Any South African will tell you that you get 3 types of families in our country: Toyota families, Ford families and Volkswagen families.
We’re brought home from the hospital on the day we’re born in our fathers choice of one of the above, he gives us the money for a second hand one when we turn 17, it’s what we buy when we have a child of our own and it’s the make of car that carries our coffin to our grave on the day we die. Our brand of car is unwavering, sometimes irrational and always emotional.
You’ll understand then why the launch of the new face-lifted Volkswagen CC is such a huge deal. This car represents one of South Africa’s favorites firmly taking on the big boys in the market, the BMW 3-Series and the Merc C-Class.
That’s a huge dragon to sleigh.
The good news is that VW have made a beast of a car here.
Firstly the ride is more comfortable than minestrone soup in mid-June. Velvety and effortless and steering, manageable like Grade 1 math.
Pair this with the very decent delivery of power from three engines in the range, and you have the makings of something great. There’s a very fast 3.6-litre V6 with 225kW of output and a very comfortable 2-litre TDi.
While both are predictable VW engines, the 6-speed automatic DSG gearbox they’re paired to make for some steady, albeit a bit mundane, driving. Worth noting, they’ve done away with the manuals from the last range as no one was buying them.
You’ve got the comfortable ride and the speed. Check. But if it’s going to go out dragon sleighing, the CC has got to be just as comfortable on the inside. And it is…
Few spots on the interior can be picked out as “cost-cutting”. The dash is modern and smooth and even features a strip of wood trim a la some sort of Bentley or Rolls or something. They did however let someone who listens to Gareth Cliff in the morning get a word in somewhere, so you’ll find a stupid analog clock in the middle of the wood trim, protected by a piece of plastic nog al. It can’t all be good.
Another niggle on the inside was the absence (in option and standard equipment) of a USB port anywhere. VW South Africa, rightfully so, defend this by insisting that it’s not their doing, but rather how the cars arrive from Germany. But this doesn’t distract from the fact that the Germans have left out one of the most standard connection ports in the world in a car that is aimed at the upper-end of the spending spectrum. Instead you’ll have to make do with just an SD card and optional Bluetooth audio.
As I pointed out to some of the griping journos, you could also just buy one of these.
The last word has got to go to the astonishing design of this car. Take a look at that sloping back roofline and tell me that isn’t going to put the Audi A5 or Audi A7’s nose out of place? Just spectacular!
Only time will tell how this new offering will dent the sales of some of the most popular cars on SA roads. What do I think? I think they’ve got a brilliant car here, and anyone who’s in the market would be an idiot not to check it out.
But if I had it my way, I would have advised VW to rebrand the car in some way, the way Toyota did with Lexus. I fear that too many of those ol’ traditional Saffas who see VW as the honest, homely, reliable and safe brand that brought them up through childhood are going to have a hard time buying this car now that it’s taking itself seriously and trying to be all hoighty and stuff.
They wouldn’t even have to do much. Just tone down the huge VW badge in the front, find a more sleek and stylish way to get it across, maybe come up with a new emblem or something. Although that would be a bit like painting a penis on a picture of the president of a country. So nevermind.
2.0 TDI DSG (125kW) R373 800
2.0 TSI DSG (155kW) R395 950
3.6 V6 FSI 4Motion DSG (220kW) R469 405
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