Wallpaper Arsenal Team 2010/
Arsenal & Tottenham have both made offers for £26m Porto striker Radamel Falcao
Arsenal and Tottenham have tabled offers for Porto's £26m-rated forward Radamel Falcao, his agent has claimed.
The Colombian striker has enjoyed his most prolific season in European football, helping the club to the treble, and his agent has confirmed that the 25-year-old's performances have attracted attention from the two north London clubs.
Claudio Mossio of Sivori and Asociados, the company that represents the striker, told goal.com: "Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur are the two clubs that are keen to sign him, and have already tabled an offer for Falcao."
The striker, who has a buy-out clause of €30m (£26m), has also courted attention from clubs from Serie A, but due to a lack of EU passport, a move to Italy is unlikely to materialise at this stage.
Mossio continued: "He is 25-years-old, but he still has plenty of room for improvement. The problem with a transfer to Italy is that he does not have a EU passport. He has a contract for two more years with Porto and has a buy-out clause of €30m.
"The club that matches that clause has a good chance of signing him. Porto want to open contract talks and offer him a new and improved deal to insert a higher minimum fee release clause."
Mossio added that the chances of a move to Italy would increase if the Italian Football Federation were to allow its clubs to sign an extra player from outside the EU, but conceded that a move to Spain or England is more likely.
He said: "The chances of a move to Italy increase if that would happen. However, the Spanish and English clubs are sitting in pole position. Inter already have [Giampaolo] Pazzini as striker, while Juventus have [Alessandro] Matri. He would be a good addition to Roma."
Falcao struck a record 17 goals in the Europa League in 2010-11 as Porto enjoyed a memorable campaign under the tutelage of coach Andre Villas-Boas.
Since joining the club from River Plate in the summer of 2009, the striker has won the Portuguese league title, two Portuguese cups, two Supercups and the Europa League.
Speaking exclusively to goal.com last year, Falcao's father, Radamel Garcia, confirmed that his son is interested in playing in England and has already started to learn the language.
“All his life he has wanted to play in English football," he said.
“A footballer always wants to go to the best team. It depends on the possibilities. He will listen to the best offer and see what suits him best.
"He also finds the Italian and Spanish leagues attractive. It depends on the club. But he hopes it’s in English football."
He added: "He speaks some English. He’s been learning it for five or six years.
"In Portugal he has English classes every afternoon. He’s preparing for the possibility of going to England.
“He watches English football on TV a lot. He watches all the matches. He likes Wayne Rooney a lot and liked Thierry Henry when he was there."
Arsenal & Tottenham have both made offers for £26m Porto striker Radamel Falcao
Arsenal and Tottenham have tabled offers for Porto's £26m-rated forward Radamel Falcao, his agent has claimed.
The Colombian striker has enjoyed his most prolific season in European football, helping the club to the treble, and his agent has confirmed that the 25-year-old's performances have attracted attention from the two north London clubs.
Claudio Mossio of Sivori and Asociados, the company that represents the striker, told goal.com: "Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur are the two clubs that are keen to sign him, and have already tabled an offer for Falcao."
The striker, who has a buy-out clause of €30m (£26m), has also courted attention from clubs from Serie A, but due to a lack of EU passport, a move to Italy is unlikely to materialise at this stage.
Mossio continued: "He is 25-years-old, but he still has plenty of room for improvement. The problem with a transfer to Italy is that he does not have a EU passport. He has a contract for two more years with Porto and has a buy-out clause of €30m.
"The club that matches that clause has a good chance of signing him. Porto want to open contract talks and offer him a new and improved deal to insert a higher minimum fee release clause."
Mossio added that the chances of a move to Italy would increase if the Italian Football Federation were to allow its clubs to sign an extra player from outside the EU, but conceded that a move to Spain or England is more likely.
He said: "The chances of a move to Italy increase if that would happen. However, the Spanish and English clubs are sitting in pole position. Inter already have [Giampaolo] Pazzini as striker, while Juventus have [Alessandro] Matri. He would be a good addition to Roma."
Falcao struck a record 17 goals in the Europa League in 2010-11 as Porto enjoyed a memorable campaign under the tutelage of coach Andre Villas-Boas.
Since joining the club from River Plate in the summer of 2009, the striker has won the Portuguese league title, two Portuguese cups, two Supercups and the Europa League.
Speaking exclusively to goal.com last year, Falcao's father, Radamel Garcia, confirmed that his son is interested in playing in England and has already started to learn the language.
“All his life he has wanted to play in English football," he said.
“A footballer always wants to go to the best team. It depends on the possibilities. He will listen to the best offer and see what suits him best.
"He also finds the Italian and Spanish leagues attractive. It depends on the club. But he hopes it’s in English football."
He added: "He speaks some English. He’s been learning it for five or six years.
"In Portugal he has English classes every afternoon. He’s preparing for the possibility of going to England.
“He watches English football on TV a lot. He watches all the matches. He likes Wayne Rooney a lot and liked Thierry Henry when he was there."
Velez Sarsfield want to keep Arsenal target Ricky Alvarez but would deal at around £12m
Velez Sarsfield want to keep starlet Ricky Alvarez at the club through the summer but admit that an offer of around £12 million could tempt them into selling their prized asset.
The club's hierarchy met on Tuesday night in order to discuss the player's future amid rumours that Arsenal were seeking a deal for the imposing attacker.
Speculation was rife last week that the 23-year-old had signed a pre-contract agreement with Arsene Wenger's side but those reports remain unsubstantiated.
Alvarez has three years left on his current deal at Velez and only a massive offer would see him move to Europe.
"Velez have no current intention to sell Alvarez," a source close to Velez told goal.com after the board meeting.
"We have a philosophy at this club of not selling players at a young age and letting them reach their potential.
"Velez would require an offer similar to what we received from Al-Sadd for Mauro Zarate."
The Qatar Stars League side paid £12m for the Lazio striker in 2007 and Velez were also able to hold on to 20 per cent of Zarate's contract rights as part of the deal.
An Arsenal representative is understood to have travelled to Buenos Aires on Tuesday and could watch Alvarez in action for Velez in nearby Montevideo during Thursday's Copa Libertadores tie with Penarol.
Velez Sarsfield want to keep Arsenal target Ricky Alvarez but would deal at around £12m
Velez Sarsfield want to keep starlet Ricky Alvarez at the club through the summer but admit that an offer of around £12 million could tempt them into selling their prized asset.
The club's hierarchy met on Tuesday night in order to discuss the player's future amid rumours that Arsenal were seeking a deal for the imposing attacker.
Speculation was rife last week that the 23-year-old had signed a pre-contract agreement with Arsene Wenger's side but those reports remain unsubstantiated.
Alvarez has three years left on his current deal at Velez and only a massive offer would see him move to Europe.
"Velez have no current intention to sell Alvarez," a source close to Velez told goal.com after the board meeting.
"We have a philosophy at this club of not selling players at a young age and letting them reach their potential.
"Velez would require an offer similar to what we received from Al-Sadd for Mauro Zarate."
The Qatar Stars League side paid £12m for the Lazio striker in 2007 and Velez were also able to hold on to 20 per cent of Zarate's contract rights as part of the deal.
An Arsenal representative is understood to have travelled to Buenos Aires on Tuesday and could watch Alvarez in action for Velez in nearby Montevideo during Thursday's Copa Libertadores tie with Penarol.
PLAYER OF THE SEASON
It's time to announce the Arsenal.com Player of the Season - as voted for by the fans.
And the winner is... Jack Wilshere.
The 19-year-old enjoyed a meteoric rise in 2010/11, starting the campaign on the fringes of the Arsenal side and ending it as a regular for club and country.
Jack received 41.4 per cent of the votes in our poll. Here, Arsenal.com reporter Chris Harris gives his verdict on the young midfielder.
“The thing that is different about Jack is that he is very consistent. You hardly ever see him have a bad game. We have got lots of players in the Reserves that are very good players, in my opinion even as good as Jack on their day. But they don’t have that day as often and that is where the difference is."
Of all the tributes paid to Jack Wilshere in recent months, perhaps the most telling was that one from Emmanuel Frimpong.
The midfielder is nine days younger than Wilshere, has grown up alongside him at Arsenal, won the Youth Cup with him two years ago and has designs on a first-team place of his own in the not-too-distant future.
But like all of the talent bubbling under at London Colney, Frimpong needs to produce the goods week-in week-out to emulate his friend. Because it's consistency, as much as quality, that has transformed Wilshere from a promising youngster into a mainstay for club and country.
Samir Nasri was Arsenal's stand-out performer before Christmas. Robin van Persie was a class above in the New Year. But Wilshere was exceptional from August to May, a midfield metronome for all seasons.
It's hard to believe how far Wilshere has come in such a short period. This time last year he was, in Arsène Wenger's words, "completing his footballing education" with a loan spell at Bolton. The Reebok was perhaps an unlikely finishing school but it hardened Wilshere and gave him valuable time in the centre of the pitch after starting his Arsenal career on the flank.
Even so, if there had been a betting market for Arsenal's Player of the Season in 2010/11 you could probably have named your price if you were backing Wilshere. He was still only 18, for heaven's sake, and Wenger had a battery of midfield talent at his disposal.
That all changed in pre-season. Wilshere was practically an ever-present and his stock climbed again when Fabio Capello handed him his international debut against Hungary in August - partly due to the teenager's promise, partly a reaction to England's World Cup woes and the demand for a 'new generation' to be given its head.
Wilshere did well in his brief Wembley cameo and his next opportunity was just around the corner: a starting place on the opening weekend of the Premier League season at Liverpool.
Perhaps he would not have featured that day had Cesc Fabregas or Alex Song been fully fit, but Wilshere did not look out of place and gave Steven Gerrard and company a run for their money during the hour he spent on the Anfield pitch.
You might have expected the youngster to take a back seat after that. But Wenger picked him again. And again. And again. And as the weeks and months unfolded, it became increasingly obvious - Wilshere was a bonafide Premier League player and deserved his place in the team.
His position helped his development. Wilshere emerged through the ranks as an advanced, goalscoring midfielder, but for the first team he was deployed in a deeper role alongside Alex Song. It gave Wilshere a chance to see the play in front of him, allowing him to pick his passes and choose his forward runs carefully.
That partly explains why the goals that littered his climb through the youth ranks have dried up. Wilshere did score against Shakhtar Donetsk and Aston Villa but he may need a positional tweak as well as the experience that brings calmness in the penalty area to get back among the goals.
It's hard to pick holes in any other area of Wilshere's game. He is a tenacious tackler, a wonderful passer - remember his assist for Nicklas Bendtner against Ipswich? - and can drift past opponents with a drop of the shoulder. What's more, he's got bottle and lots of it. When the chips are down Wilshere lifts his team - whether he's in the Nou Camp or the local park.
The 19-year-old admitted that he had exceeded his own expectations in 2010/11 and no wonder. He made 49 appearances for Arsenal - more than any team-mate - and was honoured by his peers in April when the PFA made him their Young Player of the Year.
Arsenal's fans have followed suit and you cannot blame them. They love to see a genuine local talent come good and Wilshere's attitude has also won him support. He shows his emotions, he clearly loves the Club and he connects with the supporters more than most players - Wilshere has more than half a million followers on Twitter.
Our Player of the Season was clearly tiring as the Premier League finish line homed into view but his omission from the England Under-21 squad this summer should afford him a long, deserved rest.
That's just as well - Wilshere has been billed as the future of England but, more importantly, he's the future of Arsenal too.
PLAYER OF THE SEASON
It's time to announce the Arsenal.com Player of the Season - as voted for by the fans.
And the winner is... Jack Wilshere.
The 19-year-old enjoyed a meteoric rise in 2010/11, starting the campaign on the fringes of the Arsenal side and ending it as a regular for club and country.
Jack received 41.4 per cent of the votes in our poll. Here, Arsenal.com reporter Chris Harris gives his verdict on the young midfielder.
“The thing that is different about Jack is that he is very consistent. You hardly ever see him have a bad game. We have got lots of players in the Reserves that are very good players, in my opinion even as good as Jack on their day. But they don’t have that day as often and that is where the difference is."
Of all the tributes paid to Jack Wilshere in recent months, perhaps the most telling was that one from Emmanuel Frimpong.
The midfielder is nine days younger than Wilshere, has grown up alongside him at Arsenal, won the Youth Cup with him two years ago and has designs on a first-team place of his own in the not-too-distant future.
But like all of the talent bubbling under at London Colney, Frimpong needs to produce the goods week-in week-out to emulate his friend. Because it's consistency, as much as quality, that has transformed Wilshere from a promising youngster into a mainstay for club and country.
Samir Nasri was Arsenal's stand-out performer before Christmas. Robin van Persie was a class above in the New Year. But Wilshere was exceptional from August to May, a midfield metronome for all seasons.
It's hard to believe how far Wilshere has come in such a short period. This time last year he was, in Arsène Wenger's words, "completing his footballing education" with a loan spell at Bolton. The Reebok was perhaps an unlikely finishing school but it hardened Wilshere and gave him valuable time in the centre of the pitch after starting his Arsenal career on the flank.
Even so, if there had been a betting market for Arsenal's Player of the Season in 2010/11 you could probably have named your price if you were backing Wilshere. He was still only 18, for heaven's sake, and Wenger had a battery of midfield talent at his disposal.
That all changed in pre-season. Wilshere was practically an ever-present and his stock climbed again when Fabio Capello handed him his international debut against Hungary in August - partly due to the teenager's promise, partly a reaction to England's World Cup woes and the demand for a 'new generation' to be given its head.
Wilshere did well in his brief Wembley cameo and his next opportunity was just around the corner: a starting place on the opening weekend of the Premier League season at Liverpool.
Perhaps he would not have featured that day had Cesc Fabregas or Alex Song been fully fit, but Wilshere did not look out of place and gave Steven Gerrard and company a run for their money during the hour he spent on the Anfield pitch.
You might have expected the youngster to take a back seat after that. But Wenger picked him again. And again. And again. And as the weeks and months unfolded, it became increasingly obvious - Wilshere was a bonafide Premier League player and deserved his place in the team.
His position helped his development. Wilshere emerged through the ranks as an advanced, goalscoring midfielder, but for the first team he was deployed in a deeper role alongside Alex Song. It gave Wilshere a chance to see the play in front of him, allowing him to pick his passes and choose his forward runs carefully.
That partly explains why the goals that littered his climb through the youth ranks have dried up. Wilshere did score against Shakhtar Donetsk and Aston Villa but he may need a positional tweak as well as the experience that brings calmness in the penalty area to get back among the goals.
It's hard to pick holes in any other area of Wilshere's game. He is a tenacious tackler, a wonderful passer - remember his assist for Nicklas Bendtner against Ipswich? - and can drift past opponents with a drop of the shoulder. What's more, he's got bottle and lots of it. When the chips are down Wilshere lifts his team - whether he's in the Nou Camp or the local park.
The 19-year-old admitted that he had exceeded his own expectations in 2010/11 and no wonder. He made 49 appearances for Arsenal - more than any team-mate - and was honoured by his peers in April when the PFA made him their Young Player of the Year.
Arsenal's fans have followed suit and you cannot blame them. They love to see a genuine local talent come good and Wilshere's attitude has also won him support. He shows his emotions, he clearly loves the Club and he connects with the supporters more than most players - Wilshere has more than half a million followers on Twitter.
Our Player of the Season was clearly tiring as the Premier League finish line homed into view but his omission from the England Under-21 squad this summer should afford him a long, deserved rest.
That's just as well - Wilshere has been billed as the future of England but, more importantly, he's the future of Arsenal too.
2012 Volkswagen Passat
2012 Volkswagen Passat - Click above for high-res image gallery
The 2012 Volkswagen Passat is facing a kind of perfect storm of skepticism from long-time fans of the brand. Volkswagen has wasted no chance to tell the world that the company's newest sedan will be custom-tailored to the American market, with styling and packaging tweaks designed to set the vehicle apart from its European counterpart. If that weren't enough, the new North American Passat will also carry the distinction of being the first VW product to be built at the automaker's brand-new assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
VW fans have always embraced the German flavor of their vehicles, but as the company pushes toward its (massively ambitious) goal of selling 800,000 units per year by 2018, we can expect to see more market-specific products in our neck of the woods. That trend kicked off with the 2011 Jetta – a vehicle that sacrificed interior materials and suspension refinement to meet a lower price point while growing larger to accommodate American tastes.
Does the Passat share a similar fate? When the sedan first debuted at this year's Detroit Auto Show, it came packing a host of styling cues lifted directly from the smaller Jetta. That lead many onlookers (ourselves included) to conclude that in creating its new mid-sized sedan, Volkswagen had simply supersized the Jetta.
There's no denying that the 2012 Passat is cut from the same design cloth as the 2011 Jetta. In fact, when the two vehicles are parked next to one another, it takes a keen eye to distinguish between the two. That's thanks in no small part to the fact that Volkswagen has slathered its new familial nose over the fascia, hood and fenders of both vehicles. The look is right at home on the larger Passat, with its slightly aggressive headlights, three-bar grille and scowling hood. Along the sides of the vehicle, a new crease runs from stem to stern just below the window sills.
The rear of the vehicle is adorned with taillamps that do a smart job of integrating both that crease and additional body lines. While the overall aesthetics of the Passat's exterior is conservative compared to offerings like the Hyundai Sonata and Kia Optima, the overall effect is incredibly cohesive. Nothing seems tacked on. Instead, the exterior seems to be the product of a singular vision with a focus on getting the details right. No matter where your eyes rest, they're bound to fall on a line that runs nearly uninterrupted around the entire vehicle. It may not raise anyone's pulse, but in the flesh, the four-door carries itself well.
Base models wear 16-inch steel wheels with plastic covers, though 16-, 17- and 18-inch alloy rollers are also available depending on the trim specification. The options are somewhat smallish by today's standards, but larger sizes look sharp enough rolling down the road.
Indoors, we were happy (relieved?) to find a cabin that has lost very little of its German flavor on its way to the States. While the Jetta swapped most of its softer dash and trim components for well-grained but cheap-feeling plastics, the Passat has held onto higher-quality materials, at least in the places that matter most. The upper portion of the dash is clad in soft-touch goodness, though everything below the copious amounts of faux wood-grain trim is treated to the harder stuff. Still, touches like a leather-wrapped steering wheel in higher trims and excellent seating surfaces go a long way toward making the cabin feel like a quality space. Volkswagen said that it specifically wanted to focus on the vehicle's touch points – that is, where your body actually makes contact with the cabin – and that work has paid off.
For 2012, Volkswagen has built almost four additional inches into the Passat, and most of that length has found its way into the rear foot well. Rear passengers are now treated to 39.1 inches of legroom, which is nearly a full inch more than the Toyota Camry and almost two inches more than the Honda Accord. For drivers with kids, that translates into miles of motoring bliss without feeling Junior kicking you in the back from his car seat. It also means that even the jolliest of green giants can fit in the back without feeling cramped.
One of the biggest highlights of the 2012 Passat interior is its sound system. Volkswagen teamed up with Fender to create a nine-speaker audio system that pushes 400 watts of power. We aren't certified audiophiles, but to our ears, the stereo is capable of besting anything else in the segment. While an integrated subwoofer is part of the kit, the bass is never overbearing. Instead, deeper tones are nearly seamlessly integrated into the music. The system is standard on SEL models and optional on both S and SE trims.
Volkswagen has worked to slim its option sheet to just 16 buildable combinations down from 128 possibilities, and as a result, long-time Passat fans will find a few notable omissions. Buyers will no longer be able to enjoy a wagon version of the vehicle. Likewise, 4Motion all-wheel drive is nowhere to be found. Volkswagen admits it deleted those options to make ordering easier on both dealers and buyers and to focus its products where American shoppers spend the most money. Additionally, the 2012 Passat is only available with three engines. Those include a 2.5-liter gasoline five-cylinder with 170 horsepower and 177 pound-feet of torque as well as a 3.6-liter gasoline V6 with 280 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of twist.
The Passat will also be available with a 2.0-liter turbocharged diesel four-cylinder with 140 horsepower and 236 pound-feet of torque. That means this four-door is the only sedan in the mid-sized segment available with an oil-burning engine under its hood, a move that wins it all sorts of points in our book.
The smaller of the gasoline engine options will be available with either a six-speed automatic transmission or a five-speed manual gearbox, while the larger V6 can only be had with the dual-clutch cog-swapper. We're happy to report that Volkswagen has left some quirkiness in the Passat line by offering the 2.0 TDI engine with both the DSG and a six-speed manual option.
You can probably guess which we'd opt for.
We were able to spend time in both a 2.5-liter, automatic-equipped Passat and its 2.0-TDI, DSG counterpart in mixed driving. Though the big German sedan weighs in between 3,300 and 3,400 pounds depending on engine and transmission choices, neither engine has a particularly hard time moving the Passat in any conditions. The five-cylinder gasoline engine offers similar power to four-cylinder options in both the Camry and Accord, and as such, there's enough grunt on hand to keep the vehicle on pace with the rest of traffic. The six-speed dual-clutch transmission offers quick, smooth shifts with excellent logic for choosing the right gear at the right time, though expect to downshift a gear or two for long grades or quick acceleration.
VW says that while the EPA hasn't finished its fuel economy evaluation for the Passat, the company expects the 2.5-liter powered sedan to see 21 miles per gallon in the city and 32 mpg on the highway in manual guise and 22 mpg city and 31 mpg highway with the autobox of our tester. Those numbers put the base entry around three mpg behind the Hyundai Sonata on the combined scale and 1.5 mpg behind a comparably equipped Honda Accord.
Of course, if fuel economy is your concern, the 2.0-liter TDI is the engine to have. While down on horsepower compared to the larger-displacement gasoline engine, the four-cylinder lump kicks out a walloping 59 more pound-feet of torque. As a result, the TDI-equipped Passat feels and drives like a sedan you want to spend time in. The 2.5-liter plays Justin Bieber to the diesel four-door's Barry White – both are plenty successful, but after a while, you only really want to listen to one of the two.
As in other applications, all that torque comes on at a low 1,750 rpm, which means you're rewarded with an addictive amount of low-end grunt that pulls with a vengeance. As in the Jetta TDI, the 2.0-liter engine is quiet both inside and out, producing marginally more engine noise than its petrol counterparts. If this is beginning to read like a love letter to the little oil-sucker, it's not by mistake. All told, VW expects to see 31 mpg city and 43 mpg highway for a total of 37 mpg combined. Remarkably, those are all better numbers than the official ones for the smaller 2011 Jetta TDI, which scores 30/42/34 mpg from the EPA. We encountered just over 40 mpg combined during our time behind the wheel of the Passat TDI.
If there's a downside to going diesel, it lies in the fact that the Passat requires a urea exhaust additive to combat particulate emissions. The automaker says that the special tank only needs to be filled every 10,000 miles, even though the vehicle can theoretically make it 50,000 miles before running dry.
Unlike the Jetta, the Passat still comes with a four-link independent suspension out back, which, while more expensive to manufacture, makes for an incredibly solid-feeling vehicle no matter the condition of the pavement. Volkswagen turned us loose on a lengthy jaunt through Tennessee that covered everything from highway stints to twisting mountain passes and small-town traffic, and the suspension nearly delivered the coveted Goldilocks sweet spot of not-too-harsh, not-too-soft driving. Pavement imperfections were dispatched with just a little more float than we'd like, though understeer and body roll were both kept to a minimum in more athletic circumstances. This is a family sedan, after all.
Volkswagen hasn't announced pricing for the 2012 Passat just yet, but the company says that it's aiming for a price point in the low-$20K range with topped-out models landing in the lower- to mid-$30K range. Those numbers would be in line with the Honda Accord, which starts at $21,180 without destination, though they sit a good bit north of metal like the Toyota Camry at $19,820 and Hyundai Sonata at $19,395. The last Passat carried a base MSRP of $26,995 in 2010, though given the German automaker's recent insistence on being price competitive, we wouldn't be surprised to see the 2012 model land well below that figure.
Exactly where the company plans to price its newest sedan will play heavily on how successful it manages to be in a segment that's fiercely competitive. Thanks to reworked machines from Korean and domestic manufacturers, big players from Nissan, Honda and Toyota have found themselves defending their respective thrones in America. The 2012 Passat underscores the fact that Volkswagen plans to be a legitimate player in this fray for the first time in the nameplate's history – even if not every brand purist chooses to go along for the ride.
2012 Volkswagen Passat
2012 Volkswagen Passat - Click above for high-res image gallery
The 2012 Volkswagen Passat is facing a kind of perfect storm of skepticism from long-time fans of the brand. Volkswagen has wasted no chance to tell the world that the company's newest sedan will be custom-tailored to the American market, with styling and packaging tweaks designed to set the vehicle apart from its European counterpart. If that weren't enough, the new North American Passat will also carry the distinction of being the first VW product to be built at the automaker's brand-new assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
VW fans have always embraced the German flavor of their vehicles, but as the company pushes toward its (massively ambitious) goal of selling 800,000 units per year by 2018, we can expect to see more market-specific products in our neck of the woods. That trend kicked off with the 2011 Jetta – a vehicle that sacrificed interior materials and suspension refinement to meet a lower price point while growing larger to accommodate American tastes.
Does the Passat share a similar fate? When the sedan first debuted at this year's Detroit Auto Show, it came packing a host of styling cues lifted directly from the smaller Jetta. That lead many onlookers (ourselves included) to conclude that in creating its new mid-sized sedan, Volkswagen had simply supersized the Jetta.
There's no denying that the 2012 Passat is cut from the same design cloth as the 2011 Jetta. In fact, when the two vehicles are parked next to one another, it takes a keen eye to distinguish between the two. That's thanks in no small part to the fact that Volkswagen has slathered its new familial nose over the fascia, hood and fenders of both vehicles. The look is right at home on the larger Passat, with its slightly aggressive headlights, three-bar grille and scowling hood. Along the sides of the vehicle, a new crease runs from stem to stern just below the window sills.
The rear of the vehicle is adorned with taillamps that do a smart job of integrating both that crease and additional body lines. While the overall aesthetics of the Passat's exterior is conservative compared to offerings like the Hyundai Sonata and Kia Optima, the overall effect is incredibly cohesive. Nothing seems tacked on. Instead, the exterior seems to be the product of a singular vision with a focus on getting the details right. No matter where your eyes rest, they're bound to fall on a line that runs nearly uninterrupted around the entire vehicle. It may not raise anyone's pulse, but in the flesh, the four-door carries itself well.
Base models wear 16-inch steel wheels with plastic covers, though 16-, 17- and 18-inch alloy rollers are also available depending on the trim specification. The options are somewhat smallish by today's standards, but larger sizes look sharp enough rolling down the road.
Indoors, we were happy (relieved?) to find a cabin that has lost very little of its German flavor on its way to the States. While the Jetta swapped most of its softer dash and trim components for well-grained but cheap-feeling plastics, the Passat has held onto higher-quality materials, at least in the places that matter most. The upper portion of the dash is clad in soft-touch goodness, though everything below the copious amounts of faux wood-grain trim is treated to the harder stuff. Still, touches like a leather-wrapped steering wheel in higher trims and excellent seating surfaces go a long way toward making the cabin feel like a quality space. Volkswagen said that it specifically wanted to focus on the vehicle's touch points – that is, where your body actually makes contact with the cabin – and that work has paid off.
For 2012, Volkswagen has built almost four additional inches into the Passat, and most of that length has found its way into the rear foot well. Rear passengers are now treated to 39.1 inches of legroom, which is nearly a full inch more than the Toyota Camry and almost two inches more than the Honda Accord. For drivers with kids, that translates into miles of motoring bliss without feeling Junior kicking you in the back from his car seat. It also means that even the jolliest of green giants can fit in the back without feeling cramped.
One of the biggest highlights of the 2012 Passat interior is its sound system. Volkswagen teamed up with Fender to create a nine-speaker audio system that pushes 400 watts of power. We aren't certified audiophiles, but to our ears, the stereo is capable of besting anything else in the segment. While an integrated subwoofer is part of the kit, the bass is never overbearing. Instead, deeper tones are nearly seamlessly integrated into the music. The system is standard on SEL models and optional on both S and SE trims.
Volkswagen has worked to slim its option sheet to just 16 buildable combinations down from 128 possibilities, and as a result, long-time Passat fans will find a few notable omissions. Buyers will no longer be able to enjoy a wagon version of the vehicle. Likewise, 4Motion all-wheel drive is nowhere to be found. Volkswagen admits it deleted those options to make ordering easier on both dealers and buyers and to focus its products where American shoppers spend the most money. Additionally, the 2012 Passat is only available with three engines. Those include a 2.5-liter gasoline five-cylinder with 170 horsepower and 177 pound-feet of torque as well as a 3.6-liter gasoline V6 with 280 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of twist.
The Passat will also be available with a 2.0-liter turbocharged diesel four-cylinder with 140 horsepower and 236 pound-feet of torque. That means this four-door is the only sedan in the mid-sized segment available with an oil-burning engine under its hood, a move that wins it all sorts of points in our book.
The smaller of the gasoline engine options will be available with either a six-speed automatic transmission or a five-speed manual gearbox, while the larger V6 can only be had with the dual-clutch cog-swapper. We're happy to report that Volkswagen has left some quirkiness in the Passat line by offering the 2.0 TDI engine with both the DSG and a six-speed manual option.
You can probably guess which we'd opt for.
We were able to spend time in both a 2.5-liter, automatic-equipped Passat and its 2.0-TDI, DSG counterpart in mixed driving. Though the big German sedan weighs in between 3,300 and 3,400 pounds depending on engine and transmission choices, neither engine has a particularly hard time moving the Passat in any conditions. The five-cylinder gasoline engine offers similar power to four-cylinder options in both the Camry and Accord, and as such, there's enough grunt on hand to keep the vehicle on pace with the rest of traffic. The six-speed dual-clutch transmission offers quick, smooth shifts with excellent logic for choosing the right gear at the right time, though expect to downshift a gear or two for long grades or quick acceleration.
VW says that while the EPA hasn't finished its fuel economy evaluation for the Passat, the company expects the 2.5-liter powered sedan to see 21 miles per gallon in the city and 32 mpg on the highway in manual guise and 22 mpg city and 31 mpg highway with the autobox of our tester. Those numbers put the base entry around three mpg behind the Hyundai Sonata on the combined scale and 1.5 mpg behind a comparably equipped Honda Accord.
Of course, if fuel economy is your concern, the 2.0-liter TDI is the engine to have. While down on horsepower compared to the larger-displacement gasoline engine, the four-cylinder lump kicks out a walloping 59 more pound-feet of torque. As a result, the TDI-equipped Passat feels and drives like a sedan you want to spend time in. The 2.5-liter plays Justin Bieber to the diesel four-door's Barry White – both are plenty successful, but after a while, you only really want to listen to one of the two.
As in other applications, all that torque comes on at a low 1,750 rpm, which means you're rewarded with an addictive amount of low-end grunt that pulls with a vengeance. As in the Jetta TDI, the 2.0-liter engine is quiet both inside and out, producing marginally more engine noise than its petrol counterparts. If this is beginning to read like a love letter to the little oil-sucker, it's not by mistake. All told, VW expects to see 31 mpg city and 43 mpg highway for a total of 37 mpg combined. Remarkably, those are all better numbers than the official ones for the smaller 2011 Jetta TDI, which scores 30/42/34 mpg from the EPA. We encountered just over 40 mpg combined during our time behind the wheel of the Passat TDI.
If there's a downside to going diesel, it lies in the fact that the Passat requires a urea exhaust additive to combat particulate emissions. The automaker says that the special tank only needs to be filled every 10,000 miles, even though the vehicle can theoretically make it 50,000 miles before running dry.
Unlike the Jetta, the Passat still comes with a four-link independent suspension out back, which, while more expensive to manufacture, makes for an incredibly solid-feeling vehicle no matter the condition of the pavement. Volkswagen turned us loose on a lengthy jaunt through Tennessee that covered everything from highway stints to twisting mountain passes and small-town traffic, and the suspension nearly delivered the coveted Goldilocks sweet spot of not-too-harsh, not-too-soft driving. Pavement imperfections were dispatched with just a little more float than we'd like, though understeer and body roll were both kept to a minimum in more athletic circumstances. This is a family sedan, after all.
Volkswagen hasn't announced pricing for the 2012 Passat just yet, but the company says that it's aiming for a price point in the low-$20K range with topped-out models landing in the lower- to mid-$30K range. Those numbers would be in line with the Honda Accord, which starts at $21,180 without destination, though they sit a good bit north of metal like the Toyota Camry at $19,820 and Hyundai Sonata at $19,395. The last Passat carried a base MSRP of $26,995 in 2010, though given the German automaker's recent insistence on being price competitive, we wouldn't be surprised to see the 2012 model land well below that figure.
Exactly where the company plans to price its newest sedan will play heavily on how successful it manages to be in a segment that's fiercely competitive. Thanks to reworked machines from Korean and domestic manufacturers, big players from Nissan, Honda and Toyota have found themselves defending their respective thrones in America. The 2012 Passat underscores the fact that Volkswagen plans to be a legitimate player in this fray for the first time in the nameplate's history – even if not every brand purist chooses to go along for the ride.
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