Seeing more 2012/13 Passats on the Road

Greetings all,

I'm coming up on my first full year with the Passat TDI (26k miles) and over the last few months have noticed a relatively huge increase of fellow Passat drivers on the road, at least 10-15 cars daily and maybe 1/3 - 1/2 of them TDI drivers.

Was wondering if anyone else here noticed the uptick? I, for one, enjoy seeing other Passat drivers on the road. I hold no illusions that I'm driving an especially exclusive or upmarket car, at the end of the day it's a great family and commuter car but has it good points and bad points.

While I'm seeing more and more of the NMS TDI's on the road, they're only a fraction compared to the new Camry's, Altima's and pretty soon even the new Accords that are currently available.

I've noticed an increase in TDI owners here in the Loudoun County area both Jetta and Passat models, I think it helps that I happen to be near VWOA corporate headquarters located in Herndon VA.

Funny. I've noticed more and more TDi's on the highway. But they are always Jettas. I don't see many TDi Passats.

But, last night I watched Skyfall (James Bond film), and I noticed that in the Shanghai scenes there were Passats being used as taxis.

Then I saw this youtube video of an insane taxi ride to a hotel in China.
http://bitsandpieces.us/2012/11/13/taxi-ride-in-china/
Notice the Passats?

Starting to see lots more in my area too, although I am noting that very few of them are TDI's. I find it weird, because a gas Passat (or VW) was never even a consideration for me. But to each his own I suppose.

I think when you drive one, you become more aware of the amount in your area. For example, I never paid attention to TDIs before I bought ours... now I am seeing them everywhere.. and of all years and models. I knew they were out there, but never knew how many until I was aware.

Same thing with my company car. I was given a Chevy Traverse for work... never even heard of it before. Now, I see em everywhere... My mind is usually picking out the heavy duty trucks on the road, as my home daily driver is a 3500 Cummins Ram.

So, it could just be that you are more intune with whats around you now...

There is a VW TDI force here at LANL. I saw a VR6 Jetta the other day, I was shocked. It seemed that every VW here was a TDI.

Lad79der said:

I think when you drive one, you become more aware of the amount in your area. For example, I never paid attention to TDIs before I bought ours... now I am seeing them everywhere.. and of all years and models. I knew they were out there, but never knew how many until I was aware.

Same thing with my company car. I was given a Chevy Traverse for work... never even heard of it before. Now, I see em everywhere... My mind is usually picking out the heavy duty trucks on the road, as my home daily driver is a 3500 Cummins Ram.

So, it could just be that you are more intune with whats around you now...

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That may very well be the case, but specifically I was referring to the current body style (2012-2013), in comparison to their previous body style, and in comparison to other family sized cars, not just Passats in general.

Also, I would consider myself a car guy, I always take note of what cars are on the road and who drives them (passes the time during my commute)

Finally, I think part of it might be VW's lofty sales goal for 2018 (They want to sell 1 million cars in the US). They seem very motivated to achieve that goal and I think they're moving the needle on that front.

In Houston at least, they're becoming more and more common on the freeways and I'm always curious to see how the other color options play out in real life. I see a lot of silver, white and dark gray. Occasionally I'll see a black, navy or maroon Passat.

Yankinwaoz said:

Then I saw this youtube video of an insane taxi ride to a hotel in China.
http://bitsandpieces.us/2012/11/13/taxi-ride-in-china/
Notice the Passats?

Click to expand...

No - not a single one, even after watching the video several times. I saw a ton of old and new Mk2 Jettas, but not a single NMS Passat.

Chinese are reading TDi club HPFP thread. Lol

Stimulacra said:

In Houston at least, they're becoming more and more common on the freeways and I'm always curious to see how the other color options play out in real life. I see a lot of silver, white and dark gray. Occasionally I'll see a black, navy or maroon Passat.

Click to expand...

Glacier blue like mine seems to be the odd child out. Even in the survey here not many were listed as the color of choice. I think it looks outstanding with the Titan black interior!

I just saw 3 in my town the other day and I thought there was a twin to mine. Come to find out that it was a SE... they all are TDI'S!

I live in a small neighborhood and there are only a handful of houses on our street... there are two 2012 Passat TDIs on the same block. Just noticed it the other day.

In the lot I just started parking in at work, there are two other TDI SEL-Ps. One is white and I don't remember what color the other one is.

About a month after I got mine, a neighbour 2 houses down from me replaced a mk4 golf with a Passat TDI, I like to think I made him buy it

I see there are 3 or so in my subdivision. The platinum grey metallic looks really good out in the wild.

I think for commuters who aren't on the hybrid bandwagon they're a great choice.

I've managed to reduce my annual fuel bill in half (previous car was an AWD Turbo hatchback) and for the most part get a very similar driving enjoyment with some cool features in the update.

ng3 said:

About a month after I got mine, a neighbour 2 houses down from me replaced a mk4 golf with a Passat TDI, I like to think I made him buy it

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On our brief 250 mile road trip yesterday I noticed several, both pre-NMS and NMS Passats. The most coincidental was when we pulled off the highway at an exit ramp for a pit stop (obviously not for fuel ), the car in front at the exit stop light was a NMS Passat TDI. I had to marvel at it for several minutes as we followed them though a couple more stops. What are the odds? I guess they're getting higher as it seems VW sales continue to ramp upward.

Stimulacra said:

Greetings all,

I'm coming up on my first full year with the Passat TDI (26k miles) and over the last few months have noticed a relatively huge increase of fellow Passat drivers on the road, at least 10-15 cars daily and maybe 1/3 - 1/2 of them TDI drivers.
.

Click to expand...

Which part of Houston? We live on the southwest side, Missouri City to be precise, and I've gone from seeing maybe one NMS a week to multiple every commute. They're getting to be quite common around here.

Saw a nice platinum gray TDI SEL on the beltway yesterday. I was on the express side and it was on the main side.

Loving the beltway express lanes, by the way!

Stimulacra - I see many TDI owners on here from Houston (and surrounding areas) - perhaps we should plan a TDI get together/drive one day soon just as I've seen Lamborghini's do here in Pearland on a regular basis!