Singapore Passat Owners

If you live in Singapore and love your Passat, you should join sg-passat!

The Singapore Passat Owners Club has a web page and a mailing list. We organize regular social events centered around a Passat Parade through Singapore.

The current generation of Passats, known to insiders as the B5, started production in 1997. Marketed in Singapore under the "Reborn" campaign, the B5 comprises model years 1998, 1999, and 2000. Its shape is immediately recognizable and causes perfect strangers to say, "Damn! That's a good looking car."

It competes with the BMW 3 series, the Saab 9-3, the Volvo S70, the Mercedes C class, and the Lexus ES 300. It beats them all by matching their features at half the price. It is, essentially, a beefed-up version of the Audi A4 (Audi is VW's luxury line, and they share platforms and design). It's a category-killer: everyone can find a reason to like a luxury sport family sedan. Consumer Reports awarded it first prize, family car of the year. And it's one of the safest cars on the market today.

Mailing List

subscribe sg-passat

If you encounter difficulties, contact the listowner, mengwong@pobox.com.

Socials

1. before the main drive, go to the VW service center at Leng Kee road to meet the group. If you go early, you might get a chance to hoist your car up on the jack and examine it from all angles. Get your questions answered by experts, and see what other members have done to their cars.
2. do the drive: a pre-planned route takes you through the city. You attract a great many admiring glances. The next day, your car appears in the newspaper, and your co-workers all ask your license plate number so they can buy 4-D.
3. at the end of the drive, you arrive at an al-fresco type place where out-front parking has been reserved. All the passats pull up and park in a line next to each other, looking like a royal procession.
4. you go home feeling GREAT about having bought the Passat.

• Coffee Club at Siglap --- but only space for about 4 cars out front.
• Harvey Ramsden near National Stadium.

To receive announcements about events, sign up for the mailing list.

Event Log

• 199907 --- meng started the sg-passat mailing list
• 199908 --- meng started the sg-passat web page
• 19990916 --- lunch at spageddies, tanglin mall, 12pm. attended by pkuaso, mengwong, hosm, fhlam.
• 19991016 --- lunch at harvey ramsden.
• 19991203 --- 11:30 lunch at pasta fresca, 6th avenue, bukit timah.

Registry

If you have a passat sighting to report, email mengwong@pobox.com!

Other Links

Official

• Volkswagen of America
• Volkswagen Singapore. The service centre's phone number is 471-7777.
• Passat Germany
• Technical Support
• story in VW driver magazine
• Volkswagen Fanworld
• Euro NCAP crash test results
• IIHS crash test results

Unofficial Sites, Discussion Groups, Clubs, and Picture Galleries

• VW Vortex
• The Passat Registry
• Passat Owners Of The World Motorsports --- another registry, but with asp, so it's unbelievably slow.
• ClubB5
• Passat Commercial at Adcritic
• Volkswagen Web Ring
• The Volkswagen Font
• Volkswagenism and the Purity Test
• Toyin's Picture Gallery
• Meng's Picture Gallery
• Paul's Picture Gallery

Accessories and Modifications

• The Remote Window Controller
• The Orchard Store in Specialists' Centre has scale models of Passats. They are slightly incorrect, having wiper fluid nozles on the hood, but hey, nothing a little sandpaper can't fix!

Driving resources for Singaporeans

• Automobile Association
• Land Transport Authority

News Clippings

Passat Consumer Reports Top Family Car

Volkswagen ended a sixteen year stretch of Toyota dominance when the Passat toppled the Camry from its throne as Consumer Reports magazine's top family car. The magazine based its ratings on tests at its test track and reliability reports on 490,000 vehicles from 384,000 of its 4.5m subscribers. Reliability figures came from a 1998 survey on cars from model years 1991 to 1998. Volkswagen's new Jetta also came in second place in it's class as well.

Passat Facelift for 2001

Volkswagen will be giving its Passat model a facelift for model year 2001. Along with what are believed to be minor cosmetic changes, the passat will get two new motors, the 24-valve 204hp VR6 and an 8-cylinder motor (either VR8 or W8). Expect the 8-cylinder motor to include 4Motion AWD as well.

Passat Sales Record

Volkswagen's 1998 sales were again led by its top-selling Jetta model with a total sales mark of 89,311, the third best in the model's 19-year history. In the important midsize segment, Volkswagen's Passat model posted an all-time record with sales of 39,272, an increase of 164 percent over 1997's mark of 14,868.

Colophon

• last modified Friday, 03-Dec-1999 04:54:20 PST by Wong Meng Weng
• this file is maintained by Wong Meng Weng. please email mengwong@pobox.com with comments and corrections.