The Passat

Originally posted October 3, 2006

This past summer my Taurus died. Or rather, I had it put to sleep. New brakes: $200 New tires: $300. New alternator: $140. Paying someone to replace the alternator, sperpentine belt, and power steering pump pulley after I broke all of the above trying to get the belt loose: $335. New battery after destroying the old one due to not having an alternator: $100. Trade in offer from the dealer: $800. Total value for the car: "worthless." Not to mention I had only just finished paying it off.

So why a Passat? I hadn't even considered a Volkswagen until the night before when I noticed some attractive lease offers. I knew I wanted a new car for my next one, if possible. I don't see myself owning a car much more than 5 years at a time, so why have a 5-year loan on a used car when you can make the same payments on a new car? That's my reasoning anyway. I'll let you know how this line of thinking plays out in 48 months.

I wanted my next car to have leather seats, automatic climate control, a sunroof, fog lights, and a nav system. I'm still flying piston-engined planes so I'm basically dreaming for most of that stuff. I was planning on looking at an Accord too, but the VW dealer was closer, so we went there first. I'm not totally nuts about the look of the Passat, to be honest. The chrome grille is a bit much, and the tail lights are kinda funky looking. Everything else on the car looks good though, and they had it in a color that I loved.

The best part of the car is the inside though. It has leatherette seats, semi-automatic climate control (temp is automatic but the fan is not), and a neat MFD that tells me things like what speed my cruise control is set to, if a tire is low or it's time for maintenance, or that I have to press the brake if I want to get the car out of "park." Maybe if I ever get a jet job I can put an aftermarket nav in it and add some OEM fog lights. It drives great - it's the most solid and fun-to-drive car I've ever driven. Props to the Germans. They really know their stuff. Pretty much the only non-German part on the car is the transmission, which is Japanese (and I've already had to replace a part of it). I never made it to the Honda dealer.