Call me a traitor.... but

spoons · 29th January 2006, 19:34

After 18 months of faithfull service, I am now considering the imminent trade-in of my faithful Vectra-C '03' plate SXi 2.2 petrol. My target - a nearly new '05' or '55' reg facelift Vectra-C 1.9TDi (150bhp) SRi in Lightning Silver - thank you very much...

However, before I make my decision, a friend of mine suggested I look at the 'all new' VW Passat 2.0 FSi (150bhp) petrol 'SE' spec as they can be purchased at around £15k - 6 months old with a few thousand miles on the clock.

So today I test drove the above spec Passat in Blue with Grey Velour interior.... and I'm sticking with my Vectra upgrade, thank you for £2k less.

The Passat is a nice looking car, however....

- Ride quality was no different to my SXi
- Accelleration was no different to my 2.2 SXi
- Seat had no lateral support, so when you drive onto a round-about your left hanging onto the steering wheel to stay upright.
- No handbrake !! - its got a really annoying button that you have to press to 'turn on' or 'turn off' the handbrake electronically
- Really annoying wind noise from the b-pillar at 70-80mph (and yes the windows were closed). Much noisier than the Vectra

The Passat model you really need is the 2.0 FSI (150bhp) Sport - but these are fetching around £17-20k - way out of my budget.

So I will post the pics of my new SRi once I have worked through the numbers with my VX dealer..... Keep you posted

**GARY3306** · 29th January 2006, 19:36

Good man, wise choice there bud

**Drinky** · 29th January 2006, 19:41

Pleased to hear good sense won in the end

**AJA** · 29th January 2006, 19:46

I must admit I like the look of the new Passat, but I've never driven one. Glad to see you're staying with a Vec though mate.

**W5 DSH** · 29th January 2006, 19:52

Well nice to see the Griffin Rules again mate

**SCOTTEX** · 29th January 2006, 20:21

I did 50K miles in a 1.8T Passat in 12 months and can tell you I'd rather have leprosy than have another.
The VW stealers charge almost twice as much as Vx ones.
The paint quality is awful.
The ride is awful.
The interior layout is awful.
The brakes are awful.
The only car that the family suffered car sickness in.
After a 3 hour stint at the wheel I'd be totally stiff.
A novel feature in that if you hit the brakes hard around 80-90 you can make the back end lift off the ground.
VW quality ? sorry,not in my experience.
Stepped straight into a Signum and thought "this is more like it"

Sorry, rant over.

**VectraMat** · 29th January 2006, 20:27

had one of those Passat 1.8T (02 reg) in for a valet this weekend at work, and to be honest, it did look shiney as it was black, bit the interior just wasnt up to much, and didnt have as much spec as a veccy and felt really cheap and old. and i dont think they look as good as the new vectra when you put them next to each other. Vectra wins once again!!!