I had a go at the locally assembled Volkswagen Passat 1.8TSI (B7) recently. This is Volkswagen's full sized or D segment competitor here in Malaysia and it has been around in this form since 2011 with local assembly in Pekan, Pahang since 2012. Now this B7 series Passat has a long history to it in terms of production life cycle. It actually started its life as a B6 Passat in 2005 and was heavily facelifted in 2010 for the 2011 production year. And by heavily facelifted, it really is some extra engineering compared to the usual facelift of a change of bumpers and lights.
The B7 Passat actually only keeps the
roof of the B6 Passat. The rest of the body panels are new. The
changes to the 2005 chassis are also quite extensive with a 2mm
increase in wheelbase (2,711mm) and a 4mm overall increase in length
(4,769mm). The interior of the car gets a slightly redesigned dashboard (especially below the vents with the addition of an analog clock and better quality trim) and more
soundproofing with thicker glass all round. The Malaysian spec Passat
B7 gets the 1.8 TSI engine with the 7 speed dual clutch transmission
as standard.
