Facelifted 2020 Volkswagen Passat due November

Volkswagen Australia has confirmed the facelifted Passat sedan and Passat wagon shown at the Geneva motor show this week will arrive in local showrooms in November.

Contrary to widespread reports of the Passat being killed off for good, Volkswagen debuted the mid-life facelift in Switzerland this week.

Aside from minimal styling changes, the updated passenger car range will bear some significant revisions underneath the skin, including the introduction of a new entry-level variant in Australia, the Passat 140TSI.

The entry model features a de-tuned version of the Golf GTI’s ubiquitous EA888 engine, offering 140kW and 320Nm. It’s the same as that employed on the new T-Roc SUV.

Elsewhere, Volkswagen Australia has confirmed 162TSI variants in sedan, wagon and AllTrack guises, along with a flagship 206TSI trim featuring all-wheel drive and the company’s R-Line package as standard.

In Europe, the Passat range will be headed by a GTE plug-in hybrid variant, which combines a 110kW version of the Volkswagen Group’s 1.4-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine with an 85kW electric motor, delivering 160kW of total system power. The GTE’s Australia prospects, however, appear dim.

Elsewhere, the Passat’s ride quality should be improved by electronically controlled dampers, whose three-tube damper units can stiffen and soften the ride purely by changing the amps it feeds to its valve. It’s so precise that it can purportedly change the amperage every millisecond and besides the usual array of driving modes, ranging from 0.3 to 1.6A.

Volkswagen has also given drivers a slider that can come up on the infotainment screen to take the softness below the old default setting and the sportiness above the previous maximum.

In other technical talk, the Passat has taken a jump towards semi-autonomous driving by becoming the first Volkswagen to use a capacitive steering wheel, detecting each touch by the driver and delivering an interactive surface.

It has also pulled all of its driver assistance systems beneath the IQ.Drive umbrella, with the standout new feature being the addition of autonomous steering in situations where it has to use the autonomous emergency braking, allowing it to steer clear of trouble as well as stopping.

The 2019 Passat also steps up in using predictive active cruise control, hooking in data from the GPS and the sat-nav so the car always knows how fast it can and should go. The systems are projected via the latest generation of infotainment system – a less intrusive version of the Touareg’s Innovision screen multimedia system.

The Passat also adopts the option of the Matrix LED, which debuts on the Touareg, with 44 LEDs, while the lighting suite is backed up with a slider on the screen for 30 ambient lighting colours in the cabin.

There’s another leap forward with a digital key, which now opens the entire car and the engine, not just the luggage area.