From the November 1998 difficulty of Automobile and Driver.

Consideration, trivia collectors! With the arrival of this cleanly sculpted vari­ation of Volkswagen’s enticing mid-size sedan, Volkswagen-Audi AG now presents as many station-wagon selections because the Huge Three.

It is true. Let’s go to the C/D wagon scoreboard. Variety of station wagons constructed by Chrysler: zero. Normal Motors: one, the Saturn. Ford: two, every with two model names—Ford Escort / Mercury Tracer, and Ford Taurus / Mercury Sable. Home business complete: three. And that is the lot.

VW-Audi additionally has three—the Audi A4 and A6 Avants, and the brand new Passat—and any considered one of them offers extra driver grat­ification than all their U.S. competitors put collectively. For that matter, the identical might be stated for the Passat’s former rivals from Honda and Toyota. Of their current redesigns, wagon fashions disappeared from each the Accord and Camry mannequin ranges, and neither of their former supply­ings was as nifty or nimble as the brand new Passat.

In order that leaves the Passat with few cred­ible rivals: The Volvo V70 just isn’t solely larger and faster in its turbo editions but additionally significantly dearer. The Subaru Legacy GT packs a bit extra energy and area, plus all-wheel drive, for $23,990. The bottom value of our Passat GLS tester was $21,800. A $325 All-Climate bundle (heated entrance seats and washer nozzles) and an influence glass sunroof ($1000) bumped the as-tested complete to $23,125. The bottom five-cylinder five-speed V70 opens at $28,860.

Just like the Audi A4 and A6 Avants, the Passat wagon is constructed on VW-Audi’s B­-platform. Not like some corporations, how­ever, platform sharing at VW-Audi doesn’t suggest out-and-out cloning. Chassis and physique dimensions for the three wagons are all completely different, with the Passat slotting between the 2 Audis. (After all, the Passat is priced from $9165 to $16,394 lower than the Audis.)

The Passat’s new chassis is commend­ably stiff—a 35-percent enchancment in torsional rigidity, in accordance with VW—and its A4-derived four-link entrance suspension appears to do a better-than-average job of controlling toe and camber adjustments throughout onerous cornering. The rear suspension—a trailing-arm and torsion-beam setup—is extra mundane, nevertheless it not less than retains the rear wheels from contributing greater than their fair proportion to the steering.

That steering provides the Passat just a little extra character than your common mid-size household hauler. Though on-center really feel is a bit on the numb aspect and there is a tad extra energy help than we like at low speeds, the ratio is pretty fast—2.8 turns lock-to-lock—and accuracy is superb certainly.

Suspension tuning is one other main ele­ment of aggressive turn-in and immediate restoration in fast transitions, after all, and the Passat’s Teutonic heritage exhibits to good benefit in these necessities of enjoyable to drive (FTD). There’s sufficient starch within the shock and spring charges to maintain weight switch out of the drama zone, permitting the Passat to straighten out snaky stretches with higher-than-average zeal.

This trait—and the ability of the all­-disc brake system, augmented by a virtu­ally pulse-free Bosch 5.3 anti-lock brake unit—would not actually present to benefit in our formal take a look at outcomes. Detached skidpad efficiency (0.75 g) iden­tifies the limiting issue, a set of 195/65R-15 Continentals. We’ve got to pre­sume these tires have been chosen primarily for trip high quality, and possibly value, as a result of they whimpered on the first trace of ram­bunctious ramp working. In addition they sniveled in switchbacks and simply flat howled in any form of onerous cornering. Much less sidewall and just a little extra contact patch, in addition to a tread compound much less intently associated to linoleum, would positively improve this automobile’s talents within the realm of driving for leisure.

Acceleration remains to be one other important element of FTD, and right here the Passat’s efficiency charges so-so, not less than when it is outfitted with VW’s company 1.8-liter twin-cam 20-valve turbo 4. As we have famous earlier than, Volkswagen’s five-valve-­per-cylinder engine isn’t any screamer. It reaches its 150-horsepower peak at 5700 rpm. With a take a look at weight of 3180 kilos, we weren’t in any respect stunned by its 8.5-second 0-to-60 time, regardless that our take a look at automobile had the usual five-speed guide transmission.

Then again, the 1.8T has glorious torque traits, with al­most all 155 pound-feet of it on faucet from 1750 to 4600 rpm. The large bene­suits to this distinctive torque band are snappy stoplight getaways and better-than-average fifth­-gear response in freeway cruising.

Extra snort shall be accessible this month as ’99 fashions begin trickling in to showrooms. They will have the choice of VW’s 190-hp, 2.8-liter V-6. The identical goes for VW’s all­-wheel-drive Syncro choice and probably the 1.9-liter turbo-diesel presently provided within the Jetta and New Beetle. At this writing, nevertheless, the one powertrain choice for the Passat wagon is VW’s manumatic 5­-speed Tiptronic transmission.

Seating is one other of the Passat’s sturdy fits, because it normally is with VWs. Up entrance, the buckets lack some lateral assist however in any other case supply a variety of alter­ments and embrace aspect airbags tucked into their outer edges. In again, there’s an additional 1.4 inches of headroom and a bit extra shoulder width. Behind the seats, the Passat can swallow 39 cubic toes of stuff; 56 cubes match with these seats folded flat.

There are two inside shortcomings: a coloration scheme that appears to have been impressed by an hour or so at nighttime depths of the Carlsbad Caverns—coal miners will really feel at house right here—and audio controls designed for folk whose fin­gertips resemble freshly sharpened pencils.

On the credit score aspect of the ledger, the stygian inside decor is vivid­ened at evening by the neonesque instrument and secondary-control lighting—blue and crimson—­and the cabin is com­mendably quiet at most working speeds. The engine emits a little bit of buzz at idle, and exceptionally warty pavement will talk occa­sional thumps by means of the suspension and into the ears of the occupants. However regardless that the coefficient of drag is, at 0.30, 0.03 larger than the sedan’s quantity, wind noise remains to be near Accord/Camry terri­tory. Which is to say low.

Everyone knows why the recognition of station wagons has dwindled to nearly nothing within the U.S. market, after all. They have been supplanted by minivans and sport-utility automobiles, the previous for his or her higher capability, the latter as a result of they’re perceived as cool, and likewise as a result of they convey a way of invulnerability and empowerment to sure drivers.

Effectively, okay. However within the realm of security, we lean strongly towards automobiles with a excessive agility index, optimizing crash keep away from­ance, somewhat than these which might be prone to have an edge in complete mass when the colli­sion happens. And once we hear of us equating FTD with a excessive seating place, we’re tempted to contact the Thought Police.

FTD is an amalgam of restricted physique roll, brisk transient response, exact steering, and a positive power-to-weight ratio. With the 1.8-liter engine, the Passat wagon is not spectacular on the latter rely, nevertheless it’s nonetheless livelier than 95 % of the sport-utilities galumphing alongside on the market. And it’ll go away any of them gasping for breath on a mountain highway.

Add respectable cargo capability, clean styling, long-haul consolation, and the perfect fit-and-finish high quality we have seen from VW in a few years, and you’ve got a wonderful motive to keep away from the mountainous mass, ele­phantine responses, and heavy thirst of a mid-size sport-ute.

Because of Volkswagen, the station wagon is cool once more.

Tony was good, properly learn, humorous, irascible, cantankerous, opinionated, pleasant, tough, charming, sincere, and eminently fascinating to be round.

He liked vehicles, automobile folks, and phrases… however most of all, he liked racing. The Automobile and Driver author, editor, and racer handed away in 2018 at age 78.

Remembering Tony