Volkswagen Passat R-Line 2.0 TSI review: turbo estate is ace, but there's one problem...

What is it?

The kind of car Britain really should be buying more of.

A boring German estate car?

A Golf GTI-engined estate car!

That’s a GTI?

No, it’s an ‘R-Line’, which is the range-topping trim available on Volkswagen’s spangly new Passat. Only now, there’s the option of filling it with an engine Britain wasn’t previously privy to: the 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder lifted out of a Golf GTI.

Sort of.

‘Sort of’?

Where a standard Mk8.5 GTI pumps out a healthy 261bhp from its ‘EA888’ engine, in this Passat VW’s tuned it to deliver just 201bhp and 236lb ft of torque. So it’s a MediumGTI-engined car.

Disappointing. Lemme guess, it’s saddled with pesky electrons, no doubt?

Incorrect. This R-Line 2.0 TSI is free of electricity and is therefore about as old school as VW can get in 2025: front-wheel-drive, turbocharged four-pot, seven-speed DSG, five doors, zero e-motors.

Of course if you really like electricity in your car, VW will do you a Passat with a 1.5-litre hybrid offering 268bhp, which is a lot. But you don’t want that one. You want this one.

Quick reminder: this generation of Passat is now only available as an estate car – all the better for it, in our humble opinion – and shares its MQB Evo undercrackers with the Tiguan.

Why do I want this one and not the one with more poweeerrr?

Sounds better, for a start. The 1.5-litre TSI in the hybrids can sound a little coarse, but this one doesn’t – it sounds eager, if a little subdued, and crucially doesn’t sound like it wants to give up on life. It actually enjoys being given a light thrashing.

And how fast does it go if I thrash it?

VW reckons on a 0-62mph time of 7.5s which is respectable but feels much faster in a) the real world and b) something so large and cavernous. And it handles tidily.

There’s a fancy XDS electronic diff lock and VW’s adaptive dampers offering up a few different modes (Comfort, Sport etc), and all the modern VW traits are present and correct.

Which means the steering’s got a decent weight to it and feels hefty, the car turns in progressively and accurately, responds as you’d expect, there’s plenty of grip, and in this 2.0-litre turbo car there’s a general feeling that it wants to press on, rather than shy away.

Plus, it’s still hugely comfortable over long distances and deals with Britain’s awful roads with a premium sort of confidence. A 500-mile road-trip elicited no nasty surprises: it just settled into a lovely rhythm and ticked off the miles.

You mentioned ‘premium’ – is it?

Certainly feels it in this top spec. The seats – goodness, the seats. They’re described as “sports comfort” items, are immensely well padded and offer massage functionality too. There’s leather on the steering wheel. Plush carpet all round. Aluminium inserts, ambient lighting, and a feeling of well damped solidity throughout.

Our test car came with an optional pano roof (£1,385 well spent, we’d proffer), the 15in infotainment pack that added a head-up display (again, £870 well spent), and the ‘signature pack’ that adds 19s, better leather, an Alcantara headliner and a rear spoiler, among a few other bits. That’s £3,845. And you probably should.

It’s getting expensive.

As standard, an R-Line 2.0 TSI kicks off from £47,715, and TG’s test car was £56,935. Expensive, yes, but everything is these days. And it’s relatively frugal when you want it to be – we managed 50mpg (once, but still), and an indicated 550 miles from its 66-litre tank. See? Economical!

So, yes, it could quite easily handle the 8.5 GTI’s full 261bhp – heck, it’d manage the Clubsport’s 296bhp too – but even with its detuned engine we’d prefer this one over the hybrids.

What are my other choices though? And what's this 'problem' you mention?

In 2025, the options are few and far between. Unless you start spending a bit more on premium fare like, say, a BMW 5 Series Touring, the closest is a Skoda Superb Estate. And this is the 'problem'.

Because the Superb sits on the same base as the Passat (albeit stretched), offers the same 201bhp version of this 2.0-litre, or the full 261bhp you get in that GTI. And prices for this latter car start from just under £50k in Sportline 2.0-litre TSI guise. And the Superb as we know is already a brilliant all-rounder.

So if you’re after a really well-built, well-appointed perky estate, this Passat is a good ‘un. Pity the Superb with the more powerful 2.0-litre exists, because that’s just as well-built, well-appointed and even Superb-er.