 | Volkswagen Passat CC Range |
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Can you CC yourself in this?
We’ve kind of got used to coupes having two doors but with the Passat CC, Volkswagen hopes to change the rules. Andy Enright reports
Here’s a Volkswagen Passat which is, well, something quite different, even if it doesn’t look it at first glance. Lower, sleeker and more upmarket, the Passat CC is what its makers call a ‘Comfort Coupe’ rather than any kind of cabriolet. Oh and it has four doors and a decent boot too…..
Although I’m still waiting for it to happen, I have a paranoid suspicion that as an elaborate joke on the press corps, a car manufacturer is going to launch a vehicle that’s had absolutely nothing altered from its predecessor. They’ll tell us that the engines and suspension have been revised, that the interior is now more spacious, that it’s quicker and quieter than ever before and then have a good guffaw when legions of gullible hacks report just that. Grizzled pros can occasionally be found grumbling that they’ve been invited on a press launch only to find that they’re actually driving a new ashtray and gearknob but with the Volkswagen Passat CC, there may be even more cause for head scratching. It’s not what you’d call a cut and dried proposition.
Like the science bit that you’re obliged to pay attention to in shampoo adverts, Volkswagen attempts to put some substance onto the lifestyle blurb by explaining how the Passat CC differs mechanically from its more conventional saloon sibling. Given that it rides on exactly the same chassis and uses a subset of the Passat saloon engine range, scope for modification is predictably slim. The car sits 50mm lower, giving a centre of gravity closer to the road. The driver sits 15mm lower in the car, again supposedly imbuing him or her with a greater sense of connectedness with the road surface. Otherwise, the differences with how this car drives and how a Passat saloon drives are not apparent.
This means that handling is safe and rather stodgy, ride quality is excellent and the engine portfolio is broad and packed with quality. Three petrol engines and two diesel powerplants are offered which span a range from 138bhp diesel right up to 300bhp 3.6-litre V6 petrol.
The design of the Passat CC is fascinating. I harbour a suspicion that despite almost every external body panel being different to that of the saloon model, most people won’t realise that this is a different car. It takes the two cars sitting back to back to really establish what Volkswagen has done with the CC. The unique steel body is 31mm longer than the saloon’s, that difference being made up entirely by front and rear overhang increases. You might think that this may well offer a bonus in terms of luggage space but the sloping boot deck actually reduces capacity by 40 litres.
It’s undoubtedly a tidy piece of styling work but one has to wonder whether tidy really cuts it in a market where buyers often want something a little more extreme, something with trademark styling signatures. The Passat CC signally lacks this, the smooth shape so cohesive that it it’s hard for the eye to rest on any one feature. The sculpted headlamps maybe. Still, one person’s bland is another’s discreet and the CC could never be accused of wilful gaudiness.
Quite who the target buyer for the Passat CC provokes quite a fair degree of conjecture. While the US remains the key market for this model, British buyers may be harder to come by. The market for four door coupes hasn’t been notably vibrant and while Mercedes has scored a notable success with the CLS, the Passat CC lacks that car’s bold, almost baroque styling. It may also score some sales from customers who have looked at leggy GT coupe models like the Peugeot 407 Coupe, but can’t face the inconvenience of two doors. Drilling down into ever smaller demographics like this is perhaps an indicator of how muddled this car’s message is.
Even the name is a bit of a fudge, the CC badge being associated in this country with a coupe-cabriolet, here explained away as Comfort Coupe. Despite the concept and marketing of this car being a little hazy, the finished product has much to commend it and were the Passat saloon not available, the Passat CC would be written about in far more glowing terms than it is. This is a smart and well equipped car, but one that struggles for a point.
Diesel is the fuel of choice for the company car buyers that will account for the lion’s share of Passat CC sales but the 3.6-litre V6 petrol unit could snare a few company Directors who can’t quite stretch to a Mercedes CLS. This engine’s emissions and economy figures aren’t too shabby given its weighty four-wheel-drive mechanicals and the kind of performance on offer. The entry-level 140PS TDI diesel is a better all-round bet however. Here, C02 emissions of around 150g/km and likely 50mpg fuel economy make this a viable choice from a cost perspective.
As business users who’ve done their time scouring the car data sheets for the most cost-effective company car will be well aware, Passats cost a little bit more model for model than the usual medium range fleet fare. They will, however, hang on to their value with a little bit more tenacity than the Mondeos and Lagunas of this world so it’s swings and roundabouts to an extent. Servicing and repair costs shouldn’t hold any nasty surprises.
There are cars that are easy to love but which are, in the final analysis, deeply flawed. They sucker legions of gullible fools and are pronounced to have character. Then there are cars like the Volkswagen Passat CC. Be under no illusion that this is an extremely good car, excellent even, but it is at the same time a curiously superfluous thing. Were the standard Passat saloon to be pulled from production to make way for the CC, it would be a lot easier to drum up enthusiasm for it, but the overwhelming reaction is that never in the field of automotive manufacturing has so much been changed to such little effect for the benefit of so few. It’s a bit of a puzzler.
A little better looking, a little less spacious and, if Volkswagen is to believed, a little better to drive, the Passat CC doesn’t move the game on in any key area. In the UK at least it’s tough to identify a target buyer for this vehicle and all the marketing flannel in the world can’t gloss over an end of year sales figure. Volkswagen aims to shift 5,800 a year as well as 20,000 saloon models. At a premium of around £3,500 over the saloon, that sounds a stretching target.
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