The GLS version that we tried had leather upholstery, a CD player, plus power door locks, windows, sunroof and outside mirrors. And cold climate buyers can even get heated front seats and heated windshield wiper nozzles. You're wrong there, Dad. It's turbocharged, located longitudinally and sports twin overhead camshafts that operate five valves per cylinder. BOB - I'm going to ignore that snide remark, Matt, and press on with some objective technical comments.
Torque steer is the phenomena that affects steering in a front-drive car with a powerful engine.
It causes some other brands to pull to the right under hard acceleration. The traction control on our GLS model might have had something to do with that Passat stability, too. Although I'd like to try a Passat with the standard five-speed manual transmission, the Tiptronic automatic was fun to play with. I was able to monitor the fuel mileage, however, and when I wasn't hot-rodding it around town, it averaged 27 MPG in combination city street and highway driving. For a car this size, the Passat is surprisingly light at 3200 pounds, which probably helped achieve that fuel mileage record.