Volkswagen Passat

Much-needed good news for VW.

In the wake of the TDI emissions scandal—or are we still in the build-up phase?—Volkswagen is in need of some good news. The launch of a new model can provide just that, and the 2016 Passat is sufficiently different from the 2012­–15 models to justify a modicum of enthusiasm.

It’s true that the U.S.-built Passat has failed to give competitors like the Honda Accord and the Toyota Camry a serious headache in the way that VW had hoped. But the company has taken in plenty of customer feedback to make the 2016 model a better and more attractive car. On the technical side, there are vastly improved connectivity features plus a new electronics and infotainment architecture that allows for a full range of driver-assistance systems (most notably forward-collision, blind-spot, and lane-departure warning as well as lane assist). The front end receives structural upgrades designed to address the IIHS's rigorous and ambitious new crash tests; they add between 50 and 100 pounds to the Passat's weight.

Chevrolet Volt 2016

The gas-electric Volt, now quicker and less eccentric, is the embodiment of New Age versatility. 

We have only fond memories of the original Chevy Volt, that slab-sided toccata and fugue of Yankee ingenuity from 2011. It looked like something Jimmy Carter acolytes created after locking themselves in a bunker with a Commodore PET computer, the Tupperware collection for 1981, and a laserdisc of the movie Tron. But the Volt worked, delivering both electric-vehicle stealth and internal-combustion freedom. It may have missed the energy crises for which it was perfectly suited, but its timing was still propitious. The 77,000 or so units that Chevy sold, the majority in California, thoroughly expunged the mark of Cain borne by General Motors ever since it was accused of killing the electric car.

Ford C-Max and C-Max Energi 2016

Europe gets a freshened C-Max now, but we'll have to wait another year or so

In 2012, Ford brought a pair of hybridized mini-minivans to the U.S. in the forms of the C-Max and the C-Max Energi. Sold elsewhere in the world under the same C-Max banner but with available gas- and diesel-only powertrains, the hybrid-only strategy here is an attempt to take the fight to Toyota’s Prius brand. (A more direct effort is underway involving a dedicated Ford hybrid for 2019.) Now, the C-Max’s European siblings are getting a midcycle refresh, and the changes should hit our C-Max models next year.

The updated European-spec C-Max, which also comes in a longer-wheelbase, sliding-door, actual-minivan version, makes its debut at the Paris auto show. Although that might seem like too glamorous a venue for a pair of people movers, Ford has done a nice job sprucing up the C-Max’s look for fashion-conscious families. Of course, we don’t—and won’t—get the larger, seven-passenger Grand C-Max, but the stylistic changes being made to the five-seat model should port over to our C-Maxes with few alterations.