Volkswagen Passat 2.0 TDI 4Motion

For a long time, the Passat has been the slightly weird uncle of the VW family, the relative who turns up to your BBQ with his pipe and slippers, and a robe. At least, that’s its image in Australia, where VW essentially means Golf and Polo. In other countries, Passat is a much more beloved part of the scenery. So much so that a Passat is sold somewhere in the world every 29 seconds. That’s more than 3000 a day.

The launch of an all-new Passat, the eighth generation and the first since 2005, is therefore a big event for VW, and it’s thrown more technical innovations at this car than any other model.

That includes clever stuff such as Trailer Assist, which makes parking your boat as simple as playing a video game. The wing mirror adjust buttons do double duty as your joystick; you simply ‘put’ the trailer in the space on the screen in front of you by using the buttons, take your hands off the wheel and magic happens.

It’s clever, but the tech you will use every day, the Active Info Display, is smart and beautiful.

Bearing a striking resemblance to the new Audi TT’s Virtual Cockpit system, this graphically lush 12.3-inch centre screen allows you to choose the layout, and style, of your entirely digital dials and can also display a large, detailed sat-nav map right in front of you, where you need it. The only difference from the Audi is that you also get a traditional, second screen, through which you can run various apps from your smartphone as part of the ingenious MirrorLink function, or create a wireless hot spot.

It’s not just the futuristic new dash that feels Audi-like, either. While the Passat was benchmarked against Benz for comfort and BMW for performance, the spokes folk were less willing to admit they’d modelled their high-quality new interior on their sister company.

There’s a lot of Audi style and quality in this car, which feels a class above the model it replaces.

The exterior designers don’t seem to have worked quite as hard. While VW claims it’s more emotional than the socially awkward one it replaces and has a more “cab backward” stance to reflect its more dynamic underpinnings (weight is down 85kg and stiffness is up), it’s not exactly a visual leap. Neater and pointier, yes, but typically Passat.

Fortunately, it’s more Golf-like than ever to drive, with nice, sharp, responsive steering (in Sport mode, at least) that’s only slightly lighter than a Golf’s, a nicely sorted ride, solid chassis and low NVH. Understeer comes only with stupid provocation, but it arrives earlier in the wagon, which typically makes up 60 percent of sales.

Engines confirmed for Australia a 132 kW/380 Nm 2.0-litre turbodiesel and a 1.8-litre turbo-petrol with 132kW and 280Nm will no doubt do a good job, but we’d like to see the engine we enjoyed at the international launch, a bi-turbo TDI with 176kW. It’s as quiet as it is smooth and packs a solid punch, too.

Unfortunately, neither the 206kW 2.0-litre turbo, nor the sporty plug-in hybrid GTE are much chance of making it here.

Pricing is yet to be confirmed, but don’t expect it to rise too much from the current entry-level mark of $38,990.

The new Passat may not look spectacularly different from the ones Australia has grown to not love very much, but under the skin it’s a very different story. In the past, the Passat may have been lacking in a bit of excitement for the Aussie driver, but the new one is definitely worth a look.

Engine : 1968cc 4cyl, dohc, 16v, twin-turbo diesel
Max power : 176kW @ 4000rpm
Max torque : 500Nm @ 1750-2500rpm
Transmission : 7-speed dual-clutch
Weight : 1646kg
0-100km/h : 6.1sec (claimed)
Economy : 5.3L/100km (EU)
On sale : October 2015 (1.8TSI/2.0TDI)