360� Gorgeous

Gorgeous indeed and I�m not talking about the tall blonde German I met last night anymore. I�m talking about the Volkswagen Passat CC that I took for a spin this afternoon! Look out C Class, there�s a new sheriff in town. I was recently inspired by someone to go check this car out; previously I had only tested the older Passat about two years ago. This 4 cylinder, 2.0I TSI turbocharged with direct injection system is a force to reckon with.

Let�s talk exterior first; something about the front grill says Lexus all over it and that�s not necessarily a bad thing, I love the Lexus! With the trademark VW insignia firmly at the center of the front chrome grill sandwiched between the Passat�s stylish headlamps. The headlamps although only come with Bi-xenon beams but it has a featured with a blast from the past; headlamp washer system. Put it all together; it�s a view that keeps you wanting more. A dash sleekness, a touch elegance and little taste of the devil. That�s my take on it. Another distinctive feature the Passat has is the CLS door trims, with the slender windows and slightly taller door frame but it comes with an advantage; frameless door trims, that is bitchin� sexy�! The 18� Interlagos rims aren�t my cup of tea and there�s a valid reason behind it; the Passat comes with a 1.8T DS7 version and those babies come with a 5 spoke rim that�s more my style. The rear of the car lacks in no way either; with its curved lip like spoiler above the trunk hood giving it the sports sedan look. To finish it all off, there is a chrome trim circling the car; very Continental Luxury car like!

The Passat left me salivating just from bodywork but little did I know, the interior was going to blow my mind! Full soft leather finishing, from the dash to the door panel, suitable for the Malaysian weather. A lot of these foreign luxury cars come with leather that tends to melt with the Asian heat; it�s a good thing VW have thought about these things. The control panels are all driver centered with an aluminum decorative insert. I tell you the gadgets they have made me feel like I was Agent 007. The Park-pilot system was impressive, giving the driver clear estimates during tight maneuverings.

Now it�s time to talk about the most exciting part of my experience, the DRIVE! Let me start by saying this; 3 minutes from Federal Highway to Month Kiara on the Kerinchi Link; Whoooah! The Passat is equipped with a state of the art DCC (Adaptive chassis control) system and traction control. I started up with a comfort setup, along Federal Highway; giving me a smooth drive through the traffic. The car felt like it was gliding with wings. Then when I entered the Kerinchi Link, on came the sports absorber setup and awoke the inner speed demon in me. It flew thru the corners of like it was on rails. After the toll, I jammed my foot down on the accelerator pedal and the Passat bolted off like a fighter jet. At 4000rpm, the turbocharger, even though it is a soft turbo, does really kick in! The 6 speed DSG (Direct Shift Gears) are amazing at compensating traction and power, moving up and down the selection as I was negotiating traffic and the bends on the Kerinchi Link. One to note though is that is you�re cruising, try and keep it on the comfort setup or else you�re going to feel every pebble on the tarmac! The Passat comes with cruise control, keyless security system, rain sensor, airbags to keep the car afloat, electronic stabilizing programme, a panorama sunroof and loads more. One feature that I really loved is the Park Hold system. Say you reach a traffic stop; you don�t have to keep your foot on the brake pedal! The car remains stationary until you accelerate. The Passat also has an electronic parking brake system, unlike the conventional hand brakes that we have on our road cars.

Overall, I give this car a full-fledged and deserving 5 star and not just because of what I saw and felt from the drive but also from the fuel efficiency reviews, which is only 15cent a kilometer. Now that is absolutely astounding for a turbocharged car. Even better is the maintenance requirements, for every 15K kilometers it requires a standard service and it cost less than RM600 for the first service but the following regular services are all below RM900 and a little over RM2400 for a major service. I�ll have to say VW have done their homework in taking the advantage against their rivals, BMW, Mercedes and Volvo. VW are even giving a 1% discount on the car, which of course if you look at the RM245K price isn�t much but hey, it�s still money! For quite some time VW�s Bug and the Golf have hogged the lime-light and for once the German powerhouse have come up with sports sedan good enough to silence the Golf fanatics and put the C-Class and the 3-Series back on their drawing boards.