Beige interiors are rather rare... they are only available on very few interior trims, sadly. I also prefer a beige interior, but not necessarily beige/white seats (because they do get dirty/colored easily... even by wearing jeans). Dark grey is much easier to maintain. Then again... if they preview the Passat with that car, it might have that interior...?

Most Malaysians don't know about wet clutch dry clutch, for them all DSG are scary. So yes, the 2.0 may be more reliable, but will second hand buyers buy it?

What's the expected 3 years second hand value of a Passat in terms of percentage depreciation? Possible to buy at 50% of the new price in 3 years?

How much to allocate to maintain a wet clutch Passat a year which is out of warranty?

Mh... but isn't that also because zoom zoom? People who are into the Golf GTI don't have too many alternatives, and they may not be the most rational people in the first place.

The Passat is a heavier car, and it is designed for comfort. Calling it a GTI with boot is stretching things... it might be fast, sort of, but it's more for driving fast on the highway.

On a Comfortline Passat the 6.5" unit as seen on the photo costs RM 1555. GPS for that unit is another RM 2656. Instead, you could get the 8" Discover Pro (same arrangement, same buttons, but the screen goes right up to the buttons and they are a bit further away), which is RM 11058 and already includes GPS. IMHO the best choice for Malaysia would be the 6.5" HU, but instead of GPS they should have picked App Connect and Media Control. Lets you control the HU from your tablet, and lets you use Android Auto etc. Costs RM 1340, or RM 981 without the tablet stuff. The leftover money could be invested in the 11 speaker Dynaudio sound system for RM 6342, adjustable suspension for RM 5744, raised ride height for RM 2896 (15 mm higher, good for those bad Malaysian roads), 360° GTA style camera from above the car for RM 4164. Heads-up display is RM 2704, while that awesome digital dashboard is RM 3183. LED headlights are RM 5217, while the matrix LED option is RM 10268. But I have the HID version of that (which probably isn't as good), and it's awesome. I love it. The options list on Comfortline Passats is 107 items long.

One thing they really should have included is Adaptive Cruise Control for only RM 2154! It's mind boggling that they didn't include that option, given the other way too expensive kit they've included that's just gimmicky and pointless. Especially in combination with DSG it's a great feature. Prevents accidents/lessens accidents, and makes driving just so much more comfortable. Plus the competitors don't have it.

Would you want adaptive cruise control?

I quoted from the price list... it's RM 2154 for adaptive cruise control. VWM is probably going to pay less for it. And they've opted for options that make less sense than that. With people being so annoyed of traffic jams, don't you think a car that accelerates and brakes by itself would sell like hot cakes?

On a Golf at least the driver fatigue warning system is something like RM 1500, and all it does is tell you you're tired. Which it doesn't, because I have the feature, I have it activated, and it only ever reminded me that I'm tired when I was fully awake. On the other hand, those times where I AM tired...? Nope. Never alerted me. It's as pointless as it can be, and it doesn't work. Also, those leather seats are several thousand Euros probably, and what's the point of those? Burn your ass? The powered boot lid (annoyingly slow, probably) is IIRC also twice as expensive as the adaptive cruise control.

Apologies. Actually I forgot the car is CKD.

Anyway, those are the prices that a customer in Germany has to pay to get these options, excluding any discounts that the dealer may give customers (which is something like 10-15% on the car? Maybe more). Don't you think that VWM is getting better prices?

There's a company selling everything you need to upgrade to ACC on the B8... the kit costs around RM 4700, but you have to consider that they need to get the parts as spare parts, which are more expensive than what they cost when they get installed when making the car, and they need to supply parts that already exist on the car, like parts of the front bumper etc. So you'll have to pay for it twice, once when getting the car and once to upgrade.

Yeah, but you're paying double if buying the kit...

I don't think you need to remove chairs and carpet... the front bumper needs to be changed, and you need to wire things up. You need the mid level dashboard AFAIK, and at least the 6.5" screen. Things like that.

I'm saying that at least on the Highline, possibly on the Comfortline they should have ACC as one of the options. And that means buying the parts in bulk. Even if it isn't 2k, even if it is 4k or so... wouldn't that be worth it? Especially given that the VW system works exceptionally well. I was considering a Honda Civic when buying my Golf, more affordable and also not too bad, but during research people complained about the Civic slamming the brakes hard when approaching a bridge. And other wrong alerts. Not having those on the VW system... especially nothing dangerous.

Yup. i think the price is still a bit expensive considering how much issues this brand had for our market. Most of the potential buyers surely from the d segment car not the compact luxury car like the c class or 3er or A4 because of these trio has better brand image. Somemore judging from my initial impression on showroom last week, i still think those trio offer a better quality car such as interior materials & the feel of the switchgears but if compare with the d-segment, i must say the b8 is definitely on top. If they were to attract buyers, they should've put a more attractive price.

No. The high hump is for AWD, as you can order the Passat with AWD and thus there needs to be space for the propshaft.

On another note, is the 2.0 EA888 the same engine with those in Audi's lineup which was known to have oil consumption issues? Perhaps different tune?

Considering the Passat 206TSI R-Line here in the Land Down Under which has the same engine as the Golf R and with AWD.
Well the models you mentioned above has a hump due to the fact that they are RWD.

I drove a F10 1 series and own a Golf Mk 7... the interior in the Golf does feel better IMHO. Better materials, better quality. The only thing I preferred in the F10 was that they had some cushioning for the knees.

@Drian: Oh I see. Hm.

Is your Passat the wet clutch or dry clutch type? How long did you own it and what was your ownership experience? What was the longest time it spent in the workshop?

Lousy marketing apart from past issues. Problem with those marketing people, they aren't straightforward to point out issues and asked for solution when dealing with principal engineering division.

When public confidence lost, began throwing discount hoping for more people to buy. Always the same case, wonder why can't they hire engineers to manage the company instead? It's not that hard to bring up the DCT technology as the issue was caused by 1 thing. Sorry, I am not allowed to share since my buddies joined car company. It can be solved and DCT will be no issue.

IMO the problem is that for CKD cars you have to move the stock by whatever means and the easiest is to throw price. Otherwise the cars keep piling up in the yard as you can't stop the assembly line completely.

VGM doesn't have the capability to change the model in any way and our market is too small for VW to customize their cars for us.

Plus in the olden days. When there were  really hot. The sales ppl were all cocky.

Anyway today is today. So things have changed. I still won't own one but if I have the money. I go next door and get a Volvo. Or drive down further to look at a BMW or a Mercedes. Why waste time on a VW. Especially in Malaysia.

If I were to buy a secondhand Passat, how would I go about determining if the clutch and mechatronics is the way it should be? Can the SC check and verify that all is in good condition?