2013 and earlier Volkswagen Passat Prices Paid and Buying Experience

jason1635

Aloha, any help assessing this deal would be much appreciated!
Looking at a GLS with leather, esp, automatic
Dealer MSRP shows 27,225

Will sell for 24,500 and provide 1.9% financing. This saves about 1K for me.
Trade value for my 2003 honda LX v-6 coupe with 11,110 miles is 17,000

Any impressions on this deal. I am in hawaii, but looking for advice on how favorable this deal is to mainland customers. Usually cars are about 1000-1500 more here.

2 more short questions, edmunds invoice seems lower than stated elsewhere, anyone else find this to be true.
Car I selected has brown painted pinstrip on it, is this standard? seems odd to see on new car (80 miles)Wondering if something is odd about this car..
Mahalo for the advice.
,J

moda

Thanks Kirby 2010!

zeitgeber

I'm considering purchasing a 2001.5 Passat GLS 1.8T, about 39K miles. It's certified from my local VW dealer (the 2 yr/24K mile warranty). Having some anxiety over switching from Honda to VW and reading horror stories on these boards, can I take comfort in that warranty, or am I going to find out that "limited" means "very, very limited - bring your checkbook"? This seemed like the best place to post (as a buying experience), but I can post elsewhere if I need to. Thanks!

edelane

I just purchased a GLS Wagon with the 5 Speed Manual, 4Motion, cold weather pachage and leatherette seats. I was intially expecting to pay somewhat more than 26K before financing, but ended up with $24,682.70 (including taxes & destination sharge). I started looking for this particular Passat in Feburary this year, and it took around 2 months before a dealer (Ourisman in Laurel, MD) finally got a hold of one. So far, I'm a happy camper.

fso

I had a similar bad experience with a new Jetta GLS. At 33 miles, the ESP light came on. Took it to the selling dealer and they had the car for a week. The service manager called back to say that they didn't know how to fix it and should contact VW of America for a new vehicle. After many calls to VW and the selling dealer, they some how managed to fix the problem. So during the 1st month of owning a new Jetta, it was in the shop more than actually being driven. For my troubles? I got a 100 gift certificate for VW for VW merchandise. At least all's well now- with 2500 miles on it. But sure left a bad first impression of my new car.

snarks

Is $16,700 a good price for this car? A local dealer advertises this price and has a few in stock. No options just base Passat.

fish8

That is a tremendous deal for a Passat GL. Is it a new, used or demo?

snarks

The salesman on the phone stated they had about 7 with mileage from 50 miles to 250 miles so I assume new. The dealer is Quirk Cars in MA. The only catch I say for that price, you must use VOA financing which I am assuming Volkwagen of America?

fso

I've contacted DarCars VW in MD and the internet salesperson said the $1000 owner loyalty rebate can only be applied if you finance through VWof A. Is this true?

2nd question is: I'm a legal resident of IL, where my sister and I share the same address- hence the owner loyalty rebate. I was wondering if I can purchase the car in Va or MD, apply the the loyalty rebate and list my IL address without applying for tags in Va, but just get by on temp tags.

www

Can someone clue me in on when the color swotch happened? If I am going to buy a Passat wagon in colorado, should I be getting a better deal than on a samoa one, i.e should the dealers be trying to get rid of colorado?

Second question - has anyone had experience in buying a VW through the COSTCO Auto Program??

Thanks

cmstea0

hey everyone,
i'm thinking about purchasing a new VW passat 1.8t auto GLS. this is my first new car purchase and i'm wondering if you all had any useful advice for me - i haven't decided on the passat yet, but it's at the top of my list. i spoke to a dealer (who could probably tell that i was young and hadn't ever done this sort of thing before) and he quoted me a final price (after taxes, fees, and incentives) that was right at the MSRP. i figured that was too high, and i've seen here that a lot of you are paying at or below invoice on your new cars. what's your secret?

i'd be more than happy to listen to any advice you all want to give me.

thanks,
chris

fish8

There are several incentives on the Passat so you will be able to get a GLS for less than MSRP. On Edmunds home site, look at the incentives and rebates section. I believe there is at least $2000 in rebates. Not sure of the fine print though. A GLS (depending on options) could be had for around $21,000 or so) Just negotiate and look at the sticker price, not MSRP.

taft4

Chris:

I guess that you will get a number of suggestions on how to buy, some at variance with others, because we all go at it in different ways.

From my experience over many years, I would say the first thing is to know exactly what vehicle model you want, and exactly what options you wish to add to the car. If you keep changing your wants during the negotiations, it is going to be hard to keep track of the changing prices.

Next, I would go to a source such as Edmunds and get the MSRP (the manufacturer's sticker price) and the dealer invoice price and print them out. When you are at the dealers don't hesitate to have the sheet in front of you so the sales person knows you have some knowledge of their prices. Edmunds will also show you a suggested purchase price, which can be helpful, but which at times I have found to be high.

I live in the Chicago Metro area where we have good libraries so I usually go to one of them, get the latest Automotive News (a weekly) from their shelf and look up current dealer incentives and customer rebates. These are usually shown in every issue on the last page or two of the publication. Edmunds also has a section showing "dealer incentives" and our Chicago Tribune each Sunday publishes similar figures, and so your newspaper may do the same.

I usually start bargaining at invoice less incentives, realizing that I will have to move up over that. Lots of time you will find that people tell you they paid a lot less for their car then they really did, for it's an ego thing.

I realize that each state handles their taxes and other charges differently. In Illinois the tax, depending on the country you live in, is about 7.5%, and then there is a document fee, and a license application or license transfer fee, and these three add up to a substantial amount.

You should also decide to yourself, before entering the dealership, whether you are going to pay cash (few young people can afford to do that), or how much you are going to finance and for how long. You can even ask your local bank what they would charge you.

Since you are young, it might be wise to take an older person with you, if you are comfortable with that, when you go into negotiate this first car purchase.

It surely would be advisable to get more than one dealer's price if you have a number of dealers in your area. There are some locations where you can send an email to nearby dealers for a quote. I have never done that, prefering face-to-face bargaining, so I don't know how well that would work.

Lastly, and many here may dispute this, go in dressed up to the hilt. You want the playing field as level as possible, and looking like a slob only gets you sloppy treatment. Appearances can impress the salesperson contrary to what others may think.

Good luck.

Kirstie_H

A newspaper reporter is looking to interview people who recently bought a vehicle and considered its fuel economy as a major factor - or chose to ignore its fuel economy and bought it anyway. Please respond to pkrebs@edmunds.com with your daytime contact info and a line about your purchase decision no later than 5pm Pacific on Friday, May 21, 2004.

cmstea0

Thanks for the advice taft!
I've gotten three quotes from the dealer on my desired passat (GLS 1.8, auto, leather w/ wood, ESP) and the best i've found is 24,700 after all taxes and fees. that's less than the TMV, but i don't know whether to get the car when i plan to (end of june) or wait until closer to the end of the year to try and get a better deal. does anyone know what kind of incentives VW will offer towards the end of the year?

thanks in advance

jason1635

what is your price before TTL. I am in hawaii and bought an identical GLS auto with leather wood/esp for 24,500 +350 sales tax, 185 doc fee 144 registration. This was about 1,000 under invoice including dealer mktg fees, etc. Also got the 1.9% financing which saved me about a grand from my prearranged 3.5 financing. Got very fair 17,700 trade on my 03 accord coupe. if you are in a different part of the country, you might be able to get this car for 23,500 +TTL with 1.9 financing, i would think. Others may have better info, but I think that would be reasonable. dealers are not giving away this car but, with mktg incentives negotiations should vary between invoice and 2K under invoice. Invoice is about 25K + any locally incurred port/mktg fees.
Hope this helps. I dont think prices will go down much more, depreciation on an 04 will more than makeup for a couple of hundred in extra savings. just my two cents,aloha jason
By the way its a great car, more fun to drive than my 240hp accord coupe by lots! Knock on wood it will remain reliable. will be getting the GIAC engine and tiptronic chips for about 1K more to increase HP/torque by 40/50 and increase tip shifting time.

fish8

I also will be getting into a Passat in August and have wondered what kind of incentives will be offered at that time. Unfortunately, there really is no way of know what will be offered at that time. From what I can gather from talking with several dealers and folks online, there will most likely be incentives on Passats through the end of the year. It seems like VW is trying to keep Passat and Jetta sales up before the new models arrive in '05.

cmstea0

I've just recieved price quotes of 24,300 "on the road" from a local dealer, but he mentioned that this is only good until the end of May, which probably reflects the end of the Spring Sales drive. I'm going to try my hardest to get the dealer to stick to this price for end of june when i plan on purchasing.

Another question, when the dealers quote an "on the road" price is this really the final, absolute price of the car? I don't want to arrive at the Dealership with a check for 24.3K only to find out that there are a slew of "final costs" or "prep fees" that weren't mentioned over the phone/internet.

Glad to hear that the Passat is more fun to drive than the Accord w/ 240hp. That was actually my 2nd choice. Are the modifications you mentioned easy to do? Expensive? Whom would you recommend them to?

fish8

I would think it won't be hard to get a similar deal in June, July or Aug. The sales person I was dealing with told me she believes that VW will continue to offer some sort of incentives on Passats.

As far as fees go: you may also be hit with a Doc fee. The dealer I was working with included a $398 Doc fee and tag fee which was around $30 all of these fees were NOT included in the initial $ work up. Good Luck.

jeffz80

What is your option for passat? Is yours GL or GLS? I got a quote for the base model of GL is about 18,800 for 2004 Passat 1.8T Sedan GL 5AT, which sounds good to me.

jason1635

the cchips will cost about $500 for the engine chip, 300 for the chip tip, really improves performance. Might need a new diverter valve to to handle increased boost.
Is 24,300, GLS,leather, ESP, AT total cost in addition to tax,title and doc fees. If no other fees are icluded thats a pretty fair price if it goes a long with 1.9 financing. 18,800 for a stripped model GL is a GREAT price. every dealer has a few loss leaders on the base models to offer. essentiall the leather, GLS package and ESP add about 4 grand. if 1.9 financing also available on the 18,8 than it is awesome price. 1.9 financing saves between 1-2K over regular financing 3.5-5.5%.
Factor all this plus trade in into your purchase decision. good luck

cmstea0

I'm interested in the GLS 1.8t auto, leather w/ wood, ESP. 24,3k is the "one the road" price, but the dealer informed me later that they didn't have any in stock (wish they had mentioned that earlier) and that they wouldn't be able to order a new one. that seems strange. they DID say they could locate the precise car i wanted but that they would pass the transportation costs back to me. that sounds like a scam, but like i said i've never done this before.

does anyone know what reasonable transportation costs are? should i be willing to pay them at all?

is it still possible to order from the factory this time of year?

thanks in advance
-chris

jason, those mods sound nice. how difficult are they to install?

jason1635

The chip mods need to be done by a tuner that can reprogram your computer. In Hawaii there are only a couple of Volks options for this. The most popular companies to do this are GIAC,APF, upsolute. I would recommend going to the manufactures website or better yet go to vwvortex.com or B5club.com and search for engine chipping. There are a host of opinions and reviews there. Most of these chip manufacturers have licensed dealerships or garages to install and warranty these chips. I tested two of the same car with/without chip. difference is night and day. the 1.8t engine is one of the most highly tunable engines out there.
Keep us informed how your purchase hunt goes. I am interested to hear what on the road price really means!

fish8

I was in talks with a dealer around me about a GLS and they did not have the specific model on their lot. They found the exact car at another dealer and were going to have the car driven to the closer dealer. They never mentioned passing the transportation cost to me. So, that fee is most likely negotiable. Good luck.

robr2

Chris - more than likely ordering an 04 now may be impossible. But they should be able to preference one that's on the boat - no guarantee they'll get it but it's an option.

As for transportation costs to get you a specific vehicle, it's a legitimate cost to them to send/hire a flatbed to go however many miles to get the car. If they send a driver, they have to pay at least one if they trade cars or 2 if they don't.

The question is how much are you willing to pay for the service. I paid $75 many years ago to have dealer personnel bring a vehicle about 100 miles from their other location - to me it was worth every penny.

easyman

I was quoted $31,728 plus tax and lic. -- should I expect better?

rocks

Anyone know where I can find one of these? recently purchased prices? I haven't even been able to test drive one here in Michigan. Thanks for the help........

lea2459

Hi all, I test drove a GLX FWD today and was very impressed with the car. I am looking to lease, as my current lease ends in July. Of coarse the dealer wants to sell NOW and wont guarantee price after May31st. I was given an invoice of 29270.less a 750.incentive bringing it to 28520. For a 48 month lease for 12k miles a yr they gave me a price of 390.67 a month,including taxes. I live in the boston area and from what I've been reading this price may be on the high end. I would sure appreciate any advice, info. As a woman I suspect that I don't get the same prices as a man would. Any thoughts???

lewshel

You might get bids via the internet. We got a quote on a 1.8 4 motion GLS Tiptronic, cold weather package for 23,000. The sticker is 27,255.
The list on the GLX is over 33,300. It seems that you have gotten a decent offer but these days there are, according to VW inventories, a lot of Passats.

cmstea0

well, it looks like i'll be driving 400+ miles saturday to do a final checkout on the passat i'm looking to buy. i hope it isn't a wasted trip.

does anyone have any advice on final questions, points of interest i should be aware of?

btw, i think i'm getting a good price. 24,000 "on the road" (after TTL, etc.) for a 1.8T auto w/ leather&wood. does this sound about right?

if you all can let me know what sort of things i should be watching out for i'd be very grateful.
thx
chris

pantji

you should check out the prices carefully. i am in the same boat and thought 24 on road is a good deal, but realized that vw has lot of incentives for the dealers. follwow this link and see for yourself. a 1.8 + 5 speed + leather should be on road for abt 22,000. thats my guess. please share your experience anyway. cheers!

http://www.quirkcars.com/specials/ads/vw.jpg

zone5burner

I wonder if Edmunds TMV pricing takes all of these stories into account. Seems like a useless guage to me if everyone is beating it by 2,3,4 or $5K.

First rule...forget MSRP...it's a useless number to a buyer. Try to determine the cost. When communicating what you paid in this forum, so is "on-the road/out-the-door" pricing because each state has different fees & tax requirements. Stick to the selling price before taxes & fees so we can compare apples to apples.

Thought I did OK until I read some of these recent posts. 04' GLS, 1.8T, 5-spd, leather, ESP, invoice is $23,856 if you believe Edmunds + NADA. Mfg to dealer cash of $2K reduces their cost to $21,856, but info on Edmunds says it can't be combined with the 1.9%. According to several dealers, I was told that a max of $1,000 was available in order to get 1.9% financing (and this seemed to agree with the statement on Edmunds)...this is the one spot where I may have made a mistake. I viewed their cost as $22,856, and picked up my new Passat for $23K even. I beat Edmunds TMV of $24,246 by $1,246 so I figured I had a pretty good deal.

I suspect some of the folks providing the previous numbers are either living in a fantasy world, or just having some fun throwing out numbers. I still think I got a reasonable deal.

The car ?...I've only got 200 miles on it, but it is S-W-E-E-T.

Next time I'll be able to take advantage of the $1K owner loyalty too.

jason1635

Agreed Zone. most important thing is that it is a sweet car. in hawaii I paid 24,500 for the same car as yours gls leather,wood,esp with tiptronic and a stupid pinstripe added. So by all rights your deal was about 300-400 4 better than mine. for me the 1.9 also saved about $1K so this was important for me. dream deals do exist, but I dont think many dealers are giving this car away. The important thing is to be staisfied with your deal. for me to get a great car under invoice with subsidized finacing is awesome. This board has awesome advice and it saved me about $500-1,000 dollars just kno ing what I could ask for and expect.
Thanks all!

zone5burner

Yep...I agree, it is important to be satisfied with your deal, and Edmunds is an extremely helpful guide. I guess the thing to remember about TMV is that the price input data comes from ALL consumers, not just folks who have used Edmunds. By that measure, you should expect to beat the TMV price if you've used Edmunds to do your homework. Maybe I was looking at TMV the wrong way in my first post...

No question in my mind that Edmunds saved me at least $800 on this car.

meandean

Zone,

When I bought my GLX it was in March and at that time the incentives included $500 loyalty, $500 if you bought a Passat, and up to $1000 that was dealer potential discount IF you took the VW financing. If you chose not to finance through VW, there was a potential additional $1000 reduction. so the best deal could be:

Low APR + $2k discount from negotiated price OR
NO financing from VW and $3k potential discount from negotiated price.

I was lucky and was able to get my GLX at dealer cost (without any of the advertising and port floor plan add-ons) less $2k with VW financing -- my timing at the time was just right.

Since then, VW has restricted the low APR if you take the discount.

Very happy with the GLX...BTW, I kept my 2000 GLS turbo (now my commuting car).

lexus

Hey Chris,

  I am currently shopping for a Jetta Wagon (thought about passat) with loaded options and manual- of course manual is rare so I have to order it from the factory. I found out through this process that VW is no longer producing the old body style cars. So you have to wait till September to order a 2005- most dealers will not tell you this so they can sell the older models. Destination charges are around $400-$600 depends how far a ship. The Jetta wagon and TDI have 0% financing and I may wait for the new models to purchase as having the outdated body style decreases value.

jrct9454

...are not a "new body style" for our market. The early '05s for the Jetta, Golf, and Passat will ALL be the same body as the current cars. The first to be replaced will be the Jetta, but not until the second quarter of 2005 at the earliest, and probably later than that. The Passat then comes next [Sept or October as '06 models], and the Golf not until sometime in early '06.

What you're being told is that any order for any VW that can't be filled in the current pipeline is going to be an '05 model - that doesn't make it different in any substantive way from the '04s.

All Jettas and Golfs will be sourced from North and South American sources for the next go-around [that's mostly true now - only the Jetta/Bora wagon/variant is German-made for our market currently]. The Passat, I assume, will continue to come from Europe, even after the new car is introduced - and that introduction keeps getting pushed back. The next Paris show?

stillooking

About to buy one. Can't wait for a possible manual transmission in the future. According to Edmunds there is a $1500 rebate to the dealer and $1000 loyalty rebate; both end 6/30. What has been the best price you were able to get in the month of JUNE? I'm aiming for below invoice.

dolphin

I am not sure if i can do any better than this due to availablity...can anyone tell me if this is a good deal or not? Dark Blue with Leather...

frank

I just got quoted everything at invoice (GLS+leather pkg for 21400 after 2000 manuf rebate + 1000 onwer) at a San Francisco dealer. Sounds like the deal is too good to be true. Are they giving them away because of bigger discount for 4th july weekend or because 2005 wagon will be available soon? Will appreciate your views..

weebil1

I am currently doing battle for a TDI in the Portland, OR area. I have two on hold, one is in Boise, ID, the other local. All I can get them down to is MSRP. Which, in reflection, is much better than what the Vancouver Auto Mall quoted me ($4000 over MSRP) or where I started locally ($2000 over MSRP)Of course, no one actually HAS the car on the lot, so we'll see what happens if I ever actually get THAT phone call. Now all I get is the people trying to sell me something they don't have for over MSRP. (I found one in Texas that I was going to have shipped, but the cost didn't pencil out)
Good luck!

fish8

Frank: I had the same situation on a '04 Passat GLS. A local Dealer is providing me a sale/lease price of $21,900 which is $1,000 under invoice. It sounded too good to be true for me as well.

stevo1

I looked at a 2001 GLX "New" Passat. The car looked good and is Certified by Volkswagen. This provides the buyer a 2 yr warranty. The car has 53,000 miles. The dealer offered it to me for 14,700. Seems to be a great deal but also makes me wonder? On top of this, there is special financing available through Volkswagen @1.9%. Is there anything I should be aware of that perhaps is not obvious to me? Again, the deal almost sounds too good to be true!

Thanks!

fish8

If you are seriously considering this car, i would get an independent mechanic to look it over thoroughly. At least you have the warranty if you do find something.

stevo1

Fish8,

Yes, I thought as much as well as requesting a Carfax report. The thing that does make me feel somewhat comfortable is the fact that the vehicle is Certified and carries a 2 yr, no deductible, warranty. I have owned Volkswagens in the past and although they are great when they are running, they can be very expensive to fix!

What do you think of the deal? ($14,700) Seems very reasonable when researching pricing on the internet. The car is loaded up being a GLX. It is also an automatic Tiptronic.

Thanks!

Steveo1

frank

I am hesitating between the two. Argument for the GLX is the v6 because I may haul lot of stuff when going on camping trips and don't want a sluggish car. However if I add all the options I care about (leather Pkg + ESP) , the GLX is still 4000 more. $4000 just for a V6 upgrade that brings only 20 additional horse power sounds a little steep to me. Any opinions?
Also, I heard that the 2005 engines are bigger (200hp and above). Will they be available in the wagon version in September 2004?
Thx

jlv1

I am just about to finalize my purcase on my first VW. After reading I'm wondering if I am comfortable with my deal....

2004 GLS 1.8T FWD Passat- Black/beige leather/wood trim, cold weather pacage (i.e. heated seats) Sunroof, ESP and OnStar. Price $26,000. Is this a good deal???

I'm opting for "Drivers Option" has anyone financed this way? And if so, what is your take on it? I put $4,000 down and will have a total monthly payment between $330-$350. for 48mo. with a baloon at the end of the 4 yrs. Desperate for reply, finalizing purchase in 2 days when car arrives to the dealership!!

frank

Sorry to say it but it does not sound like a good deal to me. I just got quoted 22600 for the exact same one (everything at invoice price including options + $2000 June Passat rebate)
If I were you, I would go back to them and haggle some more.
Check what the full edmunds reports for your area. Should be less.
Good luck.

fish8

I agree with Frank. That deal does not sound too great. With that much money down you should be able to get lower payments. Also, the selling price sounds high. I am picking up my new Passat on Saturday. I am getting a '04 Passat GLS Auto for $21,900. That is $1000 BELOW invoice.

Invoice on the car you are getting is $25,813. MSRP is $28,249. Thats actually not a bad deal, but I do believe that you could get the car below invoice. Most dealers are really wanting to rid their lots of Passats. So, stick to your guns and get them below invoice. I almost guarantee that you can negotiate a better deal.

Do you currently own a VW. On my deal, I also received a $1000 owner loyalty rebate on top of the $2000.

I am also not familiar with the Drivers Option choice. When talking to the dealer a couple of years ago about my current Jetta they sort of steered me away from the drivers option. Not sure why!

ramped

I agree with frank and fish. The price for your car should be, at minimum, 2 grand under invoice. The 05s are on the doorstep, after all.

Secondly, I would avoid Driver's Option. Either buy at today's excellent low interest rates, or do a standard lease. If you lease, negotiate the price of the car before you begin haggling on lease terms.