- The B6 Passat won't be introduced here till 2005 at this point. Straight up, VW got way behind on the project for a wide variety of reasons.
- Volkswagen is no longer doing platform sharing. Each chassis is completely unique to the given car model. So the 6th generation Passat is a unique vehicle and is NOT the basis for VW's c-class (BMW 5-series, MB e-class, Audi A6) car that the Car article is referring to. The c-class car (which they refer to as a Passat-plus) is rumored to be rear-wheel drive/AWD and will share components with the next generation Phaeton and A8. Apparently Pischetsreider is talking about taking any vehicles above the B-class cars (Passat, Audi A4) to a RWD/AWD format in the future. So the B6 chassis is unique to that model... what gets shared are the engines, transmissions, HVAC, suspension components, brakes, etc. with the Golf V. So that means a fully independent rear suspension (yeah!) for all models and a revised front strut arrangement similar to BMW's setup.
- That said, the 6-gen Passat does look very similar to the photoshop above. The headlamps are dead-on and the general shape is fairly close but not exact. In customer clinics the new Passat has met rave reviews for its design, moreso than any car VW has produced in recent memory. Everyone at Volkswagen that has seen it simple raves about how beautiful it is. Should be interesting.
- Engines will be transversely mounted in the B6 Passat to move the wheels out to the corners of the car and get the engine better positioned closer to the front wheels (as opposed to the current layout where the engine is completely in front of the front struts in a longitudinal mount. This also gives the car a shorter front over-hang and more aggressive look. With transverse engines comes Haldex AWD instead of the torsen system in current cars. I've driven the R32 with Haldex quite a bit and it is an awesome car that you can actually hang the tail out on thanks to Haldex, so I'm not worried about the change. Expect the car to be over 3 inches wider, over an inch and half longer in the wheelbase and about an inch longer overalll.
- Powertrain-wise the current word on the street for the U.S. market is a 200hp 16v 2.0l turbo 4-cylinder as the base engine and a new 3.6l 24v VR6 at 265-300hp :lol: . Haldex AWD would be standard on the V6 models due to the power and optional on the 2.0T models. Six-speed transmissions will be standard, however Car is incorrect that they will only be DSG automatics. Volkswagen has put a significant investment into an all-new six-speed Tiptronic made in Japan by Aisin that is buttery smooth (it is currently available in the New Beetle Convertible). Expect to see this new Tiptronic in the next generation Passat with DSG possibly being offered in a Passat "R" model.
Expect lots of standard equipment including dual-zone climatronic, optional navigation system, standard and optional HID headlamps and more. Plus it sounds like Volkswagen is going to offer stand-alone options now so if you want HID headlamps on a base model Passat you will be able to get them.