Help: I ​​can’t find a worthy upgrade for my VW Passat at a reasonable price

It’s a 2018-19 Highline variant with many interesting features like ventilated seats, adaptive dampers, 360 degree camera, etc.

BHPian Elampumpkin recently shared with other enthusiasts.

Greetings to all!

My family currently owns a Passat Highline late 2018/2019. While we don’t plan on changing vehicles any time soon, I was just checking out the options available. To my slight disappointment, I couldn’t find a car that had all the features of the Passat (adaptive dampers, 360° camera, ventilated seats) at a reasonable price.

I’m open to considering pre-adored vehicles as well, so bang away.

Here’s what GTO had to say about the matter:

You drive a car that is extremely difficult to upgrade. For one thing, the Passat itself is very accomplished. Second, after a certain price (e.g. 35 lakhs) the law of diminishing returns comes into play. From 40 lakh rupees and up, increasing the budget by 30% (as an example) does not necessarily result in 30% more car.

Either go pre-worshiped, buy another car from a similar price range (e.g. Camry Hybrid, Kodiaq, Ioniq 5) or be prepared to pay through the nose for a new German luxury.

Here’s what BHPian rGT had to say about the matter:

A used 530d G30 (pre-LCI or LCI) is a possible upgrade, or a 330Li LCI if rear seat space is required. If you want both space and performance then you can look into used W213 E350ds as the rear seats can eat up entire galaxies and the smooth V6 can give you driving pleasure whenever you want.

The Passat is such an accomplished car that there are only a handful of cars at an intelligible price point that can feel like a real upgrade from it, much like the Endeavor 3.2. Therefore, the used car route is the only likely option for a real upgrade.

For more insight and information, read the comments from BHPians.