Do you have enough self-confidence to drive an Audi with Volkswagen labeling? For thousands less than similar Audi vehicles, the VW Passat delivers a winning combination of style, performance, and technology--along with a couple quirks.

The current generation is related more to the VW Golf and Rabbit than the Audi A4 and A6. Still, the 2006 and now 2007 Passat carries many of the brilliant styling touches of its upscale stablemate. The top of the dash floats on a brushed aluminum midsection; the gray leather seats have gorgeous side bolsters; there's a tube for a travel umbrella when you open the door; you can select gears with paddle shifters; and the car goes and stops quickly.

The Passat 3.6L gives you two cooled storage bins and a reasonable base-level audio system with six-disc changer and a choice, for now, of Sirius or XM satellite radio (in 2007, VW goes Sirius-only). My test car lacked the $1,800 navigation system, but I've liked it passably well on other current VWs. The standard radio faceplate with a monochrome LCD, in comparison, feels dated, and there are quirks. Turning the volume control, for instance, puts up a volume indicator that obscures the station presets along the bottom of the screen. An iPod adapter is a (fairly) reasonable $200.

Audi has the industry's most well-thought-out steering-wheel controls, particularly a roller wheel for radio volume; VW muddles through with eight buttons on the wheel that are (in what has become a sorry state of mediocrity in the industry) little difference in shape, and not much illumination at night.

Like Audi, VW includes an MID (multi-information display) between the tachometer and speedometer that provides secondary car information such as radio station and compass heading. One nit: The compass arrowhead looks like a stylized letter, so when you're heading southwest, the MID appears to be saying ASW. And another: Two small gauges at the bottom of the instrument cluster, each about 1.5 inches across, are big enough to read were it not for glare from the domed glass and a location that's partly cut off by the steering wheel.

The key looks like a comfort-access fob that can stay in your pocket, but in fact you have to stick the key in a slot on the dash and then push in to start the engine. The parking brake is electromechanical; pull up on a small lever that appears to be straight out of the Audi parts bin, and the parking brakes engage. It also serves as an emergency braking system should both sets of main brakes fail (each brake controls three wheels), assuming you remember to pull up. The steering is electromechanical power assist rather than hydraulic assist; some drivers may find they lose a bit of road feel. Tail lights are LEDs, and the wheels have pressure monitors. Continued...

My test car, the Passat Wagon 3.6L 4Motion stickered at $36,780 with the 280-hp V6 engine, which is the only way to get all-wheel drive. But I'd be inclined to consider the still-peppy 200-hp turbocharged four and save $5,000. With the engine now mounted sideways to save space, there's enough room inside to make the 188-inch-long Passat a reasonable mid-size car. Four passengers and their cargo could travel comfortably on long trips.

I've driven the other engine, a four-cylinder, 2.0-liter turbo that produces 200 hp, and it's a lot closer in performance than just 280 hp versus 200 hp would seem to indicate. Once it's going, the turbo provides a lot of power at the middle rpm range when you step on the gas. And the car with the turbo four weighs 200 pounds less, since absolute horsepower isn't as important as how many pounds or road-hugging weight relative to horsepower. VW says acceleration from 0 to 60 mph for the Passat sedan was 7.4 seconds for the smaller engine, 6.9 for the bigger engine (the wagon wasn't tested). Both are good enough.

The Passat comes with a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic that's more than just another automatic: It's the VW/Audi DSG, or direct shift gearbox, really a six-speed manual without a clutch pedal. Instead, the transmission shifts itself. Earlier automatic manuals were jerky because, it turns out, cars don't let out the clutch much better than humans, if even that well. DSG has two clutches and half the gears linked to one clutch, half to the other. When you're starting out in first gear, second gear has been engaged on the other clutch and shaft and is ready to be engaged smoothly, in milliseconds. Once you're in second, third gear is readied on the first clutch assembly. And so forth. You'd have to be a finicky driver (or passenger) to find this too harsh.

Both engines have electronic throttles that sometimes fail to respond quickly from a standstill and cause a few nervous moments when you're clearing busy intersections. I came close to being T-boned once. Not to worry: Six airbags come standard. Also perplexing on such an otherwise complete car was the lack of a line-in jack; the hands-free cell phone package requires a dealer-accessory phone cradle. And the steering-wheel buttons aren't as neat as Audi's. But then, neither are anyone else's.

If you want a Passat, and resale value is important to you, you'll probably want to keep the sticker closer to $30K than $40K. This most likely means you'll go for the turbo-four 2.0T, not the 3.6L. This is an impressive car whose technology runs ahead of its perception. Volkswagen found out the hard way, with Phaeton, that a world-class $75,000 sedan—give or take a couple technical glitches—will not sell like hotcakes when the nameplate reads Volkswagen (an awesome deal on the used-car market, especially if it's covered by a VW extended warranty).

While it's cheaper than an Audi or BMW wagon, the Passat wagon is also costlier than the similar Subaru Legacy and Mazda6 wagons. As such, the Passat will be a particularly good deal if the car is more important than the emblem on the hood.

For our Audi Q7 review, click here.

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$26,805.00 - $43,150.00

A high-performance, high-tech people hauler on a par with VW sibling Audi's A4 and A6, but costs thousands less for those who don?t need a fancy brand name in the driveway. Just be careful crossing intersections until you get the hang of the throttle.

Good power and handling. Instrument panel and cockpit are well laid out. Choice of either Sirius or XM Satellite Radio (but act quickly).

V6 engine doesn?t deliver much more power than a cheaper turbo four-cylinder. Electronic throttle is occasionally sluggish when starting up. No line-in jack, no simple phone connection.