbed with everything that was in the house, and in the house there was sometimes nothing but garlic, tomatoes and olive oil, over the years turned into the same symbol of Catalan cuisine in France or Pasta in Italy. A simpler dish is hard to imagine.

The new Passat resting in the parking lot at the restaurant, because of a glass window, at first glance also seems rustic. Neither complex, water ripples or outlandish Japanese birds, influxes, nor endless Korean flowing lines, nor have already filled French airiness. Everything in German is concise, simply and ... in Catalonian tasty.

Born once like bread for the poor, a folk car in 1973 waved a business class in order to become one of the most successful players in the segment over the next 37 years. Six generations of Passat bred around the world in the amount of 15 million and over the years Passat became the same symbol of German automobile gastronomy as Pan Con Tomate in Catalonia. From generation to generation, the Wolfsburg cooks only honed Passat proportions, adding more and more ingredients there. And now we have the seventh generation of a folk business car, created by Walter da Silva and Claus Bishof.

The 7th Passat face not so much on its direct ancestor as on the new Phaeton born in the spring-2010. The status of the four -laigne grille of the radiator, similar lanterns and laconic correct hood contours add the appearance of the new Passat representativeness. The same clarity of lines can be traced in the profile: it seems, only two straight longitudinal ribs, but how stylish!

Unlike the exterior, transformed, if not radically, then significantly, interior renovation can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Apart from the updated seats, the cardinal changes affected, perhaps, only, only rolling to the tunnel of the central console. Here, too, a lot is borrowed from Phaeton. Even analog watches in the upper part of the console as a symbol of belonging to a higher automobile society. But, which is especially pleasing, with all the ostentatious respect for traditions, Passat lurks so many new -fangled and very useful options that any classmate can envy: starting with an electric socket in the superstructure of the central tunnel and ending with a whole scattering of ultramodern systems of auxiliary electronics. This side dish is worth stopping on it in more detail.

One of the first in the Passat class has acquired a system that monitors the driver’s fatigue: you will only start to fall asleep and run into the marking, as an attentive German will immediately offer to stop at the coffee break. Previously, the Side Assist, as well as the operating function of the speed limit and dynamic lamps, independently switched from near and back to the Flagship Phaeton and Touareg, became available only on the flagship Phaeton and Touareg. For Touran and Sharan, the new Passat inherited the second -generation Park Assist for parallel and transverse parking. Good set! Meanwhile, the most delicious options are still ahead. For example, to the core, shocked visitors to the Parisian car dealership, a unique system of contactless opening of the trunk ... foot.

The movement of the boot under the rear bumper acts on Passat as Sim-Sim on the Aladdin cave. There was also a system of automatic retention in the strip: at speeds from 65 km/h, Lane Assist famously season Passat even into quite steep bends of the highway. True, in order not to completely euthanize the vigilance of the driver, the Germans limited the performance of the system 15 seconds. If during this time the driver never touches the steering wheel, Lane Assist is deactivated with a piercing squeak. And finally, Passat became the first car of the people's brand, in which the adaptive cruise control was supplemented by the emergency braking function. By analogy with the Swedish City Safety, the German system for preventing clashes can avoid or at least minimize the consequences of the accident at speeds up to 30 km/h. One trouble: in Russia, VW still cannot adapt its radars to our mysterious legislation, and we will not see most of these goodies yet. So the concentration of sweet tomatoes in the new Passat may not be so great. We'll have to do with one garlic ...


Russian Edition
For objective reasons, the table of the Russian owner of the new Passat will be somewhat scarce than among the inhabitants of Europe and the USA. Of the 10 engines, we will have 4: three gasoline volumes of 1.4 (122 hp), 1.8 (160 hp) and 2.0 (210 hp) liter, as well as 2 liter turbodiesel with a capacity of 170 liters. With. The list of new options will be even more kutsa: seats with a massage function, an assistant parking assistant, Light Assist systems and control of the driver’s fatigue, as well as a sensor for opening the trunk with a foot. Systems whose work is tied to the radar, adaptive cruise, a collision prevention system and Lane Assist will not yet be available. In Barcelona, \u200b\u200bwe chose potentially the most chassis with a 160 -horsepower 1.8 and 6 -speed manual transmission for acquaintance and did not lose. Of course, I couldn’t boast of cosmic accelerations on the Catalan serpentines (the lower classes are failed, and 9.8 with acceleration to a hundred not so result), but I pleased with the clarity of reactions and the short moves of the mechanical gearbox. But the 1.4 TSI engines obsessed with environmental efficiency, even in combination with a magnificent DSG KP, was absolutely not impressed.


We do not love
Due to the ban on the use of system frequencies operating on the basis of active radar VW, in Russia is not yet available. Sad

The function of holding a car on a slope greatly facilitates the start process under load. Reliable


Driving
A little denser stands on the road and behaves more predictably in critical situations. But in general, it is very similar to the previous generation.

Salon
There were inputs for connecting modern devices and, which is especially pleasant, even an electrical carot.

Comfort
The sound insulation has improved slightly. As for the suspension, ideally, it is desirable to spend money on the adaptive chassis of the DCC.

Safety
5 stars of Euro NCAP. Replaces the absence of a collision system in Russia.

Price
Not determined.


Advantages and disadvantages
+ Many new options, decent handling, stylish designed design, excellent KP.
- excessive compression of an economical 1.4-liter engine.


Specifications
Mark and model - Volkswagen Passat
Dimensions - 4769x2062x1470 mm
The engine is gasoline, 1798 cm3, 160 liters. s./50006200 min-1
Transmission - mechanical, 6 -speed
Dynamics - Max 220 km/h; 9.8 s to 100 km/h
Competitors - Audi A4, Ford Mondeo, Mazda6


Our opinion
If the modest engine 1.4 elegant curtsy towards ecologists and scumes, then three of the four engines of 1.82.0 liters presented by us in combination with excellent manual transmission and DSG are a formidable weapon that can crush any competitors' bastions and further increase the army of Passat owners .


Author: Vladimir Makkaveev

 

Source: Magazine 5 wheel [December 2010]