Volkswagen Passat 2024: Prices, specs and release date

• New Volkswagen Passat is bigger, more sophisticated and more luxurious
• Petrol, diesel and longer-range plug in hybrid engines available
• To be sold only as an estate in the UK
• Arrives in early 2024 with prices starting from around £37,000

The new Volkswagen Passat has been fully revealed ahead of the 2023 Munich Motor Show where VW will mark the 50^th anniversary of the Passat brand.

The new Volkswagen Passat will be exclusively available as a load-lugging estate car. There will no longer be a new Volkswagen Passat saloon, reflecting the decline in popularity of four-door cars.

There are fewer direct rivals to the new Volkswagen Passat these days too, with cars such as the Ford Mondeo no longer available to buy new. The Skoda Superb is a key alternative though – the two cars are related underneath – as is the Mazda 6.

The BMW 3 Series Touring, Audi A4 Avant and Mercedes-Benz C-Class Estate are premium alternatives to the new Volkswagen Passat.  

2024 Volkswagen Passat prices and release date

The new Volkswagen Passat is likely to open for reservations later in 2023, for first UK deliveries from early 2024.

New Volkswagen Passat prices have not yet been confirmed. The current range starts from around £35,000. The new Volkswagen Passat will be larger and boast more technology, but prices should still be reasonably competitive. We expect the new Volkswagen Passat to cost from around £37,000.

2024 Volkswagen Passat styling, interior and technology

The 2024 Volkswagen Passat is the ninth generation of the long-running large family car. The smooth, evolutionary styling links it back to previous well-loved models, with more sculptural features to give it more character. 

The front of the new Volkswagen Passat has a more futuristic appearance, with a bonnet that now blends into the front wings. It's very aerodynamic too, boasting the lowest drag factor for any Volkswagen estate ever – it has a Cd of just 0.25, compared to the previous model's 0.31 figure. 

The new Volkswagen Passat has high-tech headlights, including optional IQ.Light LED matrix lights. Volkswagen describes them as ‘flatter’ than the previous version, with a high-performance main beam that has a range of 0.5km.

A horizontal LED light bar connects the headlights and, along with their crisp LED daytime running light, will be a distinctive feature of the new Volkswagen Passat. 

At the rear, the new Volkswagen Passat has a continuous horizontal LED light strip. The rear bumper is smooth, to aid airflow, and a large roof spoiler further helps improve aerodynamics at higher speed.

The interior of the new Volkswagen Passat uses a new digital display and operating concept, which VW says implements feedback from customers disappointed with the digital-heavy setup of models such as the current Volkswagen Golf.

Alongside a ‘black panel’ digital instrument display, there is a freestanding infotainment display measuring a generous 12.9 inches. For those who want more, an optional 15.0-inch display is available. The infotainment system has new icons that are easier to use, and backlit touch sliders underneath the display for volume and cabin temperature.

The new Volkswagen Passat will also be available with a head-up display. And to make it all easier to use, the fiddly touch-sensitive steering wheel buttons have been replaced by physical buttons.

For a luxury touch, those buying or leasing a new Volkswagen Passat can choose optional ergoActive seats. They have 14-way electrical adjustment and an array of massage and air conditioning configurations to improve long-distance comfort.

The new Volkswagen Passat will have a much-improved sense of interior quality too, with plenty of soft-touch surfaces and higher-quality materials.  

Overall length of the new Volkswagen Passat is up a significant 140mm. This yields a generous 50mm more rear legroom than the outgoing car. The new Volkswagen Passat’s boot grows by 40 litres to 690 litres with the seats up, and by 140 litres to a vast 1920 litres with the rear seats folded.

The new Volkswagen Passat is larger in every dimension. It measures 4917mm long, 1852mm wide and 1421mm tall.

2024 Volkswagen Passat engines, performance and fuel economy

The new Volkswagen Passat is based on the MQB Evo architecture that also underpins the new Volkswagen Tiguan, along with the new Skoda Superb and new Skoda Kodiaq.

The new Volkswagen Passat will be offered with a range of petrol and diesel engines, all with a DSG automatic gearbox. The TSI engine range opens with the popular 150ps 1.5-litre eTSI four-cylinder mild hybrid petrol engine. A 2.0-litre TSI has 204ps in front-wheel drive guise, and 265ps with 4Motion all-wheel drive. 

For diesel car fans, the new Passat offers 150ps and 193ps versions of the 2.0-litre TDI four-cylinder engine, the latter with 4Motion all-wheel drive. 

The new Volkswagen Passat also has enhanced eHybrid plug-in hybrid choices. A larger battery 19.3kWh battery gives a significantly improved pure electric range of more than 62 miles between charges. AC charging will be faster and 50kW DC charging will be available for the first time.

There are two new Volkswagen Passat eHybrid models, each with a 1.5-litre TSI petrol engine. Choose from a regular version with total system output of 204ps, or a more powerful electric motor with a system output of 272ps. 

The new Volkswagen Passat has an overhauled chassis with four-link rear axle, improved electromechanical power steering and revised anti-roll bars and dampers. The steering ratio is more direct and the longer wheelbase helps improve ride quality.

Optional DCC Pro two-valve adaptive dampers will be available. This system constantly adapts to the road surface and offers several driving modes, from very comfortable to very sporty.

The new Volkswagen Passat also features a standard Vehicle Dynamics Manager for the first time. This was first introduced in the current Volkswagen Golf GTI. It centralises all aspects of the suspension, helping make handling more neutral, stable and agile, says Volkswagen. It can even precisely tailor things with wheel-specific brake and interventions and wheel-selective adjustment of damper stiffness.