Volkswagen Passat Estate Review 2024

If you need a practical family car with shedloads of space for people and luggage, plus a smart, sophisticated and plush-feeling interior, but you’ve made the decision that you don’t want an SUV, then the Passat will be a great choice for you. It feels sophisticated next to the few mainstream rivals that remain, but it’s less showy and slightly less expensive than large estate cars with a premium badge.

To begin with at least, there’s only one choice of powertrain, the 1.5-litre eTSI mild hybrid petrol. Performance is adequate rather than blistering, so if you want a little more, then it might be worth hanging on for the powertrains destined to come along later, those being plug-in hybrids with either 204PS or 272PS, and later still, a 2.0-litre turbo petrol with 204PS and four-wheel drive.

On the trim front, the entry-level Life car really isn’t missing much, so we’d stick with that, although the upgrade to Elegance trim does add a few desirable bits and pieces.

The relentless popularity of SUVs has meant that many manufacturers are no longer bothering to sell large family estates, so where once the Passat would’ve had dozens of rivals, it now only has a handful. Among mainstream carmakers, it’s pretty much only the mechanically related Skoda Superb Estate and the handsome Peugeot 508 SW that remain. Large estates are much more common in the premium space, and on that score, you’re looking at rivals such as the Audi A4 Avant and Audi A6 Avant, BMW 3 Series Touring and BMW 5 Series Touring, Mercedes-Benz C-Class Estate and Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate and the Volvo V60 and Volvo V90.

Volkswagen’s cars often feel posher than mainstream rivals, if not quite as plush as premium competition, providing a sort of middle ground on the quality front. And that’s a trend continued by the latest Passat. The glossy-looking infotainment screens immediately make things feel high-end and high-tech, while the plush-looking materials and finishes directly in your eyeline are a treat for both your eyes and your fingertips.

Explore the lower reaches of the cabin, and you will find plastics that aren’t quite up to the same high standard, but that’s something you’ll observe in the vast majority of cars, and those plastics are good enough that they don’t undermine the general feeling of poshness.

All versions of the Passat get the same infotainment system as standard, which brings together a 10.25-inch digital instrument panel behind the steering wheel and a large 12.9-inch central infotainment touchscreen in the middle of the dashboard (f that’s not enough for you, then a massive 15.0-inch central screen upgrade is available on the options list). You also get eight speakers, DAB, Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, wireless smartphone charging and voice control. All the tech bases covered, then.

The whole thing looks great, with sharp, modern graphics and really slick screen transitions, while the screen also reacts quickly and reliably to taps and swipes.

Unfortunately, the system is also hopelessly confusing to use. With almost no physical switchgear in the car, pretty much everything has to be operated to the screen, and the sheer amount of icons, shortcuts and tiles on display as a result makes the screen look cluttered despite its generous size. There are seemingly endless menus and submenus, most of which aren’t arranged very logically, and many of them are signified by ambiguously-designed icons. Performing even the most basic of tasks can seem far too complicated and time consuming, and we found that  things didn’t get much better with time, either. Throw in the fact that touchscreens are inherently more distracting to use on the move than physical buttons and dials, and you have something of an ergonomic horror-show.

The salt in the wound is that when you’re driving along, desperately trying to find and use a specific function on the screen, the car’s driver attention monitor detects that your eyes have been diverted from the road for too long, and the car then tells you off.

The writing has been on the wall for the traditional saloon car for a number of years, and that’s why the latest ninth-generation Passat is available as an estate car only. And a pretty gosh-darned big one at that. The car now measures 4,917mm long, 1,506mm tall and 1,852mm wide, making it 144mm longer and 20mm wider than its predecessor.

Precisely 50mm of the extra length has gone into the car’s wheelbase (the distance between the front and rear wheels), and that means legroom is more generous than ever: there’s a huge amount of the stuff. Even with six-foot-plus occupants in the front seats, there’s space behind for passengers of a similar size to stretch out in comfort, with no fear of their knees getting anywhere near the chairs in front. Headroom and shoulder room are also generous, so the passenger compartment feels roomy in every direction, especially when carrying two in the back. There’s room to squeeze in a third when needed, although the person in the middle will have to sit with their feet positioned either size of a very bulky transmission tunnel in the floor.

The amount of luggage space provided is just as impressive. The boot is enormous at 690 litres - a full 40 litres more than its predecessor - and the space is usefully square-sided. The rear seats fold down in a 60/40 split (not as versatile as the 40/20/40 split in some rival family cars), and this can be done using catches either in the boot or on top of the seats themselves. The backrests lie almost flat, and with the moveable boot floor in its uppermost position, there’s no step between them and the boot floor, leaving you with a usefully level loading area. That also leaves barely any load lip at the boot entrance, and you get a smidge of extra space under the boot floor. To make life even easier, a powered tailgate and powered load cover is provided as standard throughout the range.

To begin with, only one choice of powertrain is offered in the VW Passat, and it’s a 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine, fitted with mild hybrid technology. Known as the eTSI, it delivers 150PS to the front wheels via a standard seven-speed automatic gearbox.

Pace is adequate, but not much more than that. The Passat is now a very big car at almost five metres long, and the modest engine has its work cut out in dragging the huge, heavy body around. You’ll notice the engine revving surprisingly hard just to maintain a moderate pace (it’s not noisy, but it is noticeable) and the gearbox searching around, trying to figure out which of its ratios is best-suited to the task at hand. If you need more pace and give the throttle pedal a shove, the revs climb even higher, but you feel a disproportionately small increase in forward momentum. It’s fine if you’re not in a hurry and just adopt a relaxed driving style, but it will get a little frustrating when you want to get a wriggle on.

Not long after launch, the eTSI will be joined in the Passat range by the eHybrids. These are plug-in hybrids that use the eTSI petrol engine combined with an electric motor, bigger 19.7kWh battery and six-speed automatic gearbox to deliver either 204PS or 272PS. These will likely have a significant uplift in performance. In the fullness of time, there will also be a 2.0-litre petrol version with 204PS and four-wheel drive.

Like we said a moment ago, you can hear the four-cylinder petrol engine revving away as it struggles to maintain even moderate pace, but it’s not loud or bothersome. You also hear the automatic gearbox searching around quite a lot for the optimum ratio, but at least the frequent shifts are smooth. Elegance and R-Line cars come with extra sound insulation compared with the entry-level Life car that we sampled, but wind- and road noise was hardly deafening in that one. So, whichever Passat you choose, it should be a reasonably serene and relaxing companion.

The Passat hasn’t yet been crash-tested by the experts at Euro NCAP, but once it has, we’ll update this review. The standard safety kit provided looks competitive, with adaptive cruise control, a driver attention/drowsiness monitor, autonomous emergency braking that detects pedestrians and cyclists, three Isofix points and dynamic road sign display all standard across the range.

In the latest HonestJohn.co.uk Satisfaction Index, Volkswagen was named as the fourth least reliable manufacturer of the 29 to feature. In the overall satisfaction standings, the brand came in 21st position: a little better, but still hardly dazzling. The previous Passat wasn’t namechecked specifically, but we know the brand’s overall performance was brought down by the Golf and Polo, so there’s hope that the Passat might fare better.

As all ninth-generation Passats are currently powered by the same engine, there isn’t much variation in insurance groupings. The Life sits in group 30 (of 50, 50 being the most expensive), while Elegance cars are group 31 and R-Line cars are group 32. Groupings for the plug-in hybrid versions haven’t been announced yet, but we expect them to be considerably higher given their extra power.

Although the mild hybrid system in the 1.5 eTSI version of the Passat isn’t the cleverest hybrid system you’ll come across, it is enough to qualify for the £10 annual VED road tax discount for alternatively fuelled cars, Leaving you with £180 to pay per year.

However, that’s only if you choose the entry-level Life trim and stay very restrained with the options list, because this is the only version of the car that’s priced under £40,000 when brand new, and only just. Spend more than that, including optional extras, and your car will then be liable for an additional ‘luxury car’ surcharge that’ll add another £390 to your annual bill for a five-year period between years two and six of the car's life, and that responsibility will be passed on to subsequent owners. If you’re considering a Life as a used car, it’s wise to do an online check with the car’s registration to make sure you know what you’re letting yourself in for.

Three trim levels are available in the Passat range: Life, Elegance, and R-Line.

Even entry-level Life cars are generously equipped, with 17-inch alloy, powered and heated door mirrors, all-round LED lighting, keyless entry and go, three-zone climate control, heated- and massaging front seats, ambient lighting, automatic lights and wipers, parking sensors, a reversing camera, leather multifunction steering wheel with paddle shifters, part-electric seat adjustment, adaptive cruise control, high-beam assist, a powered tailgate and a powered luggage cover. That’s on top of tall the infotainment and safety kit we talked about earlier.

Elegance cars look a wee bit swisher, with adaptive LED matrix headlights with a light strip running between them, and you also get noise-reducing glass, a heated steering wheel, sports seats with a more sophisticated massaging function, a panoramic sunroof and ambient lighting with 30 colours.

R-Line trim comes with 18-inch alloy wheels and sporty styling elements inside and out, plus the Dynamic Chassis Control adaptive suspension.