Like all good cars, the 2018 Volkswagen Passat GT began with an idea and a few people in a garage. That garage happens to be in Chattanooga, Tennessee, at Volkswagen's growing North American Engineering Planning Center, just around the corner from the factory that assembles the Passat and the VW Atlas. The idea: How to bring a touch of Volkswagen's performance heritage into midsize sedans. The resulting 2018 Passat GT has arrived as the first model developed and engineered by Volkswagen in the United States.

Features

Starting with the features of the Passat R-Line, the Passat GT takes to the road with a unique sport suspension and 19-inch Tornado wheels. In a nod to the Volkswagen Golf GTI, the grille features a red accent line running through a honeycomb pattern, and red-painted brake calipers stand out against any of the four available colors: Pure White, Reflex Silver, Platinum Grey, and Deep Black. The look completes with a piano-black trunk spoiler.

Inside, there's a bevy of sport-flavored upgrades, from carbon fiber optic décor and a black headliner to two-tone black/gray seats with contrast stitching. Under the hood there's a 3.6-liter VR6 engine - tuned to 280 horsepower at 6,200 rpm and 258 lb-ft of torque at 2,500 rpm with regular fuel. Paddle shifters control a six-speed DSG Tiptronic® automatic transmission.