W8 is Enough

If ever there was an American success story, Volkswagen has got to be it. They’ve come a long way from what I like to call “the dark days of the Dasher.” If you don’t remember VW’s early transition in American from odd, old world import to contemporary cool, consider yourself lucky. In the late 1970s, VW was phasing out the air-cooled cars like the Beetle, 411, and Karman-Ghia. The new batch of Volkswagens wore names like Rabbit, Quantum, and Dasher. And what terrible cars they were; front-wheel drive, and liquid cooled, these “new” VeeDubs somehow managed to be less reliable than the cars they were replacing.

Fast-forward to 1998 and the Concept 1, a design study that would later become the New Beetle. Later a restyled Passat and Jetta really drove the point home – VW was back, and in a big way. Today’s VW offers solid German craftsmanship and performance at a price that makes Toyotas seem expensive.

The flagship Passat has quickly become the benchmark for other mid-size sedan seeking young affluent buyers. No less than 4 recent press events have named the Passat as a target in new cars ranging from Chrysler to Honda. Bottom line is this; a car shopper under the age of 40 is far more likely to buy a Passat rather than a Camry, Accord, 626, or any of a host of other products currently on sale. The Passat is a good car, and it deserves all the accolades it can garner. Passat or Camry? Puleeeeez no choice in life has ever been so easy.

On of the things VW has right with the Passat, is the variety with which one car can encompass. The Passat is available in front or all-wheel drive, wagon or sedan, and with 3 engine choices; 1.8-liter turbo, VR6, and now the packed full of power W8.

We’ve driven the 1.8T, and VR6 and found them to be competent sport sedans with top-notch, Audi-like quality. The main draw with the W8 is power, 270 –hp in a car as cool and capable as the Passat would be anything but boring. And as fate would have it, this prediction turned out to be true.

But first, what exactly is a W8 engine, surely most of us are familiar with other engine configurations such as V-8, Flat-4, Inline-6, and rotary engines, but what is a “W” 8? As it turns out, VW has applied what they learned with the revolutionary VR6 to an eight-cylinder motor. The W8 is like fussing two narrow angle V4s together for a total of eight cylinders. The resulting engine has essentially two banks of four cylinders each, but because those four cylinders on opposite sides are not in a row, but rather staggered, the result is something similar to a W, albeit a W with a wider than usual gap in the middle (and please don’t write in with further explanations or clarifications, I’m sure everyone you know is suitably impressed with your vast automotive knowledge, so please just impress them verbally). There are a thousand different ways of explaining how the W8 came to be, but the real question is “why?” In a word, space. With the W8, Volkswagen was able to fit an eight-cylinder motor into the space of V6.

The result of transplanting an eight-cylinder engine under the hood of the Passat is two-fold. Firstly, the W8 gives the already solid Passat an added layer of smoothness. The extra torque and higher degree of refinement put the Passat W8 in league with more traditional luxury cars such as the BMW 5-Series and Lexus GS. Second the W8 engine turns the fairly docile Passat into a serious Teutonic hot-rod.

Extra torque off the line is readily apparent, and the ease with which the Passat hits 100 mph is nothing short of impressive. So impressive was this, the need was felt to test it again and again and again – each time never failing to impress. In higher RPMs the W8 really surges forward with almost as much authority as some supercharged cars.

At full throttle, the W8 makes a wonderful noise. Controlled and reassuring, the growl from under the hood is never intrusive or loud. Quad exhaust openings out back give the W8 a slight purr, but the Passat’s W8 displaces only 4.0-liters so don’t expect a Mustang like rumble.

The W8 feels a little tighter, and a little stiffer than a normal Passat. Handling is impressive and in terms of sheer fun, the W8 Passat comes close to the sportier Lexus IS300. 4-Motion is standard on the W8 and that system effectively delivers all available horsepower to the ground.

While some things such as interior space, cargo capacity, and interior layout are no different than any other Passat, the W8 does come with a host of standard features. Stability control, 4-Motion, Xenon headlights, 16-inch wheels, leather, sunroof, memory seating are all included in the W8’s price. Don’t be too impressed, that price is a heft $38,475 – pretty steep for a Passat that looks no different to the average person than the one their neighbor just bought for $11,000 less.

Of course that’s just one way of looking at it. The other way is to consider that you’re driving a car with more horsepower than an Audi A6 2.7, but with almost all the luxury of that car. For nearly $40k the W8 should have an electronic telescoping and tilt steering wheel (instead it’s manual), a 6 disc CD Changer, and one touch up and down for all four window positions, not just the front two windows.

Overall the Passat W8 is an incredible performance sedan, but that performance costs. Yes, the W8 tops $38,000, and yes that is a lot for a Passat. However, the W8 offers a techno-marvel of an engine that makes 270-hp, and puts that power down through all four wheels. Like all Passats, the rear seat room is a little tight. Clearly this car is not about interior space or cargo volume, it’s about finesse and power. The real appeal of this car is for the enthusiast – those who know what the W8 is will be impressed for years to come. Those who don’t know a W8 from a V16 will probably save some money and opt for the Passat VR6 with 4-Motion (itself a better than average car) and no one will be the wiser. Well, no one that is, except those of us who really love cars….