Gadgetory

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