In the automotive world, the law of diminishing returns dictates that as you move toward the upper end of the luxury car spectrum you have to pay a lot more to gain relatively small improvements in power, handling or gadgetry.
This has always been true, but rarely have I had it demonstrated more clearly than with last week's Audi S8 test car and this week's ride, a Volkswagen Passat GLX, particularly since the two German carmakers are joined at the hip in the manner of Ford and Lincoln or Toyota and Lexus. (The Passat is based on the Audi A4 and A6, the S8's little brothers.)
The Audi S8 is clearly superior to the GLX — larger, faster, more luxurious — but not enough to justify the $48,600 difference in their prices: $78,975 vs. $30,375 including options and delivery charges.
That's because in the real world of daily driving, the S8's performance capabilities can rarely be tapped, and it has been my long experience that most of the gee-whiz gizmos found on ultra-luxury cars are rarely used once they've been set and the proud new owner has shown them off to his brother-in-law.
It really gets problematical in this case because the Passat GLX is laden with creature comforts once reserved for the automotive elite. These include leather seats, real wood interior trim, a rear sunshade, rain sensor wipers, electronic climate control, heated mirrors and washer nozzles, self-dimming mirror, eight-way power seats with memory, three-way "Homelink" buttons for opening your estate gate, garage door and turning on the lights in the house . . . and my personal favorite, the industry's best left-foot dead pedal.
And, of course, there are the usual suspects such as power windows, door locks and exterior mirrors. (The Passat's mirrors are also heated and have a power fold-in feature, which is handy on a big SUV like the Cadillac Escalade but seems like overkill on a midsize sedan.)
As someone who owned two VW "Beetles" back in the '60s and a Rabbit in the '70s, I have had a hard time relating to this new concept of Volkswagens as competitors to BMW and Mercedes-Benz, but I'm becoming a believer.
Sure, the Volkswagen New Beetle harks back to the VW econocar of yesteryear, and the VW Golf is just an updated Rabbit, but with the VW Jetta and particularly the Passat, Volkswagen is competitive with those pricier Teutons in every way but snob appeal.
Which makes the Passat the best bargain in all of luxury sedandom, in my opinion. If your ego can stand not having a three-pointed star or spinning propeller on the hood, the Passat is an automobile that I guarantee will give you every bit as much satisfaction as those status marques for tens of thousands of dollars less.
What's to like: It's quiet, roomy, comfortable, handles nicely, has marvelously supportive seats, voluminous trunk, superb brakes, and the V6 190-horsepower engine provides more than enough go-power. You can order your Passat with VW's 4-Motion all-wheel-drive system and Tiptronic "manumatic" transmission. Side airbags are standard, and VW has a station wagon version of the Passat if you desire utility over style.
What's not to like: Well, maybe it's just me, but I don't like the headlights in a car to come on unless I turn them on, especially in the daytime, and I don't like the doors to lock unless I lock them myself. Yes, it's probably safer having it done automatically, but some things I'd rather just do myself.
And Volkswagen/Audi's remote door opener with its integrated key that flips out like a switchblade is too bulky and tends to break. They should separate the key and the door opener. And maybe the Las Vegas-style red and blue light show on the instrument panel could be toned down a bit considering this vehicle's potential market, which has little in common with New Beetle or Jetta buyers.
The current version of the Passat was introduced in 1997, and it just keeps getting better with each model year, making it the best-selling midsize car in Western Europe and the best-selling German car in the United States in its class.
Its kudos include "Best Pick" family sedan by Consumer Reports, an "All Star" by Automobile Magazine and three years of "Total Quality Awards" from Strategic Vision.
VW says the 2001 Passat has 2,300 "technical and visual" changes for the current model year, but only someone who owns a Passat will likely notice the "fresh new design elements" and the rest of it.
VW has a winner here, and I don't blame them for moving cautiously on changes. As has been shown by BMW, Lexus and others, it isn't really necessary to make radical annual styling changes (as the Big Three once felt necessary) to keep the cash registers ringing. It actually helps used car resale values to keep the new cars looking much like the old ones, and high resale breeds buyer loyalty.
Fuel mileage for my V6-powered tester (there's also a turbocharged four-cylinder) is 18 mpg in city driving and 26 on the highway.
Final thought: You can buy a Passat for under $30K, but the top-line GLX model makes the best case for an ultra-luxury car at a bargain price.
E-mail: max@desnews.com