I think stingertt is right, you are gonna need a VW fan for this deal. I looked at passat’s during my car search and there were some screaming deals in October 2018 but with wife busy at work we didn’t pull trigger on time. Car is fine but it’s bones are eight years old. (In response to your question what this means, car was designed 8 years ago. Passat is now undergoing a complete redesign for 2020 model).
It just isn’t as good as a new Accord, Camry or Altima. Nothing against the car, it’s just automotive technically has advanced so much over last eight years.
I have one and 2 kids (both in sports) and it works fine for me.
Have you considered a Thule Rack? $500 a problem solved to carry your hockey gear. That or take a bath by trading it in on some soccer mom CUV to accommodate the extra space you need.
First, you are right I way overestimated the number of updates they were making. Definitely just a refresh.
And I second the Thule rack idea. If OP doesn’t have many thousands of dollars to make this problem go away (or appetite for risk of lease transfer) rooof racks work well.
Get it evaluated at Carmax, Carvana (online), Vroom (online), etc. Keep in mind your residual value is only if you buy out the car, VW has a separate sale price for 3rd parties. Carmax, etc. can call and find out their buy out. If there is a big difference, you can buy the car yourself and then sell it, only thing is it takes 30-45 days to process the transaction/title.
Consider another VW, the dealer may be able to cut you some slack.
List on swapalease, etc. and other forums to see if anyone is interested.
See if someone in your friends/family is interested.
Keep the car for a little longer until you can even out or possibly have some positive equity and then evaluate your options.
Performance-wise, the GT performed slower than the SEL Premium V6 and was marginally better than the 2.0T SE R-Line on the skidpad (like .01g difference).
Imagine this, Chattanooga engineers tuned the suspension and dropped the car a little bit… but DID NOT change the tires from the 2.0T version of the car.
This is why I say the “GT” monicker is one for a cosmetics package. GLI and GTI were significantly different from the base cars they are drawn from.
2020 Passat will see only a “refresh” from the outgoing model. Still on NMS architecture (New Mid-Size Sedan) and it’s amazing how similar the interior still is. I like the dash though, they changed the vents up to mimic Audi’s.
Check out the VWVortex forums. I just don’t think the Passat GT has the bones to compete with its market segment when folks are looking for the best car with the best deal.
VW also produces the Atlas in the USA and plans to build more CUVs here. Nonetheless this factoid does nothing to increase the appeal of a $390 Passat that doesn’t even include nav
