Not all that way back, Volkswagen tried to eschew the entire “folks’s automobile” schtick and transfer its product line up-market. The outcome was vehicles like immediately’s Good Value or No Cube W8 Passat: the fanciest Passat ever. Let’s see if its value now makes it one for the folks.
A number of folks favored the 1998 Cadillac Deville we checked out final Friday. Effectively, what we actually favored was its $1,800 price ticket. That’s E-Bike territory, and whereas the Caddy will not be the sportiest or most effective of rides, it does have a roof and, in accordance with the advert, working warmth and A/C. The results of that characteristic set/value match-up was a strong 93 % Good Value win.
In the present day, we’re going to go for an additional arguably low cost eight-cylinder saloon, however one which leans a bit extra closely on expertise and Germanic fashion than the normal American method of the Caddy.
We must always be aware on the outset that immediately’s 2004 Volkswagen Passat W8 is a mannequin that may not have even existed have been it not for one man, then Volkswagen Group Chair Ferdinand Piëch. The grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, Piëch had a imaginative and prescient of an upscale Volkswagen, which led to him driving the event of such pie-in-the-sky vehicles as this fancy Passat. He argued that Volkswagen wanted to broaden its market presence upward to be able to develop and revenue. What resulted was vehicles just like the range-topping Phaeton, the flowery off-roader Touareg, and the costliest Passat the world had ever seen.
Volkswagen launched the Passat nameplate in 1973 as a fastback doppelgänger to Audi’s mannequin 80 saloon and two-door. Each fashions shared the identical property physique fashion with model separation dealt with by becoming totally different grilles, badges, and lights.
Through the years, VW alternated between Audi-style inline overhang engines and Golf-like transverse setups for the Passat fashions. By the point the B5 dropped in 1997, it was as soon as once more utilizing the longitudinal format and the identical AWD setup as Audi’s Quattro, simply rebranded for Volkswagen responsibility because the 4Motion. This technology of Passat was initially made accessible with a spate of four-cylinder fuel and diesel engines, topping out with the quad-cam 2.8-liter V6, the mainstay of the competing Audi lineup on the time.
That might all change in late 2001 with the introduction of the W8 engine within the newly restyled Passat. Alarmingly described looking back as a ‘take a look at mattress’ for later W12 and W16 engines, the ‘W’ motor would later make its method into way more costly vehicles.
The 271-horsepower eight-cylinder could be slotted into the Passat as a part of an effort to make a shorter leap between it and the upcoming Phaeton. In format, the 4.0-liter engine was two VR6 motors, every with two cylinders lopped off after which wedded collectively in an unholy vogue. Shorter than a standard V8, it nonetheless fills the Passat’s engine bay like a espresso cup with no room for cream or sugar. The vehicles got here commonplace with the 4Motion AWD and provided the selection of both a six-speed stick or a five-speed automated.
This explicit Passat W8 comes with the automated. It additionally has 182,000 miles on the ticker. That’s exceptional, contemplating the reputational woes the W8 engine has amassed. In response to the vendor, the automobile “Runs and drives good and tight” and boasts that it simply handed its state-mandated smog take a look at.
Aesthetically, it’s a little bit of a combined bag. This seems to be a very good 10-foot automobile, with a number of nicks within the paint and a few curb rash on the still-handsome BBS ‘Madras’ wheels noticeable upon nearer inspection. Two of these wheels are additionally lacking their heart caps.
The inside additionally exhibits the miles within the put on of the leather-based on the driving force’s seat. That’s fully worn by to the froth on the squab. All the pieces else seems to be in positive form, and the wooden trim does heat the place up a bit.
Below the hood, issues appear simply as tidy. There isn’t a proof of mechanical monkey enterprise, and all of the plastic covers and trim are all intact. The automobile comes with a clear title and a $2,750 asking value.
Is that loads to ask for a Volkswagen of this caliber, no matter its unique aspirations? Or is {that a} honest value to pay for a peach from Piëch?
You resolve!
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