BiTDi - Ordered (& Hello Everyone)

[StumblingTrout]

Evening,

Just thought i'd drop in here and say hello again having taken a leave of absence of about 5 years having changed cars various times away from my old A4 that led me here previously (and i've forgotten all my previous login details in the process)

I'll be creeping around the B8 Passat forum frequently i'm sure, as i've just ordered the following:

VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT DIESEL ESTATE 2.0BiTDI SCR GT 4MOTION 5dr DSG
Metallic - Harvard blue
Alcantara/leather - Moonrock/black
14 way electric adjustable frontseats + driver seat lumbarsupport with massage/memoryfunction
230V Socket
Active Information display
Advance telephone connection
Alcantara/leather - Moonrock/black
Area view
Discover DVD navigation prowith 8.0
Driver Assistance Pack Plus
Fully electric tailgate
Heated steering wheel
Keyless entry system
Net Partition
Rubber Boot Mat
Sound Insulating LaminatedSafety Glass
Sport Pack For DCC
Tyre pressure loss indicator
4th Year Warranty (to protect my wallet when the DSG gearbox goes wrong!)

I had ordered the Ambient Lighting pack, but got told that the factory has run out of parts and would delay my order indefinitely.
Was disappointed that I can't have the heated windscreen with the Driver Assistance pack. Otherwise all the toys one could ever want.

Passat was somewhat of an outside choice, i'm a Volvo man by heart (currently have 2) but until the new V90 comes out (and has been out long enough to be discounted by any decent margin) everything aside from the new XC90 is due for replacement and doesn't offer the levels of tech that I want.
I'm due delivery presumably March, build date of week 5 (1st Feb) and looking forward to it. The loaner I had from the dealership seemed very nice. Plenty of poke too and silly levels of grip :firedevil

Any other B8 BiTdi owners on here? Generally happy with their purchase?

[isleaiw]

Not too many responses so far! I havent got a new Passat but due to a change in circumstances I need to get an estate - replacing an A6 3.0Tdi Quattro (218ps) although historically I am a bit of a Volvo fan :)

I have looked at lots of stuff already from the obvious contenders - but the 3 series too small / 5 series too big conundrum hits, and it is similar with the A4 - plus getting a dealer to take my interest seriously is challenging!!

I would be very interested in your thoughts when you get it - and also a view on the sort of deals on offer (assuming not a company / lease vehicle). Originally I was trying to stick to 6 cylinder contenders as I love the refinement but I am coming round to the fact that this is proving very restrictive and a little short sighted....


Ian

[StumblingTrout]

Not too many responses so far! I havent got a new Passat but due to a change in circumstances I need to get an estate - replacing an A6 3.0Tdi Quattro (218ps) although historically I am a bit of a Volvo fan :)

I have looked at lots of stuff already from the obvious contenders - but the 3 series too small / 5 series too big conundrum hits, and it is similar with the A4 - plus getting a dealer to take my interest seriously is challenging!!

I would be very interested in your thoughts when you get it - and also a view on the sort of deals on offer (assuming not a company / lease vehicle). Originally I was trying to stick to 6 cylinder contenders as I love the refinement but I am coming round to the fact that this is proving very restrictive and a little short sighted....


Ian

No Ian, although I guess with the Passat being predominantly a fleet car not many BiTDI's will ever get sold! It's one of the 9 models affected by the Co2 thing as well so i'm waiting to see what comes of that.

I get what you mean about the BMW's. I Had a 530d Touring (F11 on an 11 plate) and it was huge. Good build quality but no X Drive variant and I found on our roads round the villages it got a little tail happy in the wet if you wanted to nip out into a gap in traffic. Good build quality, fabulous engine and really quite economical. Just wish it was AWD. And the run flat tyres made it very tiresome to drive as you constantly had to correct the steering. I kept it a year and moved it on.

Replaced it with an X3 35d M Sport (F25) on a 13 plate. Ridiculous performance, insane grip and brilliant tech. Again though, very poor ride quality and very poor build quality which really irked me given it's significant cost and I struggled to bond with the car. It was also quite uncomfortable. It suffered even more with tram lining and meant that on undulating bumpy roads, it was very difficult to move with a good degree of progress without worrying about ending up in every ditch. I kept it 10 months and moved it on. I lost quite a lot of money. Vowed never to buy BMW again, despite having some very favourable deals available to me. Whilst we had this car, my wife bought a Volvo XC60 D5 SE Lux Nav Geartronic. Got £10k discount on it so bought new, and 40,000 miles on we still have it and both love that car to pieces. On paper the X3 was better in every single way - but despite having 100bhp less, I can put it through a series of bends with more progress and confidence than I could either BMW. I love the V70 and XC70 but they are obsolete tech now and the goodies on the new XC90 aren't found anywhere else in the lineup - yet.

So that was a big lesson. So I bought an old 2004 V70 which i've now had over 2 years and it's been worth its weight in gold. It's only going because we have a baby on the way so want something a little more up to date and reliable.

I agree with you about the 6 Cylinder engines - you do get a level of refinement that a 4 pot just can't offer. Even the 5 cylinder engines in our Volvo's offer character you don't get elsewhere. I'll miss that. I doubt the BiTDI in the Passat will be any more economical either, but I guess it's lighter?

Deal - I got 12% discount + a further £1500 deposit contribution for taking their finance agreement. List price was £43,520 and I have paid £36,888. Slightly more than the Drive the Deal price that I always use for reference but I'm PX'ing the old barge and they gave me a good deal on that too, so it's swings and roundabouts plus I don't have to pay low loader delivery as i'm buying local.

£36,888 is probably A6 territory with available discounts - but I drove an A6 BiTdi (the rocket-ship 3 litre version) and in SE spec the build quality really let it down. You have to spend an awful lot of money to get leather on the doors etc. That's where it starts to add up. Plus the cruise control stalk on other VAG cars really irritates me. Audi loaned me their new Q7 and that was disappointing too - which shocked me! The VW seems to be a much nicer cabin quality as standard over the Audi.

Sat in a friends 12 plate Superb at the weekend. That was also quite a nice place to be. I'm watching out for the new Volvo V90 with great interest. That's what i'm aiming to change into when i'm done with the Passat.

/endlifestory ;)

[isleaiw]

No Ian, although I guess with the Passat being predominantly a fleet car not many BiTDI's will ever get sold! It's one of the 9 models affected by the Co2 thing as well so i'm waiting to see what comes of that.

I get what you mean about the BMW's. I Had a 530d Touring (F11 on an 11 plate) and it was huge. Good build quality but no X Drive variant and I found on our roads round the villages it got a little tail happy in the wet if you wanted to nip out into a gap in traffic. Good build quality, fabulous engine and really quite economical. Just wish it was AWD. And the run flat tyres made it very tiresome to drive as you constantly had to correct the steering. I kept it a year and moved it on.

Replaced it with an X3 35d M Sport (F25) on a 13 plate. Ridiculous performance, insane grip and brilliant tech. Again though, very poor ride quality and very poor build quality which really irked me given it's significant cost and I struggled to bond with the car. It was also quite uncomfortable. It suffered even more with tram lining and meant that on undulating bumpy roads, it was very difficult to move with a good degree of progress without worrying about ending up in every ditch. I kept it 10 months and moved it on. I lost quite a lot of money. Vowed never to buy BMW again, despite having some very favourable deals available to me. Whilst we had this car, my wife bought a Volvo XC60 D5 SE Lux Nav Geartronic. Got £10k discount on it so bought new, and 40,000 miles on we still have it and both love that car to pieces. On paper the X3 was better in every single way - but despite having 100bhp less, I can put it through a series of bends with more progress and confidence than I could either BMW. I love the V70 and XC70 but they are obsolete tech now and the goodies on the new XC90 aren't found anywhere else in the lineup - yet.

So that was a big lesson. So I bought an old 2004 V70 which i've now had over 2 years and it's been worth its weight in gold. It's only going because we have a baby on the way so want something a little more up to date and reliable.

I agree with you about the 6 Cylinder engines - you do get a level of refinement that a 4 pot just can't offer. Even the 5 cylinder engines in our Volvo's offer character you don't get elsewhere. I'll miss that. I doubt the BiTDI in the Passat will be any more economical either, but I guess it's lighter?

Deal - I got 12% discount + a further £1500 deposit contribution for taking their finance agreement. List price was £43,520 and I have paid £36,888. Slightly more than the Drive the Deal price that I always use for reference but I'm PX'ing the old barge and they gave me a good deal on that too, so it's swings and roundabouts plus I don't have to pay low loader delivery as i'm buying local.

£36,888 is probably A6 territory with available discounts - but I drove an A6 BiTdi (the rocket-ship 3 litre version) and in SE spec the build quality really let it down. You have to spend an awful lot of money to get leather on the doors etc. That's where it starts to add up. Plus the cruise control stalk on other VAG cars really irritates me. Audi loaned me their new Q7 and that was disappointing too - which shocked me! The VW seems to be a much nicer cabin quality as standard over the Audi.

Sat in a friends 12 plate Superb at the weekend. That was also quite a nice place to be. I'm watching out for the new Volvo V90 with great interest. That's what i'm aiming to change into when i'm done with the Passat.

/endlifestory ;)

Thanks for the life story, suspect I remember you from the Volvo forums round about the time you got the XC60....

I ran an old S60 for 130k miles - from 30k to 160k - and couldnt fault it. Rear space wasnt great and the turning circle not brilliant but I knew both of those things when i bought it. It wasnt a high spec version but it was a motorway hack for work and i did big distances on a daily basis - I only had it for 3 and a bit years to do the above mileage!! I got rid when it looked like it was going to cost money and after looking at a million different things settled on an E class estate. I think the main reason was I had never had a Merc! It didnt really hit the spot - too big, too flash, too noisy (4 cylinder diesel...) and ridiculously expensive for servicing....... Anyway that got chopped in and I inherited the Golf GTi my wife was running as she didnt like it and wanted a Mini again!! I loved the Golf and as I wasnt doing so many miles it didnt really matter that it was petrol... However, two three door cars wasnt going to work very well and it was a bit noisy on the motorway where I did most of my driving, so it went to be replaced by the current Audi...

I have only had this one 6 months but in that time my world has turned upside down - and now find myself needing to find room for a dog pen on a regular basis, which doesnt work with either a Mini or a saloon! So I need an estate. I'd like 6 cylinder diesel or a punchy petrol - I dont do the mileage to worry too much about mpg any more, about the size of a Passat as 3 series / old A4 seem cramped and A6 / 5 series are too big, good tech spec but preferably not touch screen, AWD would be nice but could live without, and clearly not too expensive!! Its a short short list.... I have thought about X3 3 litre, but boot isnt huge for dogs and they are very expensive by time you have added spec - even after discounts. The new A4 might be an option - with same engine and stuff as current car - but havent seen one and my local Audi dealer is rubbish, bought the last one from 70 miles away to avoid them!! The Passat ticks the size and awd boxes and I am as comfortable with the badge and build as an Audi..... but its 4 cylinder diesel and touch screen nav etc....

Maybe I just keep the Audi and buy an old V70 for the dogs!

[StumblingTrout]

Maybe I just keep the Audi and buy an old V70 for the dogs!

How about a Phase 3 V70 T6 - 300bhp, AWD and 6 cylinder petrol goodness! Thirsty though, we have one in our pool car fleet at work, we average about 21mpg. Jolly good fun.

Agree with your comments on the Merc, btw - I had a C class rental car from Enterprise. It was the most agricultural diesel engine I have ever experienced!!

Ah yes - I was on the Volvo Forums too, I think I remember your username if it was the same over there!

[isleaiw]

Fuel consumption doesnt really matter as I dont do enough miles to warrant it being an issue these days - however I do have too many cars already! Have an old 206 that is really my sons but he hardly drives it and it is perfect as the station car for the 2 mile each way run and to leave all day, I have a Mini Cooper (latest 3 cylinder) that was my wife's - she passed away recently and I cant bring myself to get rid yet, and then the Audi - which is lovely but a bit surplus now as I wont have the dogs on the seats and it is very big! Did find myself looking at a Golf R estate yesterday - but given most of times dogs are in its because I am heading back north, not sure a 300hp hot hatch with a big bum is the answer.... Will look at one properly when I try the Passat and new A4 avant for size, and n doubt spend the next 6 months pondering whilst I realise hiring an estate when I need one is cheaper and easier!


Username is the same wherever I go, saves thinking!

[StumblingTrout]

Fuel consumption doesnt really matter as I dont do enough miles to warrant it being an issue these days - however I do have too many cars already! Have an old 206 that is really my sons but he hardly drives it and it is perfect as the station car for the 2 mile each way run and to leave all day, I have a Mini Cooper (latest 3 cylinder) that was my wife's - she passed away recently and I cant bring myself to get rid yet, and then the Audi - which is lovely but a bit surplus now as I wont have the dogs on the seats and it is very big! Did find myself looking at a Golf R estate yesterday - but given most of times dogs are in its because I am heading back north, not sure a 300hp hot hatch with a big bum is the answer.... Will look at one properly when I try the Passat and new A4 avant for size, and n doubt spend the next 6 months pondering whilst I realise hiring an estate when I need one is cheaper and easier!

Username is the same wherever I go, saves thinking!

Ian, about your wife, that's awful I'm so sorry to hear that.

The new A4 is meant to be good, but again i'm not sure how much speccing it will need to get the interior to feel special. The 3.0 V6 Diesel is obviously a plus over the 2.0 BiTdi in the Passat, no doubt it will be more refined but ultimately more expensive.

I'll certainly post my thoughts when my Passat arrives. I'm particularly interested in the ergo-comfort seats with drivers massage function. The OH got kicked in the back by a horse and suffers because of it, so will be interesting to see if it rivals our XC60 for comfort on long journeys.

[StumblingTrout]

29817
Progress...! My car is actually 'a thing' now.

Fingers crossed for a 1st March pickup, albeit 4 weeks if VW's suggestion is accurate puts us probably into the second week of March.

[isleaiw]

29817
Progress...! My car is actually 'a thing' now.

Fingers crossed for a 1st March pickup, albeit 4 weeks if VW's suggestion is accurate puts us probably into the second week of March.

good luck with it - I will be interested to hear first thoughts as its unlkely I will have made any progress by March (houses are my main concern currently!)

[StumblingTrout]

Landed in the UK this morning... On average 7 days from now to get to the dealership.

Looking promising for March 1st.

Dealer have also said they would give me a choice of 10 registrations to choose from.

[StumblingTrout]

1 more sleep...