The new Volkswagen Passat represents what the late Buddy Redman told me about success in the car market; “Sell what the market wants, not what you like.” For the large family sedan market, the Antelope Valley buyers want durability, versatility, functionality, luxury and value.

When Volkswagen redesigned their Passat for the large car market, they focused on functionality, luxury, performance, and value. It seems that they had a Dodge Charger, Toyota Avalon, Chevrolet Impala, Ford Taurus and Audi A6 in the studio during the design process. They clearly captured what the large car buyers liked about these vehicles and added some Audi design themes to give the Passat a premium, upscale feel.

The clean exterior design embraces its German lineage. The clean lines provide a timeless, classic look, placing the Passat exterior in the same class as Audi, BMW, and Mercedes. The long, clean lines make the Passat look much bigger than it is, giving the vehicle much more presence than it’s competition. The exterior reminded us of the past German performance luxury sedans, such as the 1990’s era BMW 7-series, the 1990’s ear Mercedes class, and the previous generation Audi A8 – vehicles that still look great today. Because of it’s exterior design staying power, the Passat is the type of vehicle young Antelope Valley professional family would prefer over an SUV, minivan, or other cars in it’s class.

Audi has set the interior design benchmark for the past 30 years. Recently, Audi designers began to migrate their sister Volkswagen division. The Passat interior is simply an outstanding blend of pleasing, logical lines and curves that are combined with outstanding material (e.g., no hard plastic that now dominates Toyota and Honda interiors) to yield a refined, upscale feel. The durability of these materials shows that VW understandings the beating a family car interior experiences. The seating surfaces will easily clean up (as was proven by my six-year-old and her friends), while the light color provides a bright, happy feeling. The rear seat legroom ensures that a young family will not outgrow this car. Because the Passat rear seat easily accommodates three six-foot-tall adults, the Passat became the popular “people hauler” during our evaluation period.

For those of us that have driven the Autobahn, we know that the European VW’s are quite the “bahn-burners”. In the past, we were greatly disappointed with the North American VW’s because of the misguided mandatory emissions and safety equipment. Not so with the new VWs. The standard 2.5 liter five-cylinder engine has outstanding throttle response is outstanding and the standard 6-speed automatic/manual shift transmission. Antelope Valley drivers may opt for the 2.0 liter turbo diesel engine, which has an 800 mile range.

The new 2012 Passat starts under $20,000 and is well equipped for under $25,000. That’s considerably lower than a similarly equipped Toyota Avalon. This includes 36 month, 36,000 mile free scheduled maintenance.

When Volkswagen setting a North American sales goal of 800,000, they knew that outstanding product was needed to credibly reach that goal. Audi’s rising product tide is benefiting it’s sister division, Volkswagen. The resulting new Passat nicely compliments the 2012 Volkswagen line up and should be consider by any Antelope Valley car buyer that’s seeking a larger luxury sedan for the price of a Toyota or Hyundai.