the Volkswagen CC almost in arguably the
best-looking thing they make so why
don't you see anything on the road let's
try this 2015 CC with the our line trim
and a third pedal and check the tech
here's a problem with the CC it's the
member of a Volkswagen product line that
is very heavy on four-door cars in a US
market
that is very heavy on crossovers now the
CC of course comes at you as a premium
vehicle it's up against Acura TLX and
Infiniti g37 now the Q 60 but those two
out sell this guy by anywhere from three
to seven times so you're not likely to
pull up next to another one of these at
a stop wipe that's great for you as the
buyer not so good for Volkswagen as the
seller the other problem is of course if
you want the basic function of this
vehicle and can live without the swoopy
looks you're gonna look at a Passat four
six or seven thousand left now our CC is
one up from the bottom it's called an R
line it's got a more aggressive chin
special set of 18-inch wheels and a very
mild but distinctive body still kit now
inside our CC things are a little
disturbingly
common with the Passat and the Jetta
there's certain benefits to having a
common look and feel to your cars until
they make this high trim one feel too
much like the low trim one here that
that's hard cheap plastic abounding in
too many parts but they have laid it out
very nicely every single gauge dial knob
and readout in this cabin is visible
behind the wheel this may be the first
car this year I've reviewed that I can
say that about so that's good what's not
so good is of course a VW head unit this
is standard with navigation and backup
camera but Leslie there's not much of it
the tech that's missing from this car is
like a History Channel piece on cars in
the year 2005 it has no infotainment
apps support like Pandora or AHA no
driver assist tech like blind spot
adaptive cruise or lane-keeping and even
the nav on this our line model doesn't
have traffic if you get the higher trim
executive-level of this car you get a
bigger Elba necessarily better head unit
and you also get 10 speaker Dynaudio
sound
the international symbol for power on
power off right what do I turn the
volume a little bit
what's that symbol now is that pac-man
sticking his tongue out obviously have a
vendor that can make controls that have
an outside turning ring with an inside
push button that doesn't rotate why not
use it there it's a small thing but it
makes me insane now we have the unusual
6-speed manual unusual because finding
it in a high trim car like this is rare
as hen's teeth you've got no other sort
of drive controls here no drive mode no
paddles obviously it's very
straightforward now our CC has the
little motor the 2-liter turbo 4 sitting
sidesaddle driving front wheels only all
the 2-liter fours are front-wheel drive
you can also get a narrow angle v6 but
they call it VR six and those are all
all-wheel drive the resulting 200
horsepower and 207 pound-feet of torque
are not headline-grabbing for a car that
weighs nearly 3,400 pounds 0-60 comes up
in six and a half seconds again nothing
stunning by today's standards but
respectable 21 32 mpg is also quite good
but again small displacement helps us
get there okay first thing I got this CC
and turn the key I thought okay this is
gonna be a mess biggest compact car with
a 2-liter turbo for that doesn't have
stunning numbers to it and I was
surprised this is a great engine
combination because largely we've got a
manual gearbox you can really get the
most out of the engine and it's got a
good power and torque curve to go with
it it's not to beat the suspensions
similar to the engine is not overly
aggressive great comfort on the ride
quality and enough firmness to have the
car feel fit if not athletic it's easy
to get comfortable we don't have a
sunroof by the way which is a different
story so I've got a little extra
Headroom here but at my height I was
still able to put some one six foot
behind me and they were quite
comfortable so they've laid out the
cabin space well it's a joy to drive to
be on it but it's not gonna be your
sharpest tool on a twisty canyon road
okay RCC our line trim is 35 one
delivered the only option of any
significance is to get the dual clutch
automated gearbox the DSG for 1,100 more
I'm actually going to skip it even
though it's the more tech forward choice
because I like how the manual
transmission brings out the best of this
2-liter turbo motor it's a nice
combination you buy OCC because you
really love Volkswagens and you want
something different that doesn't look
like every other car on the road not
because you want the latest technology
or necessarily the best value
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