Interesting. As the original owner of a '99 Passat (wife's car,
actually), with 130K on it, I'd have to disagree with you, strongly. I
know several other Passat owners who've been very pleased with their
cars, too.
My honest assessment of the car is that, like all German cars, it
suffers most from Bosch electrics. In fact, the ONLY problems we've had
with it are electrical in nature, and only one of those was more than a
minor irritation. It's been disabled only once (thanks Mr. Bosch), and
it happened right in our driveway; at which time Volkswagen, and our
local dealer covered every penny of the cost, including a loaner car.
The 1.8 turbo has been absolutely delightful, although VW's
"electronically adaptive" 5 speed automatic transmission is VERY good at
making sure you're in the wrong gear any time you want a burst of power
(the tiptronic feature is a godsend, however). The car is roomy, VERY
comfortable on long trips and gets amazing gas mileage.
It IS somewhat costly to maintain, however, if you choose to maintain it
"by the book", which I always do. I've got my dealer service people
programmed to expect me to take a proactive approach to maintenance,
which means that I tend to fix/replace stuff on my cars BEFORE they
fail, thereby avoiding roadside emergencies. There is only ONE mechanic
that is permitted to work on our VWs, and this means that he knows our
VWs, and our maintenance philosophy well, and he's been great to work
with.
Of course, my '98 Golf, with 242,000 miles on it, has been almost
completely trouble-free. Naturally, the only problems (total of three)
it's ever had were Bosch electrical components failing. It was my first
NEW car in 20 years, and every time our salesman asks if I'm ready for a
new one, I tell him "a new car every 20 years, whether I need it or
not".
I do, however, expect to replace the wife's Passat with a new Passat
within the next year, just to keep her happy.
Bud Osbourne
-----Original Message-----
From: spridgets-bounces+abcoz=hky.com@autox.team.net
[mailto:spridgets-bounces+abcoz=hky.com@autox.team.net] On Behalf Of
Peter C
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 12:02 PM
To: Bill Gilroy; Ron Soave
Cc: Spridgets; team-thicko@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Spridgets] [Thicko] Suburu question
Yeah, well the Passat is THE WORST car ever made.
(but, the parts sales do help;-)
PPP
===
At 12:08 PM 1/27/2008, Bill Gilroy wrote:
>Wow, that sounds like my wife's 2002 VW Passat, I could not wait to get
>rid of the POS. The final straw was oil pressure issues.
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