Passat for First Car

That comment about rearward visibility noted, there's actually far worse rearward visibility out of a current-gen Aygo than there is out of a B5.5 Passat estate. Those old Passats were just all glass.

I mean, a saloon is a great choice, I'm looking to buy a Saab 93 as my second car, but can you afford the insurance?

Having driven my friend's Astra estate, and a Bora, the only real difference is that you have less visibility around you in a saloon, and they're bigger. The one thing that's great about a small hatch is that you can fit it anywhere (came very much in handy at college). The Passat will likely be a lot harder to park

That said, they're all things you learn to deal with, and its inevitable you will as you get a larger car anyway, so if you can afford it, why not?!

The Astra and the Golf (Bora) are in the same segment, so an Astra estate is about the same size as a Golf estate. The saloon version of a model is a very similar length to the estate version, but both are obviously longer than the equivalent hatchback version.

A Passat saloon is longer than either the saloon or estate versions of the Astra and Golf/Bora.

You do have much worse rearward visibility in a saloon than an estate/hatch and I dislike them for that reason (along with the hilariously impractical boot lids that most saloons seem to get). A lift-back like the Octavia is a much better solution and gives you actual access to the boot space.

That comment about rearward visibility noted, there's actually far worse rearward visibility out of a current-gen Aygo than there is out of a B5.5 Passat estate. Those old Passats were just all glass.

I find that the rear visibility is quite good since it has an expansive rear window. The visibility (in my opinion) is better than the Kia Rio hatchback I learned to drive in.

oh really? I withdraw my statement then haha, it was purely based upon having to park my friend's astra for him because his spacial awareness is terrible

go for the saloon op!

That's promising!


I think I will go saloon as an estate is just too big and brutal looking

According to Parkers the saloon is 4765mm long and the estate is 4774mm long - so the estate is only 9mm longer. I think you'd actually find it easier to park due to the better visibility and the boot is much, much easier to load awkward items into. They also hold their value much better than the saloon version.

I'm slightly biased towards estates though as I've owned five of them (plus two 4x4s) vs only one saloon. We have a dog now as well which makes an estate a no-brainer.

I'm tempted to get a 2005-2010 2 litre automatic Volkswagen Passat as a first car. Is this an awful idea? How much different is driving a saloon car from say a Vauxhall Corsa?

the 1.9 tdi passat is the only car capable of breaking the sound barrier all the other dads fear it