Faults:

Parking brake switch found to be faulty & replaced.

General Comments:

The 125kw diesel pulls very nicely. People are always surprised at how quickly it can shuffle along.

The leather seats aren't that great. They lack bolstering at the sides, and you tend to slide around on your butt when cornering.

The ride quality is a little too firm, although I do have the 18" wheels fitted. It was frustrating that NO dealers could provide a car fitted with the sports suspension and 18" wheels for a test drive. I ordered the 18" wheels without the sports suspension, fearing it may be too harsh. Also, the car I bought was sitting at a dealer with 17" alloys at the time of purchase. I paid an extra $3000 for the 18" alloys. Is it unreasonable that I should expect the 17" wheels originally on the car to be mine as well considering I BOUGHT THE CAR? It simply does not make sense! It makes me furious that I paid $3000 and the original set of wheels would have been sold by VW to another customer!

The Passat seems to do everything well without ever really being an involving drive. My old Peugeot 306, despite its shocking build quality and gutless performance, still managed to deliver more satisfaction in any type of driving.

The entire dash has been removed by the dealer to address a couple of clicking rattles at the base of the A pillars. They managed to fix them, but introduced a far more annoying rattle as a result of something obviously damaged or not put back together in the process. The car is going back to the dealer and hopefully this can be sorted. Please be aware that VW Australia is very stubborn when it comes to fixing rattles. They will only consider covering such work under warranty when the car is less than a year old. That said, the rest of the cabin is very solid and there are no other rattles at all. I must have fluked a good one.