Overview & Reviews
The 2012 Volkswagen Passat has been fully redesigned. Highlights include a lower price, a roomier interior and a newly available turbodiesel engine.
- Roomy cabin
- Refined ride.
- Many upscale features come standard
- High-quality cabin
- Available fuel-efficient turbodiesel engine
- Rearview camera not offered.
- Lackadaisical throttle response
- Below-average braking distances
User Reviews:
Showing 1 through 10 of 83.00-
A Couple of Tweaks Needed - 2012 Volkswagen Passat
By robbykay - December 7 - 2:28 amThis car is great. Very enjoyable to drive and loaded with all kinds of goodies. Excellent value. The Fender sound system is beautiful. Handling is nice and tight. Great car, so far. Ive only had it for 1.5 weeks, so hopefully no surprises. Tweaks needed: The touch screen interface is pretty slow. It usually takes a few seconds before theres any reaction. When highway driving, that can be an big issue. Also, the trunk is difficult to close. Im a 511, 200 lb guy, and when I give the open lid a tug, not only does it not close, it re-opens completely. I have to give it some effort for it to close on the first try.
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Great car, lousy service - 2012 Volkswagen Passat
By dplok1 - November 21 - 5:07 amIt disappoints me to write a negative review since this is a great car, but, the electrical problems, dealer service, and VW of Americas poor service are genuine issues. For the first 5K miles this car was outstanding. After that it began having unusual issues -- seat belt warnings for no reason, losing Infotainment presets, cruise control switching off, instrument cluster resetting to factory settings, etc. Several trips to the dealer resulted in repeated "We just cant find the problem". Eventually, the instrument cluster began returning to zero everytime the car was turned off so I no longer know its actual mileage. VW claims it was designed to do this. Still not working.
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Like the car but very poor headlights - 2012 Volkswagen Passat
By caseydog3 - October 7 - 7:15 pmi bought this car in July and overall Ive been pleased with it EXCEPT for one extremely important thing. The headlights are terrible. I traded in a 1999 Nissan altima for this car and never had one problem seeing at night. Not only did the passat not come with foglights, but the low beams arent the projector type. The combination of the two is very poor. Now I had to go to a specialty shop to inquire about custom headlights just so I feel safe driving at night. I did a test drive during the day with this car and all the others. I never even considered this would be a problem. I called the dealership about it and they dont even make upgrade headlights for the passat in U.S.
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Fun MPG hauler - 2012 Volkswagen Passat
By fenders - June 6 - 1:42 pmWith an imminent 45 mile commute after years of public transport, sold my 300hp awd manual Subaru wagon to look for a comfortable, fuel-efficient auto-transmission cruiser that could haul baby stuff on weekends but still be fun to drive during the week. Really wanted a GTI but the cargo area was too small. Compared the Passat to other midsize sedans and it just had the right feature set and driving vibe for me. Didnt expect to end up with a diesel; its growing on me! I agree with another reviewer that youre rewarded by staying in the TDI torque sweet-spot. Getting advertised mileage in 1000 miles of mixed driving so far, hope to see even higher.
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My First Volkswagen - 2012 Volkswagen Passat
By trashman00 - December 29 - 6:26 amI recently leased this car because it caught my eye while working one day. The interior space is awesome!! We are big people all over 6ft. Legroom to spare all around. Fun to drive when shifting to Sport-Mode. Great bang for buck!! All my neighbors seem to love it. My only gripe so far is the car doors make a boing sound when closing them. I dont like that and find it annoying. Overall Im pleased and I would recommend this car for looks, interior space, and decent performance.
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Better Than Expected - 2012 Volkswagen Passat
By tourqer - December 25 - 5:31 pmI have just over 1800 miles on a new tdi sel and have become more satisfied with it the more I drive it. How a car this big with this much power gets 45 MPG still amazes me. The interior is top notch and feels like your in a much more expensive car. The only complaint is that the driving experiance VW is known for has been dulled to some extent. This car is more of a long distance cruiser that has very good handling as opposed to the sporty sedan of old. All and all this car is a winner in my book and worth a look.
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I like this car - 2012 Volkswagen Passat
By mronyx1 - September 3 - 1:58 pmHaving been a person who has never cared about such things as cars. point A to Point B dry, Im good. This car is a treat I did buy a 2012 with 8000 miles on it but have no break in worries and it sure is easy to drive. There is a little warming up to the gas peddle, over all this is a smart vehicle and for the price get a few options, youll be glad you did. Very pleased with the gas mileage.
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seats and tires - 2012 Volkswagen Passat
By jimmyv123 - January 22 - 12:32 amThe leatherette seats are comfortable however Ive noticed a seam is starting to open along the left side bolster padding of the drivers seat. Its not an aread that I sit on nor is it a stress area from getting in and out so I have no idea why it would be failing. It probably wont completly open up until after the 36,000 mile warranty expires and I dont think the dealer will repair something that hasnt happed yet. No more leatherette for me. Also, the Hankook tires are less than satisfactory. They are extremely noisy on anything but smooth-as-glass pavement and with 27,000 miles on them with rotation every oil change they are about done.
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A great ride! - 2012 Volkswagen Passat
By John Heffernan - May 11 - 6:21 amDont expect a lot of pick up but beyond that, an amazing car!
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2012 Passat SE - 2012 Volkswagen Passat
By jrind2 - March 8 - 11:30 pmSo far after 3 months we love this vehicle - the extra room inside is amazing especially in the back seats.
