chicagotribune.com's view

Would as many four-wheel-drive sport-utility vehicles ply this nation’s roadways if the automakers also offered four- or all-wheel-drive sedans? Consider for a moment one of the main attractions of sport-utes: all-season motoring thanks to all wheels doing the work and not just two in front or back.

Ask Snow Belt dwellers why they form lines outside dealerships each Nov. 1, and typically the answer is the opportunity to purchase a 4WD vehicle to ensure they can continue to travel the highways until April 1.

Gas at $2 a gallon? Gas could be $2 per teaspoon along about mid-January in the Snow Belt, and the owner of a 4WD sport-ute will travel to work with a smile that spans the face earlobe to earlobe. Of course, along about July 1, when the roads are clean and dry, the ear-to-ear smile turns to a shoulder-to-shoulder frown, but we’ll save that for the next review of a convertible.

We test drove the 2000 Volkswagen Passat GLX sedan with its new (as of March) system called 4Motion, a clever way to point to the fact that this is a full-time all-wheel-drive sedan in which neither rain nor sleet nor snow will keep it from completing its appointed rounds.

With 4Motion the Passat sedan is a joy to drive. Sad to say, however, that the jubilation turns to depression when you realize you can count the number of all-wheel-drive sedans on one hand and that while General Motors, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, Toyota, Honda–you name it–are digging deep into the treasury to invest in even more 4WD or all-wheel-drive sport-utes and trucks, they haven’t invested a cent in either system for any of their cars.

Cadillac sedans without all-wheel-drive? Lincolns without AWD? A high-performance Pontiac without AWD? A Chrysler 300M without AWD? You get the picture.

The typical response when pressed as to why sedans haven’t received the same treatment as SUVs is that it is too complex a system, and therefore too costly, to add to cars without chasing customers away.

Horsefeathers.

What’s one reason folks dump the luxury sedan in favor of a sport-ute? 4WD.

The industry can sell vehicles priced at $30,000 to $50,000 and offer such gimmicks as pedals that motor to your feet, seats that air-condition your behind, phones that dial up the ambulance service when your air bag deploys and sensors th at detect and then flash along the lower windshield a portrait of a deer in the road, and it feels all-wheel-drive is to complex and costly?

Performance can be measured in a variety of ways. Some go by the numbers under the MPG heading on the window sticker. Some go by the numbers after horsepower and torque in the owner’s manual. Some go by the automakers’ zero- to 60-m.p.h. claim.

Some forget the numbers and go by the fact that, when behind the wheel, they feel in control and content that no matter what direction they point the wheel, the vehicle will respond in an instant without leaning, swaying or balking, even if going a little faster than the posted limit.

If given a choice of speed versus stability, we’ll take stability.

The Passat GLX with 4Motion isn’t what you would call quick off the line. Alert, yes. Lively, to be sure, but the 190-h.p. V-6 is neither bullet nor rocket.

Yet, is a vehicle that travels 65 m.p.h. but is for ced to s low to 45 m.p.h. each time the road twists or turns any faster than a vehicle that simply travels the route at a steady speed?

With its above-average ride and handling, there’s a perception you are traveling faster than you are, which should soothe those who measure a vehicle’s worth only with a stopwatch.

With 4Motion, the radials are planted to the pavement. No lean, no sway, no bump or bounce. No interference or interruption. In other words, going where you want to when you want to without pausing to determine whether you can.

The Passat with 4Motion is a vehicle for those who find themselves yawning after spending any length of time resting on the leather padding in a Lexus ES300.

Some will ask whether it’s worth the extra $1,650 to equip a Passat with 4Motion. Not if you prefer simply steering a vehicle between the painted lines instead of driving. Of course, you should ask how many visits to the body shop after a winter or two in the Snow Belt will offset that $1,650 investment with the stability and traction AWD offers.

One reason some who fled luxury cars for sport-utes have returned to luxury cars is the mileage rating. The AWD Passat is rated at 17 m.p.g. city/24 m.p.g. highway, more than tolerable.

The Passat GLX starts at $27,655. Standard equipment includes anti-lock brakes, traction control, driver/front passenger front and side-impact air bags, power sunroof, air conditioning, rain-sensing wipers (VW says the standard daytime running lamps meet Illinois law mandating lights be on when wipers are), heated wiper nozzles, cruise control, rear-window defroster, carpeted floor mats, power door locks that automatically lock at 8 m.p.h. and unlock when you put the lever in park or when an air bag is deployed, AM/FM stereo with cassette, remote trunk lid and fuel filler door release buttons conveniently located in the driver’s door rather than on the driver’s floor, heated front seats, power driver’s seat, tinted glass, manually operated rear window sunshade, heated outside power mirrors and leather seats.

In addition to the $1,650 4Motion, the test car came with a 5-speed automatic transmission with Tiptronic, the clutchless manual that allows you to swing the lever into a separate slot so you can tap it to upshift or downshift, at $1,075.

Passat, VW’s top-of-the line flagship, offers 4Motion only with the Tiptronic, which means in truth, the base price should read $27,655 plus $1,650 plus $1,075, or $30,380. An oversight, don’t you think?

While VW’s sister division Audi offers an AWD system called Quattro virtually throughout its lineup, Passat is the only VW offering 4Motion for now. A new luxury flagship sedan is coming for 2002, the same time frame as a new luxury sport-ute being developed in cooperation with Porsche (to be called Cayenne for the hot spice; VW has yet to name its version). The sedan and SUV will offer 4Motion.

Thanks to Passat, VW says it expects to sell 350,000 to 360,000 cars in the U.S. in calendar 2000, up from 315,000 in calendar 1999. No forecast for 2001 as yet.

As for 2001, the price of the next Passat increases by $655. It will have a limited run because next spring Passat gets a facelift and will be designated a 2002 model.

We hope the annoyances in the current model will be solved at that time. The dash-mounted dual cupholders (which block access to the power plug for your cell phone when pulled out for use) up front and rear console-mounted dual cupholders in the rear cabin are so flimsy you have to assume they were purchased at a dollar store.

Also, there’s a ski pass-through between trunk and rear cabin, but despite enough attempts that we were considering dynamite as a last resort, we couldn’t open it.

And it would be nice if the rear seat backs folded down to increase cargo capacity in the cabin. The trunk is massive, but there are times when you need to haul a very long item that you would prefer to be in the car rather than hang out the trunk (like those skis when you can’t open the pass through).

VW says that the seat backs will fold in the front-wheel-drive Passat, but not in the AWD version because the AWD requires some structural integrity hardware that rules out allowing the seat to fold.

So leave the skis home and take up ice skating.

2000 Volkswagen Passat GLX
Wheelbase: 106.4 inches
Length: 184.1 inches
Engine: 2.8-liter, 190-h.p., 30-valve V-6
Transmission: 5-speed Tiptronic automatic
Fuel economy: 17 m.p.g. city/24 m.p.g. highway
Pluses: All-season motoring thanks to 4Motion all-wheel-drive that allows the vehicle to cling to the pavement. True measure of this car’s performance isn’t zero- to 60 m.p.h. as it is the ability to dictate stability and control. Adequate power. Decent mileage for all-wheel-drive sedan. Dual front and side-impact air bags. Trunk and fuel-filler releases on door, not floor. Massive trunk with power plug and ski pass-through into cabin.
Minuses: Does the person live who can open the ski pass-through between trunk and rear seat? $30,000 sedan with 30-cent cupholders. Rear seat backs don’t fold for added storage.