Our last Passat estate 2.0GL auto would be 30yrs old now. I doubt if it had much more than 110bhp yet it never seemed short of power for overtaking, even after passing the 200,000 mile mark. Anyway, overtaking is rarely possible these days on our crowded A roads, even with several hundred bhps. The big advantage of autos is that by gently but firmly flooring the accelerator (curiously referred to as 'kick-down') maximises the available grunt by instantly dropping gears to maximise power output, expertly changing up at the rev counter's 'red line'. Not advisable for regular use at traffic lights unless you don't mind renewing the front tyres regularly.
Such is the march of (so called) progress!. Performance which was once (correctly) deemed sufficient is now considered hopelessly slow, or to coin that well worn and nonsensical cliche so often wheeled out by motoring hacks, "glacial".
Your Passat had 115bhp @ 5400rpm and 166nm of torque @ 3200rpm, and would tip the scales at around 1250kg (maybe 150kg less than the one the OP is looking at). My Dad's Granada estate with 2.8 V6 had 135bhp (carb fed) @ 5200rpm and 216nm @ 3000rpm, but would be a wee bit heavier than the OP's. Despite this, and no doubt hampered by its 3 speed auto(!), it also wasn't considered a slow car by him or us.
The version the OP is looking at has 150bhp from 5-6k rpm and 250nm of torque from only 1500rpm (through to 3500rpm). It will do 0-60 in 8.5 seconds (both manual and DSG) and go on to 133mph.
Is it fast enough for the OP?, by the sound of it, probably not. But it certainly should be given the UK speed limit, the state of our roads and the volume of traffic!.
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