Greetings from a VW Convert

[passatpout]

Greetings all,
I'm new to the forum, having only started looking a few weeks ago, but I guess you could say that I'm a recent convert to VWs.

I've just returned to Australia after 18 months in the UK, where by chance I had 2 Golfs, without consciously going for VW - I'd preferred Peugeots before that.

I ordered a Golf Match (Pacific in Australia) 1.9TDi in September last year, which was finally delivered to me in March this year. The main reason for getting this was because it was one of the few diesel autos I could get over there, plus it had the RNS510 satnav. Luckily for me, since I was going through Lombard, I was able to get a loan car until it arrived, which again by coincidence was a Golf GTI, 2.0l petrol auto (my wife can't drive a manual, so that sort of limits my fun).

The GTI was fun, especially on the motorways keeping up with 7-series BMWs and Porsches, and it wasn't too bad on the fuel (averaging around 35mpg). It came with all the go fast bits, big wheels, gearshift paddles, dual climate control, heated seats (important through an English winter), etc, etc. I liked it, and was a bit sad to let it go when my ordered car arrived, especially knowing that I was going for the 1.9l instead of the 2.0l turbo diesel (the funds dried up with going for the extra).

The 1.9l arrived, and it was a fun car too, getting run in by driving from London to Edinburgh with a combination of motorways and A & B-roads, then returning through a blizzard. Better luxury features, the RNS510 was absolutely brilliant for this Aussie in a place where the water goes down the plughole the wrong way, everything was good, except for the engine, which was a bit gutless and chewed more fuel than I thought it would. However, it was a good car, enjoyable to drive, and made life a lot easier.

Anyhow, a few months down the track, and due to some health problems we returned to Australia. Looking for a runaround here, we had an open mind on things, with our criteria being leather seats (easier to clean), automatic, preferably diesel, preferably a wagon or hatch, and went looking at Holdens, Mazdas, Peugeots, etc. After being put off by a very keen salesman from another brand, we decided to have a look at the VWs again.

Thinking that another Golf would be good, but probably a bit small when planning for the next few years with kids, prams, etc, we spotted a Passat wagon and straight away both of us fell in love with it. After actually having to rouse the salesman to have a drive (he let us have about 15 minutes of looking through it before speaking to us), he brought out another wagon to take for a spin, with the 125kW 2.0l turbo diesel and DSG. 20 minutes later, we were sold and signed the paperwork for the car we'd just test-driven.

So last Wednesday we picked up a MY08 Passat wagon, in white, with sunroof, towbar, tinted windows, leather seats, and paddle shift (they'd had to swap a wheel with another car, so this one came with the paddles). My wife decided that she preferred white with a sunroof compared to black without, I wasn't worried about colour. The only thing this doesn't have compared to our Golfs is the Satnav, but then without digital radio to explain the traffic blackspots, and knowing our way around Australia reasonably well, we decided we can live without it.

And isn't it a fantastic car?? It's roomy, it's comfortable, it's quiet (even with the sunroof open on the highway), it's powerful, it's economical... the stereo is good, the steering wheel works well, the cruise control just holds speed, and without trying, it's telling me I'll get about 1100km from this tank, although it wasn't full when I picked it up. There's a couple of little glitches, like the cupholders in the back armrest don't work and it needs a wheel alignment (but I think that's because it's been a dealer demo for a few months), but other than that, it fits the bill quite nicely.

So we've now converted to VW.. even to the point of looking at an Eos on the weekend too, maybe to buy one next year...

Happy motoring..

[sci_fianime]

Congrats and welcome to the Passat family...

[Vdub]

Oh so right m8, good choice!! you can do nice things with that car. 125kw sounds good but with a little chiptuning you can have lots more fun in your wagon. Saves petrol too .


welcome to the forum and enjoy