USED Volkswagen Passat Estate (05 - 11)

My car

I have driven my Passat for over 100,000 miles and here are some of the pros and cons. Pros: It's a good looking car. It's fuel economy is good....averaging around 45mpg. Best tankfull- 55mpg, worst- 41mpg, giving me a generous range of 650-700 miles. The build quality is as good as you should expect from a VW, the interior is hard wearing without being pretty, but then Germans do practical not pretty, which is what I wanted from this car. All in all I would say a very practical car that fits my needs well.

Cons: Beware, when it goes wrong it's expensive. The unnecessary electronic handbrake would have cost me £700+ to fix at a dealer, a faulty ECU cost me £1500 and 11 days off the road, a fault with the electronic ingnition would have cost me £800+ to fix at a dealer. The ignition fault has had a recall in the USA but here VW refuse to admit that there's an issue! Even though the car cuts out whilst driving. If you search the VW forums you will find hundreds of similar cases relating to this issue but VW UK still buries it's head in the sand. When I called VW UK I was told because our safety laws differ from those in the USA, VW UK will not issue a recall for this fault.

VW really needs to be careful on this issue, because it's famous build quality reputation is being eroded by the faults on this model.

In conclusion- don't expect trouble free motoring, it'll cost you.

My car

I ran this car for 4 years covering around 100k from a starting mileage of 13k. The best thing was the engine which although noisy and unrefined was reliable & returned consistently good MPG. The worst things were constant problems with uneven & early tyre wear (despite multiple 4 wheel alignment visits to VW & tyre centres) and the utterly useless servo parking brake which failed to auto release 25% of the time and would auto release when in neutral! After 100k the suspension was worn and the paintwork was lifting in several places. Had problems with airbag fault, diesel pump,rear washer pump, front wheel bearing failure & door handle falling off which were all fixed under warranty. The brakes are good but the handling & performance aren't great, as one would expect for a 1.9 diesel estate. This is not a car that you like - its the economics that make sense, but after 4 years and rust starting to appear I was glad to sell it on and look for something quieter, more comfortable & with better performance.

My car

I bought this car only a few months ago and it is pretty poor. The fuel consumption is my main complaint as it never seems to be any better than 25 mpg which is awful. The next issue is the engine which moans and groans constantly as it is clearly underpowered. I can't wait to be rid of this bit of junk.

My car

Have had so many faults with this car from new, they are as follows .Came without the cruise control fitted as ordered ·Left hand panel on the centre console has come loose on 2 occasions. ·Numerous creaks, rattles and squeaks, including one from the driver’s side ‘B’ pillar that has necessitated around 10 trips to the garage. Still occasionally squeaks and rattles now. ·Unable to set the cruise control on several occasions. ·Noise on driving from within dashboard, increased with speed and burning smell. ·Bluetooth kept cutting out. ·Car has cut out twice while slowing down from speed for a junction – fuel pump replaced as a ‘precaution’. ·Heating not keeping heat on long journeys – no fault found – not fixed. ·‘Crunching on selecting 2nd gear. ·Car failed to start several times ·Handbrake not coming of automatically when pulling away. ·Handbrake failed a week after being told there was no fault with it – handbrake got stuck on after taking my daughter to A&E, car was stuck o/s A&E for ½ hour. ·Unable to open front passenger door. ·Drivers seat belt would not do up. Brought a VW for the build quality, WONT be buying another. Dealer I bought car from was less than helpful, ignored me when I said I wanted to reject the car after about 6 weeks, when I complained about their service the manager told me there were other dealers. Am now getting rid of it for as S-Max.