VOLKSWAGEN CC Test Drive

The Background

Many people think that a single sentence can’t hold the letter V and W, together with the word “fun”. However, there are times when Volkswagen awakens from its state of extreme sobriety and shows the world that it can be playful, but it just doesn’t want to.

One of the best examples for this is the introduction of the Passat CC. Imagine that you’re in the late 2000s’, you hear something about the launch of a new Passat, you decided to attend the event and when you get there, you find out your mother had been secretly working as a VW racing driver all her life.

This is how big the public’s surprise was when the CC was introduced. Now about that demonstration we mentioned above: VW walked into the four-door coupe segment, which was and still is, as hot and ascending as a geizer, in its typical relaxed manner and made customers an offer that just couldn’t be refused.

You could get your hands on a car that somehow shared the class with the Mercedes CLS, the model that turned four-door coupes from a niche into a segment, for half the money.

Now it is time for the Passat CC’s mid-life refresh - Oops! Did we say Passat CC? Forget the first part, VW now only calls the car "CC", in an effort to give it a more distinct identity so that it could climb a few premium steps.

Just like in the case of the Passat we drove last year, the mid-life revamp brings many exterior changes, some technical upgrades and little interior modifications. The CC might have been moved a bit upmarket, but we think it still makes the most sense when you opt for a financially reasonable proposition, both in terms of price and fuel efficiency.

Thus, we set out to test its entry-level version, we stood strong in front of the temptation to let our fingers touch the list of optional extras too much and went for the most frugal engine in the range, the ever-present 140 hp 2.0-liter TDI. So, can you be premium and skip the part where your financial adviser has a heart attack? Let’s find out.

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