Does The New Passat Have What It takes To Take On The Pacific Rim Dominance?

The VW Impala will have very tough competition. We all know that the next gen Camry, Accord, and Altima are just around the corner.

At first I thought it's Jetta, then I realized it's longer. Anyway, both are unimaginative designs perfect for pretenders.

I am so tickled when I see the word "quality" in the same sentence with the name VW. Pulease. Those two go together like oil and water.

quality and reliability are 2 different things. VW fails more when it comes to reliability than anything.

My sister got rid of her Toyota Prius II because it was giving her issues.

She has been driving a 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI since February of that year - no issues. I've owned VW (and Audi) products in the past and I've never had any major or nagging issues. A small problem that can easily be fixed here and there, but that after two or three years - and once it is fixed it never occurs again. Yeah, those VW products are so unreliable...

JD Powers are full of it. How many domestic cars keep getting the best initial quality and end up being crap cars with interior pieces falling apart and the buttons wearing so badly you can't see what button it is. Even consumer reports is more reliable than JD powers!Edmunds is also full of it.

Their initial quality is crap too. How many cheaply engineered American cars with cheap shoddy interior won best in initial quality against cars like Honda which were light years ahead. Initial didn't fly past me. JD Powers is full of it period.

Well look at Jetta sales. VW is selling more Jetta's then ever before.It seems clear that VW has found the right price point with the Jetta. It seems likely they will find the right price point with the Passat.It is an easy car to critisize in terms of conservative styling and reliability issues. However, it's very very roomy now, it has a conservative but upsacale interior, it has IRS, and it offers a diesel that gets nearly 800 miles to a tank.I think VW has a winning combination.

most 5 year old cars are worth 40% of their purchase value at best....some american cars drop to 30's

add some mileage and it's worth even less.

if you look at most dependability studies, the one trend you see is that most current cars rate better than the average from 5 years ago. So the reliability of a VW today is already better than most cars that were highly regarded years ago. That's progress in manufacturing and build quality. I agree that with a new plant VW will be even better now. I agree the current best rated cars are probably even BETTER than VW but that's not my point. it's almost "good enough now" for all makes and models.