When Volkswagen launched the Passat Elegance last year, it was typically seen as a mere facelift to the original. In actuality, the new variant is a significant upgrade in various aspects such as drive and luxury.
Rather than focusing on the typical automotive elements such as its speed, handling, and so on – we’ll be exploring a totally different highlight featured on the Passat Elegance. Something that is more catered towards our style of content: its onboard technology.
In that regard, you can expect a wide variety of gadgets and tools equipped on the sedan – all designed to provide consumers with remarkable levels of comfort, convenience and safety.
A Car That Welcomes You
No matter how long it has been since the introduction of keyless entry, it is still an amazing quality-of-life experience. In this case, the Passat Elegance welcomes you – its driver – by automatically unlocking its doors by detecting your presence via the wireless key fob. This enables you to immediately enter the vehicle without having to manually unlock the vehicle. There is also the option to configure all four doors to open with the wireless key fob and can be set on the infotainment system.
Another hands-free convenience is the Easy Open boot. Got your hands full carrying luggage or groceries? Simply swipe your foot under the car bumper for it to automatically open its rear boot.
And its welcoming gestures don’t end there.
Upon opening the door on the driver’s side, the 12-way electric seat automatically adjusts itself to give you ample room for you to enter and get seated. Once you’re onboard, the seat will then shift again, this time accordingly to make sure that you’re in the best position for your hands to hold onto the steering wheel and your feet to access the pedals. Of course, this setting is customisable to your preferences and will be saved as a preset by the car for the next instance.
Naturally, the seat will adjust itself again when it detects that you are planning to leave, giving you more room to exit. You have a total of 2 presets which caters up to 2 drivers. Also not forgetting that the seat comes with massage functionality. Giving you an added sense of comfort, especially during long drives.
Keep Track Of Important Info Via The Digital Cockpit
The first thing you’ll notice once you’re seated in the Passat Elegance is its Digital Cockpit, which features an 11.7-inch high resolution display. This replaces the traditional analogue and digital dashboard approach that is commonly found in most cars, allowing for more information to be presented and easily viewed by the driver when on the road.
The Digital Cockpit is fully customisable as well, therefore you can set your preferred information to be displayed on screen – apart from the usual speedometer, odometer, fuel gauge and so on. These features can be displayed on the Digital Cockpit’s six-view screen for your immediate reference, along with other information such as fuel economy, distance travelled and much more – all easily configurable at the touch of a button. You can keep track and view your Spotify songs with album art on the Digital Cockpit while driving.
Infotainment For Everyone
As with most modern-day vehicles, the Passat Elegance comes with an infotainment system that is available for the driver and passengers’ convenience. It features a large 9.2-inch display and is fully controllable via touchscreen, with hand gesture control and even voice activation for a hands-free experience and for you to keep your eyes on the road. The infotainment also has audio streaming capability from external devices wirelessly via Bluetooth or through wired means via USB-C.
Another convenient safety feature is the Tyre Pressure Monitoring system which tracks the air pressure of each individual tyre in real time and is accessible on the infotainment. This is useful in instances of preparing for a long-distance trip to ensure optimum pressure for your drive. There’s also the easy-to-use onboard navigation system which provides the driver with convenience information by listing out nearby fuel stations or rest stops.
For comfort of all in the car, the Passat Elegance comes with 3-Zone Climatronic control for customizing the air conditioner’s temperature and distribution in specific zones of the car such as driver, passenger and rear. There is also the Air Care control which allows you to enable or disable the onboard air purification system which filters out pollen, fungal spores and particulates.
To set the mood in the cabin, the Passat Elegance comes with ambient lighting controls with 30 color options. That is one color a day for every day of the month!
In addition, users can also connect their smartphones to the infotainment system via wireless connectivity for Apple Carplay and through USB-C for Android Auto. This would enable them to access and launch specific apps from their handsets via the car’s display – including Spotify, Apple Music, Waze, Google Maps, and much more. It’s also worth noting that the system will prioritise the use of external navigation apps upon activation, instead of relying on the onboard map.
Always Looking Out For The Driver
No modern-day car is ever complete without any onboard safety features. Fortunately, the Passat Elegance comes with several of such functions that are worth highlighting – all of which are for the sake of giving you peace of mind while driving on the road.
First, we have the Side Assist feature which is designed to aid the driver when they are changing lanes. The Passat Elegance is equipped with radar systems at its rear and sides, which are used to detect objects within a range of up to 70 meters. Upon detection, the feature will warn the driver via blinking LED lights that are situated on both of the car’s side mirrors. Side Assist is extremely useful to avoid potential collisions with vehicles that are within the driver’s blind spot.
The Rear Cross Traffic Alert function, on the other hand, utilises onboard sensors with a 180-degree detection range of up to 50 meters, enabling it to detect vehicles approaching from the left or right while the car is reversing out from a parking spot. In addition, the Passat also comes with rear cameras that display the surroundings via the onboard infotainment display, which can be customised to be viewed in different perspectives and with different guidelines for reversing out.
Interested? Considering A Test Drive?
The Passat Elegance is indeed designed with drivers in mind, featuring a variety of convenient features and technology – along with a great drive. All of which (and more) we highly recommend that you to experience for yourself in order to appreciate VW’s executive sedan to its fullest. As they say, a Volkswagen is better experienced than explained.
If you wish to learn more about the Passat Elegance, please visit Volkswagen’s official website via this link. And if you fancy to own one of your own or planning to go for a test drive, you can reach out to Volkswagen through their online eShowroom to arrange a booking. It’s also worth mentioning that all online bookings through the eShowroom will enjoy exclusive online deals!
Also, in order to not miss the latest offerings or promotions from Volkswagen Malaysia, be sure to follow its social media channels on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube!
This article is brought to you by Volkswagen Malaysia.
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