Before I provide a subjective assessment of my first 12 months of driving an 07 Passat 2.0T here are some facts:
Warranty claims to date: Zero
Recalls: Zero
Model type: 2007 2.0T with Luxury-Leather option and 8 airbags.
Mileage done: 22,500 kms
Type of daily commute: 100 km round trip (mostly 401 outside of GTA)
Fuel type used: Usually Shell Premium 91. The Passat doesn't appear to react well to Esso Premium - noticeable level of hesitation when accelerating with the Esso ethanol stuff.
Highest speed achieved: 170 kph (fun but never again...)
Maintenance:
First service at 9,380 kms - Castrol Syntec oil change 5 litres 5W40 (109.86 dollars)
Second service at 17,950 kms - Castrol Syntec oil change ( 5 litres 5W40) and tire rotation ($127.43)
Topped up with a with a litre of 0W30 German Castrol Syntec @ 9 dollars each.
Total first year service costs: $246.29
Dealership experience:
Nothing to write home about. Efficient and get the job done - only speak when spoken to. Don't really respond well to email correspondence - so they lose points there. Have got over the initial culture shock that dealership doesn't wash car after service.
Things I like:
1) 2.0 Turbo FSI engine - very responsive at all speeds.
2) The brakes are amazing.
3) The night time interior dashboard illumination - new passengers are constantly amazed by sea of blue and red.
4) The turn indicators automatically blink 3 times when you tap it once. I've got so used to this that I forget to correct my behaviour when driving non-VWs.
5) The huge trunk and decent rear seat room for 3 rear passengers.
Things I don't like:
1) The manual is about 200 pages long and appears to have been written by a rocket scientist.
2) After driving at highway speeds for half an hour or so, there is an occasional noticeable hard downshift between gears 4 and 3 when coming off the exit ramp. This problem has been discussed extensively on VWVortex and appears to be linked to the torque convertor on the Aisin 6 speed transmission. I find I can avoid the hard downshift by switching to Tiptronic mode when decelerating.
3) The clock is embedded deep on the driver's instrumentation side.Passengers can't see the time and you get asked what the time is all the time.
4) The dual Climatronic air-con ain't exactly the most intuitive in the world. I only realized recently that unless I press the 'Econ' button than the air-con compressor comes on all the time even if you request for heat during winter.
Other stuff:
- The doors are super heavy. Not sure what kind of sheet metal the folks at VW use - but it feels like your encased in a bank vault. Guess this is a good thing.
- First time you open the driver door there is an electro-mechanical whirring sound. I found out later that it's primary fuel pump being activated.
Would I buy again: Yes
My level of ownership satisfaction: 9/10. Best vehicle I've ever driven.
Any regrets ?: Should have got the manual.
