VW Passat = Audi A4?

You want ugly, try Nissan. Or Honda. Or Lexus.

Product differentiation. A great idea. You can look it up

No.

Are you lazy or stupid?

Let's not discuss personal tastes here, but yes, the Passat and A4 used to be built on the same platform (B5). However, the A4 has been on the new platform (B6 or 8E) since 2002. Not sure if the new Passat will also be built on this same new platform...

According to

you can. A GLS 4-motion 1.8T Passat comes with a manual tranny.

There is no sport suspension option on the Passat.

Cheers,

Pete

AIUI it *is* the same between the 4Motion and the Quattro, but the FWD Passat's rear suspension is less sophisticated.

-- Mike Smith

No, AIUI it will be built on a stretched version of the VW A5 (i.e. next-gen Golf) platform. I'm not looking forward to that...

-- Mike Smith

I could stand to be corrected on this one but does the 4x4 Audi not have Quattro and the Passat (even the 4x4 version) only have an updated version of whatever part-time system VW use? Which is not Quattro!

I've had a Passat (not the latest varient) followed by an A4 - the A4 was far superior in build quality and finish.

Mike.

They both use the Torsen system, since they both have the longitudinal engine layout. It's just so they minimize stealing customers from each other, they call it quattro at Audi and 4Motion at VW. This way they make it sound as if one was superior to the other. ;-) They're the same though.

Transverse layouts (A3, TT, R32) use the Haldex system, which is non-realtime AWD.

Cheers,

Pete

But the Haldex system on the TT is still called Quattro. ANY AWD system is Quattro if its on an Audi. If its a VW then its 4Motion

Ok. So, if one wants to go el cheapo route Passat is the only WV with a Torsen system. Correct? I don't think I fancy Haldex enough judging from the info I've collected so far.

I can't promise anything, especially as I'm recalling this by heart from some of the magazines we get here in Europe but apparently the A4 limo platform is different from that of the Passat, as that of the Passat is bigger.

However, the A4 Avant and the Passat apparently share the same platform. That was certainly the case for the B5 A4, now I don't know about the B6.

The other thing, and this is something plain to see, is if you have a look at both a B6 A4 limo and its Avant Counterpart, the Avant looks not only longer but also wider, which makes me suspect it's a bit like the old B5 thing again.

I would be really curious to get a drive in the Avant with the same engine, as I'm sure it must provide an overall superior feeling of directionality and stability, and that of less suppleness - let's say in a similar fashion though at a smaller scale than what you get when you step out of an A4 and into an A6. Those of you who have tried please let us know what you felt.

My two cents,

JP Roberts

"John Opezdol" escribió en el mensaje news: snipped-for-privacy@news.supernews.com...

actually it's the same platform as the Audi A6, and it's a pretty good alternative to an A4 if you need more space but can't afford an A6 ...

-- dAve

Thanks Dave. I had this slight suspicion.

"Dave" escribió en el mensaje news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com...

I don't believe this is the case. I was told by the VW dealer (take it for what you want) that The Passat is on a stretched version of the A4 platform. There is certainly considerably more room in an A6 than a Passat as I looked at them both closely. I opted for an older A6.

Stu

The current Passat (MK5.5) is still built on the B5 platform that the A4 used previously. I can't speak for any "limo" versions sold in Europe but the standard Passat is indeed built on the B5 platform. The current A4 (B6) and A6 are built on different platforms. The MKVI (or MK6 if you prefer) Passat is due this year, on an entirely new platform not shared with anything made by Audi, and sporting either a turbocharged version of the 3.2 or a naturally aspirated

3.6 making about 300Hp as it's top spec engine. A 325-350Hp "R" variant is said to be in development as well.

Well, after looking it up, it appears there is some truth to both versions. From what I've seen, the Passat is indeed based on a stretched A4 (B5) platform, but so is the A6! So nobody's wrong :)

here's one of the links I found:

-- dAve