Key strengths: Styling, stereo, great pickup on turbo

Areas for improvement: Nothing

I had an 06 touareg that I becoma very disillusioned with. My reviews are on here, and you can see that all the good turned to bad in a short period. The brakes and tires and gas mileage was getting ridiculous so I went back to the dealership to see if I could get out of my lease a year early.

We came to an agreement and I ended up in a 2008 VW passat 2.0L Turbo Komfort Series. WOW. I haven't driven a "car" for about 6 years, having been in a mercury mountaineer and then VW touareg for quite a while now.

The VW is very sleek. It has nice styling that is both sporty and sleek and luxurius. The features inside are nice not overstated and not understated either. It is a nice leather inside, rides really smooth, and has really good accelleration when needed. At like 55MPH it seems to be in silent coast, very quiet and very good handling. Like most VW lots of "hidden storage" great radios and great design. I am a little over 6 feet and the seat can fit me just fine and probably fit someone 6'6".

Now for some specs. 2.0L I4, 16 valve, 200 hp @ 5100 rpm
6 speed automatic transmission 19 mpg city / 28 mpg hwy. Gets about 31 MPG realistically on flat highway and 22 around town right now. That is with AC on, and full tank of gas. The interior is a brushed chrome accents and the typical VW indigo and red backlighting. Plenty of leg room, plenty of butt room, plenty of room for 4 full grown and overgrown adults. Pass through into trunk and seats fold down. Lots of cup holders and little hidden change drawars etc.

Suspension is interesting, feels pretty stiff at high speeds and a bit softer at slower speeds. The steering wheel is electronically assisted, so at slow speeds it is like driving a cadillac steering, and at high speed it is sport tuned. The engine runs real quietly for a 4 cylinder, even when the turbo comes into play there is no high pitch grunting like most 4 cylinders. Lots of cool features like a button you can press when in traffic that will prevent

The running costs for Volkswagen Passat Variant Automatic are normal

Key strengths: On-road handling, high-speed acceleration, foot room

Areas for improvement: Boring styling, not the greatest value

ENGINE/TRANSMISSION
The 2008 Patriot comes with either a 2.0 liter or 2.4 liter 4-cylinder engine which produce 158 and 172 horsepower, respectively. The Patriot's 3100+ lb weight means the engine never has enough power. At highway speeds, passing is next to impossible since the you literally have to floor the pedal to get the automatic transmission to down shift, and when it finally does it sounds like the engine is straining to increase speed by a few miles per hour. The automatic transmission on the sport edition which I had doesn't have a manual selector for up/down shifting and the smoothness of shifting left much to be desired.


COMFORT
Although the Patriot looked roomy from the outside, sitting in the car felt cramped, especially for backseat passengers who would have to be small children with little need for leg room. The driver's seat provided minimal support without lumbar and the driving position was low with moderate forward visibility and very poor rear visibility which felt as if the back glass was miles away from the rear view mirror. The Patriot's ride is also mediocre since you manage to feel and hear every bump in the road, while you strangely get both poor handling and limited road feel.


INTERIOR
Materials making up the sport edition were cheap-looking and not likely to survive significant wear. Clearly, there was a stark contrast between the sexy styled exterior and the drab interior which looked like it was pulled off a Chrysler minivan. The standard radio with 4 speakers was equally poor in quality and required replacement/upgrade to the optional Boston Acoustics system.

The running costs for Jeep Patriot Manual are normal