Passat R36

[alfaspiderman2]

Anyone driven one and able to comment?

Always liked the R32 but need something a bit bigger. Guess I could be tempted by an R36 over the obvious BMW/Audi rivals.

Interested to hear any views

[Tame Technician]

Drove one that got traded in, very impressed with performance, but not so much with the handling.

The engine in the R36 faces the wrong way, so the car is very front heavy.

Audi's may drive the wrong wheels but the engine in the right way round improves things significantly.

The BMW has proper 50:50 weight distribution and drives the right wheels, but who wants to be a BMW owner.

If you dont spend most of your time driving on or near the limit, you may not even notice, and the noise and performance of the VR6 engine are very impressive.

[dibbly_dobbler]

Oooh - traitor ! I'm going to tell the BMW boys about this ...

[iluvmercs]

I test drove an estate R36 last summer.
An awesome car, if you ask me. The DSG gearbox is eerily smooth and the engine gives a pleasent, if muted, note from the interior. From outside, the exhaust note doesn't seem as loud as the Golf R32, though.
Handling wise, I didn't get to test the limits on my accompanied test drive, but it did grip extremely well round some "enthusiastically" driven country roads.

Darren

[alfaspiderman2]

dibbly_dobbler said:

Oooh - traitor ! I'm going to tell the BMW boys about this ...

ha ha

just trying to think of alternatives to the otherwise inevitable 335

[brisel]

One word - depreciation

Get a 2nd hand one - much better value IMHO

[Dr G]

These have taken a fair old hit already and I can only imagine that hit turning into a kick in the nuts in the coming years!

[Matt_N]

brisel said:

One word - depreciation

Get a 2nd hand one - much better value IMHO

Or the oddball choice, the Passat W8?

[john_r]

brisel said:

One word - depreciation

Get a 2nd hand one - much better value IMHO

I was looking at getting a company car and the lease on these is horrendous due to the expected depreciation... For the same monthly cost it was up against £35k to £40k cars!

[paradad]

I have a 6months old R36 in Biscay blue, it is fantastic, so fast, it accelerates like nothing on earth (yes I know, don't tell me)it is fantastic to drive. Lots of goodies. This car must do 0-60 in less than the stated 5.6 secs!

[Seez]

Um fast is rather subjective, it isn;t slow but did you see that thing on tv versus the A4 3.0tdi?

The passat is depreciation city and that goes for any Passat really.

If it is cheap it might be worth a punt, but these are heading down to £5k cars very sharply.

[okgo]

Why do people spend so much time desperate to find something better than the BMW, why not just buy one?

[paradad]

Yes, I did watch that prog, I was nearly in tears! But it was an estate after all AND my saloon is putting out about 320-325bhp! It is the fastest thing I have driven. I am looking forward to a trip to Germany soon, just for a blast & I'm not a boy racer, Pensioner racer perhaps!!