A Wagon for Upscale Volks; The secret is out, so the new Passat cashes in.(Brief Article)

The Volkswagen Passat, once the secret sedan (or wagon) of the driving enthusiast with a family, is the new darling of the set that formerly favored Honda Accords as the standard-setter among mundane-mobiles. The latest Consumer Reports car buy-er's guide practically gushes over Passat, albeit in that charming way CR has of going all aflutter over depreciation rates, child-seat tethers and fuel economy.

From the driving standpoint, the ``new Passat,'' as VW calls its 2001.5 mod- el, comes across as familiar stuff, and it's mostly good stuff. VW boasts 2300 changes in this extensive update. Most of these changes move Passat from its mainstream family car demeanor toward a more luxury-oriented position, the leading light in VW chairman Ferdinand Piech's push to make the VW brand compete with Mercedes-Benz while Audi chases BMW's customers.

Prices rise, but only by $350 or so on a base car. If you can find one-loaded-up examples seem to be appearing at dealerships first-the new Passat GLS 1.8T starts at $21,750. Add the V6 and the sticker goes to $24,250, 4Motion all-wheel drive takes the base price to $27,075, step up to Audi-esque GLX leather and wood trim (which brings the V6 as standard) and you're at $28,750 and 4Motion pushes the sticker to $31,575.

The 4Motion wagon we sampled was $32,925. A lot of cars in that range are marketed as ``near-luxury'' cars rather than ``family'' sedans and wagons that appeal to the Consumer Reports crowd. The core of ``our'' secret, of course, was that a Passat is an Audi A4 in disguise, longitudinal engine mounting and all, only a bit larger at lower cost. This particular version of 4Motion is identical to quattro. So what we have here underneath is a big A4 Avant, more family- or luxury-oriented and less sporting, but also quite near its sibling in sticker price.

The doors and roof are the same as before, while new fenders and fascias freshen the styling without really changing the shape. There's a generous dose of chrome scattered about, a more felicitous line here and there, new lights all around, so it looks like the previous Passat in its formal dress and best jewelry. If, as the ads say, the new Passat ``looks like a million bucks,'' the previous one looked like $875,000.

Similarly, the chassis underneath is substantially the same. It has been strengthened, however, in anticipation of the addition-late this year or early next-of the W8 engine option. We sought to detect the effects of the stiffened chassis on roads outside Atlanta and again recently in the Midwest. It's fairly subtle stuff when ...