First drive: Power Passat at a polished price

VOLKSWAGEN'S plans to invade the upper end of the new car market kick into high gear in March next year when the $100,000 W8-powered Passat arrives in Australia.

You read that right, a cool $100K for a Volksy. But this is not any old run-of-the-mill Passat. It has an eight-cylinder engine, the company's first, as well as being a vanguard for a range of exciting and far more expensive vehicles due between now and 2004.

Up the corporate sleeve VW is hiding a Range Rover-chasing 4WD sport utility wagon called Colorado destined to offer as many as 12 cylinders, while the D1 limousine will take the fight to the Mercedes S-class, Lexus LS430, BMW 7 Series and Audi A8.

Both D1 and Colorado will gain new names by the time they pop out of their respective factories.

But back to the W8, the car VW Australia hopes will begin the image polishing that will allow it to sell D1s and Colorados as well as the much cheaper Polos and Golfs in decent numbers (up to 20,000 a year by mid-decade).

The W8 features a 4.0-litre, 32-valve, four-camshaft engine made of alloy. It is a light unit with infinitely variable camshaft timing on the inlet valves and a two-stage adjustment on exhaust valves.

The engine produces 202kW and 370Nm of torque at a low 2750rpm. Drive is through a 50/50 split front to rear using a Torsen differential rather than the Haldex version seen on the 4Motion Bora and other smaller cars.

Eager car-spotters will identify the W8 by its bi-Xenon headlamps, which have a special computer to maintain a level beam even under heavy braking, while the 17-inch "Madras" alloys at each corner are aggressively styled.

At the rear four chrome tailpipes poke out under the plastic valance, signifying this is the flagship of the range.

Inside, VW has applied lashings of high-grade leather with deep fluted panels and added in-built seat heaters for all positions. There's a sat-nav system standard in Europe (although Australia buyers may have to wait a while for that option).

A wood-rimmed steering wheel is another option that helps lift the interior away from the more workaday Passats, but the most telling feature is a 300km/h speedometer (which will never be used to its fullest extent due to a 250km/h speed governor).

The engine is mounted longitudinally and sits mostly ahead of the front axle line. But an innovative mounting for the transmission means there is no footwell intrusion, giving passengers plenty of space to stretch out front and rear.

The suspension is by double wishbones at the rear and MacPherson struts up front, as with the 4Motion V6 model.

Ventilated discs all round backed by anti-lock, brake force distribution and traction control maintains stability under trying conditions.

Australia will account for about 100 W8 sales a year from a global total of about 10,000, half of which will be sold in the US and one third of which will remain in Germany.

The W8 will also come as a wagon, but Australian buyers will wait until well into next year to receive that model.

DRIVE IMPRESSION

ON the road, the first impression is that the W8 is extremely quiet and highly refined. Even at high speed there is very little engine noise and what there is has been so muffled you get to thinking it is only disturbing the peace because VW has engineered it to be so.

The Bose stereo with its CD system provides in-car concert hall reproduction so there is no need to strain particularly hard to hear the engine.

Off the line the W8 is decently rapid if your foot is flat and you are on level ground, but add some hills and a couple of passengers and a hole in the lower reaches of the rev range has you wondering what's going on.

At high speed on the autobahn, the W8 is a flier with plenty of top-end and a smooth and creamy engine note all the way to the 6000rpm power peak and 6300rpm rev limiter.

The W8 comes into its own in this environment, especially in automatic five-speed Tiptronic guise, because fifth gear is so long you can cruise at the Australian limit at little over 2000rpm, while 130km/h barely registers 3000rpm.

Aside from being quiet on the move, the W8 steers pretty well considering its nose is filled with V8 engine and the four-wheel drive system provides surefooted cornering.

At speed on the freeway the steering does not wander and the car appears devoid of lift even at close to 200km/h.

VW sees the W8 as a value-added competitor to the BMW 330i and Benz C320, although cynics might also throw in the Audi 3.0 V6 A4 for good measure.

The company says VW die-hards will make up only about 30 per cent of total W8 sales, with 70 per cent conquests from other brands.