Volkswagen Passat BlueMotion Concept Unveiled Before Detroit Debut
Another day, another early unveiling prior to the 2014 Detroit Auto Show, this time from Volkswagen AG with their 42-mpg Passat BlueMotion Concept.
The magic behind the concept’s fuel economy lies within its turbocharged 1.4-liter gasoline four-pot; at city speeds, the engine deactivates two cylinders to boost economy, a feature already found in the automaker’s Polo and Golf sold in Europe. Other fuel-saving methods include a stop-start system, and a coasting function that decouples the engine from the transmission when the driver lifts off the accelerator; the latter is already available in the Jetta Hybrid.
The above setup — which Volkswagen aims to evaluate for the U.S. market — improves upon the current base Passat’s 34 mpg highway from its 1.8-liter turbocharged power plant, though horsepower drops from 170 to 150. The Jetta may also receive a similar package in order to improve upon its 32 mpg highway rating in an effort to catch up to more efficient offerings from Honda, Hyundai and Mazda.
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I really like the carbon fiber and piano-black trim as opposed to the cheap and overabundant wood veneer simulations that you get on nicer Passats. The new steering wheel also looks nice and closely resembles the one in the current Touareg. And the two-tone seats just accentuates the black dashboard very nicely. I do, however, wish that Volkswagen would finally offer projector-beam headlamps on its cars, because they just look nicer and every other mid-sized sedan---save for the Malibu LS---has them as standard equipment. 42 MPG is really quite good if Volkswagen is not planning to price this package out the wazoo. If they are, then...Accord Hybrid.
Bluemotion is a confusing name for a gas engine. The industry has been trying to label diesel with 'blue.'