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| In its latest iteration, the VW Passat shows you are using the big boys' urinal, but your clients are not paying for your premium car habit. |
I HAVE friends in both Secunda and the former Witbank, both towns
with atmospheres so polluted that residents can suck on the so-called dirty air
from a Volkswagen’s tail pipe when they want to get some fresh air.
I say “so-called dirty” because the current Volkswagen dirty air
scandal really is a tiny first world problem not even on par with having slow
broadband.
Its only when you consider the sheer hubris of the executives who
did not hesitate to cheat the
Americans that the VW imbroglio becomes more sizeable. And considering how America constantly refuses to sign any industrial protocols that will help reduce emissions to slow down global climate change, even this hubris remains relative in size — about as big, for example, as spending millions of taxpayers money to fix up your palace and then pleading ignorance.
Americans that the VW imbroglio becomes more sizeable. And considering how America constantly refuses to sign any industrial protocols that will help reduce emissions to slow down global climate change, even this hubris remains relative in size — about as big, for example, as spending millions of taxpayers money to fix up your palace and then pleading ignorance.
Which is why, when the Witbank mates asked advice on a good car, I
did not hesitate to recommend a Volksie when all other "moral" motoring journalists of my ken have taken to denouncing VW from the rooftops.
Of course the best Volksie you can buy right now is the Bugatti
Veyron. The Guinness World Records
lists the Super Sport Veyron as the fastest street-legal production car in the
world, with a top speed of 430,9 km/h, while Wikipedia has the roadster Veyron
Grand Sport Vitesse model as the fastest roadster in the world, reaching an
averaged top speed of 408,84 km/h in a test on April 6 2013.
But as the Pointer Sister sang, speed is not everything. Enter the
VW Phaeton, arguably the second best Volksie out there.
This understated sedan has all the mod cons you could wish for,
shares a platform with the Bentley and a drivetrain as used by the Audi A8, and
has enough sumptuous power to drive as buttery smooth as any new Rolls. But the
only ones on sale in SA are used, and the mates’ eyes watered a bit at the R304k
price for a 2004 model.
Which brings us to the new VW Passat. It ticks all the boxes a
rising exec can want, with just enough flash to show you are now standing at the
urinal with the big boys, but also just conservative enough to reassure the
clients they are not paying for your premium car habit. Now dealer principle at VW
Pietermaritzburg, Keith Abrahams has challenged Wheels to match
the factory consumption from the 1,4.
Hear how it rates against the Audi A4 on our sister programme, on
Capital 104 on Saturday from 9-10, when Brian Bassett will tune you straight.
Do stay dailed in.
