Volswagen CC GT

Why spend £60k on a luxury car when this is half the price?

Price: £30,105

Engine capacity: 2.0-litre turbo diesel

Power output (PS @ rpm): 170 @ 4,200

Top speed (mph): 137

0-60 mph (seconds): 8.6

Fuel economy (mpg): 51.4

CO2 emissions (g/km): 144

The problem with luxury cars isn’t they aren’t really that affordable, so while they may be wonderful to drive, very few of us actually get the chance to enjoy them. The sleek Audi A8, masculine BMW 7-Series and sumptuous Mercedes S-Class may be fantastic, but ranging from at upwards of £50k they are pretty out of bounds to all but the most rarefied of drivers.

The new Volkswagen CC GT – derived from the old Passatt CC – isn’t as ostentatious, brash or impractically large as the Audi, Beamer or Merc, in fact by some definitions its not really a luxury car, but at £30k it offers more than enough comfort for any driver. True, £30k is still silly sum of cash and the Volkswagen doesn’t have the badge of the Merc, fighter jet-style heads-up display of the Beamer or the several acres of rear legroom of the Audi, but bear with me and look what it has to offer.

Powerful, but economical diesel engine with a smooth automatic gearbox? Adaptive chassis control to even out any kinks in the suspension and bumps in the road? Check. Heated leather seats with massage and ventilation functions? Check. Satnav and touch-screen display? Check. More safety features than you can shake a stick at? Check. What’s more to want?

It’s true a similar-priced BMW 3-Series or Audi A4 are more capable on the road if your really pushing hard, but they comes with nowhere near this level of equipment as standard and cars like this are built for some corporate mileage not B-Road bruising. Of course this isn’t what a car reviewer should say. I should tell you that all of these cars all sit in different classes, but driving around for a week in the CC and I really can’t find any major faults. The acceleration is smooth, the ride most pliant and the fuel consumption fairly good. OK, it lacks steering-wheel mounted paddles for quick changes, the electronically powered steering can at times feel a little vague, the large boot is slightly limited by a rather small bootlid area and I won’t pretend it’s really as good as its more upmarket rivals, but its good enough. And that’s the point. If I imagined for a moment that I was a mid-to-high level executive with £60,000 burning a hole in my pocket I’d save half of it and go for the Volkswagen. Enough of this luxury though, I’ll test something far more affordable next week. I mean, who pays £30,000 for a car?

The competition

More realistic competition is the excellent BMW 3-Series or Audi A4, but they are more expensive and you’ll struggle to get as much equipment s standard. The Citroën DS5 is a stylish alternative.