V6 HIGHLINE Wagon

[Gizz]

Newbie here, have used this forum heaps in the past to stay updated so thought it was time to share my experiences as well,
After test driving an R36 wagon approx 18 months ago and not buying one I have regretted it ever since! So after much deliberation and patients, waiting on VW to come out with the B7, I ordered a White V6 Highline Wagon with factory sat Nav and auto tailgate. Originally I was chasing silver but would have had to wait 4 months or take one from Sydney with a $2K sun roof (not wanted).
So after 2 weeks from order, as promised from the dealer, I had the car and have now been driving it for a week!
So far I love the car and the only thing I regret is not buying an R36 earlier, but having full leather interior makes up for it as the cloth seats were about the only negative with the R36. After coming out of a Mazda RX8 and WRX’s before that I was concerned that I would not enjoy driving the larger Passat, wrong!

PROS

- Shares R36 DNA
- Full leather interior
- Amazing car to drive, the 4 Motion drive train, DSG and V6 engine combination is brilliant!
- Wolf in Sheep’s clothing (The average punter has no idea what this car is capable of, even some VW enthusiasts have no idea as the only give away is the 18” wheels, duel exhaust and single V6 badge on the back)

NEGATIVES

-It’s not a R36 (but as close as we can get currently)
-The “American” style B7 front end is not as stylish as the “Euro” looking B6 front end, but it does grow on you!

However I have not heard of anyone on the forum that has bought one yet nor have I seen another V6 on the road! Is supply still an issue or are people going for second hand R36’s or waiting 2 years for the next one?

[Lance B]

Glad to hear that your new Passat is great!

For me, though, I love the Alcantra seats of the R36 as they aren't hot in the sun or cold in the winter. Much better than leather, IMO.

In early March, I walked into a VW showroom just to see if anything was happening in VW world and they advised me that the new Passat was to be released in April. So I them what was happening to the current R36 and when would the production of that be stopped and they said that it has already ceased production and there was only one brand spanking new R36 wagon left in Australia that he knows of, an Icelandic Grey with auto rear tail gate. After checking, he was basically right.

The dilemma for me is that I didn't want to keep my Candy White R36 wagon for another 2 years waiting for the new R Passat to arrive as I would have clocked up 100,000kms by then which would severely dent the resale value. Also, who knows whether the new R Passat will be the same price or dearer which means that not only my resale is less, but the new car is even more expensive so the change over may be huge! So, I got a trade valuation and it was so good that I decided to go for almost the last brand spanking new R36 available in Australia.

Interestingly, when I purchased my Candy White R36 wagon two years ago, I was in a quandry as to whether I wanted Candy White or Icelandic Grey, so now with my Icelandic Grey R36, I will have had the best of both worlds.

Glad I decided to upgrade my Candy White R36 and not wait for the new version!

[Nico76]

@ Lance B, did you trade your VW at McGrath's Sutherland by any chance? I test drove a white wagon & was told the previous owner traded for a new Icelandic grey R36. This was around March. I offered them $51k & was told they wouldn't accept less than $52.5, so I walked. If that is you, out of curiosity, what did they give you for a trade?

@ Gizz, hopefully they've improved the DSG for the new model. Or Are you still in no man's land in D & S???

[FSI 220]

Congrats Gizz!

Please post up as you get to know your car! I am frantically trying to get my order changed to the MY12 Sports upgrade to get even closer to the old R36/CC V6 experience with the seats and the flaperoonies. Most people talking about B7's on this forum are in the TDI market so good to have a B7 V6 compadre on board.

So far they managed to hold my order in the VAG system, looks like 90% chance of getting it changed, fingers crossed

Seems to be a lot of Subaru old boys round these parts, myself ex WRX Classic (9 and Forrie turbo tractor XT-Lux (05)

(Looking forward to changing my brand!)

[FSI 220]

Classic (9 and

Gotta learn to put a space between an 8 and a ")" shoulda been a "Classic (98 )"

[Gizz]

[QUOTE=Nico76;687692@ Gizz, hopefully they've improved the DSG for the new model. Or Are you still in no man's land in D & S???[/QUOTE]

Thanks guys, interesting your thoughts on the DSG gear selection, I agree D is very conservative, I guess they are looking at fuel efficiency until you plant your foot! In S mode it still holds a very low gear, perfect if you were to do a track day, a bit too much on the road, the V6 Highline doesn’t have the flappy paddles so I’m playing around with the manual mode changing the old fashioned way!
I do like the 3 suspension settings, combined with DSG Sports mode, you couldn’t ask for much more performance from a large car.
Will update once I have a few more km’s under my belt!

[Lance B]

@ Lance B, did you trade your VW at McGrath's Sutherland by any chance? I test drove a white wagon & was told the previous owner traded for a new Icelandic grey R36. This was around March. I offered them $51k & was told they wouldn't accept less than $52.5, so I walked. If that is you, out of curiosity, what did they give you for a trade?

@ Gizz, hopefully they've improved the DSG for the new model. Or Are you still in no man's land in D & S???

That was mine.

It was difficult to actually put a figure on it as the trade they gave me said $51 (from memory) but the new price was not so low either. I think the change over was around $21k so you'd need to work on that to know if it was any good.