Volkswagen Passat 2005 and earlier

mazadi

Do the 2001.5 Monsoons have speed sensitive volume? I seems wierd to have a premium sound system in a plush car and not have it.

sola2000

I recently purchased a new family sedan. Before purchasing the car, I did a lot of research and extensivley test drove many cars, both domestics and imports. I drove the Chevrolet Mailibu and Impala, Dodge Stratus and Intrepid, Ford Taurus, Honda Accord, Mitsubishi Galant, Nissan Altima and Maxima, Pontiac Bonneville and Grand Prix, Saturn LS, Toyota Camry and the Volkswagen Passat.

After driving all those cars I would say, without question, the imports are far superior to the domestics. I remember driving the Chevy Mailibu and then going to the Toyota dealer, driving the Camry and being shocked at how much smoother, more refined and better designed and engineered it is than the Impala or any of the domestics. The same with the VW Passat over the domestics.

My favorite out of all cars I drove? It was the Passat. I thought it provided the best driving experience. There really is something to that German heritage. The car I actually bought? My second favorite. A 2002 V6 Honda Accord. Why? I keep my cars a long time and I just didn't trust VW's long term reliability. I know with a Honda or Toyota product one is virtually assured bullet proof quality and reliability for years and years, and hundreds of thousands of miles. In the final analysis that still can't be said for American or German cars.

pkradd

The 2002 VW Passat is rated by CR "slightly above average" and that makes it just below the Camry and Accord. You certainly could have bought an extended warranty of course. I had a '95 and '98 Camry. The cars were not without problems. As far as country of origin, both the Accord and Camry are made in the U.S. In the final analysis we all make decisions based on our needs or desires. Good luck with your Accord.

christie6

I just bought a '03 Passat GLX V6 with automatic transmission. I love the car, plenty of pickup and handles well. However, I am very concerned about an intermittent noise it is making. During the first 1 - 2 minutes of driving, there is sometimes a grinding noise that comes from the front during a turn. I can feel a slight vibration through the gas pedal, too. It only lasts a few seconds but needless to say it is not a sound I want to hear in a new car. I will take it back to the dealer to have it checked, but if someone else has had a similar experience, or knows what this could be so I could point the service people in the right direction that would be great.

steveiowa

I own a Passat and a Camry. I frequently drive rental Tauruses or Malibus. There IS a shocking difference between Detroit's engineering and build-quality and that of the "imports." In my opinion, the only thing Detroit does better is cupholders and console storage. Isn't that sad?

vocus

I would have to agree with you. When you drive a Passat or Jetta back to back with a Cavalier or a Malibu, you just have to pick VW. VWs all seem to feel like Audis inside, and that's a good thing.

bsum70

Nothing against GM but e.g. a Pontiac Gran Prix (those loaded one) will cost $30+k, other than that big motor (powerful but I am not sure about reliablity), can it even get closed to a Passat in quality (of built, material used etc) ???

vocus

First of all, when did Pontiac Grand Prix start costing $30K? Dang, that's a lot of money for a design that's 5 years old already, and in some ways outdated. The Passat will hold its value a LOT better than the Grand Prix will though, so keep that in mind.

As far as durability, I cannot answer that as I don't own either car and don't know anyone who has had either one for an extended period.

I did read a post here on Town Hall, however, of someone with a 2000 Grand Prix with 31K on it, and the tranny went up in it. Not a good showing.

bsum70

My bet, I am thinking about a loaded up Bonneville SSEi (MSRP $37,000 with TMV $35,000).

But, a loaded Gran Prix GTP with be $29,000 MSRP with TMV at $27,000.

pkradd

They're finally getting rid of the side armor on the GP.... about time design wise I'd say. My first car was a 1968 Firebird. I loved it. Took a drive in a 2001.5 Passat and had the same feelings these many years later. I love it. What comes around goes around I guess.

vwmark

I am looking at a nice one, but I am worried about all the negative information I have heard about the AC, tranny, odometer. Anyone have anything good to say about their reliability?

thk

I am thinking about trading in my 2001 4 cyl(manual) Honda Accord for a 2002 Passat 1.8T manaul GLS. I'm beginning to find that I need to have a little more power driving around Los Angeles.

However, I'm hesitant to buy a German car for the first time due to reliability issues. I expect to get no less than 200,000 trouble free miles in a modern day Japanese car. Not sure if I can say that about a German car.

What I want to find out is who has the most miles driven in the current generation Passat 1.8T GLS and what problems if any were encountered along the way.

BTW, I have 31K in my Honda Accord and not even one hiccup along the way. OK...there was one thing....the driver side power window seems to roll down slower than the the passenger side window. Nothing else. Honest.

Thanks,

Tae

rgoetz

Tae, my wife & I have two 2000 VWs, a Passat 1.8T and a Golf TDI. Previously we had Japanese cars.

THe VWs are great fun to drive--especially after they've been "chipped". However, you will be lucky to get 20,000 trouble-free miles, let alone 200,000.

Based on the concrens you express in your post, you should not buy a VW.

pkradd

VW made it a major goal to make the 2002 Passat a more reliabile car. Since it's only been out a year and a half, the jury is still out. However, there have been no recalls or major complaints in general. Obviously people who post on this kind of site tend to be ones who have problems. Certainly you won't get the reliability of the Accord or Camry... not even Mercedes and BMW have that. But if you take care of the car and bring it in for scehduled maintainence you should get years of fun driving. There are no guarantees in life, so an extended warranty would help. I have had 11,000 trouble-free miles on my 2001.5 (2002) Passat.

gtbdevs

I have a little over 18,000 miles on my 2001.5 GLS, the only problem to date was with the sunroof, that was corrected under a TSB.

If I had enough money, I would definetly buy another one.

flattire1

I have a 2001.5 Passat GLS with 10050 miles on it. I am trying to schedule an appointment with the dealership for the 10,000 mile check-up. Has anyone not went through the dealership for their free check-ups? I am not impressed from my conversations with the service department. Has anyone had any problems later after not going through the dealership?

The second question: In the Passat the AC just doesn't seem that cold. I have a '96 Ford Contour that has much better AC. It eventually works well but at start up it takes 8-10 minutes for it to get going. Has anyone else noticed that?

Third question: I have the Monsoon sound system and occasionaly when I switch stations, the volume will suddenly drop way down. Is this a common problem?

meesr

I have a 2002 Passat, notice when I close it it makes a "shudder" noise. Was the TSB about this?

deraa

I have a 2002 GLX.

I have experienced the same volume-drop when I change stations on the radio. Haven't called the dealer, but a friend with a 2001 Jetta noted the same thing.

I also have a vibration in the headliner. Seems to be caused by the headliner vibrating against the sunroof shade when it is pulled back. Anyone else have this problem?

vocus

I have a 1999 Passat 1.8T loaner, with Tiptronic. The car sounds awful! It has many rattles inside, and the engine feels very slow as well. I have the 1.8T (the newer 180hp one)in my Jetta, and this car feels nothing like that! I know the Passat is heavier, but the engine feels half as responsive. I think the rattles are because this car has had a hard life. It has 28K miles on it now. It still is a pretty nice ride though. I would prefer more power, however. The fuel economy has been averaging like 24mpg, even with my hard driving.

Does the newer 1.8T perform better in the Passat?

samsvr6

I can give a pretty objective evaluation on the 170hp Passat and the 180hp Jetta because I just traded in the 2001.5 Passat for the 2002 Jetta.
The Jetta definitely feels faster and sportier. It could be that the Jetta is lighter, 10hp more, 8 ft.lb more, or tuned differently. However, the lag/hesitation is still there when accelerating out from a rolling stop. The turbo surge is more apparent in the Jetta than the Passat. Also, the Jetta rev up faster to redline from what I feel. This might be because of lower gear ratio in the Jetta.

I have also driven the 150hp Passat back 3 years ago and the 170hp is definitely faster. The 150hp is slow.

vocus

I think the 150hp Passat is very slow actually. I thought it was faster from reading the reviews of it, but I guess not. Feels completely dead coming from a stop, and you have to really hit the pedal hard for passing power as well. And the AC sucks alot more power from the 150hp engine than in the 180hp Jetta as well.

Fuel economy seemed pretty good though. I used 1/2 tank of gas, with AC on all the time and hard driving, for 200 miles of driving. I didn't refill it, so I don't know how much it would have taken.

Also, I noticed I didn't hear the turbo whistle that I love so much in my Jetta when accelerating. Overall, I am glad to have my Jetta back now. The Passat is a pretty nice car though.

trlyka

This was just a thought...........

I don't have the Monsoon radio, but it could be a set-up similar to my Magnavox TV with smart sound. It basically cuts the volume down while you flick through channels as to not blare each station with different sound. Some TV stations come in louder then others and it holds the volume even until you sit on a station for a few seconds and then it comes up slowly to where you had it before you switched channels.

If it was me, I would just call a VW dealer service dept. and ask them if this was normal.

Good luck.

trlyka

I have a '99 Passat GLS which is Dark Blue. I bought it used a couple of months ago and the first thing I did when I got it was wash and wax it. I noticed a lot of white specks on the hood which I'm guessing are from road stones. I used to detail cars on the side, but I never really dealt with scratches/nicks that needed touch-up paint. I just noticed a new 3 inch scratch on the right front quarter panel. I would like to throw on some touch up paint, but I'm afraid it will look worse.

I was wondering if anyone has had there car professionally detailed and what was done to it. Was the paint worked on and scratches fixed?

I really love this car and although I can probably afford a new one within a year, I will probably keep this one for 3 or 4 years. I was thinking I might have it professionally detailed or re painted, but I know a good paint job is $2000 or more.

I live in central NJ, but I don't know anyone who I would trust to do a good job and to not cover-up any work they do so my scratches don't reappear with the next washing. It's been done before.

If anyone has a suggestion or knows someone I could take it to, I would appreciate it.

thk

Just as an FYI. There has been rumors circulating that the newer 1.8T engines (rated at 180HP) is underrated. A VW website I frequent had some members dyno'ed their cars and the actual HP (at the wheels) seem higher than it should be with the drive train loss. Thus why samsvr6's 2002 Jetta seems faster to him.

Tae

samsvr6

I would guess you read the rumor from vwvortex.com. I am a daily visitor to their forums. I do not post that often. There are some people that reported to have close to 200hp instead of 180hp. I would like to believe that but..... You see, when they dynoed their car, they measured hp to the wheels and then assumes a 15% drivetrain loss to get to 200hp. Anyone can fudge with that percentage. We truly do not know what is the actual percentage. It could be much lower than 15% because car, nowadays, have pretty efficient drivetrain. If this is the case then, we won't be seeing 200hp but closer to the rated 180hp instead.
I don't really care about the hp rating. What I know is that the 180hp Jetta is very responsive and fast. Something I wish my ex-170hp Passat had. Not to say that the Passat is slow but the Jetta is more fun to drive. I do miss the roominess and the Multi Function Display of the Passat. And there are not as many Passats on the road as Jettas.
Finally, the automatic lag could be annoying in both Passat and Jetta. In fact, the all new Saab 9-3 that Edmunds.com reviewed has the same phenomenon. They absolutely hated it. I wish they would have got rid of that. When I receive my JD Powers survey, I will definitely write this up.

vocus

I read the same reviews, that the 1.8T was closer to 200hp than 180. A stick shift car was dynoed and had 174.5hp at the wheels. There is no way it only lost 4.5hp from the wheels to the crankshaft. I think VW underrated the 1.8T as not to steal sales from the new VR6 engine out.

rayainsw

Has anyone been able to determine if there will be a custom exhaust available specifically for the W8 Passat – particularly European companies?

I have contacted the 2 large companies that I know do cat back exhausts for some European imports – Borla and Magnaflow. (There may be others that also do this sort of thing, and I am certainly open to any information anyone might have!) One did not respond, the other suggested: “But what you can do is use one of our universal mufflers either the Borla Boomer or you can use one of the ProXS universal mufflers and make a creation of your own.”

I expect that with the highly unusual cylinder configuration and the ‘flat crank’ design, the firing order and exhaust pulse spacing might require some real R&D expenditure to make certain that issues with drone, resonances, etc. are dealt with effectively. On my previous 2 cars, I had a local shop replace the dual rear mufflers with MagnaFlow units. I am concerned that for the above reasons, this may not be a good solution here.

Given the predicted low sales volume of the W8 in the USA, I would be surprised (but pleased) if more than one company will develop and market an exhaust system just for the W8.

Further aggravating my search – the ‘local’ muffler shop that has handled MagnaFlow mufflers in the past has recently phased out this brand – and therefore has none in stock. And according to their web site, Borla has no Dealers / Installers anywhere near Atlanta.

Also – does anyone know of a reputable custom exhaust shop in the Atlanta area?

Any information or individual or corporate resources that anyone can suggest that I contact would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance,
- Ray
Who believes that there is a wonderful exhaust note hiding deep inside the stock exhaust system . . .

jgranata

i do not own a passat (beautiful car, but i don't fit in the seats) but would suggest that you call
the service department and get a breakdown of the maintenance costs for the passat for 200,000 miles, especially the cost of the timing belt replacement. my wife just purchased a 2001 a6 avant and wanted my advice; i called the svc dept to get some idea of costs...900 dollars for the timing belt on that car, every 70k miles or so. this might help you get an idea of the cost of ownership...jackg

jgranata

one aspect to consider when making a comparison of power between a passat and a jetta, irregardless of the year of the car and the stated output of the motor; the passat is a longitudinal layout for the engine and transmission, meaning that the power delivery must
make a 90 degree bend to the driven wheels. the jetta is transverse and therefore will deliver more power to the drive wheels than the passat and
it's a significant difference, probably on the order of 15-20 percent less in the passat. jackg

gtbdevs

If I recall correctly, the TSB was for the dealer to add more padding around the headliner so the fit would be tighter and hence less noise. The noise re-apperars every once in a while, but it is better.

Also I noticed that the A/C is not that cold, having that checked at the 20,000 visit, my last free one. Not to sure if I will continue to go the dealer or an independent shop after that.

gtbdevs

This is the TSB for the headliner from the NHTSA web site.



Technical Service Bulletins Summary

Make: VOLKSWAGEN
Model: PASSAT
Year: 2001
Service Bulletin Number: 0101
Bulletin Sequence Number: 113


Summary Description:

CONCERNS WITH NOISE FROM HEADLINER COMING FROM FRONT OF SUNROOF AREA ON VEHICLES SUBJECT REGARDING LATCH SYSTEM LOWER ANCHORS AND TETHERS FOR CHILDREN, UP TO VIN 3B_1P284196. *TT INSTALLING / RETROFITTING. *TT

gatorsnap

Being a manufacturing engineer that manufactures compressors, I can explain the horsepower issue - When a manufacturer rates a product, they have to assume a worst case when rating something like an engine. There are alot of things that can come into play with horsepower, especially how tight things (pistons, crankshafts, camshafts) all fit together. If everything is perfect, the engine could develop 5% more horses than an engine that may have some part that is a little less than perfect. Statistically the chances are that 75% of all the engines develop more than the rated horsepower, due to the fact that people due test them. The rated horses can be generally thought of as a minimum.

I have a 2002 GLX V6 stick. Just did the first oil change (Mobil 1). Nothing wrong with this car, and it has at least 190 hp judging by the WRX I cut off the other day. (not that it was a fair race, but he did'nt have much on me)

trlyka

I have a '99 Passat, auto, V6 with about 96,500k on it. When is it advisable to change the timing belt? Also, I think the spark plugs are the glow ones and platinum. When do they need replacing? I got the car used a few months ago and as far as I know, neither the timing belt or plugs were ever changed.

Thanks

vwguild

First of all, you might want to update your profile...

Secondly, why don't you call me on Saturday, and
I will answer all of your questions...You are asking things that have been discussed here, ad nauseum....

trlyka

I saw the Trac...., so I'm assuming you are responding to my post. I only put in my profile the very first time I joined. I never look at the profile of others, so it never crossed my mind to update mine. I can't always read all the posts, so I may miss the information on my questions. I will try to call you on Saturday.

Thank you

vwnew

Hi all,

I've been monitoring for awhile, and this Passat group has been really helpful. Since I am close to purchasing a new Passat, I figured I'd respectfully post my first message with questions:

Can anyone please tell me the major differences between the '02 and '03 Passat 1.8 GLS (now GL)? I'm just interested in the base with Monsoon (no sunroof, etc). I couldn't find any significant enhancements which would warrant the much higher prices that I'm seeing. For example, I don't know if the previous models came with ESP. Accordingly, should I try to find an '02 if one still exists and get the same car for less?

Thank you very much.

Eric

stickguy

What is the going rate for a 1.8T/tip with luxury (pretty normal setup). Are they still do-able for $500 over invoice (at least for 2002s)?

Are there mostly 2003s on the lot now, and did the prices change much (comparativly equipped)?

jagat1

This article from the auto.com site mentions that the Passat & the VW brand as a whole has the best residual value among non-luxury brands and in the midsize category. Excerpts mentioned below & I quote:

http://auto.com/industry/iwirj7_20020807.htm

" Volkswagen of America Inc. was found to be the brand that would best hold what's known as its residual value over the next three years. The study predicts Volkswagen vehicles will retain 52.2 percent of their original value after three years.

The Volkswagen Passat was ranked best in the midsize car category. "

outrun

The only difference I see is the '03s offer ESP as an option on the GL/GLS models ('02 didn't offer it, but came with ASR). Not to mention the new base GL model to replace the GLS, and the GLS has some included options (luxury package I believe).

If you're not interested in ESP, and don't mind taking a hit on depreciation when you go to sell it (you're basically buying a 1 year old car), then an '02 would be fine. So you either save money now by buying an '02, or save money later when selling an '03.

-Craig

5speeder

As a new Passat owner, I am happy to hear this. I'm curious what they consider to be "original value". Would it be MSRP or the average selling price of all Passats (eg TMV)?

vocus

I am pretty sure in these types of studies, they use the MSRP of the car.

stickguy

residual (for leases, etc.) is calculated on MSRP. That's why you can't compare cars just n depreciation %, since you don't know what was really paid.

outrun

Quote from Edmunds on the new features of the 2003 model:

"Lastly, the standard stereo head unit gets backlighting for the buttons."

My 2002 has that (double-DIN Monsoon). I don't know what other buttons they could backlight that aren't already.

Any ideas?

-Craig

vocus

I thought the same thing. Makes no sense to me.

vwnew

Thanks for the insight. I've checked around, and it seems there are very few '02 left in the colors I want (no surprise). However, it seems the dealer is willing to give a good deal to get rid of any '02. I'll do the math, factoring in depreciation, and pick one. Hopefully this week! I'll let everyone know...

-eric

passat_2002

Just bought a '02 Passat GLX (about a hundred over invoice less the $1,250 incentive for those who like to keep track of these things) and have now noticed an optical flaw in the front windshield on the passenger side. It's really very noticable to any front-seat passenger as it is exactly at eye-level. Has anyone else out there had this problem, or heard of of anyone who has? Thanks in advance for reply's.

pkradd

I haven't read a similar post in the last year here.
So much for dealer prep. I hope you don't have trouble getting it replaced under warranty.

vocus

This happens sometimes. When the glass is made, it's wasn't heat treated properly. That's what caused a "bubble" in that one part of the glass. Take the car to the dealer and have one of them sit in the passenger side of the car, and explain what's wrong. I am sure they will be happy to accommodate you.

hoodornament

Is anyone aware if you can buy the Electronic Climate Control as an option from VW for a GLS model? Ive had my Passat for almost a year and I love it , can I assume it would only involve installing the unit into the dash (I assume everything else is the same)?

vocus

The only ECC that comes with the Passat comes with the GLX model, as far as I know. The ECC has never been a stand-alone option on any models in the VW lineup. The Jetta GLX has the ECC, but no other Jetta models have it, for instance.

I don't think it would be very cost effective to have the thing installed in a GLS model either.