Passat Wagon MY13 - big enough for family car

[Mingers13]

Looking at buying a family car and i have tried to narrow it down to these options

VW Passat Wagon 2013
Ford Territory
Honda CRV 2013
Hyundai Sante Fe 2013

JUst wondering how The PASSAT WAGON would go for space in the back seat in terms of two baby seats and whether people in the front seat have enough leg room and are comfortable (i suppose bit taller than average adults) and whether the boot will fit a couple of prams etc

Any helpful advice would be appreciated as it is doing my head in!!!!!

Im leaning towards a VW Passat Wagon but wife is worried that it is too small for a family car and the VWs cost a lot to maintain and aren't reliable cars...but i reckon it drives and looks great

HELP

[wind]

Am past the baby seat/capsule stage. When I have my 3 kids (8, 10, 12) in the back seat of the Passat wagon, the centre one (usually taken by the youngest) is not comfortable leg-wise as he can't find a good place to put his feet around the centre console/floor hump without annoying one or both the other 2 . . .

With 2 people in the back, no problem. I am 188 cm and can sit behind the driver's seat (set for me) and my knees have some room in front of them and head room is OK too.

Suggest you take 2 other people with you (what are friends for if you can't draft them for something like this!) or 'volunteer' 2 strangers who happen to be in the showroom (not a bad fall-back option!) and try sitting 3-across the back seat with all 4 cars you are testing. Then test drive them within a day or so of each other and see which one you like the most and what compromises you want to make to get the one you like that (almost) meets you other needs.


I will leave any child seat/baby capsule feedback to those that have them . . .

[MJW]

Unless you and your wife are 6+ footers then I see no issue. Case & point. I am 5'11" & my wife is 5'6". We have two kids (10 & & they both went through the pram & baby seat stage in our other car (1998 Subaru Liberty wagon). The VW Passat Wagon is bigger inside & has a bigger wagon area so I would not imagine too many problems there.

I would be very surprised if the CRV has similar wagon space & possibly even the Sante Fe. If you are considering the Ford I can't help you as you clearly are not fussed about build quality.

[Mingers13]

Unless you and your wife are 6+ footers then I see no issue. Case & point. I am 5'11" & my wife is 5'6". We have two kids (10 & & they both went through the pram & baby seat stage in our other car (1998 Subaru Liberty wagon). The VW Passat Wagon is bigger inside & has a bigger wagon area so I would not imagine too many problems there.

I would be very surprised if the CRV has similar wagon space & possibly even the Sante Fe. If you are considering the Ford I can't help you as you clearly are not fussed about build quality.

Yeah only included ford cos its really big and definitey concerned about build quality!!!!! As i want to keep the car for more than 5 years...so is the durability of the VW good?

Im probably same size and my wife aroun 5'4" so i assume at front then we will be ok and with two baby seats should be ok....can you put the baby seat/capsule in the middle? Where are the anchor points? Is it a comfortable car to drive

[VAG newbie]

Have you tried Skoda superb wagon? in terms of space, nothing much on the market can beat it. It also has good reputation on reliability. You just have to overcome the badge.

Ford Territory? If you are concerned about reliability, then I would say leave Ford alone.

CRV is definitely smaller than Passat. You will also find the 2.4L naturally aspirated engine has barely enough power. Trust me, I owned a Odyssey and Euro before, both use the same engine. Ok for 1-2 people. But if you have a full family with luggages, it will really struggle.

Never tried Hyundai Santa Fe. But my impression on Hyundai cars with a few of my recent car rentals have been bad. They don't handle well. It's just a shopping trolley. My wife and kids get car sick all the time.

Out of your choices, Passat wins in every aspect except the ride height, something my wife don't like. It's because my kids are still young and they need to be loaded onto booster seats and we have to try to fasten the seat belt. A low riding car like Passat wont be back friendly. This is where SUV wins. But you pay a premium for the SUV.

[MJW]

Great suggestion re the Superb. Much larger rear seating & essentially the same gear. My son suffers from travel sickness in our Liberty & most any other cars I have driven from time to time including current model Ford Falcon XR6. He has never been sick in the VW or my previous Mazda 6 MPS. Handling doesn't mean rock hard suspension but the overall drive package is the best for the money in the VW IMO. Best thing to do is test drive them back to back on the same day if possible.

[QUOTE=VAG newbie;859977]Never tried Hyundai Santa Fe. But my impression on Hyundai cars with a few of my recent car rentals have been bad. They don't handle well. It's just a shopping trolley. My wife and kids get car sick all the time.

[Mingers13]

[QUOTE=MJW;859993]Great suggestion re the Superb. Much larger rear seating & essentially the same gear. My son suffers from travel sickness in our Liberty & most any other cars I have driven from time to time including current model Ford Falcon XR6. He has never been sick in the VW or my previous Mazda 6 MPS. Handling doesn't mean rock hard suspension but the overall drive package is the best for the money in the VW IMO. Best thing to do is test drive them back to back on the same day if possible.

Never tried Hyundai Santa Fe. But my impression on Hyundai cars with a few of my recent car rentals have been bad. They don't handle well. It's just a shopping trolley. My wife and kids get car sick all the time.

What is the DSG gearbox like....are they realible as i hear they do not last or have problems and they are quite expensive to fix????


How often do you need to service them?

Can you get a DVD player fitted for the kids in the back?

[BlackSuperb]

I've had a 125TDI Superb Sedan for three years with absolutely no issues. I take delivery of a new Superb Wagon next week (they weren't out in 2009 when I bought my sedan) and expect no issues either.

Service interval is 15,000km or 12 months.

I have three, ahem "kids", 24, 22 and 18 years. Rarely do they sit in the back but when they do there is plenty of room.

We are all over 188cm and those in the back fit easily and comfortably. I wouldn't recommend three adults in the back seat for more than a short drive as the centre seat is a bit squashy.

Can't comment on baby capsules or kiddie seats, maybe soon for the grand kids?

[VAG newbie]

[QUOTE=Mingers13;859994]

Great suggestion re the Superb. Much larger rear seating & essentially the same gear. My son suffers from travel sickness in our Liberty & most any other cars I have driven from time to time including current model Ford Falcon XR6. He has never been sick in the VW or my previous Mazda 6 MPS. Handling doesn't mean rock hard suspension but the overall drive package is the best for the money in the VW IMO. Best thing to do is test drive them back to back on the same day if possible.



What is the DSG gearbox like....are they realible as i hear they do not last or have problems and they are quite expensive to fix????


How often do you need to service them?

Can you get a DVD player fitted for the kids in the back?

The DSG is a $6 million question. But I have to say they can't be as bad as what the Internet suggest. Millions of cars fitted with DSG are sold world wide and if they are really as bad as it sounds on the net, VAG would have disposed it already, not fit more of it's cars with DSG.

No doubt it's reliability won't be as good as the old 4 speed auto found on Toyotas simply because it is more sophisticated. A high performance motor bike is more likely to break than a tricycle you get in kmart. But I can tell you, once you get the hang of DSG, there is no going back.

But if you are still concerned, (to be honest, I'm a bit too), get an extended warranty. I got mine for free with negotiation. I'm sure you can too.

Service is as suggested in the manual, once a year or every 15000km. But bear in mind, Germans don't think like Americans. When it's time to service, you need to service it, by a certified VW mechanic (not necessarily a dealer) using genuine parts. When you see any warning lights come up, you need to attend to it. German would have never thought of people not servicing their car regularly and using cheap Chinese parts. Americans don't think like that and that's why VW's reliability was considered poor in the US simply because they don't look after their cars.

DVD? That's easy. Go to JB hifi and I'm sure they will have something. For me a dual screen that you can strap on the head rest is he best as it won't touch the car's electrical system at all. But if you must have it installed on the roof, I'm sure there are something out there. FYI, the GPS system that is standard on the Passat do play DVD, but the screen will go black when the car is in motion. There ate ways to hack it but I didn't bother to try as I'm not planning to watch DVD while driving.

[CaseySP]

Looking at buying a family car and i have tried to narrow it down to these options

VW Passat Wagon 2013
Ford Territory
Honda CRV 2013
Hyundai Sante Fe 2013

JUst wondering how The PASSAT WAGON would go for space in the back seat in terms of two baby seats and whether people in the front seat have enough leg room and are comfortable (i suppose bit taller than average adults) and whether the boot will fit a couple of prams etc

Any helpful advice would be appreciated as it is doing my head in!!!!!

Im leaning towards a VW Passat Wagon but wife is worried that it is too small for a family car and the VWs cost a lot to maintain and aren't reliable cars...but i reckon it drives and looks great

HELP

We've put three baby seats in the back of ours. One capsule for our 3 month old, a baby seat for our three year old, and a booster seat (with H harness) for our four year old. About to move the three year old into a booster too, so are looking at buying two of these to fit with the capsule:

Safe N Sound Hi Liner SG Booster Seat in Phantom (New Standard), Booster Seats

edit - I'm about 6', my wife is 5'10 and we have no problems with leg room.