Spec Me a repmobile

I think the New shape Mondeo will have better residuals than the Passat aswell as more kit. However still will be sticking with a lower end model.

Edit - I would have thought in the future when you sell weak diesel entry point models of saloons with repmobile mileage would command a low price, no?
 
[TW]Fox;11475571 said:
They are all bottom of the range and over 1 year old?
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how do you know that they are >1 year old exactly, unless you have checked the reg of each one.

Also, what's bottom of the range got to do with anything, they have aircon, and probbably electric windows, that should suffice.
Don't see the point in getting the fancy one with leather seats as it's a lot more money probbably.

The other option is an octavia, although depreciation on that will be bad too, I think a mondeo will be the worst of the bunch.
 
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Those Passat's are running an out-dated engine and are poverty spec. If you're going VAG diesel, you are looking at the 2.0, not the 1.9 which iirc is basically the same unit VAG have been using for the neck end of 15 years. If you can't afford big depreciation, you can't afford a £12k rep-mobile. A mini cooper is a better idea tbh
 
i've been driving a 56 plate 105PS passat for the past 6 months (chopped it in today as i'm switching companies) and i have to say i thoroughly enjoyed the card at the end of it.

Wasnt poverty spec, had cruise, auto-hold, climate control, electric blinds etc... it soaks up the miles, did 22k miles in 6 months, and it drove as good at the beginning as at the end.

but the 105ps engine really was fine. Coming from a 190BHP celica was a huge change, but get the passat wound up, and it was great through fast A roads, and when I worked it hard i was a lot quicker than the other cars on the road in the day (not so much due to the passats great performance, more because once upto speed the chassis was very capable, and could soak up the bumps at speed better than a lot of cars)
 
How can the 105ps engine be fine? It's a terrible engine and absolutely unsuited to the Passat. I had the misfortune of a DCi 110 Laguna for 150 miles to Hampshire and the performance was bordering on dangerous and it's quicker than a Passat 105!

It's a bad engine in a thoroughly dreary car.
 
Are you sure you've been driving a Passat? :p I had a 2.0 TDI Sport for a while during the repairs to my car and I absolutely hated it. The suspension was crashy and it didn't handle at all.
 
[TW]Fox;11476030 said:
It's a bad engine in a thoroughly dreary car.
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you're well entitled to your opinion, just telling you my feelings from living in it for the past 6 months. It cruises happily at 95, goes from 60 to 80 respectably, and down fast a roads, as long as you maintained the speed through corners you could make startlingly good progress.

As for the car itself, great for the purpose, maybe a little uninspiring, but it is a repmobile.
 
OllyM said:
Are you sure you've been driving a Passat? :p I had a 2.0 TDI Sport for a while during the repairs to my car and I absolutely hated it. The suspension was crashy and it didn't handle at all.
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if by crashy you mean the mud flaps get bottoming out, then yeah it did. But it didnt really matter how fast you pushed into a bend, it lent over, dug in and drove out fine - rescued me on occasion when i over cooked it.

Didnt like roundabouts much, but my days of traffic light GP is done. For getting across country, it was perfectly adequate.

Specs arent everything, and as i say, i have motorbikes, fast cars and have raced offroad - i am speaking with some experience.
 
That depends if you deem a Celica which only manages 190bhp by having a really high rev limiter so, in the real world it drives more like a 160bhp car as a 'fast car' or not I guess. If you do it would perhaps explain why the Passat lit your fire so to speak :p
 
your points not really valid tho Fox, the celica was an example, and if you drove it properly was NEVER like a 160BHP car :p If you drove it in anger below 6krpm, you were in the wrong gear. Much like driving a TD outside of its 2000rpm sweet window. Besides which the weight of a G7 Celica and my german tank is significant too ;)

I've previously owned an Escort RS Turbo, with vernier pullies and uprated boost, have driven Range rover sports (yep, the one with a blower) and so on - trying to add validity, not brag. In fact my stop gap car, between company cars is a £300 Rover 620Ti (2.0, turbo - 207BHP when new)! So i'm well used to "quick" cars.

The passat didnt exactly light my fire, i dreaded driving it when i heard what i was getting, but its proven itself to me over time. I wish i could **** it off (i initially did) but it really is a capable chassis, and whilst i would want more power ideally, get the 105 wound up and it would do enough.

I over took a Aston vantage down an especially bumpy B road today on the way to dropping the passat off! In no way am i suggesting its quicker than an Aston, but the "soft" suspenion soaks up the road and affords good handling in all conditions. Through choice i'd get the 140, and i was discussing getting it mapped by a mate to 140, but as its been handed back.
 
[TW]Fox;11476180 said:
Out of interest what else in its class have you tried?
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very valid point! At length, nothing else. I wasnt really suggesting the 105 passat was best in class, more that it wasnt as bad as people feared!

I have driven the 140 Golf perhaps 300 miles, pulled MUCH better, but overall (for mile munching) preferred the passat. Not tried the Golf on a good A road.

Hire car on the way home was a spanking Peugeot 308 (wouldnt say same class) and that was a petrol, pretty gutless - stiff enough chassis though.

Audi A3, drove ~200 miles, didnt have as much confidence in twisties, but that may come with extended ownership.

Mazda 6 - very little time behind the wheel. Seemd fine, if a little characterless (but then which of these have character?) The MPS i borrowed for a weekend however was a whole different beast - me want.
 
[TW]Fox;11476030 said:
I had the misfortune of a DCi 110 Laguna for 150 miles to Hampshire and the performance was bordering on dangerous
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oh please

110bhp is hardly underpowered for a medium-sized family saloon
it has the torque for in-gear acceleration
yes, you have to work hard to make swift progress, but it's hardly bordering on dangerous.
it's obviously going to be slow, but it's not that
maybe coming from a 530i it was just too much of a difference ;)

i would even dare to suggest that a 110bhp turbo diesel is faster in the real world than an equivalent petrol :o

go to continental europe where diesels easily outsell petrols
due to tax restrictions, most will have under 136bhp, with most around 110bhp and they seem to manage fine driving dangerously quickly in france and belgium :p
 
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105ps Passat TDI has adequate performance for nearly all drivers (i.e. not people like us).

I bet it'll still cruise at 120mph.
 
[TW]Fox;11476030 said:
the performance was bordering on dangerous
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mjt said:
oh please

110bhp is hardly underpowered for a medium-sized family saloon
it has the torque for in-gear acceleration
yes, you have to work hard to make swift progress, but it's hardly bordering on dangerous.
it's obviously going to be slow, but it's not that
maybe coming from a 530i it was just too much of a difference ;)

i would even dare to suggest that a 110bhp turbo diesel is faster in the real world than an equivalent petrol :o

go to continental europe where diesels easily outsell petrols
due to tax restrictions, most will have under 136bhp, with most around 110bhp and they seem to manage fine driving dangerously quickly in france and belgium :p
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I am yet to see a car that has performance "bordering on dangerous" - Try a drive in an LGV and you'll quickly get my point!

If you plan ahead & anticipate the actions of others ,any perceived danger through lack of speed is not going to occur.

I concur with mjt on this one.
 
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flat-6 said:
105ps Passat TDI has adequate performance for nearly all drivers (i.e. not people like us).

I bet it'll still cruise at 120mph.
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I drove a 08 plate 105ps passat this week and it seemed alright, nicer than higher output 1.6 diesels
 
R124/LA420 said:
I concur with mjt on this one.
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Me too, I used to own a 39bhp Cinquecento. Sure you had to work it harder than you would a 230bhp petrol car but I wouldn't call it "dangerous", just requires a little more thought than just flooring the loud pedal ;)
 
mjt said:
oh please

110bhp is hardly underpowered for a medium-sized family saloon
it has the torque for in-gear acceleration
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No it doesn't. It made the journey frustrating and annoying as it didn't have the power to safely pass slower moving traffic even using crawler lanes. Twice I had to give up half way up a hill and pull in behind slower traffic to let the cars I was holding up go past.

A rubbish engine which ruined the car.

I'm sure its great for just sitting in the Motorway but for a journey involving normal roads it was unacceptable.

Remember cars these days are heavy - my old Xantia was never fast but it had the power to make it up hills in the outside lane of crawler lanes without a queue of traffic behind it but then it didnt weigh 600000kg like the Passat or new Laguna.

This class of car now requires at least a 130bhp diesel.
 
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