My 10-year old Passat is about to give up on me, and I've been thinking of trading up to an A4. I really like the B8 platform, so I'm interested in either a CPO (presumably an '09, since I doubt there are many 2010 CPO cars out there) or a new 2011. I've been researching the differences from 2009-2011, but have not come up with much. Here's what I have so far:

• 2009 was the last model year to offer the V6 engine
• 2009 has an older version of MMI??? 2010 & 2011 have MMI 3.0
• In 2011, the automatic was bumped from 6 speeds to 8

There are presumably more... anyone have any to add?

Also, I'm interested in impressions of the current 4-cylinder (it's an in-line turbo, right?) vs. the V6 that was available in the '09 model year. My Passat is a V6, and although I'm sure VW's engines have improved dramatically in the last 10 years, I'm wondering if I'll regret switching to a smaller engine. That said, I've test-driver a 2011 4-cylinder and found it fairly responsive.

Thanks in advance for any comments/suggestions!

 

I am new to this forum-first post, but I just went through this. We replaced our 2004 V6 passat for a 2010 A4.

From the reasearch I have done you got it right. I can add that the 2010 A4 uses ABS sensors for tire pressure monitoring so if you have a second set of tires/wheels you don;t need to buy sensors. This was nice for us because we live in MN and will buy snowtires and wheels. The 2010 also has LED tail lights.

Our passat had memory seats and we wanted to keep that feature. You can find it on the Premium A4 in 2009, but for 2010 it was only available on the Prestige.

I chose to limit my search to just the 2.0. It is quite powerful, almost as smooth as our Passat V6, gets better gas mileage (33 highway on the first tank), and has huge and easy power gains available with a chip.

Good luck

 

Thanks! I'm pretty-much settled on the 2011 at this point; it's good to hear the experiences of someone else who upgraded from a Passat. Thanks also for the tip about the Prestige trim level and the memory seats--that's definitely a feature from our Passat that we would miss if we didn't have it. Now, to start getting some quotes.

 

just picked up my 2011 black pearl, premium plus with titanium package with 8 spd for $36k out the door in chicago. Not sure what kinda ball park your in but sticker was 40,890 plus fees.

good luck

 

Sounds like you settled on the 2011 which is a good choice. The new MMI would actually be one of the more noticeable differences. I also recommend the Prestige package, if you can swing it, it is definitely worth the extra scratch.