Volkswagen Passat review

While sharing so much DNA with the Skoda Superb arguably robs the Passat of some personality, for an estate car it’s the automotive equivalent of pairing up with the nerdiest kid in school for a class project. The Passat has gained 50mm of wheelbase, every bit of that boosting rear legroom, while the fact that it’s 144mm longer and 20mm wider than the previous gen means boot capacity now measures 690 litres with the rear seats in place or 1,920 with them flipped – improvements of 40 and 140 litres (respectively), meaning this thing is even more capacious than a gargantuan Mercedes-Benz E-Class estate.

On-paper numbers are merely that, of course, but thankfully the reality is strong, too. Adults will feel comfy in the back and the boot is large, though it’s definitely worth flagging up that the (apparently best-selling) plug-in eHybrid models offer reduced luggage capacity of 530/1,770 litres thanks to their battery.

So it’s big in the back. Is it a mess up front?

The front seat of a VW is still a touchscreen-led environment, even if the Passat (and its Tiguan sibling) are designed to be a step on the path to ergonomic forgiveness. While a 12.9in central infotainment screen comes as standard, a 15in display is optional and it’s all we’ve tried so far. It falls neatly into your field of vision, so doesn’t prove overly distracting on the move, while the arrival of ChatGPT within the ‘IDA’ voice control is designed to reduce distraction further.

This is still very much work in progress and will improve as the tech grows. For now, you can use it to operate in-car functions with relative ease while it can answer simple trivia questions with a brisk dig into Wikipedia. More obtuse queries still flummox it, but at least it’s one way to pass the time as you live out your motorway rep car dreams…

Does it all feel high quality?

It does, with a few swankier touches than the Tiguan helping justify both its higher price and the Passat’s increasingly niche place in the world. Plush materials occupy the areas where your eyes and hands most frequently fall while harder wearing plastics are reserved for the areas they don’t.

Ambient lighting is scattered everywhere – most artfully in a new dashboard display ahead of the passenger – while heated, vented and massaging seats offer an array of options and intensities. Massage seats in rival Stellantis products hiss and groan as they operate, but the library-like tranquillity of the Passat is never disturbed.

Thankfully there are proper buttons on the steering wheel, but we still crave physical climate controls, it must be said, even if the illuminated sliders at the brim of the touchscreen are okay. Just careful not to press down for too long and accidentally kick the air con into its lowest or highest extremes. The Skoda Superb gets a row of traditional air con dials right where you’d expect them. Just saying.