Volkswagen Passat Review 2024

If you're wondering where the Volkswagen Passat saloon is, VW has ditched the traditional four-door for the latest generation model due to falling sales. It means that the latest iteration of the VW Passat is now estate only. The good news is, as a family car it takes some beating. Find out more in our full VW Passat review.

With the first iteration landing in 1973, it predates the original VW Golf by a year, and no fewer than 34 million Volkswagen Passats have been sold since. So why no icon status? Well, as you’ll find out in our Volkswagen Passat review, we reckon the latest ninth-generation version of the car is more worthy of icon status than ever.

The biggest reason why is its incredible practicality, which comes as a result of this being the biggest VW Passat ever. It’s grown in pretty much every direction compared with its predecessor - which was already impressively practical - and that means considerably more space for passengers, luggage, odds and ends: pretty much everything, really.

Whoever or whatever you’re carrying, they’ll travel in proper style, surrounded by a well built and pleasantly finished cabin with thoughtful design and lots of high-grade materials.

The cabin is crammed full of luxury equipment, too, dominated by glossy-looking digital screens on the dashboard. These look fabulous, but as we’ll discover, they present quite an ergonomic challenge when you actually try to use them

Engine options are limited to begin with, with a single mild hybrid petrol option and a pair of plug-in hybrids available for order. We’ve tried the former, which is adequate yet underwhelming for performance, although pretty impressive for economy and smoothness.

Basic Volkswagen Passat models have a standard passive suspension that provides a nice balance of comfort and control for an easy and relaxing driving experience. High-spec VW Passat R-Line versions get an adaptive suspension as standard, but we haven’t had the chance to drive one of these versions yet.

Granted, the latest Volkswagen Passat isn’t cheap - large Volkswagens never are - but it doesn’t feel overpriced next to mainstream alternatives with similar equipment levels (the few that are left, that is), and it’ll save you a few quid compared with premium-badged estate car rivals. So, it provides decent value, huge practicality and impressive all-round ability. Pretty much the perfect VW Passat, then, we’d say.

Two of the three trims available - Life and Elegance - come with a standard passive suspension. It gives the VW Passat a relaxed and easy-going nature that’s entirely appropriate for a car of this type.

Granted, the ride does have a slightly firm edge that means some smaller, high-frequency bumps can be felt in the cabin, but it's generally still very comfortable at all speed and the suspension does a particularly good job when mopping up the effects of potholes and larger bumps and ruts.

That hint of firmness in the suspension pays dividends in the corners, too, because the Volkswagen Passat has very decent control over the movements of its massive body. The car isn’t overly afflicted by body roll and the body doesn’t float around on undulating roads, either.

Grip is in plentiful supply. Don’t expect a sporty driving experience, because the car is way too big and heavy for that, but it feels secure, tidy and predictable at all times, while the steering also satisfies with its responsiveness, precision and weighting.

Go for a VW Passat R-Line and you’ll get Volkswagen’s Dynamic Chassis Control as standar - it can also be added to the other trim levels as an optional extra. This is an adaptive suspension system that varies its stiffness according to which driving mode you select. We haven’t yet had the chance to try it yet, but we’ll update this review as soon as we do.

The VW Passat initially went on sale with a single engine option, a 1.5-litre eTSI turbocharged petrol engine with mild hybrid technology, sending 150PS to the front wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

Soon after, this was joined by a pair of plug-in hybrid options - badged eHybrid - which combine the same 1.5-litre petrol engine with an electric motor and a 19.7kWh battery to deliver power outputs of either 204PS or 272PS. These are also front-wheel drive, but come with a six-speed twin-clutch auto.

So far, we’ve only had the chance to drive the petrol mild hybrid and while the pace it offers is adequate, it’s also a tad underwhelming.

The relatively small engine has to work quite hard to shift the bulk of the Volkswagen Passat’s huge body, so you hear the engine revving pretty high when just trying to maintain a moderate pace. Press the accelerator to ask for more pace and the revs rise further, but not that much more pace arrives. 

The gearbox also has a tendency to search around, trying to decide which of its seven forward gears is the best for the job at hand. This does no favours for either responsiveness or refinement.

It’s all fine if you adopt a relaxed driving style and are happy to just potter around, but on those occasions you need to get a move on, it can be slightly frustrating.

The level of safety kit you get with your VW Passat is pretty much the same regardless of which of the trim levels you choose. Of course, there are airbags aplenty, plus all the usual traction and stability aids plus a whole host of other driver assistance technology.

This includes autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, traffic sign recognition and display, driver attention monitor, lane assist plus adaptive cruise control. There’s also an E-Call system that automatically alerts the emergency services with your precise location in the event of an accident.

The latest Volkswagen Passat hasn’t yet been crash-tested by Euro NCAP, but its predecessor was awarded the maximum five stars.

The towing ability of your Volkswagen Passat will depend largely on which version you go for. The entry-level mild hybrid version can tow a braked trailer of up to 1600kg, while the more modest of the two plug-in hybrids ups that figure to 1800kg.

For maximum towing ability, you’ll want the more powerful of the plug-in hybrids which will pull 2000kg. None of these figures are particularly game-changing, especially given the size of the car, but will be sufficient for many.

Even with a pair of gangly adults ensconced in the front seats, rear legroom is generous enough that passengers of similar proportions can sit comfortably in the back without fear of their knees coming into contact with the seats in front. Headroom is very generous, too, and with two people in the back, things feel very luxurious indeed: seriously, you’d have to be a Harlem Globetrotter to struggle for space in this thing.

Things are a bit tighter when you squeeze a third person across the rear bench, but there is enough shoulder room to allow it, and in reasonable comfort: not a given, even in this kind of car. Whoever finds themselves in the middle will have to sit with feet either side of a bulky transmission tunnel, though.

And now for the really important bit where any estate car is concerned: the boot. Predictably, the Passat’s is gargantuan, with a loadspace of 690 litres with the moveable boot floor in its lower position. Move it to its higher position, and the load lip at the entrance to the boot is effectively levelled off, which combined with the huge, wide opening, gives unhindered access to the space. 

Setting the boot floor as such also levels off the step to the rear seatbacks when you fold them down, leaving you with a level - if still slightly sloped, because the seatbacks lie at a slight angle - extended loadbay.

The seats are folded by pulling catches either in the boot or on the seats themselves, but they only fold down in a 60/40 split, which isn’t as versatile as the 40/20/40 split you get in some rival family cars. That said, a powered tailgate and powered load cover is standard across the range, which is a handy touch.

Do bear in mind, though, that the story isn’t quite so rosy where the plug-in hybrids are concerned as these lose quite a significant chunk of boot space to their extra hardware. Still the 530-litre space should still be plenty for most families.

The latest VW Passat has grown significantly compared with previous Volkswagen Passat Estates, being 4917mm long, 1849 wide (excluding door mirrors) and 1497 tall: that’s 144mm longer and 20mm wider than its predecessor.

The new car also has a wheelbase of 2841mm, an increase of 50mm, so there’s plenty of space between the axles.

Volkswagen’s cars usually occupy a sort of middle-ground for quality: they often feel posher than most mainstream competitors, but don’t quite match up to premium-badged opposition when it comes to outright swankiness. That’s a theme continued by the VW Passat. 

All the materials and trims in your direct eyeline look and feel impressively high-grade while the thoughtful use of colours and patterns make things look reasonably interesting. The large digital screens, with their glossy finish, also help inject a certain level of poshness.

Look below your immediate eyeline, in places like the footwells and the lower parts of the doors though and you’ll find materials and finishes that don’t quite live up to the same standard. There’s not the same feeling of uniform plushness that you get in an Audi or BMW.

That’s the norm with most mainstream cars, though and the deficit in quality isn’t enough to undermine the overall feeling of sophistication. This is still a very pleasant car in which to spend time.

All versions of the Volkswagen Passat come as standard with the same infotainment setup. You get a 10.25-inch digital screen behind the steering wheel to serve as your instrument panel and a large 12.9-inch touchscreen in the middle of the dashboard to take care of your entertainment and myriad other functions.

If that central screen doesn’t have enough wow-factor for you, then you can replace it with a massive 15.0-inch item as a cost option.

Firstly, the positives. The whole thing looks great, with crystal-clear, funky-looking graphics and properly slick animations and screen transitions. The screen is super-sensitive, so it responds quickly and consistently to the actions of your finger. All the major functionality you’d want is present and correct, with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, DAB radio, Bluetooth, voice control and wireless phone charging.

Now for the not-so-positives, because there are some problems. Remember a little earlier when we said that the central screen operates myriad functions? Well, we weren’t joking.

Volkswagen has purged the VW Passat of physical buttons and dials, to the point where there’s almost nothing left. Almost every one of the car’s functions - of which there are lots - have to be controlled through the touchscreen. And using a touchscreen on-the-move is inherently more distracting. 

Not only that, but despite the generous size of the screen, it looks cluttered and confusing due simply to the sheer amount of icons, tiles and shortcuts on display.

You’ll also encounter a wide variety of menus and submenus, most of which aren’t very logically arranged and many of which are anchored by ambiguously designed icons, so it’s not immediately clear what sort of functions they apply to.

The whole thing is horrendously bamboozling and the result is that performing the simplest of tasks is far too difficult and time consuming, diverting too much of your attention away from the road.

And do you want to know the real kicker? Well, as you squint and jab at the screen, trying in vain to perform a would-be simple task, the car’s driver attention detection system clocks the fact that your eyes have been diverted from the road for too long, whereupon you get a rollocking from the car, whose poorly designed infotainment system caused the issue in the first place. Who knew a car was capable of gaslighting.

Prices for the Volkswagen Passat start at around £38,500 for the entry-level eTSI petrol engine in entry-level Life trim. That rises to around £41,500 for the Volkswagen Passat Elegance version and around £43,000 for the VW Passat R-Line.

If you want to upgrade your choice of engine, you’ll have to spend around £5500 more for the 204PS version of the PHEV, and a further £3000 on top for the 272PS version.

How does that compare to rival mainstream estate cars? Well, that’s tricky, because the relentless rise of SUVs has meant that many manufacturers have withdrawn their big family estate offerings from sale, so there simply aren’t very many of them left.

Probably the main rival for the Volkswagen Passat comes from in-house. Indeed, the latest Skoda Superb Estate is essentially the same car underneath. The starting prices for comparable versions of the Skoda Superb are around £2000 less than Passat, but these do have appreciably less kit. Once you’ve matched the specs up more fairly, the difference in cost is negligible. 

Neither car is particularly cheap, then, but both will cost you a good slice less than premium alternatives from Audi, BMW and Mercedes.

Official economy figures look very encouraging in this area. The entry-level petrol engine, thanks to its mild-hybrid and active-cylinder shut-off technology (the engine deactivates two of its four cylinders under light loads to save fuel), achieves a WLTP fuel consumption figure of between 50mpg and 52mpg.

That’s the sort of figure that was once unheard of in a large petrol-powered estate car. You should be able to crack 45mpg in the real world without too much of a problem, provided you’re not loaded up to the gunwales with people and kit the whole time.

The figures of the PHEV versions look even more encouraging, with WLTP tests suggesting a fuel return of more than 700mpg. No, that’s not a typo: we really do mean 700mpg.

However, don’t be duped into thinking that that’s what you’ll actually get in the real world. These laboratory tests are always unrealistically flattering to plug-in hybrids due to the fact that much of the official test can be conducted on electric power alone. The resulting average becomes very skewed indeed. 

The truth of the matter is, the VW Passat plug-in hybrid will do up to 80 miles or so on a full charge, so if you keep your car topped up and have a short enough commute that the petrol engine is rarely needed, then you’ll use very little petrol.

However, be aware that the second your electric charge runs out and the petrol engine kicks in, then you’ll be using lots of fuel, because you’ll have the extra weight of the batteries to haul around, as well as the car’s enormous body.

Beware, though, only one version of the car (the 1.5 eTSI Life) costs less than £40,000, so all others bust the threshold for the ‘luxury car surcharge’. This means that for a five-year period between years two and six of the car’s life, you pay an additional sum on top.

The Volkswagen Passat is offered in three trim levels, known as Life, Elegance, and R-Line, and all come very generously equipped.

Life cars kick things off with with 17-inch alloy wheels, all-round LED lighting, three-zone climate control, keyless entry and go, powered- and heated door mirrors, heated- and massaging front seats, part-electric seat adjustment, ambient lighting, automatic lights and wipers, parking sensors, a reversing camera, adaptive cruise control, high-beam assist, a powered tailgate and a powered luggage cover. That’s on top of all the safety gear and infotainment kit we talked about earlier.

Elegance cars have adaptive LED matrix headlights with a light strip running between them to make them look slightly swankier, and on top of that, you also get noise-reducing glass, a panoramic sunroof, a heated steering wheel, sports seats with more sophisticated massaging functionality and ambient lighting with 30 colours.

R-Line looks swisher still with 18-inch alloy wheels and sporty styling elements inside and out plus you also get the Dynamic Chassis Control adaptive suspension as well.