Michael,

I went through the same rigamarole with VW US (which, by the way, has
just an awful reputation for warranty and other support - so I'm not
surprised). On the other hand, my cousin in Germany tows gliders with
an Audi A6 Variant, and he's about as anal as it gets when it comes to
following "ze rules." So, I stopped in at a VW dealer in Germany
when I was there a few years back. Not only do they publish numbers
for towing (similar to the Australian numbers posted above - something
like 1250kg) but they had in-stock an awesome tow hitch setup. It
requires pulling the rear bumper to install, but it provides a truly
integrated receiver hitch. Unfortunately, it would have cost an arm
and a leg to ship here, which does bring up another issue...

The aftermarket tow hitches available for the Passat in the US are a
joke. They require some serious re-engineering to make them suitable
for towing anything other than a Sunfish boat and trailer. Luckily,
one of the local Soaring gurus is also a fabrication wizard, and with
judicious use of doublers and new bolt patterns, we have a successful
setup. But, if I were to do it again, I'd find a way to get the
European hitch system shipped here.

Finally, one of the guys in my club has an Outback (2004, I think), and
he's very satisfied with it as a towing vehicle. I couldn't get over
the handling (I use the car for a lot of highway driving other than
towing) and the looks (which are better in the newer models), otherwise
I'd be driving an Outback right now.

P3