Volkswagen Passat Tops The List In cars.com Challenge

 Cars.com has released their annual “best in class” for 2016, and guess who came out on top for mid-size sedans? The Volkswagen Passat gets the nod for the 2016 mid-size sedan challenge over some formidable competition. In drawing this conclusion, the folks at cars.com took into account a number of factors. They looked at cars from a previous challenge in 2014 where the Passat finished third, then “added models with significant redesigns or refreshes along with the segment sales leader.” A few of the things they looked at were, “automatic transmissions, get an EPA-estimated rating of 28 mpg combined and cost $28,000 or less.”

From there, they put the cars through a week long test. They drove them “on a 220-mile real-world mileage course in and around” a major American city. Their judges drove them “back-to-back-to-back on the same pavement to evaluate ride, handling, comfort, acceleration and more.” Finally, they “brought in an in-market couple to test the cars for ride, handling, acceleration and more.”

Going up against the Passat were the Hyundai Sonata, who won the challenge two years ago, the Subaru Legacy, the Chevrolet Malibu, the Honda Accord, the Kia Optima, the Nissan Altima, and the Toyota Camry.

Here are a few quotes that the judges from cars.com had about the Passat:

“The 1.8-liter engine is smooth, and never really feels like a turbo, until you want it to.”

“The Passat’s cushy seats, and pleasant ride and handling balance, make it long-trip comfortable.”

“The integrated Apple CarPlay and Android Auto add features and help future-proof the multimedia technology.”

“The collision-avoidance system with emergency braking is standard on the Passat.”

Judging different categories on a scale of one to ten, the Passat bested all competition with an 8 for interior quality, a 7.8 for comfort, a 7.6 for acceleration, a 9 for child safety seats, and a 7.6 for “worth the money.” Interestingly enough, the lowest score the Passat received in any category was for “tech and entertainment,” but even in that category, the judges noted the Passat’s ability to adapt to more users than their competition. One judge said, “Many automakers keep saying that their cars will eventually be equipped with both CarPlay and Android Auto, but few have delivered.”

Since the price range for their mid-sized sedan challenge was capped at $28,100, the judges didn’t base their rankings on price, but it is worth noting that of the 9 models they compared, 5 of them were priced higher than the Passat.

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