There’s Now A GTI-Powered VW Passat, But You Can’t Have It

There’s not been a properly sporty VW Passat since the underrated V6-powered R36 of the 2000s. Now, though, there’s a new powertrain for the latest version of VW’s now estate-only mid-size stalwart in Europe, and while it’s arguably still not a proper performance version, it still sounds like an enticing recipe.

The heart of it is the same evolution of VW’s 2.0-litre EA888 turbocharged four-cylinder that powers the latest Golf GTI, and here it makes the same amount of power – 261bhp. Torque, though, has been lifted from 273lb ft to 295lb ft.

That’s paired with VW’s 4Motion all-wheel drive system, a setup that VW says is to improve its towing cred. And to be fair, it does – it’ll tow trailers of up to 2200kg, as handily illustrated by the Polo rally car it's lugging in the above image. The bigger appeal, though, comes from the performance bump.

Right now, the sportiest Passat available in Britain is the 268bhp 1.5-litre plug-in hybrid, which hits 62mph in 7.1 seconds and a top speed of 140mph. The new GTI-powered version improves those numbers to 5.8 seconds and 155mph.

VW’s also simultaneously introduced the same setup for the Tiguan and Tayron crossovers, and in all three models, it’s only available in conjunction with the top R-Line trim.  There’s a big caveat, though: they’re all only confirmed for mainland Europe so far. We spoke to VW UK, who told us there are “no plans yet” to introduce this powertrain to the company’s British lineup.

If you are in Europe – specifically Germany, which is the only market that pricing’s been confirmed for so far – you’ll need to shell out €62,990 (around £52,500) for this new sleeper-spec Passat. Not exactly cheap, then, but we can’t help but find this recipe deeply appealing. We hope VW finds a way to bring it over here, too.