The line between luxury cars and regular cars is not a wall any more. Design (appearance), technologies, bits of shiny trim and high quality materials are what superficially define the genre, yet despite these elements’ ever-increasing prevalence throughout the different classes of cars, the choice is being made much harder, not easier.
In the same vein of thinking, it’s very hard to ignore the (all-new) VW Passat if you’re in the market for anything from a repmobile to something you could use as a minicab, family hauler, for a luxury chauffeur service and even as a sports sedan.
Don’t believe us? Just look at all the choice offered by the (German) configurator for the all-new Passat. With it, you can create many wildly different cars whose roles you could not interchange.
For instance, a company sales rep would not complain about being given a Trendline model, with hubcaps, no leather and a 150 PS diesel coupled to a manual gearbox. It would still be comfortable and very spacious – perfect for carrying the rep and as many boxes of samples he’d need. The same car could be used as a taxi, though it would not fare well as a limo – that’s where the much posher Highline comes in and steals some of the (ageing) Audi A4’s luster.
By Andrei Nedelea
PHOTO GALLERY
