2009 Volkswagen CC

In 2003, Volkswagen began building a large luxury sedan called Phaeton to challenge the best of BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar, as well as corporate cousin Audi’s architecture-sharing A8. With formally handsome looks, a gorgeous interior, standard V8 power and a $64,600 starting sticker, it won affluent fans in Europe but did not do well in North America. Why not? Probably because most Americans who could afford it could not wrap their minds around an expensive sedan wearing a Volkswagen (translates to “peoples’ car”) badge. Alongside Beetles, Rabbits, Jettas and mid-size Passats, the big luxosedan didn’t compute.

Styling

Now comes this sleekly sensuous (Passat-based) CC sedan, which can fill essentially the same top-of-the-line role as that under-appreciated Phaeton at a much lower cost—and therefore price. VW says it’s “designed and engineered to blend sports car dynamics and dimensions with sedan comfort in a sophisticated package.” To our eyes, the CC is easily the prettiest VW sedan in a very long time. It features a beautifully crafted interior inside a sweeping coupe-like shape that sacrifices only a bit of rear-seat headroom to its appealing good looks. (While it’s trendy today for German automakers to call their recent fastback sedans “four-door coupes,” they are not; “coupes” have two doors.)


In addition to the CC’s dramatically lowered, rear-swept roofline and sporty, well-planted stance, other distinguishing exterior cues include frameless doors, flowing side character lines, a new VW face that moves it away from Audi’s horse-collar look and a panoramic power sunroof (standard on all but the base Sport model) that extends over the entire forward portion of the roof. A muscular shoulder line visually connects the front wheel wells to the taillights.

Interior

The CC’s four-passenger interior is essentially Passat with enhanced luxury touches. Its quartet of comfortably contoured sport bucket seats is positioned low for lateral support and to preserve as much headroom as possible. The split folding rear buckets are separated by a roll-top, fold-down center console that houses bins and cupholders and an emergency medical kit (but don’t plan on stretching out in back for a nap).


Both steering wheel and shifter are leather wrapped, and techy, brushed aluminum trim is standard on Luxury and VR6 models. The base Sport model’s seats are trimmed in leatherette, while all others are rich leather. An available 32GB hard-disk-supported navigation system with MDI (Media Device Interface) offers touch-screen controls and rear-view camera images from the rear parking assistance system.

Powertrain, Chassis and Safety

Standard engine in Sport and Luxury models is VW’s 200-hp 2.0-liter turbocharged and intercooled double-overhead-cam four with variable valve timing and direct fuel injection teaming to optimize efficiency. Driving through a six-speed manual gearbox (Sport model only), it delivers 6.9-sec. 0-to-60-mph performance and 19 mpg city, 29 highway EPA economy. The six-speed automatic with Tiptronic manual control (standard in other versions) surprisingly ups those numbers to 7.4 seconds 0-60 mph and 21 mpg city, 31 highway.