It’s been around for nearly 40 years, sold over 15 million units and shows no sign of falling out of favour with either the public or its maker. The seventh generation Volkswagen Passat was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show late last week.
With almost every body panel changed (apart from the roof) it establishes a new look for the model, but retains almost exactly the same proportions, being just 4mm longer.
Heated, cooled and even massage seats are available as an option, while safety features include an (also optional) emergency braking function which works at up to 18mph and automatically slams on the brakes if the car decides a collision is imminent.
It’s available with a range of frugal petrol and diesel units, including the 1.6 litre TDI in the eco BlueMotion version, which returns 68.8mpg. In its current form, the Passat BlueMotion just set a world-record distance on a single tank of fuel, covering 1527 miles.
Also at Paris is the new Phaeton. Never a big seller due to the lack of punching power the VW badge has at this level, the luxury barge still wasn’t a bad car, and Volkswagen have ploughed ahead with an updated version.
It comes with four-wheel drive as standard, along with eight airbags, laminated glass, air suspension, leather seats, electric front seats and a fancy satnav system.
The entry level model costs £46,195 and is powered by a 3.0 litre, 237bhp turbodiesel.
There’s a long wheelbase with the same engine for £48,640, and then a big jump to £78,685 for the 444bhp, 6.0 litre W12 petrol model, which is only available in long wheelbase form and will probably only be driven by high-ranking figures in the German banking industry.