Not to steal their thunder by quoting the last paragraph, but Jalopnik's started one of their 3-part reviews on the new VW Passat Wagon 2.0L, the near-base version of the car that some reviewers think thinks its an Audi:
...this is a full-fledged family car at an affordable price, a segment we had thought Volkswagen was pricing itself out of. So take it easy on the options and the Passat will be all the car you need. Plus ’Äî judging by recent Volkwagen quality numbers ’Äî you’Äôll need that extra cash for trips to the shop.Jalopnik Reviews: VW Passat Wagon 2.0L, Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 [jalopnik]
Dude, we've got this car! It actually rocks, for a station wagon.
We have a 2000 Passat sedan, and I was an alpha driver for the new Passat sedan. Though the car was nice enough, it felt/looked/was priced bloated and trying too hard to be upscale. The price on the sedan essentially priced me out of the market (running about $7-8,000 more than the previous versions) and I felt like VW just didn't really give a damn that they were now saying "well, you can downgrade to a Jetta for the same price you used to pay for a Passat".
The Wagon certainly avoids the sagging rear that the sedan has now, and I haven't seen the official pricing, so I don't know if it is any better priced than the sedan (for what you are getting). And the pleather or leather seats are a deal breaker for me anyway- sweat and fry in the LA sun!
I have a 2000 Passat and we have a love-hate relationship. The love part is pretty much based on my daily commute which is generally lovely. The hate part comes in with the "quality" issues. Like when I was driving home from Vegas in -I shit you not- 116 degree weather and all of a sudden my car won't run with the AC on. I have never sweated so much in my entire goddam life. Turns out some POS engine heat sensor went bad. Then there was the time when all of the oil leaked out, don't remember the reason for that one. Oh yeah, the day I gave birth to my twins, 2 year old battery died, $500 to replace it. Driving home one night, every single warning light on the dash comes out and freaks my shit OUT. Some sort of brake sensor thing, that will be $1,200 maam. Oh let's not forget the time when the power window on the driver's side stopped working. Oh yeah, that was just last week. I could go on and on and on. Reminds me of that nursery rhyme "when she was good she was very very good, but when she was bad she was horrid". Yep, pretty much.
[hmm, love-hate? It sounds like a pretty abusive relationship. If I were Dear Abby, i'd tell you to dump the bum. -ed.]
I have the new VW Passat Wagon (bought in November 2005), and I think this station wagon is really good, specially for people we have kids, because it has a lot of space in the back seat and is very comfortable. It may no be cheap, but it's not very expensive comparing with some Audis, Mercedes and BMWs, that have the same quality and cost twice the price (at least in Europe)!