Volkswagen Passat (2015 – 2022) Review

The archetypal non-premium saloon, the Volkswagen Passat is a car that transcends its mainstream badge, offering buyers a car that has all the prestige of the recognised upmarket brands like BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz, without quite the price tag. It feels every inch the rival to such brands, too, yet, being a Volkswagen means it’s universally accepted. Nobody, absolutely nobody, will ever find a Passat offensive, or cast aspersions about your personality, other, perhaps, that you’re a fine human being. The Passat’s just a good, solid, sensible buy, though less so in saloon here, the far more popular estate model selling four times more in the UK than the saloon. 

Looking for a second opinion? Read heycar's Volkswagen Passat review.

There isn’t a car manufacturer that doesn’t look at the enviable position the premium brands have at the top of the sales league with real envy.

Volkswagen comes closest to bridging the gap between those upmarket brands and the volume, mainstream ones, and the Passat is arguably the car that exemplifies that. A business, junior executive and family car that’s genuinely able to mentioned in the exalted company of the Audi A4, BMW 3 Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class, and hold its own among such models, too. 

The current Passatl can trace its roots to 2015, though keeping it up to date was a huge overall in 2020. Changes to it included a range of revised, more economical engines, improved technology, and, crucially these days, greater connectivity.

With such a wide audience to cater for Volkswagen offers the Passat with a wide range of engines, with petrol engines in capacities of 1.5 to 2.0-litres with outputs spanning 150PS to 272PS.

Diesels have long been a Passat-buyer’s heartland, though, and that’s usually been reflected in the range of turbodiesel engines you can buy it with, the capacities being either 1.6 or 2.0-litres with power ranging from 120PS to double that with the range-topping car. 

There are manual and automatic choices, and there’s even a four-wheel drive in the more powerful models, it standard on the range-topping ones. There’s even a plug-in hybrid for those who want to dodge tax and help the environment, it different enough to warrant its own test, which you’ll find here…

Even if you don’t opt for the plug-in hybrid there’s every chance that your Passat will be bought with company money, Volkswagen admitting as many as 80% of Passat sales go through a business’s profit and loss accounts.

That’s entirely understandable given its status, this classless, classy saloon that you’d be more than happy to give to your staff, and, likewise, the staff will be more than happy to own and drive. The range encompasses a broad salary sweep, too, with junior management certain to be pleased with the SE or SE Nav, SEL and R-Line models adding a bit of extra equipment and class for the higher fliers in the company. 

There’s more equipment in all following the 2020 revisions, it safer too, thanks to the addition of Volkswagen’s latest driver aids, the Travel Assist system on some allowing a degree of autonomy when driving on the motorway. 

The estate might be the bigger seller, and more sensible, but the Passat saloon’s a classy car, inside and out, that’s neatly designed, is economical and comfortable, it about as sensible as a car can be, but desirable at the same time, which is an impressive feat to pull off in this competitive, if shrinking marketplace. 

That’s obvious from the handling, which is safe and surefooted, rather than nimble and alert, and, frankly there’s nothing at all wrong with that.

For the best comfort you’re better sticking to the smaller wheel choices, with the 17- and 18-inch wheels being the best when it comes to ride quality, the larger, optional, sizes, or standard equipment on range-topping models being detrimental to the ride quality.

It’s not so bad as to be uncomfortable, but it adds some unnecessary frequency to the ride that’s not entirely welcome or befitting of the Passat’s otherwise laid-back demeanour. 

Most Passats are front-wheel drive, but on some models there’s the choice of 4Motion four-wheel drive if you want the security of the extra traction on slippery surfaces, or aid with stability when towing.

The range-topping, most powerful Passats feature 4Motion as standard. On others there’s the choice of an XDS electronic differential lock, which aids traction and ups the fun factor slightly, but overall the Passat remains a competent, easy-going all-rounder, rather than something you’re going to drive just for the enjoyment of it.    

Diesel might have a bit of a bad reputation presently, but the blend of easy performance mixed with good economy means that diesels remain very much the choice in the Passat line-up.

There’s a choice of 1.6 and 2.0-litre TDI units, with the power starting at 120PS and rising to 190PS. There’s a high-performance, twin-turbo TDI engine at the top of the range, it offering 240PS, and coming as standard with 4Motion four-wheel drive. 

The petrol line up is made up of a choice of either 1.5-litre TSI or 2.0-litre TSI engines, with the entry-level 1.5-litre TSI having 150PS, Volkswagen also offering a 2.0-litre TSI with 190PS.

The Passat is offered in estate guise with a range-topping 272PS 2.0-litre TSI petrol engine, which you’ll find over on the estate car review, or as the GTE plug-in hybrid model.

The Passat comes with a comprehensive range of active and passive safety aids, with all having ABS brakes with Brake Assist and Electronic Brake Pressure Distribution, a post collision braking system and a host of airbags including front driver and passenger, side, curtain and a knee airbag for the driver.

There’s a pre-crash warning system that’ll autonomously brake, a tyre pressure loss indicator, Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Assist, Travel Assistant, City Emergency Braking and Traffic Jam Assist.

There’s also electronic stability control as well as traction control, the Passat gaining a maximum five star score in the Euro NCAP crash tests back in 2014, and it’s had additional safety equipment added since then. There are two Isofix child seat mounts on the rear passenger compartment.

The Passat is an accomplished tow car, indeed, it’s won awards for its towing ability. The performance from all the engines help, with the diesels in particular impressing when towing.

Depending on the model the Passat can tow from either 720kg or 750kg with an unbraked trailer, with up to 2000kg possible with the most powerful diesels with a braked trailer. Additionally, the Passat has trailer stabilisation among its electronic driver aids and Trailer Assist as an option, which helps manage tricky reversing manoeuvring with a trailer. 

If ultimate practicality is what you’re after then you’re in the wrong place, you need a Passat estate. If you’re happy to forgo that estate’s capacity to swallow all your luggage and perhaps a mutt, then the saloon won’t disappoint, because, it’s still got a sizeable boot.

Indeed, there’s 586 litres for all your stuff, which if you fold the seats down – these doing so in a 60/40 split – then that increases to 1,152 litres. That’s a lot, though loading it might prove a bit tricky, as it’s a proper saloon, so the boot access is relatively narrow in relation to the space it accesses, no drop it in from the top like you might in some hatchback rivals, instead it’s a poke it though the back. 

The rear seats offer good leg and headroom, there’s three pews back there, with the outer two really being the only ones you’d want to use with any frequency, that underlined by the fact they both have Isofix child seat mounts. Getting to those child seats should be easy, too, because the rear doors open widely. There’s plenty of oddment storage throughout the well-made cabin, too.

The cabin is beautifully turned out, particularly in the upper trim grades, with the SEL coming with a full leather interior with its standard equipment. Even in the lower grades, and when it comes with cloth seats, the Passat’s a classy place to be, with a neatly styled, easy to operate interior that feels like it’ll last forever. 

You can’t buy a Passat without some form of touchscreen for its infotainment, the only difference being the size of the screen you’re operating, as well as some of the functionality contained within.

All have an eight-speaker system as standard, though Volkswagen, somewhat tightly, doesn’t offer DAB on all, but you do get a Wireless App Connect - a smartphone mirroring system that means you can run Apple CarPlay and Android Auto on all. 

There’s Bluetooth on all too, then, and if you want sat nav in the car, as opposed to using it via your phone, you’ll need an SE Nav. There’s plenty of options to upgrade, with a range-topping Discover Navigation Pro system offered for £2200, it gaining not just a larger 9.2-inch touchscreen, but also replaces the conventional instrumentation with a configurable TFT screen.

The middle-ground makes more sense, though, with SE Nav models and up having an 8-inch touchscreen in the centre of the dash, it actually working a bit better than the larger system thanks to the shortcut buttons at the sides of the screen. 

The range is made up of SE Nav, SEL and tops out at R-Line. You’ll pay from £28,685 for the SE Nav, with the SEL costing about £500 more, which makes it a bit of no-brainer. The jump up to R-Line is greater, with it starting at £32,115, before you’ve added any options to it.

There are a number of options available across the range, with it worth specifying rear and area view camera systems to help park it if they’re not on the standard equipment.

We’d avoid spending money on things like Sports Suspension or Dynamic Chassis Control (which adds variable damping to the suspension and a choice of Normal, Comfort and Sport) the Passat not a car that gets any better if it’s more ‘sporting’ indeed, it’s at its best when it’s at its most laid back, not when it’s trying to be something it isn’t.

The Passat’s become such a success for good reason, particularly in the business sphere. Good residual values help its running costs be more competitive than mainstream rivals like the Ford Mondeo, Vauxhall Insignia and suchlike, while all, bar a handful of the most powerful examples – which make less sense compared to premium rivals anyway – can comfortably return over 40mpg on the official combined consumption cycle.

The diesels are particularly parsimonious, with the best able to return an official combined figure of as much as 60.1mpg. You’ll do well to achieve that in reality, but you should manage an easy 50mpg in most of the diesels if you’re sensible. 

Insurance groups start at around 15E for the entry-level models with the lowest powered engines, rising to as much as 32E for the 240PS turbodiesel model. All come with a 60,000 mile, three-year warranty as standard.

Emissions are, like the consumption, very competitive, with the lowest emitting models achieving just 124-233gkm. No Passat is RDE2 compliant yet, so the first year of car tax will between £215 and £1305.

Servicing from Volkswagen dealers will be competitively priced, but there’ll be plenty of independent garages that can service it for you, too, if you want to keep running costs down to a minimum, but if, as is likely, it’s on a business lease, all this will be taken care of anyway. 

S models come with 16-inch alloy wheels, DAB, lumbar support, Bluetooth, driver alert system, post-collision braking system, knee airbags, mis-fuelling prevention and rear LED lights.

SE models come with adaptive cruise control, driver profile selection, 17-inch alloy wheels, dusk and rain sensors, front and rear parking sensors.

SE Business adds Discover navigation with car net, front fog lights, tinted rear glass and electronically folding wing mirrors. The front seats squabs are mechanically adjustable for tilt and there is electric adjustment for the seat back and lumbar support. The 2.0TDI 150 Business Edition lists at £25,135 on the road, including delivery, first year VED and registration tax.

GT comes with three zone climate control, heated leather seats, 18-inch alloy wheels, ambient lighting plus colour multifunction display.

R-Line R-Line body kit, Trapezoid exhausts, R-line seats with logos and contrast stitching, stainless steel pedals.