IS-SV

Which has a lot to do with why the A4 outsells it.

ffpowerLN

iTrader: (1)

Good point!

Any more question on why VW wants to steer toward American tastes? I think the discussion is over...

FKL

Really? That isn't true. VW's cost thousands more because they are more refined. Time to go do a back to back with a Passat and Camry. One has an interior that befits the Lexus ES, the other, not so much.


Talk about being dramatic..The Passat is a great driving car and honestly you are trying to stretch reality by making blanket statements about its place in the European marketplace

Wrong again. The Passat sells in tremendous numbers around the world, not just "Western Europe". So now you're trying to discredit a vehicles qualities based on the fact that "it wasn't designed for this market, therefore it can't possibly be fairly compared to a cheaper Camry"? This is barely reasonable at the offset.

We can't possibly compare the Passat to the Camry because of a marginal price discrepency, but you have no problem comparing a Passat to a comparably equipped Audi A4 (which, in reality, would cost $8,000-10,000 more)? You can't have it both ways, so choose where you want to stand on this.

The Passat is priced more than the less refined and more mundane Japanese cars for sale here and straddles the middle ground between them and a smaller and less well equipped entry level luxury car. Mind you, a fully optioned $40,000 Passat VR6 or CC VR6 actually feels like a $40,000 car and is optioned up to levels that would easily send a German entry level luxury sedan above $50,000. Now you can sit in the armchair and act distraught over comparing a Camry or Accord to a pricier Passat, but please don't play the "you could have an Audi" fiddle when the reality is you couldn't for the same equipment and price ratio.

Please substantiate this. If one "magazine review" is your proof, I'll bow out now. The Passat is a very well respected car in Europe. It caters to European tastes (high quality, great road manners, high refinement), and the sales confirm it, just like the sales of the Camry here confirm that Americans are much more interested in large size and low cost of ownership than anything else.

FKL

Wait, no you're not? I'm going to assume that since you speak so matter of factly about all this that you have in fact driven a 4-Motion Passat VR6 or a CC VR6 with the sports package. I've driven both of these cars (I'm looking to buy one) and it's pretty reasonable to say that there is in fact a very favorable balance between spirited road manners and a nice firm, taut, but not floaty German suspension. Both cars are straight as an arrow going down the highway, have no problems when they're thrown into a corner, and are always complaint. For you to so unabashedly state that "somebody is fooling themselves" when they realize that the Passat and Passat CC have a nice tradeoff between handling and comfort (for a mid-sized family sedan that straddles the entry-level luxury line) is a bit insulting.

Secondly, I am perplexed by your and ffpowers's insistence on bashing the Passat because "it's not RWD". Both of you need to quickly recall that the Audi A4 and A6 are still essentially "FWD" vehicles, and like the Audi's, the VW can be fitted with AWD (4Motion). This point is therefore entirely weightless and without merit. I won't even mention the fact that a costly "Lexus ES", which is the car that should be compared to a top trim Passat or CC, comes with FWD, and we all know the type of tradeoff that car has between "luxury and sport".

Och

iTrader: (3)

Buddy, the whole reason USA exists is because smart people in Yurope despised Yurope almost as much as I do. They founded this country, and this is the greatest country in the world. Whatever we like is best, our lifestyle and culture is best, and the best cars cater to our tastes. US is the place to be, the whole world wants to be just like US, our Western culture and lifestyle is spreading all over the world, even traditional cultures are becoming more and more Westernized.

So if VW wants to become relevant, they better cater to our tastes, not the Yuropean.

FKL

Since you have previously stated that your discontent with all German vehicles to be based on the notion that they are "****" vehicles, I can't possibly take this with any weight. I do apologize.

The G Man

**** vehicle lol. didnt the Japanese attack the US and China too?

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

This thread is closed. I'll remind folks to re-read our sense of community sticky at the top of this forum. If ongoing posts (baiting, bringing back old arguments) are contributory towards getting more threads closed, you ultimately will lose access to the car chat forum or all of Club Lexus.