{"id":1895717,"date":"2026-04-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1895717"},"modified":"2026-04-22T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T21:00:00","slug":"volkswagen-passat-estate-long-term-review-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1895717","title":{"rendered":"Volkswagen Passat Estate – long-term review"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It was raining the other day. No, not that day, the other day. No, not that one either. The one\u2026 Never mind, anyway, well, it was hosing it down as it had been for months, and as I was calculating the level of sogginess with which my son would enter school, I thought \u201cOoh, I\u2019ve got an umbrella\u201d. It\u2019s in the driver\u2019s door, see, a la Rolls-Royce, and once his little mind had been put back together after being blown by its sudden, seemingly miraculous appearance, we got to drop-off quite dry.<\/p>\n

But this isn\u2019t a VW trait, it\u2019s a Skoda thing, and its presence re-emphasises that the latter engineered the Passat for the former. The Czech manufacturer labels such solutions to everyday problems as \u2018Simply Clever\u2019, and while all sorts of features, err, feature, across all their models, the most well-known are said umbrella (because a posh Rolls USP in a Skoda was genius marketing) and the ice scraper stowed in the fuel filler cap.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Which, actually, the VW doesn\u2019t have, as I discovered one icy morning in January when I thought \u201cOoh, I\u2019ve got an ice scraper\u201d and then found I didn\u2019t. It even doubles as a measure to check tyre-tread depth. At least it would if the VW had it\u2026 But, regardless, that gave me an itch to scratch, so given the shared DNA, this month a Skoda Superb Estate has been visiting, to compare and contrast with the VW Passat Estate.<\/p>\n

Now, we\u2019re not going to compare how many \u2018Simply Clever\u2019 solutions are shared, because Skoda\u2019s marketing department has gotten a bit carried away of late, and everything from electric tailgates to B-pillar hooks have been claimed as \u2018ingenious solutions to everyday problems\u2019 and I feel some may originate elsewhere. Next they\u2019ll be purporting the merits of the wheel\u2026<\/p>\n

Anyway, the Superb arrived in Cobalt Blue, which looks little different from the Passat\u2019s Reef Blue, but does show that bar lights, bumpers and bonnet, there\u2019s an awful lot of shared design. The Passat\u2019s black trim, black wheels and R-Line styling packing is much more striking than the Superb\u2019s rather-reserved mix of shiny chrome and silver alloys though, which reminded me of when Ford tried to gussy up the Mondeo with a bit of shine and sparkle.<\/p>\n

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\"Skoda<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

If the VW is the winner on the outside, the Skoda takes the victory inside, with an interior that feels a step up. The VW, at least in R-Line spec, is a bit try-hard, with Alcantara and blue pin stripe and disco door and dash lighting. By contrast, the Skoda\u2019s dash architecture reminds me of a Mercedes S-Class, and it\u2019s all the better for having a smaller, demurer touchscreen and actual, physical, reach-out-and-twist-them air-con dials. The seats are a little flat and wide, mind, after the (upgraded) option in VW. There\u2019s \u00a310k difference between the as-tested price of the VW and Skoda, and the former doesn\u2019t feel five figures better.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Finally, how they drive, which is completely and utterly different. That\u2019s because the VW has a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine, and the Skoda has a 1.5 paired with an electric motor and chunky battery to offer around 70 miles of e-range. Result: the plug-in feels posher and plusher. The VW is all noise and vibrations and revs, but the Skoda is hushed (and remains quieter when the smaller engine fires up too). The Skoda rides better on inch-smaller wheels as well, whereas the VW always feels like its damping isn\u2019t expensive enough, while an extra 200kg of weight seems to settle the rear better too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Of course, you can have each with the other\u2019s engine \u2013 because VW Group \u2013 but my main takeaway from driving both was how damn good a good estate car remains. Long may they live!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was raining the other day. No, not that day, the other day. No, not that one either. The one\u2026 Never mind, anyway, well, it was hosing it down as it had been for months, and as I was calculating the level of sogginess with which my son would enter school, I thought \u201cOoh, I\u2019ve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,237],"class_list":["post-1895717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-topgear-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1895717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1895717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1895717\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1895717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1895717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1895717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}