Yuup like the Topic states...

http://www.vwvortex.com/artman/publish/vor...icle_1871.shtml

http://www.vwvortex.com/artman/publish/vor...icle_1856.shtml

Pricing = I can only imagine

 

It states there are no plans to bring the Passat R36 stateside, but I imagine if they did it would be $40k+ which is a large sum of cash for a Passat.

The 30th AE or I guess our 25th AE I'm betting is not significantly more than a standard GTI depending on options. How were the 20th AE priced compared to a standard GTI?

 

i like the R36 but will buy one only if it's significantly cheaper than 335i and IS350 though, and less than a g35. vw has much worse resale and not up there in prestige, let alone driving dynamics which i doubt vw would match the others. it still looks very nice though and i won't mind owning one if it's a bargain.

as for the GTI, i would suspect it would be around mid to upper 20's. there are lots of choices out there though, such as evo RS.

 

they suck! (cause they are not bringing them over to the US )

otherwise, i would take a R36 wagon please (if they make one with AWD and 6 sp, and depends on the price of course )

 

Meh... you can already get an AWD wagon with a manual and a good deal of power in the Legacy GT wagon. I think they may be cancelling it, so that may change things. But with the price point of this R36 Passat going into the 40's you could throw a lot of mods at that Legacy.

 

R36 looks pretty nice, esp. its interior. My guess is the price will be mid-30s to low-40s thousand $.

 

I'd argue with you on a few of those points.

First off, the R32 is 2.5 years old now and still selling used for more than they sold for new. I got mine for $28.5 new at the dealer, and currently there is one at the same dealer for $38k used. Private market, they're selling for exactly what I paid for it new. I'd say that it's holding its value quite well.

Prestige: you got me there. It's a Golf.

Driving dynamics: .:R series VWs have a record of holding their own against cars twice their price range. My R32 has embarassed many E46 M3s at Streets of Willow, Buttonwillow, and Qualcomm race events. That's with stock suspension, stock brakes, stock tires, stock wheels, stock engine, stock software, stock exhaust... did I mention that it was stock? Now that I've done a few mods and am putting down 40whp more than when it was stock, I really make it look ugly at the track.

30th AE GTI: not worth it imho. A poor substitute for the upcoming .:R32 MkV, which should be about $33k.

.:R36 Passat will probably not make it stateside. If it does, it will be interesting to see who goes for that instead of similarly priced Audi A4 models.

 

Very true g60racer. I have never found an R32 going for less than $25k used, and most hover between 28 and 32 grand still. VW's R cars have no problem holding resale as of yet. I've never driven one, but I do love my 1.8T GTI.

The 25th anniversary GTI (if they give us one) would be maybe a $1000-2000 increase in price, counting Recaro seats and other options that are made standard, when compared to the regular 2.0T GTI. As for the prestige factor, yes it is a Golf, but you could also say it's a cheaper Audi A3, and the nicest car in its class. If I had to choose between a fully-loaded Civic SI and a new GTI with all the trimmings (granted for another $3-5k), I'm taking the GTI without question.

I'd find the R36 Passat a hard sell here. Price would be one problem for sure. Case in point, the W8 Passat went for around $40k off the lot...that's a real chunk of change for a VW when you could be in an Audi A4 with a 6-cylinder for that cash. But also, the other German makes haven't sold their wagons terribly well here either. How many BMW 5-series wagons do you see daily? Merc E-class wagons? A4/A6 Avants? The only Euro make that seems to have any wagon success here is Volvo.

The Passat R36 would be damn nice for sure, but they'd only sell a couple thousand at best. In other words, it'd be another Passat W8 or Phaeton: a lot of hubbub over a car no one will buy.

 

^ exactly.

 

That mesh interior looks awesome.