I've been saying all this for years. I actually quite liked the B5 Passat Sport TDi when they came out, as I ran one for a few weeks back in '98. Even then the handling was wobbly and the ride wasn't that good but the interior was quite a nice place to be and the radio was ok.
The Passat is a good car for a motorist, the Mondeo is a car for a driver.
The stereo in mine was excellent for standard kit - really decent quality speakers, plus the headunit needed one lead plugged into it if you wanted to run pre outs for external amps etc.
Much better speakers than in this Ibiza, anyway.
As for the ride / handling, the B5.5 was improved over the B5, and so whilst I doubt it will ever win over the non-believers, I found mine great.
Aside from anything else, it never once caught me out, wet or dry, despite my best efforts to provoke it into doing so.
With that in mind, I suspect that in itself is one of the reasons it did so well on the track against various 'hot hatches'; I knew just how far I could push it, had 100% belief in it when I threw it into bends etc. and it didn't disappoint. :-)
I can see, having driven my mates standard Highline in the past week, why some may find them boring... but a Sport sorted with a decent map is something I'd have again for sure.
The one thing that lets them down if pushed to their limits on a track etc, are the brakes.
They overheat far too easily.
-- JackH
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