Daily Driver: 2015 Volkswagen CC

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[00:00:00] Hi, guys. This is Seyth with Autoblog, and I'm driving the 2015 Volkswagen CC. The version of the car I'm in is the VR6 4motion car, so it's got a six-cylinder engine and all-wheel drive. This six-cylinder is actually a little bit of an odd duck at this point for the class. It's a 3.6 liter V6. It makes 280 horsepower, 265 pound-feet of torque. It's really living in a world that's been

[00:00:30] overtaken by potent, two-liter turbos. I think something that's particularly difficult, especially in light of what I know about the Volkswagen family, the new engines getting great fuel economy. The 1.8T and obviously the TDI are real champs in that regard. Unfortunately, this VR6 is really sucking down the premium. These days, a 20 MPG combined rating is not particularly good.
This definitely isn't a sports car. If you throw it hard into a corner, it leans a little bit, you can feel some roll

[00:01:00] through the suspension. Handling is tidy, but it's not particularly precise. Of course, it's not really meant to be. This is a car that's meant to be great on the highway, great cruiser, look pretty stylish, and with a good powertrain, it can be exciting enough. Because you're not getting anything else that's very sports car-like about this car, other than the power delivery, and even there it's not quite on-pace with some of the sporty sedans that you can buy for right around the same money. It just makes for an interesting mix; something that's a little bit fast,

[00:01:30] not very fuel-efficient, not a great handler, not a premium badge. Let's cut down right to it. This car is $44,400 and some change. Again, the VR6 4motion Executive Trim level, which means it pretty much gets everything you can get in a CC. We've got leather seats; they are heated. They have a massaging seat on the driver's side. I've got some 18-inch wheels that look pretty good. Big head unit with touch-screen and

[00:02:00] navigation, satellite radio, better sound system. Just in general, the car feels very well-appointed. It feels like an entry-level luxury car. On the other hand, it all sort of feels like one generation old in terms of the Volkswagen-Audi universe right now. Audi's a little bit different, but you get in something like an A3, and you see a lot of the same feature sets at a much, much lower price-point. I think more to the point, when you start talking about $40,000 range, you really open yourself up to competition

[00:02:30] from the big guys like BMW and Mercedes and Lexus. The other thing that's not completely selling me is the restyle that Volkswagen did a little bit ago on the CC. I think the original car made a really dramatic statement. Again, it was one of those first 4-door coupe cars to come out, and even though that terminology is a little meaningless, it does often produce a good-looking car. Anyway, thanks a lot for coming along, and taking a ride in the Volkswagen CC with me. [00:03:00]