2020 VW Passat Review | Not Volkswagen’s Best Effort

Thank you everyone so much for tuning in for this 2020 Passat review. Let's take a look at all the things on the exterior real quick before we jump inside. Now there are four trim levels, the S, SE, R line, the sporty one, and then the SEL, which we have right here. It's got a bolder and more sophisticated design, similar to the Jetta. You'll see a lot of the same design cues on the hood, the lines on the body and all of that. And it only shares the roof with last year's model. So as we take a look right up front, you're gonna see LED headlights and LED daytime running lights that are standard on every single trim. See the blinker right below the headlight there. So Volkswagen gives you LEDs on all of those, except there's one big difference. The SEL gets the adaptive lighting system. So you've got the swivel and cornering lights, which gives it a top rating from the IIHS as opposed to a marginal rating for those other trims. You can also see they have a fairly bold grill, big Volkswagen emblem in the middle there. There are no fog lights on here. And then look at the hood. This reminds me a lot of the Jetta, this whole car got all those creases on there. You got that one big line running down the side of the body. Now this paint color is called the Aurora Red Metallic, and it really looks pretty nice on this car. The camera makes it look a little bit more orange, but it's a very deep color with the metallic flake. Now the wheels have an interesting design. They're gonna range from 17 to 19 inch wheels. The R line gets the big 19 inch, but these are the 18 inch wheels on our SEL trim with 235, 45 series tires. It seems to fit this car pretty well, fills out those wheel wells pretty well also. The mirror has an, it's not automatic dimming, but it's got a blinker in it. You've got your blind spot indicator in there, and they're also heated on every trim. So that's nice if you live in a cold climate. And then from here, you can really see that line that runs down the side of the body. It's really distinct, definitely kind of reminds me of a little bit Audi, same with that Jetta, Volkswagen's new design language. Dimensionally, the Passat is 193.6 inches long. So it's a fairly long sedan, certainly right around the midsize level, a little bit bigger than some of the leading competitors. And they wanted to stand out with their design from other midsizers with a more elegant design, as opposed to something maybe a little more aggressive. Then as we come around to the back of the vehicle, you've got a slimmed down, kind of a sleek taillight design. That line comes running back from the front all the way and ties into this taillight module. Got a very small little lip on there as well. Passat written on the back. You've got some faux exhaust outlets right here. There's not even an opening or anything. Typical Volkswagen. Even the Audi that I had had that as well. You've got the same LED blinker back here and these are LED taillights. So those are standard LED taillights, which is nice to see. If you want a sportier looking Passat, you're gonna have to go for the R-line, which is always the sporty one in this Volkswagen lineup. Crossovers and SUVs have really stepped in because people want the ride height and they want the extra cargo space. But this Passat, this SEL gives us the hands-free lift. And even if you use the key fob, it will actually come all the way up like this. So this top trim gives us that hand-free access, just like the SUVs and crossovers do. And in here you get 15.9 cubic feet, which is a really generous amount. It's a nicely shaped trunk. You even get a spare tire underneath and you can fold both seats down. Now every trim except the base model is gonna give you this smart key system. It still has a flip out key like that and remote start even comes with this as well. I was expecting maybe a little more modern of a key fob, but that really does not matter at all to me. But anyways, so you see the mirror is folded. It has the sensor in the back to unlock it. Otherwise you just press that line to lock it and then the mirror will fold. Now, as we hop into the front seats of the Passat, those of you with mobility issues, this is actually a fairly easy to get into sedan. It does not sit quite as low as some vehicles do. Now the base S model is gonna give you cloth seats that are just manual adjustable. The next two trims, the SE and the R line are gonna give you heated leatherette seats that are also eight way power adjustable with lumbar support. Our top SEL trim gives us actual leather seats and they are fairly comfortable. They have a little bit of plushness. They're not hard, they're not soft. I wish the headrest wasn't quite as aggressive, but overall the bolstering on here in the seating position seems to be pretty good for me. We do get three position memory settings on our seat right over here in the same eight way power with lumbar support. Now they are heated like the SE and the R line, but you can not get ventilated seats in here, which is a little bit surprising and disappointing considering the size and class of the vehicle. But if that's something you want, consider that. Every trim except the base is gonna give you a leather wrapped steering wheel. There's no heating element for the steering wheel though. That's another thing that they don't include the ventilated seats or the heated steering wheel, but the steering wheel does have a good range of motion. And it's got the traditional Volkswagen flat bottom here. Now, as we take a look at the interior of the VW Passat, it is definitely refreshed. There are some different materials and different designs in here. It's a simple design, but it certainly does not look as modern as some of its counterparts. Now, as we take a look at the door here, you kind of have this trim piece as well that matches the front. You've got a nice soft upper if you like to rest your arm up there, soft right here by your elbow and a pretty large soft arm rest, solid grab handle and that bottle holder is massive. Plus this goes way back so you could actually stick an umbrella back there if you wanted. And one thing that I like is the actual aluminum pedals and you actually have the floor mounted driver accelerator pedal. Also right on the inside, we've got a pretty good size storage bin right there. And one thing that I really like about this VW Passat is that it's got a really solid feel to it when you shut the doors. For everything but the base, push button start is right there, foot on the brake, start right up. Now, as you take a look at the steering wheel, it is just like some of the other Volkswagens. You've got the flat bottom. You kind of have the ridge that runs on the steering wheel. It's not the softest steering wheel, but it is leather wrapped. Got some sport grips. You've got all the necessary controls for your cruise, your information display and your audio. Even though the windshield wiper stock doesn't say so, you have rain sensing automatic wipers on the SE trim and higher. And then to my surprise, there's no digital cluster. This is the top trim and this is what you get. This is what you get on all of them. You got the physical gauges on each side, which I still like to have physical gauges, but you kind of have a plain Jane information display in the middle. I was kind of expecting a little more of a modern touch to this cluster. Now you can control all the information from the steering wheel. So on your main screen, you've got a trip computer where you can scroll through a whole bunch of stuff. And I've actually been getting 32 miles per gallon combined in mixed driving. So that's fantastic. Better than what the actual rating says. Then you can scroll through, see your dynamic or your radar cruise control, lane keeping system, your audio compass right there. And then you can change through some settings further on here. So let me know if you would like to see the digital display that they have in some other ones or something more basic like this. And then as we look at the rest of the interior, this whole upper panel is actually kind of a softer rubbery type material. You've got the wood look trim running across and then some gloss black surrounding the center stack. Another thing to my surprise is that the 6.3 inch screen is standard. There's no larger screen like there is in pretty much all vehicles nowadays. It still has a responsive, it's still responsive like other Volkswagen screens. It's just certainly not the most modern, I guess you could say, but you have all these shortcuts on each side. It's still easy to navigate. You have Apple CarPlay, Android Auto. We even have the Fender premium audio system as well, which does sound pretty nice. One thing I appreciate is you still get a physical volume knob and a tuning knob over there. Plus below that we got dual zone climate control. So you've got dual zone AC, you've got your heated seat buttons right here, which are three tier. There's just no ventilated seat. Fan speed in the middle, temperature for you and your passengers on the side. Everything's really still pretty straightforward and easy to use. Although this whole center stack does look a little bit outdated, even though this is refreshed. And then below that you get a 12 volt power outlet and a USB port. Plus you've got a pretty decent little storage area right there. Although that is not wireless charging to my surprise. The shifter does have a real nice solid feel to it. There's only one thing that I would change. So in order to plus and minus manually shift, you go to the right and then you can go up and down from there. When you have a water bottle there that does get in the way, I would just like to maybe see it moved over. One tiny little minor complaint. Then you actually have the park assist right here for parallel and perpendicular parking and parking sensors right there. As we put the shifter into reverse, not only do you not get a top down surround view type of camera on this top trim, you also don't have dynamic guidance lines. So even if you move the steering wheel, it's stationary. Now, one thing I appreciate is that Volkswagen actually gives you a mechanical e-brake that you can pull. It's actually got a nice material on it as well. We've got really nice size cup holders. This one in the front kind of has a shallower or a higher up bottom. This one's a little deeper. So you can have a couple of different size bottles and you've got a little storage nook back here. And I always love being able to have places to put my stuff. This center arm rest. I wish it was maybe a little bit higher, but it can slide forward. It's got a nice soft material on it. And then you just got a really soft or a really small center area, no charging ports or lights or anything like that, but it is fairly deep. Then right up above you get an automatic dimming rear view mirror on the S E trim and higher. And then we still get a sunglass holder right here. Plus a regular size moonroof, no panoramic option, but you can get this standard size sunroof on the optional on the S E otherwise standard on the R line and S E L, but visibility wise pillars, not too large. The B pillar also not too bad. And then looking out the back, the shaping of this car is good for space and visibility. So for a sedan, this really is not too bad at all. Now the backseat of the facade is a great place to be because we've got 39.1 inches of leg room. There is a lot of space total sitting behind myself. I've got good space. Even when I had that seat all the way back, I still had good space. Got good foot space, good knee space. There's seat back pockets on the back of each seat as well. Right in front of us, we also get AC vents and all but the base. We get two USB ports back here. Plus on our top SEL trim, you're going to get heated outboard seats. Volkswagen also gives you a fold down armrest with some padding and some fixed cup holders. And I can even sit up tall without my head touching. I can feel my hair touch just a little bit, but headroom back here is good. Very family friendly. Rear facing car seat can fit in here. No problems. Adults, you're good to go. My only complaint with the backseat though, even though this is not all wheel drive, there's a pretty big hump in the middle. So someone sitting in the middle might have issues with that. Now, as we take a look under the hood for the facade, a couple of years ago, I drove the GT, which had that 3.6 liter VR V6. This one, you only get one option. It's the direct injected two liter turbocharged engine, which is a four cylinder. The horsepower is not very good at 174 horsepower, but you do get a healthy amount of torque at 206 pound feet. And we'll talk about how this drives in the test drive in just a little bit. But the thing about that torque is that it comes out so early, so you don't really have to push into the pedal all that much in order to get a good amount of power. It is paired with a six speed automatic transmission. There is no option for a manual, for those of you that were looking for it, no higher gear transmission either. The one thing to note is that we don't actually have the pad up here, the insulator up here, which is a little bit interesting. Miles per gallon is 23 city, 34 highway and 27 combined. Those numbers aren't terrible, but considering the power output from this, I would expect it to be better, but this does have an 18 and a half gallon fuel tank, which is unheard of in sedans today and on the highway that can give you 629 miles of range. All right, everyone, we are just getting started on the test drive. So first of all, we're doing this at night and I want you to see the headlights, turn them on. They're going to do a little dance for you, kind of wiggle around, level themselves out. So we're going to see exactly how well these headlights do. Since I'm not able to do an actual night review of the Passat to kind of show you that you'll get to see that in the test drive. And I'll talk to you about exactly how this Passat drives as well. So we'll talk about the ride comfort, the handling, see how well these headlights do, the adaptive function of these headlights and go from there. So right off the bat, if I had to say my first impression of the Passat, now I've driven a Passat before, but getting back in here, it's a very easy to drive car. So what I mean by that is the steering wheel is not heavy. It's not, you know, super light and just like nothing to it. It's just a simple car to drive. It's it feels almost basic in a sense compared to some of the others. Now there are some things that I like about it driving. And there's some things that I don't like about it as well. Now this first section will be a pretty well illuminated road. So the headlights aren't going to make a big difference. And we'll kind of talk about how it drives, but the handling is okay. It's not great. It's not perfect. But let's go ahead and get on it. Now this car certainly is not necessarily fast and there's not a faster, funner option. Like there used to be with the GT with the V6, but this one with the two liter turbo is sufficient. Thing about the turbo, if you're not familiar with driving a turbo is you don't have to push the pedal down very far in order to get some power. So we're just going 38, little bit of pedal, and then you get some power pretty much right away. You don't really have to throttle it and mash on it and going around just some subtle curves here. We'll go around some bigger curves in a little bit. The steering. One thing I've noticed at higher speeds is it almost feels a little bit too light. And even right here, it's pretty light, but there's a benefit to that as well is that in town parking, just casual, easy driving. It is fairly responsive. It does kind of feel a little bit more nimble than the size of the car would suggest, but it's certainly not a fun type of driving experience. Now with this night aspect, these side mirrors are not illuminated. This automatic, this mirror up here is an automatic dimming mirror. Ergonomics wise on the interior, it's a, it's a pretty nice layout. You, it's pretty much all touchscreen with the radio, the display and the gauges in the middle are easy to see and easy to read compared to that VW Golf I was in that had white backlighting on everything. This has red backlighting. So let me know down below what you prefer, the red or the white, the white is a little more harsh and a little more sterile. You could say this does have a tad bit of ambient lighting down at the footwells. Otherwise there's not too much going on in here. Just a subtle redness by the door handle. And one of the things that I like the most about the Passat is the ride comfort. This car soaks up some bumps really well. In fact, on my way to work, there was a pretty big bump and you hardly even notice it. It just really sails and just coasts over everything. So nice on my way to work, I had to kind of take a detour on a really rough road and this made it really more, much more comfortable than most of the sedans and most of the vehicles that I drive. Now put it in sport mode, RPMs kicked up a little bit and the headlights are doing a very nice job. So I'm going to turn the high beams on, automatic high beams, high beams are great, all LED. Let me actually turn those off for a sec. You'll see the adaptive function as we start to turn, going right up the road. Those are excellent. Those are great. They're going right where I want to see on the road. That was fantastic. And there's a decent amount of width out into the side. I can see the fences on the side of the road, the ditches as well. I can see all the way up to the curve ahead. Put the high beams back on. So if you want to kind of hustle this car a little bit around some corners like that, you can, it holds its own. There's a little bit of body lane, lightness of the steering wheel, but I have really enjoyed driving this car at night. It's just been a comfortable vehicle. Now the high beams just turned off because of some street signs and then they just turned back on or street lights. So we'll see how they do. But the adaptive function is fantastic. I still wish we had fog lights for the immediate brightness, but these are still doing a really nice job. And without the adaptive function, the rest of the trims that have LEDs don't get the same top rating from the IIHS. The adaptive function gives it its best rating, but these headlights, even without adaptiveness, like straight on, they do a nice job. Now this does have the radar cruise control, lane keeping system. The lane keeping system is not my favorite. It works well. It doesn't let you leave your lane, which is a bonus, but there's some times that I've noticed with the Jetta as well, is that a line on the road or like a crack in the pavement, something like that can trick this thing to where it can kind of just jerk you randomly. It won't jerk you out of your lane necessarily, but it does jerk you sometimes. The brakes on this car are a little bit soft. It's almost like the car just feels kind of heavy and it is a decent size car. But once you get into the pedal, you get a pretty decent amount of braking power. Now I told you how much I like the ride comfort. The ride comfort is great. These headlights are great. It's an easy car to drive. And you can see the headlights, the beams of light move as I turn the wheel. They are so responsive. And when I drove the Golf with the adaptive lights, it just was kind of wet and rainy and it was hard to tell, but they do fantastic with this, except the automatic high beams have kind of kicked on and off a couple of times randomly. But as you can tell on this road surface, it is, there is some road noise that gets in here. And that happens with every vehicle I drive on this road. But on the interstate, without much for imperfections on just concrete, this does pretty well. There is some road noise that, or some wind noise that creeps in. The glass on the side is not laminated or thick. It's just your standard glass. They could have done that on the top trim. That would have been nice. The wind noise isn't a big factor. It's just road noise on a rougher textured road. But if we had to cancel out the road noise, or if the road noise doesn't really bother you, or you don't drive on rougher surface roads like this, it's a quiet enough car to have a conversation with somebody. And I think the biggest thing that Volkswagen is going for in this Passat, obviously you have the Arteon if you want to bump things up with features and all of that, but they kind of gave you a middle of the road option. It's probably about just average in a lot of ways, but the ride comfort is great. There's a lot of space in here. It does everything that you would need it to do in a family sedan. It still gives you some nice features, although not everything that some of the competitors give you, but really you can't complain much about the Passat. It could be more efficient. It could be more powerful. It could go one way or the other. They just give you one option. I'd like to see a couple of options, but I think it really comes down to the fact that it just doesn't go over the top. It just doesn't really encourage me to want to pick this over some of the competitors, which have done fantastic. Now, this is a refresh, not a total redesign, so it's not a complete direct comparison, but if you are a Volkswagen loyalist, you want a comfortable ride, the German engineering, you want the warranty that this comes with, although it has been reduced, I think you'll be happy with this. Now, to wrap things up on the 2020 Passat, when you look at competition, like the top sellers, Accord and Camry, this is not as well equipped as those. This also is not as expensive as those, and it's still a very practical everyday type of sedan. You've got decent efficiency. You've got a lot of space inside, still plenty of features for most people. And when you look at this as an everyday standpoint, you've got a lot of cargo space. You've got good practicality on the inside, lots of leg room. So if you're going to use this as an actual family sedan, this is a legitimate option. Thank you so much for checking this video out. Be sure to watch some of these other videos below and subscribe for weekly reviews. Let me know what you think of this 2020 Passat, and we'll catch you next time.