| Golf courses to restaurants, the
| |
| | often crowd open roads of Interstate 5 to
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| quaintness of the small towns to the
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| | the winding, more subtle state routes of
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| Pacific Ocean, there's nothing quite like
| |
| | approaching the peninsula.With the
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| a visit to the Monterey Peninsula. But
| |
| | exception of the wheelbase, which is the
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| the 200-mile drive from Sacramento is
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| | same as the 1998-2005 sedans, Volkswagen
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| also an ideal route for testing cars. The
| |
| | redesigned its midsize car for '06. The
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| high-speed interstate to narrow city
| |
| | body has been extended three inches in
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| streets, there's no place to hide a car's
| |
| | length and it's wider, too.For the first
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| faults and there are plenty of
| |
| | time, a navigation system,
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| opportunities for a vehicle to showcase
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| | steering-linked, bi-xenon headlamps and
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| its best attributes.My weekly test drive
| |
| | either manual or automatic six-speed
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| on a recent visit to the Monterey
| |
| | transmissions, instead of five, are all
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| Peninsula was the 2006 Volkswagen Passat.
| |
| | standard. Front-wheel and VW's 4-Motion
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| It's available in three versions, the
| |
| | all-wheel drive are also both available,
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| 4-cylinder Value Edition and 2.0T
| |
| | with my tester including the front-wheel
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| (turbocharged) models and the higher
| |
| | drive option.The V6 Passat with its
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| performance V6 marketed as the sports
| |
| | various options can exceed $35,000. But
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| model.I drove the 2.0T, which was plenty
| |
| | my Passat for the week was more than
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| sporty and responsive on the high-speed,
| |
| | $10,000 less.
|
