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Are you too young for a Passat but too poor for an Audi A5? Are you passionate to death about VW and even want a sports car from a manufacturer not very sporty? VW Passat CC, the Passat of people without friends.

You can laugh (and we’ll laugh a lot) about the VW Passat CC, but we have to start with the strengths: It’s built on the platform of the Passat B6 but it’s too young to catch the classic problems. In addition, the VW Passat CC starts with features and engines where the normal Passat usually stops. You could say that the VW Passat CC was VW’s attempt to jump on the neck of the Audi A5 or Mercedes CLS, but without upsetting them too much.

However, being a cheaper car than the ones mentioned above, being a VW and having a look that looks fresh even today, many parents bought their children a VW Passat CC. Very few people under the age of 30 voluntarily buy a new Passat, so a Passat CC has been created for young people. The normal car is addressed to those who are 30-45 years old, 2 children and a job in the lower management of a large company. The kind of man who holds a box of napkins in his armrest and always has pills with him. He goes to the gym at 5 in the morning, after which he goes to work. On weekends he rides a bicycle for billions of kilometers and in the evening he chugs in 2 mugs and a platter of sausages.

And then comes the VW Passat CC, which is a car for the kind of man who goes downtown on weekends. You will not see a Passat CC owner at the Bristol Pear. In the evening instead on the terrace of Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar & Grill, after coming from a coffee from Fumo, where he spent on a coffee the equivalent of my salary for a week. Maybe your family didn’t take a BMW because it was expensive and dangerous, but a Passat CC won them over because it has the right logo with which they are accustomed already.

VW Passat CC Engines

Petrol

• 1.8 TSI EA888 of 160 horsepower – The entry-level engine comes with enough power to transport you from side to side, on you, on the 3 ladies in the back but also the oil barrels in the trunk because this engine consumes engine oil as I chug down beer in the Bristol Pearl.


• 2.0 TSI EA888 of 200 and 210 horsepower – If you are still going to carry oil barrels with you, at least do it in style. The problem of oil consumption on these two TSI engines was solved in 2014, but the VW Passat CC was retired in 2013. What can you do, you have nothing you can do. You can wait, you think, you roll, you put another liter of oil, you leave the traffic light with tire roar, you relax in your comfortable leather seat, you put another liter of oil… you don’t have what to do!


• 3.6 V6 EA389 of 296 horsepower  – As with the normal Passat, this engine is too heavy for the car’s front end and helps you seriously understeer. Basically, you drive on a straight line, the street suddenly turns left and you go straight. The 2.0 TSI engine is much more agile for the body of the VW Passat CC and a better all-rounder.

Diesel

2.0 TDI EA189 with 140 and 170 horsepower – The classic 2.0 TDI from the VAG family also comes with the VW Passat CC for those people who don’t know. I don’t know why you’d get a Passat CC diesel. In any case, by 2008 VW had already switched to the Common-Rail system and there are no more problems with the injectors or the oil pump. The only real problem remains the dual mass flywheel that wears out faster than you would like, whether we are talking about the manual or automatic transmission. In extreme cases, the dual flywheel can wear out so much that it can take the clutch and gearbox after it.

VW Passat CC general issues

• The DSG automatic transmission remains a weak point in any VW since 2010, and the VW Passat CC does not escape. Check the car in the morning for funny sounds, and note that the oil and filter must be changed every 60,000 km. Also, the Mechatronic unit (autobox computer) will break down (there is no escape) and can only be replaced, not just reconditioned. And a new Mechatronic can cost as much as a Passat B5.


• Xenon headlights cost as much as a Passat B5.5, so if you have this option on the car, be very careful with them. Tell them a story, wax them every week. Show them pictures of Salma Hayek. Use them as little as possible.


• The panoramic ceiling locks or creaks more like Piers Morgan’s mother’s bed in the glory days of Jeremy Clarkson.


• The electric parking brake motor comes as a legacy from the Passat B6 and has a bad habit of locking up. Depending on its condition, you can service it or not. The problem is known and solved by Passat B6 owners by replacing the 6-tooth motor with a 12-tooth motor.


• Like any 4-door coupe, the rear space is more limited than my food options after I pay my bills. However, the VW Passat CC does not suffer from this problem so badly so you can carry some shorter friends on your back. But since you have a VW Passat CC, I doubt that you have short friends. Or any sort of friends.


• Lots of electrics issues as with VW, and here it is especially bad at the power windows.

VW Passat CC Verdict

I like this car. Even 10 years after its launch, the look still remains so fresh that you can serve it at a lounge. In essence it’s a technologically end-of-life Passat B6, the Passat CC coming with most of the problems solved. As a family car I can’t recommend it especially, but if you are 30 years old and want to be fashionable and take boulevard strolls in the evening, VW Passat CC is one of the most affordable cars that you will not make fun of anywhere where would you go.

What engine do I recommend? Obviously, for a car that looks sporty, you also need a sports engine, so I will recommend the 1.8 TSI petrol with 160 horses. Diesel does not go with Passat CC like incense doesn’t go with heroin. Or does it?