A Volkswagen Passat R36 Variant, seen on the Fifth Ring Road in Beijing in 2016. The speedy wagon was in super shape, painted in metallic gray with darkened windows and standing on gray multispoke alloy wheels. But the coolest detail is the matching 京N·QR360 license plate.
The B6 Volkswagen Passat R36 has an interesting story in China. The base B6 sedan was made in China by FAW-Volkswagen and sold under the Magotan name. But the R36 sedan and wagon were imported from Germany and sold under the Passat name.
The story goes that Volkswagen shipped two R36s to China just to promote the standard China-made Passat/Magotan. But there was so much positive response that Volkswagen decided to sell it as an import. Even more interesting: the R36 Variant sold better than the R36 sedan, a rarity in China where sedans are usually way more popular than station wagons.
The R36 Variant, seen here driving behind a FAW-Audi A6, launched on the Chinese car market in 2008. It was very expensive with a base price of 530.000 yuan. The sedan sold for 518.000. But it was a special car. Power came from a 3.6 liter VR6 engine with 300 hp and 350 Nm. The engine was mated to a six-speed DCT gearbox with paddle shift, sending horses to all four wheels. The top speed was 250 kilometers per hour and the Variant did 0-100 in 5.8 seconds. Fuel consumption was a steep 11.1 liters per 100.