To picture the W8 engine, you need to imagine two V4s placed side-by-side, sharing a common crankshaft. Each V4 module has a very narrow 15-degree angle between its banks, and the angle for the entire engine is just 72 degrees. Each bank of cylinders has its own variable inlet and exhaust camshafts, and there's a pair of balancer shafts, one above the other and sitting over the crankshaft, to smooth out vibrations. It's a brilliant design that reduces the dimensions of an eight-cylinder motor, and therefore its weight (there's also a W12, already seen in the Audi A8, and a W16 in the pipeline).

It's easy to get excited by the Passat W8's spec. Not only is there the novelty of the world's only production W8 engine, but that engine bangs out a handsome 275bhp and 273lb ft from its 4 litres. Top speed is 155mph, and with VW's 4Motion four-wheel-drive system to prevent the tyres being reduced to charred husks during full acceleration, the W8 Passat will dash to 60mph in 6.8secs in six-speed manual form.

You get lots of kit, too. Leather, air-con, electric everything, 17in alloys, and TCS and ESP (VW's traction and stability control systems) are all likely to be part of the standard UK specification. But then so they should be on a 30-grand car. Yep, that's right, a ΂£30,000 VW. Which puts the Passat in head-to-head competition against the Merc E-class and BMW 5-series, not to mention the VW Group's own Audi A6.

Volkwagen's argument is that to come close to matching the W8's engine spec, you have to spend an awful lot more on your Bee-Em or Merc, and that not everyone wants a car as big as a 5-series or E-class. Trouble is, for that argument to work, the W8 needs to have such outstanding dynamic ability it's able to transcend the snobbery prevalent in this section of the market. And, while the W8's good, it isn't great.

Despite all that power and torque - and the fact that it sounds like a brawny V8 - it doesn't feel especially quick. Rapid, certainly, and impressively quiet on the motorway, but not 275bhp's worth. A Jaguar XK8 has the same power and is about the same weight, yet it obeys throttle commands with gusto, whereas the W8 has a fairly lazy demeanour, exacerbated in the five-speed Tiptronic auto version by over-long gearing.

The handling and steering are relaxed, too. Show the W8 a series of tight corners and you'll be doing a lot of wheel twirling to hustle the car through ί¿½ the development team opted for a set-up that promotes safe lane-changing at autobahn speeds, and that makes the steering and the body-roll rate a tad soft for the type of driving evo readers enjoy the most. The dampers are tuned for comfort rather than agility, so while the ride quality is excellent, in bumpy corners the W8 can suffer from a disconcerting corkscrewing motion.

It's more of a cruiser than a bruiser, this high-spec Passat, which comes as a bit of a disappointment when you consider its on-paper potential. And it's hard to know who's going to buy it. Volkswagen UK seems equally doubtful, limiting numbers to a mere 200-300 cars a year so that dealers don't have to discount them to reach sales targets.

The real reason for the Passat W8 is to get people used to the idea of expensive Volkwagens. At the end of 2002 the D1 is due for launch in the UK, and that's being pitched as a rival to the Mercedes S-class. Volkswagen makes very nice cars, but you can't help wondering if its ambitions are becoming rather too lofty.