Official: Darth Vader drives a VW Passat W8

You'll no doubt remember the US ad for the 2012 Volkswagen Passat, in which a young Star Wars fan, dressed in full Darth Vader attire, tries unsuccessfully to use ‘The Force’ to power electrical items throughout his home. His attempts prove fruitless until, with a little help from his father and a remote control, he manages to fire up the Passat.

You can view the ad here.

Nearly 58 million people have watched that ad on YouTube, approximately 57,996,910 more than the version you see above. Quite why it hasn't taken PetrolBlog (and the rest of the world) so long to discover this gem is beyond us, but it's rather good.

You see, Darth Vader is actually Polish. He also lives in an apartment block with an underground car park, where he keeps a rather splendid VW Passat W8 wagon. What's more, as the young star of the original US commercial discovered, it would appear that the W8 can be started using The Force - or more specifically, via Darth's lightsabre.

The video is rare because, a) it features the brilliant Passat W8 and b) it's surprisingly well put together. It would take PetrolBlog 120,000 light years to achieve a standard even half as good as this.



Just how good does the W8 look on those 18-inch Audi A8 rims? And just how much do you want a Passat W8 wagon after watching the video? A 275hp petrol-engined estate car with a drink problem may not seem so appealing these days. But surely the ‘half the cylinders of a Veyron’ Volkswagen has to be the world's ultimate sleeper? If it's good enough for Mr Vader, it's good enough for us...

It's just as well there doesn't appear to be a single VW Passat W8 for sale in the UK. If there had, PetrolBlog may just have done the sensible thing and snapped it up, before subsequently heading down to the dark side - aka the local Audi dealer - for a new set of alloys.

We're not entirely convinced that Darth Vader is wearing the most practical footwear for a Supreme Commander and we'd like to hear more of the W8's glorious soundtrack, but aside from that, it's a great video.

May the Force be with you. And all that jazz.