The truth of the matter is, it took me a little while to become a fan of the Volkswagen Passat Estate. It did eventually happen, for reasons which I hope will become apparent, but unfortunately the car's least appealing feature happened to be the one that made itself evident first.It's been quite a few years since you could reasonably excuse an estate for having inferior ride to the saloon or hatchback on which it was based. Manufacturers have for a long time been finding ways to overcome the compromises involved in creating a car which might be called upon to carry heavy loads, but for some reason Volkswagen seems to have forgotten how to do this. The Passat Estate wallows over large bumps in a way that would have been disappointing for a car of this type back in 2000, and jiggles over small ones if fitted with the optional 17" wheels and 45-section low-profile tyres.Tarmac quality has a lot to do with it. Several roads around these parts have had to be resurfaced owing to the ravages of the winter, which you may remember was a bit chilly, and on those the Passat rides very well. As with many German cars, however, it's not much cop on an average UK highway.Despite all that, it's a very good long-distance cruiser. There's no single reason for this. The beautifully smooth steering, the low noise levels from the two-litre turbo diesel engine, the comfortable seats and the well-placed and suitably-sized footrest (on which I can easily place my size 11 hoof without getting tangled up with the clutch pedal) do not individually make the Passat a pleasant car to drive, but their combined effect is very pleasing.Not as pleasing as the fuel economy, though. The BlueMotion Technology in the car's title sounds very impressive and futuristic, but all it amounts to is battery regeneration, a stop/start system, a gearchange indicator (which in itself has no bearing on economy whatever) and low-rolling resistance tyres. Add that lot to an engine which performs so well at low revs that you can drive for a whole day without sending the revcounter needle beyond 2000rpm and you end up with a car which, despite its size and weight, seems to drink diesel with the same enthusiasm that you or I would show for a phial of sulphuric acid.On the official combined cycle, this Passat manages no less than 61.4mpg. That would be difficult to match in real life, but according to the trip computer I was in the 50s on every journey I made during this test, and it took me nearly 400 miles to use what the fuel gauge told me was half a tankful.According to the EU statistics, the 1.6-litre TDI version is even less thirsty, with a combined figure of 64.2mpg, but with just 104bhp against the test car's 138bhp it's a lot slower and, I imagine, much less relaxing to drive.Another less satisfactory option is the 2.0 TDI with DSG semi-automatic gearbox, which would be more relaxing but performs much less well on the combined consumption cycle, giving a figure of 54.3mpg. It also has a CO2 rating of 135g/km - much inferior to the 120g/km of the six-speed manual reviewed here. This discrepancy means that the DSG will cost £110 per year in Vehicle Excise Duty, whereas the manual is exempt in year one and costs £30 to tax from year two onwards.There's plenty of room inside for four adults whose average height exceeds six feet, and although the Passat Estate doesn't look unusually large - at least to me - it is quite definitely one of the leaders of its class for luggage space. Its 603 litres with the rear seats in place beats virtually all rivals, and the 1731-litre seats-down figure is matched only by the Ford Mondeo. Estate versions of the Vauxhall Insignia and Renault Laguna are considerably inferior, and none of the cars Volkswagen suggests as rivals (BMW 3-Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Volvo V60) even comes close.In fact, if you want significantly more space in a comparable car, you'd be best to stay within the Volkswagen Group and buy a Skoda Superb Estate, which can carry yet more luggage despite being only about two inches longer.The SE trim level of the test car is in the middle of the Passat range - you can spend less on an S, or more on a Sport, though the SE seems to me have about the right amount of equipment. The optional, and wrong, 17" wheel/tyre package doesn't cost anything, but you have to pay for the Park Assist system (£610), upgrade to dual-zone air-conditioning (£490), heated front seats (£260) and metallic paint (£465), all of which bring the price of this car, at the time of writing, up to £25,200. Engine 1968 cc, 4 cylinders Power 140 bhp @4200 rpm Torque 236 ib/ft @1750 rpm Transmission 6 speed manual Fuel/CO2 61.4 mpg / 120 g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 10sec Top speed 130 mph Price From £22790.00 approx Release date 04/01/2011
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