Are full sized sedans worth it?

ExalyThor

Active member
Joined
Aug 23, 2020
Location
Romania
TDI
Passat B5 AFN 110hp
As the title says, is it worth bothering with full sized sedans? To me it looks like the only differences are longer wheelbases and more electronics which can fail. I have never actually been in a 7 series or an a8, but I have been in a good amount of 5 series, a6s mondeos, passats, mazda6s and had more than enough leg room, standing at 192cm tall.
 

Powder Hound

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 25, 1999
Location
Under a Bridge, Crestview, FL, USA
TDI
'00 Golf 4dr White 5sp, '02 Jettachero 5sp, Wife's '03 NB Platinum Gray auto(!)
Truth: you are the only one who can answer that question.

Why? Because you are the one who needs (or doesn't) the full sized sedan. And that for whatever reason you need it. Do you need the somewhat cushier ride? Do you need the extra room? Do you need the larger rear seat to haul things/people? Do you need the larger trunk for hauling things? Do you need the extra bells and whistles those electronics provide?

If you answer all the above questions, then you will know whether you need the bother of a full sized sedan. Nobody on the internet can provide your answers to these questions but you.

Cheers,

Ph
 

vandermic07

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2011
Location
West Central Pennsylvania
TDI
01 Golf 5 spd, 03 Jetta Wagon
I dont think a "sedan" is worth it. After owning a golf and jetta wagon with hatchbacks, My wife and I wouldn't even look at a sedan for our 3rd vehicle. Way more space in a hatch back for hauling stuff. and easier to load and unload. Not to mention they look cool:cool:.

As for "full size", I like having enough room that i can have the drivers seat adjusted for me in the front and then sit in the rear seat. my knees shouldn't touch. not something i can do with the golf or Jetta wagon but i can do in a passat or full size car or SUV. Our 3rd vehicle is a RAV 4, its our people hauler. Comfortable for 4 adults on trips. Golf and JW are commuters and rarely have anyone in the back, but when i do, its not fun for either of us.

You are only 2.5 cm taller (1 inch) than me.
 
Last edited:

ExalyThor

Active member
Joined
Aug 23, 2020
Location
Romania
TDI
Passat B5 AFN 110hp
I dont think a "sedan" is worth it. After owning a golf and jetta wagon with hatchbacks, My wife and I wouldn't even look at a sedan for our 3rd vehicle. Way more space in a hatch back for hauling stuff. and easier to load and unload. Not to mention they look cool:cool:.

As for "full size", I like having enough room that i can have the seat adjusted for me in the front and then sit in the rear seat. my knees shouldn't touch. no something i can do with the golf or Jetta wagon but i can do in a passat or full size car or SUV.

You are only 2.5 cm taller (1 inch) than me.
well there is no wagon phaeton or 7 series so I'm gonna compare those with the sedan passat and 5 series for example.
 

vandermic07

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2011
Location
West Central Pennsylvania
TDI
01 Golf 5 spd, 03 Jetta Wagon
Yeah that's the unfortunate thing. Now everything jumps to a SUV/crossover to get a hatch. That why we ended up with a RAV 4 (hybrid) instead of a full size "car" hatchback (rarely exist across and manufacturer).
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
I'd take a [big] sedan over a CUV or SUV for daily driving, provided it had an adequate powertrain for fuel efficiency. But yeah, otherwise I'd want a hatch or wagon.

I service several A8Ls, they are really nice cars to drive. But in all actuality, they are not appreciably "bigger" inside than the current A6 is, and unless you have full grown human adults in the back seat often, you could certainly make do with something smaller yet.

I spend too much time at high speed on the highway, so I prefer a car in some form. Lower to the ground, better stability.
 

ExalyThor

Active member
Joined
Aug 23, 2020
Location
Romania
TDI
Passat B5 AFN 110hp
After a bit more research I found that what separates a mid size sedan from a full sized sedan is the addition of 12 cylinder engines (from the time frame I'm interested in at least). I'd like to thank you all for your opinions.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
That makes no sense. Normally size criteria has to do with some physical dimensions. A B5 Passat is larger than some Jaguars that had V12s stuffed into them. What about 10 cylinders? Newer cars, despite being dimensionally similar, have smaller engines in them with fewer cylinders simply because the outputs of these engines have become powerful enough as it is. You couldn't even get a V8 in the A6 until the tiny 4.0L unit came along, and I am pretty sure you cannot get a 10 or 12 cylinder in the A8 any more, either.
 

ExalyThor

Active member
Joined
Aug 23, 2020
Location
Romania
TDI
Passat B5 AFN 110hp
That makes no sense. Normally size criteria has to do with some physical dimensions. A B5 Passat is larger than some Jaguars that had V12s stuffed into them. What about 10 cylinders? Newer cars, despite being dimensionally similar, have smaller engines in them with fewer cylinders simply because the outputs of these engines have become powerful enough as it is. You couldn't even get a V8 in the A6 until the tiny 4.0L unit came along, and I am pretty sure you cannot get a 10 or 12 cylinder in the A8 any more, either.
In Europe you could have v8s since 1992 in the 100 s4, 5 series e34 and e class w124. You had v12s only on the larger 7 series, s class and a8. Jag having a v12 on a compact car is an interesting fact indeed.
 

Deadend

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Location
Calgary
TDI
2001 Jetta
Yeah, there are some SUV's with absolutely pathetic cargo space. You open the hatch and the back seat is just *right there*. If I'm not mistaken the Tiguan used to be near the top of this list.

My Diesel days having recently come to an end, I'm driving a Volvo XC70 (Which is a Wagon), and I'm loving it. But yeah, speaking of small engines, Volvo's new T6 is a twin charged 4-banger with 316 HP. Then there's the 600HP Koenigsegg 2.0 3-clinder....
 

ExalyThor

Active member
Joined
Aug 23, 2020
Location
Romania
TDI
Passat B5 AFN 110hp
Yeah, there are some SUV's with absolutely pathetic cargo space. You open the hatch and the back seat is just *right there*. If I'm not mistaken the Tiguan used to be near the top of this list.

My Diesel days having recently come to an end, I'm driving a Volvo XC70 (Which is a Wagon), and I'm loving it. But yeah, speaking of small engines, Volvo's new T6 is a twin charged 4-banger with 316 HP. Then there's the 600HP Koenigsegg 2.0 3-clinder....
If I find the facelifted Seat Exeo too crammed I'm giving up on diesel as well. That's the only diesel car I'm still considering to buy. After that, I am done with having a german daily car. I'll switch to mazda's small inline 6s which will hopefully be n/a paired with manuals.
 

Oberkanone

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 16, 2001
Location
NW Indiana
TDI
13 Jetta TDI Premium manual "gone"
I dont think a "sedan" is worth it. After owning a golf and jetta wagon with hatchbacks, My wife and I wouldn't even look at a sedan for our 3rd vehicle. Way more space in a hatch back for hauling stuff. and easier to load and unload. Not to mention they look cool:cool:.

As for "full size", I like having enough room that i can have the drivers seat adjusted for me in the front and then sit in the rear seat. my knees shouldn't touch. not something i can do with the golf or Jetta wagon but i can do in a passat or full size car or SUV. Our 3rd vehicle is a RAV 4, its our people hauler. Comfortable for 4 adults on trips. Golf and JW are commuters and rarely have anyone in the back, but when i do, its not fun for either of us.

You are only 2.5 cm taller (1 inch) than me.
What do you like for full size wagon or hatchback?
 

vandermic07

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2011
Location
West Central Pennsylvania
TDI
01 Golf 5 spd, 03 Jetta Wagon
Im not sure if there is a "full size wagon" here in the states other than a Volvo or some high price lux vehicle. While I like Volvo's style there are no dealerships in my area.

When we were out purchasing our last vehicle in 2019, Our Criteria was Fuel Eff, leg room, AWD, hatchback and $30k budget. We looked at a bunch of different vehicles. Golf Wagon Alltrack, Rav 4 (both hybrid and standard), Kia Nero, Hyundia Ionic. No Passat wagons. Of course none were diesels. We wanted to test drive the CRV hybrid but it was still a year out and didnt fit our time table.

The only one out of all of these that fit every criteria was the RAV4 hybrid. That is why we bought it. I fell in love with the Golf Alltrack but my wife reminded me about our criteria :oops:, so I had to leave her there. (not my wife, the car).

The RAV4 hybrid is a nice car. boring to drive compared to our Jettawagon but has a lot of pep over the standard RAV4. Not my 1st choice but definitely dont regret the purchase. It returns 44 mpgs in summer and 36 in the winter. It is nice to make it up the driveway without having to plow first. It fits the bill for our backup vehicle/family hauler.

ExalyThor probably has a lot more options than us being in Europe.
 

ExalyThor

Active member
Joined
Aug 23, 2020
Location
Romania
TDI
Passat B5 AFN 110hp
Im not sure if there is a "full size wagon" here in the states other than a Volvo or some high price lux vehicle. While I like Volvo's style there are no dealerships in my area.

When we were out purchasing our last vehicle in 2019, Our Criteria was Fuel Eff, leg room, AWD, hatchback and $30k budget. We looked at a bunch of different vehicles. Golf Wagon Alltrack, Rav 4 (both hybrid and standard), Kia Nero, Hyundia Ionic. No Passat wagons. Of course none were diesels. We wanted to test drive the CRV hybrid but it was still a year out and didnt fit our time table.

The only one out of all of these that fit every criteria was the RAV4 hybrid. That is why we bought it. I fell in love with the Golf Alltrack but my wife reminded me about our criteria :oops:, so I had to leave her there. (not my wife, the car).

The RAV4 hybrid is a nice car. boring to drive compared to our Jettawagon but has a lot of pep over the standard RAV4. Not my 1st choice but definitely dont regret the purchase. It returns 44 mpgs in summer and 36 in the winter. It is nice to make it up the driveway without having to plow first. It fits the bill for our backup vehicle/family hauler.

ExalyThor probably has a lot more options than us being in Europe.
Eh, I don't feel right calling haldex all wheel drive. VAG's torsen or Subaru's thing (how do they have transverse awd) are the real deal for passenger cars.
 

tikal

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2001
Location
Southeast Texas
TDI
2004 Passat Wagon (chainless + 5 MT + GDE tune)
Yeah, there are some SUV's with absolutely pathetic cargo space. You open the hatch and the back seat is just *right there*. If I'm not mistaken the Tiguan used to be near the top of this list.

My Diesel days having recently come to an end, I'm driving a Volvo XC70 (Which is a Wagon), and I'm loving it. But yeah, speaking of small engines, Volvo's new T6 is a twin charged 4-banger with 316 HP. Then there's the 600HP Koenigsegg 2.0 3-clinder....
How do you like your Volvo XC70 (average MPG, etc.)? What year? I wonder how the cargo compares to my 2004 Passat wagon (39 cubic feet with up to five passengers in the car).
 
Top