VW Passat opinions, please

[Oh Haha]

We are considering purchasing a 2000 Passat GLS wagon. Front wheel drive,
turbo 4 cylinder, automatic with 82,000 miles for $6800.00

Any issues or other problems we should look for?

Thanks

[nostatic]

got another $6800 to dump into it? If not you might have a problem...

[KFC911]

My buddy (wife) had one around that year and vowed to unload it before the warranty period expired. His line was...do you know what Passat means in German...s**t!

[Komenda Fan]

The 1.8T was apparently the cause of a class action suit due to belt tensioners catastrophically failing, but the whole cars reputation is atrocious. Electrics are a significant problem in all VW's, and the Passat has a reputation for being worse than the norm. The ball joints are cast integral with the control arms, so the control arms need to be replaced, which apparently happens quite quickly (60k kms?).

Having said that, they are a beautiful looking sedan with a nice interior. Funnily enough, I was out last night with a group of guys, one of whom drives a Passat wagon. He is a hardcore VW guy, and says he hasn't had any problem with it.

[BlueSideUp]

My '99 had zero problems in the five years and 80K that I owned it. Unfortunately the dealerships were ill equipped to service Passats and ran plenty of them into the ground for the owners. I realized this early on and never let the dealerships touch my car.

The 1.8T needs to have synthetic oil with consistent oil changes, using dinosaur oil and not getting the oil changed cause a lot of sludge problems in that engine. I used Mobil 1 from about 15K and the inside of the engine was clean as a whistle. The turbo that I pulled off at 70K to replace with a bigger one was still tight. The early '99s and '98s had a mechanically damped timing belt tensioner while the later '99s and on used a hydraulically damped tensioner, the early ones were known to fail. Updating to the new tensioner was a fairly simple job that I accomplished myself at 45K while changing the timing belt. You may also read about ICM (ignition control module) and coil pack failure. The ICM is only present on cars built before '00 and can fail leaving you with a 3 cylinder car. It's very easy to be replaced and the problem tends to be overheating, the ICM is attached to a heatsink on the airbox and needs to have dielectric grease on the bottom of it. There were quite a few coil pack failures due to poor manufacturing. They are very easy to replace and again makes the car feel like it has 3 cylinders.

The front suspension on Passats it sorely misunderstood by dealerships. There are 8 control arms and the bushings (like many cars) need to be tightened down once the car is on the ground (not with it in the air). Some cars were not assembled correctly at the factory and the bushings only lasted 10K miles before you needed new arms to the tune of $800 in parts. Then the dealership wouldn't follow the shop manual and make the same mistake, you'd be back in another 10K for the same bill. I ran track days on my Passat and did a lot of suspension swaps on other Passats. By following the shop manual my control arm bushings were still in great condition after 80K miles.

The Bosch Motronic in a Passat has a lot of options. The dealership doesn't care about learning everything it can do, for example in the tiptronic cars you can set the transmission computer to a sport mode that really makes the tiptronic drive much more intuitively. You can also mess with stuff like door locks, radio equalizer profiles, etc.. The 1.8T can also be chipped for another 50 to 30 hp depending on which model 1.8T you have.

I think my Passat was one of the best cars I've ever owned but I never let the dealer touch it. It was very reliable and my car returned 37mpg on the highway with the original wheels (15s) and 34mpg on 17s. My car had a manual transmission.

[Paul_Heery]

Originally Posted by Oh Haha

Any issues or other problems we should look for?

Everything.

I've had that model Passat (B5), its successor (B5.5) and the latest (B6). I will never own one of those that is not covered by warranty. They are great cars when they are new, but start falling apart after a couple of years.

The worst part is the cost of parts. There is nothing quite as expensive as a cheap Passat.

[Rick V]

Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun!

[dzls rok]

i had a 99 passat wagon. 5 yrs with no problems...only issue i had was caused by me!

[notfarnow]

Ahh, VWs.
Some good reading for you:

Goodbye, you hateful wench

The Passat-specific content starts on the bottom of page 2, then goes on (and on) from there.

Consider yourself warned.

[Tim Hancock]

Wayne, no personal experience, but based on what a friend (Tab Tanner on Pelican) who owns a business working soley on German cars says, I would advise against it. I have a 2000 Audi and some VW issues are common between both. Unless you don't mind working on it, I would pass. I do not doubt the others here who say they have had good luck, but I have heard the cautionary tales much too often.

[911 in SC]

Check out VW Vortex, Audi World and Audizine. My wife drove a '98 Passat (although V6 Tip) for several years. Didn't have any problems with it, before trading it for her Mazda 6. In retrospect, I would have a PPI done on one, no matter how cheap it is. If you don't have an independent in your area to do a PPI, then I would NOT suggest buying one. If you don't trust them to do a PPI, you won't trust them to wrench on it either. They really are not that difficult to work on either. I owned a '99 Audi A4 (1.8T 5 speed) until I traded it for my 911. Great car - no problems at all - just do the recommended maintenance, and then some.

Just my opinion! If you get a good one, you'll never regret it. If you get a bad one, you'll know all too well.

Mike

[chapo]

I was looking for a Jetta or Passat wagon. My mechanic told me to stat away from the automatics, prone to failure and could cost 4-6k to repair. dealer only item.ever notice the automatics are the cheap ones for sale?

[JeremyD]

We were looking and considering the same thing - ended up with a 3 series BMW (2003) for all the reasons listed above. Labor rates were similiar - 3 series seemed much more DIY friendly - not that much difference on price - which we figured we'd recover on the other end.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by nostatic

got another $6800 to dump into it? If not you might have a problem...

not too impressed with much of the VW stuff since the Berlin Wall came down

[FastCarFan]

We leased a 2002 Passat GLX 4Motion Wagon for my wife for 2 years & it was fantastic. In fact, we then leased a 2005 Passat GLX 4Motion Wagon for 3 years.

The lease is almost up & we have had virtually no problems. The only problems we have had were headlight bulbs that burned out -- they both went out in the first couple of years. I think we had the same problem with the first one.

I think headlight bulbs are a problem for VWs. I just replaced the 2nd one in my 2004 VW R32.

I have been very impressed with the car. It offers a very nice compromise between handling & a smooth ride. It has been a great family car. It is a great ski car too, although I think you are looking at a 2WD version.

We are not going to lease another Passat because we don't care for the style of the latest version. We are probably going to lease an Audi A4 Avant.

[1fastredsc]

I have to add, although the VW i had wasn't too bad, considering that i'm meticulous with maintenance it had more problems that it should have had. It's a shame because i like the styling of the VW's, and they are, for now, the only passenger cars we can get in the states with a diesel. Oh well.

[WI wide body]

Originally Posted by Oh Haha

We are considering purchasing a 2000 Passat GLS wagon. Front wheel drive,
turbo 4 cylinder, automatic with 82,000 miles for $6800.00

Any issues or other problems we should look for?

Thanks

One of my kids had a Passat about that age as a company car. Had a bunch of engine issues that they solved right after he dumped it for an Accord.

But now he has another (2006 I think) and he loves it so far. Go figure.

[aigel]

Originally Posted by notfarnow

Ahh, VWs.
Some good reading for you:

Goodbye, you hateful wench

The Passat-specific content starts on the bottom of page 2, then goes on (and on) from there.

Consider yourself warned.

+1

Read my comments in the above thread.

G

[notfarnow]

Originally Posted by 1fastredsc

It's a shame because i like the styling of the VW's, and they are, for now, the only passenger cars we can get in the states with a diesel. Oh well.

That's the only thing that kept me in VWs for the past few years. We saved enough on fuel (running waste vegetable oil) that I could justify the running cost. But then last year we spent $2600 in parts. Our old Jetta just had to go... it was becoming too unreliable, and costing me too much TIME.

We looked at a couple 04 & 05 Jetta TDIs, but I've heard too many horror stories. We almost gave up on diesels altogether, but I started kicking around Mercedes e300d's. For the same price as a 2-3 year old jetta, I got a meticulously maintained 99 e300d. Easily twice the car, and outside of the scary part of the depreciation curve. Most parts are CHEAPER than the A4 jetta equivalents. They have their own set of quirks and issues, but not like my VWs... intermittant headlights, auto locking brakes, etc.

And if you like diesels, the mercedes om606 engine is a revelation. DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder, crossflow head, turbocharged, intercooled... the "diesel" part almost seems like an afterthought.

[Moneyguy1]

My dear wife loved her 1993 VR6. I loved her enough not to share with her the bills which amounted to $6,000+ from 2001 to 2006 just to keep it on the road. The car would "quit" in the middle of the road for apparently no reason, once in the middle of a busy intersection, which understandiblt scared the crap out of her. Many of these were repairs that could only be done by a qualified garage because special tools were required. Transmission (auto), cooling system, ABS brakes, fuel pump (twice...) and when she passed, the car had (only) 93k on the clock. I got to where I liked the car for its comfort and handling, but considered it a money pit. But, this is based on one car by one owner who knows no other Passat owners, so it is biased.