Volkswagen's

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YeaTexasFight

1,000+ Posts
I will be in the market soon for a new vehicle and at the moment I'm thinking about a VW Passat, possibly a Jetta or a Chevy Colorado, possibly Silverado. But that changes from day to day. I really want a truck, but I'm really tired of paying $40-45 to fill up which I do quite often with the 14-15 MPG my current '89 Chevy pickup gets. I like the way the VW Passat and Jetta look, but outside of that I know very little about them or VW in general.

So what is the word on '04 and '05 Passats? How reliable are they generally, and how complicated are they to repair when something does go wrong? Any info or advice any has on this is much appreciated.
 
Passats are fine but very expensive for a VW.

I had a 2000 Jetta VR6 until last year. Probably the best car I ever had. Plenty quick (within reason), and built like a tank. I beat the **** out of it, and it was as tight in month 36 as the day I got it. Loved it, reccomend it, or a GTI.

I love VW's, just not $40,000 VW's.
 
Aftermarket parts are not very plentiful, so you'll have to spring the extra $$$ on the factory VW parts during repairs and maintenance. VW parts are ridiculously expensive.
 
I have a '97 Jetta. For the most part, it's been reliable, but have a bad experience with the power windows (common to A3 and A4 platforms - Golf/Jettas), and problems with the 2.0 cross flow enginer (which you won't have). The passenger side door hinges are weak and squeak/rattle quite a bit when the car goes over bumps.

That said, it's still a fun car to drive. The 1.8T engine on mid-level Jettas and base Passats is a great engine. Keep in mind if you're in Austin, you'll have to drive up to the Round Rock VW dealership since Charles Maund can kiss my *** for the attitude and incompetency.
 
My personal experience with VW's has been limited. I believe my parents had an early ninties Jetta that I got in college. It was a fun car to drive for sure, but it was also the most annoying car I've ever owned. Nothing major ever went wrong, but the radio blew up (literally with smoke pouring out of the tape deck) a couple of times. Door handles fell off and the trunk lock broke out once when my dad was trying to unlock it to get his suitcase out. The car had a hand crank sun roof and no power windows or locks, but I shudder to think what might have happened if the car did have electronic gadgetry in it. It started every morning though so eventhough something was always falling off at least I could get to where I needed to go.

As I graduated and got more income and such I looked into the Passats a couple of years back. Consumer reports gave them good ratings from what I could remember and they were a blast to drive. I was almost ready to buy one when all the bad memories cam flooding back. I was sitting in the back seat judging leg space and I flipped open a coin/ash tray on the back of the center console. It promptly fell out and hit the ground. I ran screaming from there.

Of my friends that have them they seem to be hit or miss. They're either great or the biggest pain in your life. The dealer reps around Austin suck as well, but I've no personal expereince with that myself. Most everyone though says tey are fun cars to drive, but....

t's what comes after the but that keeps me away from VW's. If spend 26+ thousand on a car I don't want **** falling off.
 
I have recently heard two things about the Passat.

Take this free "advice" for what it's worth.

First, an artilce mentioned cars that cause your mechanic to wince when he (assuming mechanic is a guy) sees you drive in. One of the examples was a Passat. What I remember is that an oil change requires the removal of an underthingie that has 15 screws/bolts. Pain in the ***.

Second, a recent caller into NPR's "Car Talk" said that he wasn't a Passat fan and Tom & Ray, the hosts, were very quick to agree with the caller.

That's all.
 
thanks for the help and suggestions.

Everything I've heard here has pretty much backed up what I've heard before: people either love them or hate them. With my luck, I'd probably be one that hates them. Normally, I wouldn't be too worried about it breaking down considering that my dad owns a repair shop, but considering that his repair shop is in Small Town, Texas, they don't do a whole heck of a lot of work on VW's. Which led him to tell me that I'm free to get a VW, but that I better find a mechanic b/c they won't be doing much for me.

I'd like a car for the gas mileage, but I think I'm going to stick with a pickup (Chevy) that I'm much more comfortable with...especially since I don't want the $700 or $800 in earnings I've racked up on my GM Card to go to waste.
 
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