VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT
1.5 TSI eHybrid 204 Elegance
WITHOUT WISHING TO sound too much like physicist Brian Cox, space is continuously expanding. It can be difficult to believe, given how incomprehensibly vast it already is, but it’s true. Think of it in our language: at 4.7 metres long, the previous Volkswagen Passat Estate was already a big car, yet this new generation is even bigger.
Professor Cox and his colleagues might scoffat that analogy, but that’s where our interest in space lies. And, aided by an overall length of more than 4.9 metres, the latest Passat – now available only as an estate – is extremely spacious inside.
With heaps of head and leg room, front and rear, even a family of six-footers will be able to travel in comfort. There are plenty of practical touches, too. For instance, rear passengers get a fold-down centre armrest with two cupholders and a tray that can hold a smartphone in landscape orientation, so you can watch a film on it.
Meanwhile, the boot is massive, with 690 litres of space beneath the parcel shelf in the mild hybrid petrol model. Choose a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) version and this shrinks to 510 litres, in order to accommodate the big battery beneath the boot floor. However, it still compares favourably with most rivals. For example, the Mercedes-Benz E300e Estate makes do with 460 litres and the smaller C300e Estate just 360 litres.