From the 2011 North American International Auto Show, Cars.com's Kelsey Mays takes a look at the 2012 Volkswagen Passat.
Transcript
Cars.com Auto Reviews. Hi, I'm Kelsey maze for cars.com. We're at the 2011 Detroit auto show. Checking out the redesigned Volkswagen Passat.
It's going to be a lot more accessible because it's cheaper than the old one by about six or seven thousand dollars. Volkswagen says it hopes to make it to family car shoppers lists alongside cars, like the Toyota Camry and the Honda accord. We'll take you through everything that's different, with these sort of glaring headlights and downward slope to the grill. This looks a little bit like the Honda accord, actually. It also looks a lot like Volkswagen's redesigned Jetta Sedan, not necessarily a bad thing. The Jetta and the Passat both are pretty sharp looking cars, but the Passat is a lot bigger. It's about ten inches longer overall, and about four inches longer than its predecessor Passat in back, you see a lot of similarities with sedans from Audi. Again, not necessarily a bad thing. Overall, pretty clean, pretty sharp design. Cabin's been completely redone. It's simpler, a little more angular than the proceeding Passat, fewer kind of swooping angles quality is okay. It's not necessarily as good as the outgoing Passat. That's what happens when you make a car this much less expensive and more accessible. So you lose a few things. You don't have things like you're ratcheting up arm rest here that was height adjustable or upholstered B and C pillars. But I want to show you how much room there is in this thing. This is where I would sit to drive. I'm about six feet tall. This is where maybe an NBA player would sit to drive. And this is like where Andre the Giant would sit to drive. That is a ton of room. Someone of his size might also be able to fit back here. That's where I'd have the seat to drive. And as you can see, there's six or eight inches here before my knees are going to hit the front seat backs, just tons of room, the seats it's nice and high off the ground. And I've got decent headroom, just really exceptional in all directions, The Accord and the Camry both start under $22,000. And so Passat's new price point would put it right into the thick of things. Can it make up some lost ground for Volkswagen? Well, when it goes on sale this summer, I think there is some potential. For more car related news, go to cars.com For our blog, kickingtires.net.
