Passat Wagon MY13 - big enough for family car

[kleung]

There is also a partition grill that you can get, i have attached an image.

For anyone who's interested, this cargo partition is not available in Australia, apparently due to non-compliance with ADRs, according to Barloworld Glen Waverley. Evidently there is one available for the Golf though. Go figure...

[booba]

I have the metal cargo barrier arriving soon so will let all you know how it goes.. i don't really care about the adr ruling, what are they going to do?

Thanks for that. I've used the vertical flexible cargo barrier before, but I just don't trust it to hold back anything big and heavy, and there are large gaps on either side of it. Most of the time everything fits under the horizontal blind. I'd be more comfortable with a metal cargo barrier, like the one booba posted (thanks booba).

It's very pricey though, and some googling hasn't revealed whether it's easily removable or not. I did find one site that said no drilling was required, so maybe...

[kleung]

I have the metal cargo barrier arriving soon so will let all you know how it goes.. i don't really care about the adr ruling, what are they going to do?

I'd be interested to know where you ordered yours from and how much, if that's OK.

Re: ADRs - if it plays a part in a traffic accident, it may come into play I suppose.

[MJW]

You will definitely have insurance issues if a claim for damages can be linked to a non compliant cargo barrier. As much as it sux & makes no sense I would much prefer to stick with something ADR approved.

[FSI 220]

If you consider the barrier part of the cargo you should not have a problem... we needed an ADR barrier if the car was registered for business purposes, when I started using Novated TOT vehicles it was registered private... no longer required...

There are heaps of the non ADR ones around, they are just referred to as "pet barriers" from poor to good quality... in Oz an ADR barrier needs to protect the back of the seats which that one didn't, and have a means of escape through it ... it may be better to have full protection, but the above would be better than the mesh, and the mesh is better than nothing...

[Mingers13]

If you consider the barrier part of the cargo you should not have a problem... we needed an ADR barrier if the car was registered for business purposes, when I started using Novated TOT vehicles it was registered private... no longer required...

There are heaps of the non ADR ones around, they are just referred to as "pet barriers" from poor to good quality... in Oz an ADR barrier needs to protect the back of the seats which that one didn't, and have a means of escape through it ... it may be better to have full protection, but the above would be better than the mesh, and the mesh is better than nothing...

What is your sports pack like? Are the seats comfortable and is the lower suspension to low?

Also with teh MY13 is it worth waitingTill late January to get the car as they have to build what i want????????? Or am i better off getting a bigger car like a Jeep or Toyota>

[wind]

What is your sports pack like? Are the seats comfortable and is the lower suspension to low?

I like the sports pack seats on my TDI. I am on the bigger side (almost 1.9 m tall and built on the solid side, 120 kg). When I got the car, at first I found the seats needed some adjusting to as they do grip you firmly. After I 'broke in' the seat (or vice-versa!), they became supremely comfortable - a very very nice and secure place to drive from (straights and curves).

Have done long distance interstate drives (Sydney to Melbourne, to Brisbane and to Adelaide) and I am able to sit in the car all day - very relaxing and restful place to be. Recently had a renter for a while (my Passat collected a roo just out of Wagga coming home from Adelaide - will not use foul language to express my opinion of the bl--dy varmint!) and its was a POS in comparison - too hard, uncomfortable, a real pain in the a-s. I have driven numerous other cars and I can confirm that the Passat (for me) is the most comfortable for cruising - whether you are going to local shops (couple of mins) or a drive to Adelaide (14+ hours!).


Re low suspension - have the mud-flaps and when going over speed humps and other such annoyances I get a rather loud and initially disconcerting scrape from the front flaps as they 'ground' - FSI-220 can tell you (another thread on this forum) of his experience with a full car and grounding the front flaps at highway speed . . .

Re mudflap scraping . . . have worked out a technique for going over speed humps that minimises the likelihood of the dreaded scrape and the missus giving me the devil eye!

[Mingers13]

I like the sports pack seats on my TDI. I am on the bigger side (almost 1.9 m tall and built on the solid side, 120 kg). When I got the car, at first I found the seats needed some adjusting to as they do grip you firmly. After I 'broke in' the seat (or vice-versa!), they became supremely comfortable - a very very nice and secure place to drive from (straights and curves).

Have done long distance interstate drives (Sydney to Melbourne, to Brisbane and to Adelaide) and I am able to sit in the car all day - very relaxing and restful place to be. Recently had a renter for a while (my Passat collected a roo just out of Wagga coming home from Adelaide - will not use foul language to express my opinion of the bl--dy varmint!) and its was a POS in comparison - too hard, uncomfortable, a real pain in the a-s. I have driven numerous other cars and I can confirm that the Passat (for me) is the most comfortable for cruising - whether you are going to local shops (couple of mins) or a drive to Adelaide (14+ hours!).


Re low suspension - have the mud-flaps and when going over speed humps and other such annoyances I get a rather loud and initially disconcerting scrape from the front flaps as they 'ground' - FSI-220 can tell you (another thread on this forum) of his experience with a full car and grounding the front flaps at highway speed . . .

Re mudflap scraping . . . have worked out a technique for going over speed humps that minimises the likelihood of the dreaded scrape and the missus giving me the devil eye!

thanks for that

do you have anyone in the car with you in the passenger and/or back seats when going on long drives? Are they comfortable?

So with the lower suspension do you scrap a bit or is it just the mudflaps? do you notice any scraping or any uncomfortable bumps of it driving to melbourne or adelaide on the longer drives? I take it around the city it is fine

[FSI 220]

I found I did have under thigh and pedal relationship issues, I don't know if this would have been any different with the regular seats... probably not the seats fault... couldn't get the wheel far enough from the dash so I could keep my legs straight enough to support the thighs... I am sore after about four hours...

The V6 has the same suspension as the V6 with sports pack, so no difference... the car is not suitable for ungraded dirt roads or farm tracks, although the 4motion works well on slippy grades (there is nil articulation really). You take spead humps with some pace on comfort suspension, because if you go slow you will touch down... When the car is fully loaded (as it was in the photo up the thread) you can deck the mudflaps at 100 just rolling the re-settle after a crest, or through a gully...

Cheers... (oh, and I dont have the car anymore actually)

[wind]

Have had full car on trip to Melbourne and return (was first 'drive' with new car and only 200km on the clock when we took off). The family found it comfortable. The youngest of 3 got the rear middle and found that he could not get a comfortable place to put his feet over/around the tunnel/hump without annoying the other two (probably deliberate!). Everyone was comfortable - or at least there were no complaints that reached my ears.


Re FSI 220's under thigh/pedal issues. After some adjusting of the seat and steering wheel, I found one that was very comfortable. Initially did also have the thigh issues, but fixed that by finding a happy compromise that works for me (knees bent a little more and seat a little more forward that what I would usually have - allowed me to lift the knees/thighs up a little so the pressure was removed). On the long distance cruises I do, I use the adaptive cruise (great!) and the left foot rest and right 'footrest' (a conveniently angled plastic surface just to the right of the accel. pedal) and that is very good for long distance driving comfort as I am able to rotate through several positions with each leg and not freeze into a single one that makes it 'fun' to get out after 4+ hours in the car in the single position (with the diesel, can cruise 10+ hours until the next re-fill but prefer to take regular breaks along the way).

I agree with him re pedal placement - could be better but have to live with what we have . . . you do get used to it


Re ground clearance - if you need ground clearance, then the sports pack is not for you! With the lower ride, you become more careful about how you maneuver around potential scrapes of the under-body . . . so far only grounded the body once on a driveway that did a 180 degree tight radius turn to the left while going from flat to a steep downward grade, all in the space of 3-4 meters(!) - had been warned about it so took it very very slowly and when I heard the body touch stopped and backed out . . replacement plastic bit that got ripped off from under the passenger side rear (in front of the rear passenger side wheel) was just under $20 from VW parts, so was cheap lesson!


Re scraping - for me it has been mainly mudflaps over speed humps. The only body scrape that I am aware that I did was the one above. How much scrape etc. you get will really depend on the sort of driving and locations you do. I also use the 'go a little faster over the speed hump' (so that the mudflap misses the speed hump when the car goes down on the other side) or I use the 'do not apply brakes over the speed humps' approach to avoid the scrapes (well, it will minimise scrapes anyway) - you figure out what works best for you.