US Passat off center steering wheel

"The Opponaut formerly known as MattP123" (mattp123) 11/10/2013 at 16:31 • Filed to: None

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My mom has a new Passat 1.8 TSI. The US market one. I drove it and noticed it felt a bit odd. I centered myself in the seat, put my knees together, then looked at the seam at the bottom of the steering wheel's leather covering. It was about 1 inch off towards the center of the car. This bothers me. But considering I would get one in a TDI and stick, I might not have such a beef with it since I wouldn't have both hands on the wheel as much as somebody with an auto would.

Anybody else notice this on the Passat or any other car? My dad claims the Vega was like this.

LappingLuke > The Opponaut formerly known as MattP123 11/10/2013 at 16:32

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Our 2011 Suburban is the same way. My friend says his Pontiac G6 is also like this. I have no idea why but it's definitely very odd.

lepie > The Opponaut formerly known as MattP123 11/10/2013 at 16:35

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You should never get a land rover defender then. Steering is offset to the left, pedals offset to the right. The steering is so far offset, in fact, that your shoulder stays in permanent contact with the door.

deadpedal > The Opponaut formerly known as MattP123 11/10/2013 at 16:36

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Yeah, that's weird. My biggest peeve is when the wheel is out of line longitudinally. Like the wheel is angled a touch...the car points North and the steering column points NNE a touch. I've never seen it angled the other way...

Anywho...

HammerheadFistpunch > The Opponaut formerly known as MattP123 11/10/2013 at 16:37

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its off center on the new silverado's/sierras too. Its getting more common.

dogisbadob > The Opponaut formerly known as MattP123 11/10/2013 at 16:40

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Ah, German engineering and they're trying to join the UAW. Gotta love it!

The only time my Toyota steering wheels are off center is when it's out of alignment!

Klaus Schmoll > The Opponaut formerly known as MattP123 11/10/2013 at 17:00

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When I was working for a charity in the UK back in '08, we had one of these in our fleet. A Fiat Scudo 9-seater van. It was the best vehicle they had for the job it had to do a.k.a. take autistic and Downs-syndrome kids to outings. The all-plastic floor and utility-spec cloth seats would clean up nice after an onslaught with muddy wellington-boots. The other vehicles (Peugeot 806, Skoda Octavia, Ford Focus and of course a Transit) took much more interiour damage from these outings.

I just had one flaw. To make it a 9-seater, it had three rows of bench seats instead of the usual 2-3-3 layout. So the driver's "partition" of the front bench was moved to the left while all the controls stayed where they would be in a car with two single front seats.

It was kind of O.K.-ish if you only had two adults in the front, as you would automatically move to the middle as far as the seatbelt would let you. But driving it back from Wales with 9 adults on board sucked hard. I felt like a banana after we got back.

thebigbossyboss > The Opponaut formerly known as MattP123 11/10/2013 at 17:54

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Does it drive true? I had a car with a steering wheel that sat off centre, turns out t was completely misaligned.

duurtlang > dogisbadob 11/10/2013 at 18:26

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It's a US design though, we don't get that car in Europe. We get a different, smaller but nicer and more expensive, Passat.

desertdog5051 > The Opponaut formerly known as MattP123 11/10/2013 at 18:46

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A friend with an 04 Jetta says there are a lot of quirks on his car. He blames it on it being built in Mexico. I say it is just crappy engineering.

dogisbadob > duurtlang 11/10/2013 at 19:45

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Isn't your new Passat just a refresh of the previous-gen Passat? At least we still get the non-cheapened Passat in CC form though.

Team6.1 > deadpedal 11/10/2013 at 20:02

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My Jeep's wheel is about 45* off, directly NW. It sucks when I turn left cause the turn signl just keeps going and going and going lol

The Opponaut formerly known as MattP123 > desertdog5051 11/10/2013 at 21:40

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The Passat is built in Tennessee. It is in line with everything else in the instrument cluster.

The Opponaut formerly known as MattP123 > thebigbossyboss 11/10/2013 at 21:44

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Yep. Drives like a brand new car should. Straight, doesn't pull, feels fine when you turn... It's just that you can feel it in your shoulders when you have both hands on the wheel. One arm is reaching just a tad bit more than the other.

desertdog5051 > The Opponaut formerly known as MattP123 11/10/2013 at 22:58

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He is kind of an "American or nothing else" type of guy.