New Passat

I'd heard about the new Passat being released, with the R to follow 2 years later and thought this may impact the resale of my new R36. After having a quick look at some of the images, I think I still prefer the rounded lights and curved lines of the current generation. From what I've read the changes are mainly cosmetic and feature based, not specifically chassis/engine/handling, more a Passat 6.5 update.  link

Check out the Passat history link

Installing VW 9W7 bluetooth carkit

The R36 was delivered with the new RCD510 headunit and I didn't request a car kit. After investigating various options, I decided to purchase the VW 9W7 bluetooth car kit from an ebay seller in Spain. The 9W7 was newer than what would have been delivered with the car, so lucky I waited!

The kit was delivered exactly as a dealer would receive the unit and ready to be installed.

Most installation instructions on the web relate to the Golf, which has a lot of room behind the headunit, the Passat doesn't.


I've put together some instructions for installing into the Passat. Link

VW Wheel Alignment

When selling the VW EOS with 50k on the clock, I found that the front tyres had excessive wear on the inner tread. The wheels had been rotated at previous services, but the wheel alignment from the factory appears to have excessive negative chamber.

After reading into this, I found that this was a common trait amongst VW customers. When picking up the R36 I had asked the dealer the same questions & they confirmed that this was indeed the case and recommended a wheel alignment. Why can't this be done at dealers as part of the pre-delivery? 


I found a trusted wheel alignment company based in Melbourne called Trutrack. Whilst somewhat more expensive than your average tyre shop (~$150), I felt this was money well spent on a performance car like the R36 and the possible savings due to premature tyre ($$$) replacement. Some owners had indicated that they needed new tyres after just 15-20k... ouch!


Trutrack also offered a follow-up service, as the car only had 1000km on the clock. link


NOTE - When setting neutral or slight negative chamber on lowered cars (R36), you can occasionally hear the tyre rubbing on the wheel arch under heavy load.

The new family VW - R36!

NEW

After siding with the wife on our last car purchase, it was time for the EOS to go.

OLD

Now that we had a child, the logical choice was a wagon or soft roader. Soft roader was out, as we already own one, so wagon it was. When considering wagons I really only looked at the Subaru Liberty and VW Passat. I was keen to stick with VW due to their engine / transmission and technology advances. I particularly like the DSG transmission and 2.0tfsi engine combination, as found in the Golf GTI. Selection of the R36 was made a whole lot easier by the wife... I want the blue wagon, referring to the Biscay Blue R36.


After doing a lot of reading on VWWatercooled forum I decided the R36 was definitely the way to go and even found a dealer in ACT willing to negotiate more favourably than those in VIC.


I can highly recommend the team at Gerald Slaven, who provided the car, a welcome kit & spare 1ltr oil. Those of you in the know, will understand the oil!


For all VW Passat related information see VWWatercooled