Does anyone own a 2008 Passat?

**zel** · 21-08-2008,10:10 PM

Preferably a 140ps diesel estate.

I'm just in the first processes at looking into buying one but I have just stumbled apon what might be a deal breaker for me.

As we travel a lot to our place in France I really need a speedo that reads in mph and kmh.. I know all UK cars normally have this but apon walking past VW this evening I had a quick nose in the car park (the dealership was closed) and noticed two new Passats but the speedo/instrument cluster just read had a MPH readout..

By readout I mean how fast you're going, not the distance traveled.

Can anyone please confirm ?

Thank you so much.

**eko** · 21-08-2008,10:30 PM

The speedometer is just in MPH. The little digital display in the speedometer clock changes to KM/H when the car is moving. When the car stops it changes back to distance travelled. I hope this helps.

Ed

**jimgironde** · 21-08-2008,11:20 PM

As Eko states the KM is given in digital format.

I have the estate and travel in France. I actually find this feature a lot better than the "small scale" km on the analogue speedo. I have found after many hours driving my eyes get tired and looking at the analogue small numbers is not easy and requires more than a quick glance. Much better with the digital.

**zel** · 21-08-2008,11:28 PM

Originally Posted by jimgironde

As Eko states the KM is given in digital format.

I have the estate and travel in France. I actually find this feature a lot better than the "small scale" km on the analogue speedo. I have found after many hours driving my eyes get tired and looking at the analogue small numbers is not easy and requires more than a quick glance. Much better with the digital.

Yup the problem is next year I'll probably be moving to France for a year and will have to register the car there, with a 'traditional' mph/kmh display it wouldn't need replacing, this way I have to buy a new kmh cluster and have it programmed

thanks for the confirmation guys

**Stuart W** · 22-08-2008,07:56 AM

Originally Posted by zel

Yup the problem is next year I'll probably be moving to France for a year and will have to register the car there, with a 'traditional' mph/kmh display it wouldn't need replacing, this way I have to buy a new kmh cluster and have it programmed

thanks for the confirmation guys

So isn't the digital readout adequate for the purposes of French law?

I assumed that was the very reason for the digital km/h readout.

Didn't the French pioneer digital speedos etc?

Don't know much about motoring law in France myself, but I know a man on here who does

**jimgironde** · 22-08-2008,09:11 AM

Quatrelle, can n you clarify?

**Quatrelle** · 22-08-2008,02:29 PM

The Passat is (obviously) a known car here, so there shouldn't be any problem re-registering it, and if there is, reference to a local VW dealer should settle the speedo problem (if indeed they are aware of it as a problem). The problem will be if they insist on you changing the headlights - this is a problem for owners of rhd cars here if they try to get the equivalent of an mot - won't happen in your case because it's not necessary until the car is 4 years old (and ditto perhaps for the speedo issue).

My question to you is 'why bother re-registering it?' I know three people in our little town who have been driving around in UK reg'd cars for some years, and one who has just been back to the UK to buy an XJ8 (at half-price from a friend before you ask why!), and who has no intention whatsoever of re-registering it. He has a 365-day green card from his UK-based insurance company, and of course avoids fines and points from being flashed by radars

I'm not sure of the legality of it all, but he's not stupid.

**jimgironde** · 22-08-2008,02:36 PM

Quatrelle, do the french authorities not follow up uk registered cars who get flashed?
. I think I got flashed going through Lyon a few weeks back and have been wondering whether anything would happen.
I think I got caught out by the fact that the traffic was actually free flowing through Lyon!!

**Quatrelle** · 22-08-2008,03:16 PM

Originally Posted by jimgironde

Quatrelle, do the french authorities not follow up uk registered cars who get flashed?
. I think I got flashed going through Lyon a few weeks back and have been wondering whether anything would happen.
I think I got caught out by the fact that the traffic was actually free flowing through Lyon!!

I would be surprised if you do. All speeding contraventions go through a central bureau (don't ask me how I know

), so it's not down to local authorities to decide to follow it up. The facility exists between countries but doesn't seem to be being used. I don't know anyone here who has been caught like that, so I'd be most interested and grateful to hear if anything happens.

As an aside, my wife was stopped in our Laguna recently for a document check (it's a French car, French reg.d etc.). Two cops - one looks in the window and politely asks for her documents. She shows her UK passport first, and he immediately turns to his colleague and says 'Anglaise', turns back to my wife, gives her her passport and says the equivalent of 'Thanks very much, safe journey'. I do wonder, on the basis of that, whether, if it had been a UK reg'd car, they'd have even bothered to stop her.

**jimgironde** · 22-08-2008,03:37 PM

Thats interesting, I will let you know if I hear anything.

I had read in the UK press that the French police were hotting up on mobile traps, being more evasive than UK police in their application, and of course it is on the spot fines I think.

I deduce from the situation you describe with your wife that the French police assume (quite rightly I hope) that UK visitors are going to be daft not to have all papers in order, but obviously that assumption doesn't apply to French residents