One of the coolest Passats around was Neuspeed's old project Passat, a black, tinted-windowed 16V wagon It was fast, for a four cylinder, and looked even faster. Well, this four cylinder Neuspeed Passat is only an 8V, and a Diesel at that. The 1996 Passat looks pretty fast on a wild set of MSW Type 45 wheels, but can a Diesel, even Volkswagen’s vaunted TDI, really equal a gas Passat in performance? Yes-and then some. Maybe not a VR6-but a 16V? Easy money.

This car spoiled me more than a little. Aaron Neumann of Automotive Performance Systems (APS) had the same response to the biggest Volkswagen. "At first," he told me, "I didn’t like the TDI much at all. I was used to revving out a VR6 or 16V, and with the stock TDI you hit 4000 and its all over, right now. But after a while I began to realize that you didn’t need to rev the TDI to 4000 at all. With the torque peak at 1900 rpm, this thing moves out smartly, and short-shifting at low rpm really lets it pull." The truth of the matter? it will take a strong 16V with a willing driver to catch this TDI from standing start. if you didn't pay attention, the little Diesel cold easily blow away the 16V, honest-and with only the stock 90 hp. Roll up against Project GLX on the freeway at 55, both cars in fifth gear, and then floor both of them. You're going 82 mph before the VR6 has a clear lead! With the engine spinning some II 00 rpm lower than the VR6, you get spoiled by the low noise levels, too.

While this B3 Passat is nearing the end of its production run in Europe, and is soon to be replaced by an even swoopier version, it's still a relatively new variation here in the States. I'll be honest with you: The stock Passat TDI has one of the nicest suspensions of any Volkswagen. Taut, crisp, precise: You name your adjective and the TDI delivers. That excellent stock handling made Neuspeed's job just that more difficult. The Passat is not VW's best- seller, but Aaron figured that it still deserved the best suspension the company could deliver. Up front, Aaron used specialty valved Neuspeed/Bilstein HD Struts, with matching custom-valved Ncuspeed- Bilstein HD shocks in the rear. Combined with the Neuspeed Lowering Springs, they give the car a subtle 3/4- inch drop. The front suspension features a Neuspeed upper strut tie bar and the stock front anti-roll bar. Why no bigger bar? The stock front bar is a big 24mm in diameter and Aaron felt that upping that by 1 mm to 'the biggest bar that will fit-25mm-isn’t worth the trouble. At the rear, a Neuspeed 25mm anti-roll bar is used in addition to the stock built-in bar. The resulting suspension is a stunner. Cornering is flatter, more controlled. Braking seems better controlled, and the ride, while tauter, is still quite civilized. In spite of what seems like a whole lot of rear bar, the car approaches neutral rather than wildly oversteering. All in all, it's a good thing made better for the enthusiast who wishes to minimize the compromise and maximize the cornering ability. It would be foolish to minimize the roll of the huge MSW 17 x 7.5 inch Type 45 wheels and Continental Sport Contact 205/40-17 ZR tires. The stock Passat Goodyear's have little to offer and complain loudly when they offer up what they do have. The Contis seem happier when pushed hard, with the ultra-low profile contributing immediate steering response and excellent turn in. Think right and the car follows. Stock braking is upgraded with MetalMaster brake pads-far easier to clean up after than stock-and Neuspeed's braided stainless-steel/Teflon brake lines. Inside the Passat, there's only a few changes. One of the most satisfying is the Neuspeed cable short shifter. It sits a bit low on the console, but offers that wonderfully satisfyingly smooth, short throw that makes gear changes a pleasure-not that you'll be shifting gears very much. The combination of the TDI's intercooled turbo, high-tech engine management and Neuspeed TDI P-Chip give it a torque curve that makes shifting far less necessary. We hit one of my own favorite stretches of back-country road in the Neuspeed TDI and took the opportunity to wring it out. The differences between the TDI and Project GLX were amazing. The VR6 GLX requires a number of shifts up and down from second to third to get through the stretch with any speed. The elastic TDI took it all in stride in third, winding up and down, but always "on the curve." Corners that required dropping the GLX down to second merely put the TDI a couple of rpm below its 1900 rpm torque peak-almost an ideal place to be. Stretches that required shifting up to third in the VR6-engined car brought the TDI up close to its 4000rpm power peak. Not shifting meant not having to worry about unsettling the car and controlling weight transfer; smoother driving was the result. And, although we didn’t time it, we suspect faster driving, too-- directly attributable to the elastic power curve of the TDI.

It's easy to make a G-Tech/Pro click off 0 to 60 times of 10.5 seconds, not bad for a car this heavy. Diesel tuning is different than tuning an Otto cycle engine. A larger throttle body won't do much good when there is no throttle at all, right? And you can’t add a cam when the compression ratio is 22:1-there just isn't room between the piston and the valves. Diesel engine speed and power output is controlled by the amount of fuel,generated. The TDI is computer controlled with an extremely sophisticated set up-and a chip is a simple and effective way to increase power. The TDI's Motronic engine-management system is not unlike the VR6s, but still required an enormous investment in programming time to-get things sorted out. One way to get more power from a turbo is to bump the boost. The stock TDI puts out some healthy boost, 16 psi or so down at low rpm, dropping to 10 psi up top. Asking for more boost means asking the turbo to spin faster-and if it spins fast enough, it's history. Choosing to keep turbo speed within more-or-less stock specs with longevity in minc, Aaron's TDI P-Chip deals mainly with fuel instead of bumping the boost. After hours and hours of mapping and testing, editing and testing again, the TDI P-chip is a finished product. Plug it in and your peak TDI horse-power jumps to 102, a 13-percent jump. The power gains are pretty much everywhere, from the bottom right on up to the top . and the engine continues to pull an additional 500 rpm or so after the stock TDI has gone flat. Fuel mileage cruising stays the same at about 40 miles to the gallon, while a heavy right foot will drop that number a bit.

Automotive Performance Systems also supplied a number of modifications that help make this a better car from the points of view of both looks and safety. The headlight switch was swapped for a Euro version that incorporates both front and rear fog light capability, and makes removing the daytime running lights possible. The Euro Passat Headlights are from Hella and use H-1 bulbs. Even with stock wattage bulbs, they offer truly excellent lighting. Because the Passat has a separate fuse for each headlamp, upgrading to 100-watt bulbs is a no- hassle possibility. White "corner dummies"-there's a technical term for you-replace the somewhat awkward looking stock units and their U.S. Code yellow splotch. The factory crests in each fender are a great home for the smoked side marker lights. Aaron also added a Hella front fog light kit-all Passats are factory pre-wired for the fog lights, as long as you use the Euro headlight switch. These DE projector fog lamps have sharp cutoff to reduce glare and offer perfect fill for driving fast. The Euro switch allows you to use just the fogs, fog and head lamps, or fog and high beams- excellent lighting for any situation. At the rear of the car, black/red Hella rear taillights replaced the stock all-red units and cleaned up the look of the rear end. Aaron also wired up rear fog lights in conjunction with the Euro headlamp switch. The Passat was actually pre-wired from fusebox to taillight, and required only running a wire from pin #12 on the headlight switch connector to P6 on the fuse box. Installing the rear fogs was similar to what was done on Project GLX. You simply drill out the back side of the taillamp for the bulb, and pop a 21-watt bulb, same as the brake light, into place. The Diesel has a special appeal-it's either efficiency or weirdness, but it does attract people. Couple that attractive weirdness with some solid power, like the new TDI and you've got even more appeal. Add a makeover from Neuspeed and you've a car that accelerates hard, handles with the best of them, looks sharp ... and gets 40 mpg. Not a bad combination.

BEFORE AND AFTER NEUSPEED. P-CHIP