Comments on: Volkswagen unveils high-performance Passat R36

By: LamborghiniZ

LamborghiniZ — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 05:14:05 +0000

Yeah i think you’re right about the marketing SSTRSFSTR

By: SSTRFSTR

SSTRFSTR — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 22:25:00 +0000

Also, I think that if the W8 came from the factory with the Votex areo-kit installed (or at least had painted lower valances), it would have sold much better.
Besides the steep price, the failure of the W8 in the US had nothing to do with the overlapping market share mentioned above (VW vs Audi, etc.), but was entirely due to poor marketing.
Remember the W8 ads? Me niether.

By: Renton

Renton — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 13:03:42 +0000

Passat W8 was an interesting car. I tried to convince my GF to get one, but she was not biting. She wanted an A6 3.0 quattro.

The W8 was a nicer car to more expensive, less powerful Audi. W8 only came one way…loaded.

It had a great exaust note and it was the only 8 cylinder German sedan on the market for under $40K, possibly $50K as well.

While it was no lightweight, handling machine, it was an effortless cruiser with tons of reserve torque.

The A4 was very blah. Fantastic construction, attractive lines, great winter traction, but actually quite boring. The W8 at least had the big motor feel to it. Now it is gone forever, and I wished I had forced the issue more at the time.

By: autonutt

autonutt — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 04:08:03 +0000

A4 is right.. the W8 was supposed to be an extremely luxurious Passat, something of a stepping stone to the then-upcoming Phaeton, that just happened to have an 8-cylinder engine. The problem with that was the price was WAY too high, and the engine was far from sporting when saddled with the standard AWD and a transmission tuned for smoothness not speed. With the Rabbit and GTI, VW US seems finally to have realized where their niche is supposed to be, and the Passat R36 will be a logical step up for GTI/GLI/R32 owners willing to spend $40-45K for a less-subtle alternative to the Audi A4. Now where’s my Eos R32?

By: LamborghiniZ

LamborghiniZ — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 03:12:31 +0000

SSTRFSTR, but it still wasn’t a performance enthusiast car like this R36, you have to admit that, it was nowhere close

By: SSTRFSTR

SSTRFSTR — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 22:08:25 +0000

Make a S4 with DSG instead of a tranditional slushbox and then we’ll talk…

By: Wickedated

Wickedated — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 15:03:03 +0000

0-60 in 5.6secs in hardly impressive. For the money, get the S4 and have real muscle

By: Saud

Saud — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 13:56:25 +0000

Very nice but no one’s gonna sue vw for giving it a black out griil in the front rather than a gaudy chrome grill. Atleast make it an option.

By: MM

MM — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 10:03:46 +0000

Nice car, however at the price at which it will be sold there are better choices out there, such as the newly unveiled BMW 335xi.

By: SSTRFSTR

SSTRFSTR — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:11:57 +0000

The W8 with sport package and 6MT was geared towards enthusiasts — that’s why no one bought it.

By: LamborghiniZ

LamborghiniZ — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 02:36:59 +0000

Foster, I was clearly drawing a parallel between the A8 W12/S8 and the Passat W8/R36, I believe I was pretty clear and DavidS understood me.

By: DavidS

DavidS — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 02:25:55 +0000

Lamborghini has it right. W8 had a larger motor but was not oriented toward the enthusiast, just someone who wanted a higher-end Passat.
Somewhat-comparable example: the person who would chose this car is someone who would take a CL55 AMG with the V8 over the CL600 with the V12 and the same horsepower. In any case, Lamborghini’s nailed it.

And I’m not sure that there’s a negative to it competing with Audi. Sure, it could be less expensive (G35x, anyone?), but the target audience for this car will always chose this over a base 3.2 A6 regardless of badge.

Coulda put a turbo in there though…

AWD all the way.

By: LamborghiniZ

LamborghiniZ — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:03:00 +0000

Ricardo, the W8 Passat wasn’t a “high performance” Passat per se, just like the W12 Audi A8 isn’t high performance compared to the S8, you see the S8, just like the R36, is geared towards high performance sporty driving, while the W8 Passat just like the W12 A8 is more powerful than the standard Passat and A8 but aren’t really high performance machines.

By: A4

A4 — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 23:33:29 +0000

bottom line is this car is way more sport oriented than the W8 ever was.

By: A4

A4 — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 23:31:29 +0000

no, VW built the Passat W8 which was very poorly marketed, and was essentially a discreet trim level. This on the other hand continues the R32’s legacy, in a more upscale passat than before, probably for around the same price, if not less than what the W8 cost. People respond to the R-marketing, and understand they are the best VW’s they have to offer (dont say the lamborghini), while the W8 was just a motor upgrade with quad tailpipes, sharper rims, and HID’s. This will certainly be more successful, especially since im sure VW is going to make it “limited run” from the outset, just like the R32, rather than the W8’s regular production schedule.

By: nowei

nowei — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 23:21:19 +0000

I very much agree that this is yet another example of the VW Group building a car that competes almost exclusively with another car built by the VW Group.

What I really do find most interesting, as Ricardo Head pointed out, is that this is another performance Passat–something VW already tried and then admitted was a bad idea (from a marketing standpoint, that is).

Does anybody else feel like we maybe haven’t seen the last of the Phaeton?

/no

By: A4

A4 — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 22:12:08 +0000

needs a stick shift though

By: A4

A4 — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 22:11:28 +0000

i do love it

By: Ricardo Head

Ricardo Head — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 20:55:20 +0000

I actually like the aluminum/metal look on a dash, but really, what is so inspring on that dash design? Nothing … it is tried and true standard Vdub crap, nothing unusual, nothing of interest, and if it were in a Ford Fusion (which it almost is) people would say it is more boring Ford/domestic garbage and we need to learn from the foreigners.

By: meanpants555

meanpants555 — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 20:39:38 +0000

eam3 that is one of Volkswagen’s problems. They have multiple cars in the same class competing against each other. Skoda, SEAT, VW and Audi overlap in many sectors; its platform sharing taking to the hilt.

The dash is hideous; that turned aluminum looks nappy on a Bentley let alone a Passat. I do like the seats though.

By: 1c3d0g

1c3d0g — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 20:23:26 +0000

Not a fan of the styling, but the performance is extremely good. Great job VW!

By: jrusoff

jrusoff — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 19:56:01 +0000

The key thing I want is AWD. Give me DSG, the 2.0T engine and AWD for under 30K and I buy it. Any higher price and I might as well buy an Audi.
JR

By: megator

megator — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 19:51:51 +0000

ehh, ever heard of gearing? if the gears are slightly lower the car can accelerate faster. also did you look at the diference in torque?

By: Ricardo Head

Ricardo Head — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 19:48:50 +0000

Hell, a Chevy Aveo has a hot interior compared to a Dodge Crappy Caliber.

By: Bonquisha's Back

Bonquisha's Back — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 19:29:50 +0000

That interior is so hot!!!! Get you your redneck assess in a Dodge Crappy Caliber and tell me this interior is no good.

By: A non E Moose

A non E Moose — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 19:03:32 +0000

Very nice looking, but I bet they price it too high, which seems to be the trend with VW of late. W8 anyone?

By: Don

Don — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 18:17:51 +0000

looks like the interior will blind you on a sunny day

By: eam3

eam3 — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 18:03:08 +0000

VW management has major Audi-envy going on and they seem to have forgotten their place in the marketplace. When I bought my Corrado back in 1990 I paid $15,900 (sticker was just shy of $20K) brand new because they were not selling very well. Imagine if the Corrado would have cost the same as the Audi Coupe they were selling at the same time, chances are extremely good that I would have gone with the Audi instead.

The point of that story is to illustrate that when you’re talking about serious money (over $35K for most people), then people would rather buy a more upscale, prestigious Audi than a Volkswagen. I can understand VW’s desire to be taken more seriously but what’s the point? They already own Audi, why compete against their own make?

By: cknoff

cknoff — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 18:00:25 +0000

It’s nice that VW doesn’t borrow design cues from Audi. NOT!

By: joseph

joseph — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 17:49:08 +0000

Exactly eam3! This looks nice and simple…..but the current one is already WAY overpriced when you consider the competition. Isn’t that what Audi is for???

By: ehhh?

ehhh? — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 17:36:13 +0000

A 16hp bump is not that much, and the price will be very expensive. But does 16hp really account for a .4 second drop from 0-60 (msn has the 3.6 wagon at 6.24s)? Because unless they dropped some of the wieght (considering it doesnt go up, which is a very distinct possibility) that doesnt seem sound. Or maybe it is, I dont know that much. Either way I dont see this car selling too much, but I feel it may do better than some of you make it out to be.

By: eam3

eam3 — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 17:25:21 +0000

Beautiful car, but…

If you go to http://www.vw.com and build a current Passat 3.6 with the options that would be required to build a “sporty Passat” you would check off: sport package, bi-xenon lights and the optional stereo. Guess what? You’re already at $36,570.

That’s without navigation, adaptive cruise control, rear side airbags or the boy racer ground effects kit. If you did add these options then you’d be looking at $41,345!

How much will they price this R36 at?

By: pirelli

pirelli — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 17:23:58 +0000

The wheels are a little plain.

By: AdamT

AdamT — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 17:16:43 +0000

A4 should LOVE this… =D

By: savedsol

savedsol — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 16:59:31 +0000

Exactly Ricardo, just don’t price it at $38K like the old W8.