Volkswagen Passat CC (2008 - 2011) 2.0 GT TDI (170bhp) (5 seat) 4d Owner Review

I hunted around for a while for my car, (Brown metallic, GT, 170PS, cream leather, low miles) but was very pleased with the purchase. You get a lot of car for the money. Handling isn't the best for a FWD chassis, I came from an Alfa 159 and that was so far the best FWD chassis I've driven. But the economy, build quality & reliability is better. The engine (2.0 TDi) is very smooth and quiet for a diesel and the active damping (DCC) is great, I regularly use comfort mode for wafting along but for a B-road blast stick it in sport and the dampers stiffen up along with the steering (electronic PAS). A common fault is the electronic steering lock on this age of VW, however on youtube there is videos showing DIYers how to do it, or if you go on ebay there are companies offering to do the job for £150 (change the microswitch). Which is far less than the £360 VW will charge for a new lock. I've also heard the EPM motors can go but they are relatively easy to get at and change. Overall you get a great spec of car for the money with some nice design that is usually reserved for the upper VAG brands. Whether you go for an early car or a facelifted model there's not much to chose between them. So far I've done over 3000 miles and the DPF has not needed to actively re-generate. These more modern diesels can passively re-generate on longer trips. I do a lot of motorway driving of 28-50 miles at a time and I get avg 54mpg so far in winter. The trip avg shows 58-60mpg. and this is doing 60-70 on the motorway. On long runs (picked up the car from Cornwall to North Oxfordshire) the trip showed 60mpg which was cruising at 70 most of the way, probabily an actual of 55mpg. Driving round town as with most cars hurts the economy and I seem to see 45mpg round town, less if you are heavy on the right foot. Overall a great car for the money, I've had some high mileage VAG diesels in the past so I'm hoping this one will last me a while.