Revealed at the Geneva Motor Show this past March, the new generation of Volkswagen’s fuel-efficient Passat BlueMotion is available to order now in the United Kingdom, with first examples scheduled to hit showrooms towards the end of July. The BlueMotion version of the seventh-generation Passat (not to be confused with the US model), itself launched in Europe in January, is offered in both sedan and Estate formats with prices starting at £19,875 and £21,180 respectively.
The Passat BlueMotion is powered by a modified version of Volkswagen’s 1.6-litre common rail diesel engine developing 105-horses, connected to a six-speed manual gearbox. To improve fuel economy, Volkswagen’s engineers fitted the car with Stop/Start and battery regeneration systems and also revised aerodynamics to reduce drag through the use of rolling resistance tyres, a 15mm lower suspension at the front and 7.5 mm at the rear, a different radiator grille and underbody panels.
The saloon is also fitted with a compact rear spoiler, while both body styles are equipped with lightweight and aerodynamic 16-inch steel rims as standard, with 17-inch ‘Buenos Aires’ alloy wheels available as an option.
Together, these measures result in a combined fuel consumption of 68.9 mpg UK (57.3 mpg US or 4.1 lt / 100km) for the saloon and 65.7 mpg (54.7 mpg US or 4.3 lt / 100km) for the Estate, and CO2 emissions of 109 g/km and 113 g/km respectively.
Standard features on all BlueMotion variants include curtain airbags, ESP, ‘Climatic’ air conditioning, electric windows, electronic parking brake, RCD 310 radio / CD player and Multi Device Interface (MDI) with iPod connectivity.
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