VW Passat: June 2019
Similar sizes, different prices, but who鈥檚 king of the road? While the automotive industry is what is known in business parlance as a 鈥渕ature鈥?industry鈥攚hich is supposed to mean that it changes slowly鈥攔ecent events don鈥檛 fit this description at all. The SUV, once the hot ticket to profits, now looks more like an albatross. General Motors, only months ago the world's largest automaker, faces serious financial problems and is likely to lose its top spot to Toyota. Little Porsche, only a few years ago thought to be at risk of acquisition, recently acquired 20 percent of Volkswagen, the world鈥檚 fifth largest car maker. And Mercedes- Benz, formerly synonymous with quality, now is buried in the depths of the J.D. With all this change, born of high stakes competition, automakers are increasingly prone to break old rules and invade one another鈥檚 turf. A little more than a decade ago, the role of insurgent was played by the Japanese, most notably Lexus and Acura.
Recently, Volkswagen has been auditioning for the part of the party crasher. How are these competitive dynamics playing out in the mainstream, mid-sized sedan market? We gathered four representatives of the breed, with six-cylinder engines and similar specs. Two are genuine insurgents: the Infiniti G35 sedan and the new Volkswagen Passat. Next, we added the Audi A6, which rates as a quasi-insurgent, given that Audi would love to have BMW鈥檚 brand strength and pricing. 15,000 or so when you choose the A6 or the 530i over the G35 or the Passat? 鈥?Sure, you鈥檙e getting a more exclusive nameplate, but we're interested in how the driving experience changes as you spend more. The significance of this question is magnified when you consider that the less expensive cars in this group have the most power. Starting out in the Passat, I immediately noticed a level of refinement that would be hard for the others to top. In fact, it upset my assumptions to find that the lowest priced car in this group had noise and vibration levels equal to the best of the other three. When it comes to interior materials, all four are tightly grouped as well. Once again, the Passat surprises with a classical, yet stylish interior design. The A6鈥檚 design is probably even better, balancing tradition with some fresh elements. Both cars use high quality materials, and seem to cut few corners. Once out on the road, I was pleasantly surprised by the ride quality of the four cars. All hew to a similar model: firm springs and dampers, but with enough compliance that expansion joints and the like are smoothed over. Still, if ride quality is important to you, I think you鈥檇 be happiest with the A6, followed by the G35.
50 to bring some 'punch' back into the image and sharpened the image a little bit for the first time. Barbora Tellinger a well know jazz singer and lecturer her in my part of the world asked me to take some photographs of her last concert at the Musaion music center of the University of Pretoria. I was asked not to leave my seat as they were also making a video of the proceedings. I sat a couple of rows from the front in an isle seat so that I could set up my tripod. To get close up images I needed my Canon 70-300L zoom and attached it to the Eos M via the lens adapter. I shot at a variety of Iso's up to 6400. Initially I had set the camera to 'Scene Intelligent Auto' a sort of super 'program' function. The pics came out fine with good exposure of the white skinned singer against the dark background.
Afterwards I changed the setting to Aperture priority AE so that I could ahve ore control over the aperture and ISO. This is the way it was designed to work best and its when we want to impose our will on the camera where things become more difficult and cumbersome. So the moral of the Eos M? ISO 5000 f5.6 1/400sec after noise reduction and detail below.. ISO 3200 detail and original full frame file below. I made a beautiful detailed 610mm x 430mm print of this image. Detail ISO 1600, quality starting to drop, original below. I found that images like this one below shows up the limitations of high iso shooting. There is just too much detail in the image for the sensor to be able to render them sharply at high iso. These images were made at 3200 ISO wide open on the 22mm f2. Detail, ISO 3200 at f2 with full frame image below. Why use high iso settings? To get a high enough shutter speed to freeze motion or prevent camera shake. These test have clearly shown that iso 6400 may be good enough under the right lighting conditions and fairly close up, but that even 1600 iso may be too much for certain adverse conditions. Also it depends what size the final image will be viewed at and on what medium.
The 2012 Eos is powered by a 200-hp 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine and a six-speed DSG automatic transmission. There are three available trims: Komfort, Lux, and the all-new Executive. Standard features include power heated front seats, electronic dual-zone climate control, a leather-wrapped multifunctional steering wheel, SIRIUS satellite radio, and Bluetooth Handsfree wireless connectivity. Safety features include active seat-integrated rollover bars, an electronic stability system, a tire pressure monitoring system, and front and side airbags. For 2012, the Eos has been updated with a new grille, restyled bumpers, redesigned front headlights (including fog and cornering lights), and two-part LED rear lights. The Lux trim includes the Kessy keyless entry and ignition system and also allows the retractable convertible top to be opened via remote keyfob. The new Executive trim includes all of the standard features found on the Komfort and Lux trims, as well as an updated high-definition 10-speaker audio and navigation system.
