The 1996 Volkswagen Passat Variant B4 was a popular midsize family car and one of the brand’s most popular models of its time. One example has been abandoned in a lot and in the video above, YouTuber Flexiny tried to restart the car after eight years of not moving from one place.
The Passat Variant here was in pretty rough shape. The sleek and timeless bodywork was covered in dirt and rust. The wagon’s also pretty banged up in many areas and it certainly looked hopeless.
But not in the hands of the Flexiny YouTube channel, which centers on bringing abandoned cars back to life. Despite not having any dialog or spiel, the video showed all the mechanical work done to revive the car. It was pretty awesome, we reckon.
The 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine under the Passat Variant B4’s hood produced 89 horsepower and 100 pound-feet (135 Newton-meters) of torque, paired with a 4-speed automatic transmission. While not the most powerful engine on the market, it provided adequate power for daily commuting and family road trips.
The future of the Passat seems uncertain as Volkswagen has announced the discontinuation of the popular sedan in Europe and the United States. The next-generation Passat will be sold strictly as a wagon in the Old Continent and will be made in Bratislava, Slovakia, as production has moved from Emden, Germany.
VW CEO Thomas Schafer revealed that the next-gen Passat has been developed by Skoda, which implies that it will ride on an evolution of the MQB platform with cleaner gasoline and diesel engines to meet Euro 7 regulations.
Although the Passat Sedan is officially no longer available, Volkswagen still offers the sleeker Arteon. Moreover, VW launched an ID.7 electric car, which is similarly sized to the Passat, and a wagon will follow later this decade.
