| I had the chance, at my previous office, to head out of Mumbai on an extended drive in the India Volkswagen Passat. Now, I’ve just put in about 200km in a Passat CC. And I must say, the drive was eye-opening despite the fact that the French roads do not allow us the liberty of crossing 130kmph. But first, let me tell you a little about the Passat CC itself. The Passat CC is based, of course, on the Passat and shares the same wheelbase. But from that solid, if conservative beginning, the Passat CC changes gears and heads for the, um, mountains. Just like the Mercedes-Benz CLS, the CC is a stylistic, even sportier, evolution of the impressive but clinical Passat. The most obvious sign of this, of course, is the stance. A slightly longer car, the roof is fully two inches lower, the car itself sits hunched on its sportier suspension and the raked windscreen and the coupe-like rear roofline all give it a noticeably more desirable look than the basic Passat. Add in the final touches, the sleeker, more shaped lights at both ends and the extremely CLS-ish lightcatcher that defines the side body and you have a car that does turn heads. I’m not sure if the reaction is simply, ‘Nice car!’ or ‘Check out that, er... Passat... Eh? When did Volkswagen make the Passat look this kind of good?’ In either case, the car does its job - get a reaction. That’s before you consider the fact that a fair number of informed enthusiasts already think that the CC is one of the best looking four-door sedans in the world. Sedan? Oh yeah, the CC may stand for Comfort Coupe, and the rear roofline may seduce you away from the three-box car notion, but the CC is firmly a sedan and the Coupe moniker is, ahem, poetic license on Volkswagen’s part. We were driving a fully loaded car with a 1800cc TSI petrol making 160PS through a six-speed gearbox. It came not only with full-luxo insides but with a boatload of gizmos. But that’s the small part of the story, so we’ll return to it in the end. I must mention, that there is also a 140PS diesel CC (India-ready, I’d say) and a 300PS range-topper that uses the raw V6 to become the CC VR6. That, would be the car that’d set enthusiast tongues wagging right off their moorings if, fingers crossed hard enough to hurt, VW were to take the bold step of launching that one. Please? Halo car? Pretty please? Oh well, I tried. |
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| Volkswagen Passat CC Sedan Coupe Mercedes-Benz MercedesBenz Benz Mercedes CLS Design |
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