Faults:

Iratic idle, faulty speed sensor, rear brakes won't engage parking brake.

General Comments:

Being very leary of Passats, mostly because of their high initial purchase costs, vs the used car market costs today, (amazingly low) I happened to purchase this car from my brother last year. After sifting through a myriad of nuisance problems, I think that the car has finally achieved a baseline of reliability for me.

Performance-wise, the car is adequate. Around town it's quite sluggish, but out on the highway, where the 16V is allowed to breathe, it totes along well. The cabin is spacious, and the car is big by VW standards. (it took a while to adjust from my previous 1990 Jetta size) There is a lot of body roll, that can be quite unnerving to the uninitiated, while whizzing through s-curves.

This car is 15 years old now, and the body is immaculate, with only surface rust present on the trunk lid and fender edges, albeit this car has been regularly oiled. The frame rails and rocker panels are solid and free from rust. With regular maintenance (this is key) this car should serve well past its 20th birthday.

Faults:

Head gasket blew at 185,000.

Major exhaust work at 180,000.

Leaking oil constantly (blue smoke).

Didn't pass Aircare 3 times.

Leaking sunroof.

Hood faded to dull red.

Power windows stopped working.

Cooling fan stopped working.

Major electrical work.

General Comments:

This is the worst car I've ever owned.

My Passat was unreliable and cost me so much money to fix.

When I would take the car to the dealer, everything was a mystery to them.

I will never buy another VW again.

Faults:

Catalytic converter was destroyed when car was acquired; also had exhaust leak.

More exhausts leaks found at 86,000 miles.

Both fuel pumps were bad at 90,000 miles.

Radiator started leaking at 92,000 miles.

Interior lights only intermittently came on when door was opened.

Transmission went completely bad at 98,000 miles--no movement, never worked properly from beginning, always started from a stop in second gear.

Shifting problem still caused by bad multifunction switch.

Throttle fails intermittently--mechanics could never duplicate problem.

Transmission failed again at 101,000 miles--mechanics have never been able to fix it since then.

General Comments:

I loved this car. I really did. When the car worked, it was a graceful, powerful, well handling vehicle. But the amount of money spent on repairs did not compensate for its appeal as the car still does not work... sitting in a tranmission shop for months with no answer. I wouldn't plan on buying one of these cars in an automatic if you want a reliable inexpensive to repair vehicle... unless you live in Germany where people actually know how to work on a German automatic transmission.

Faults:

-Burns a lot of oil.

-Water pump ruined at 170000.

-Shakes when idle.

-Speedometer goes nuts after 70 km/h.

-Thermostat ruined twice.

-Car overheats.

-Exhaust Manifold cracked.

-Vacuum locks don't work.

-Timing belt snapped.

-Whippers have problems especially with the fuses.

-Struggles on acceleration, got a tune up. It accelerated well for 2 weeks then back to the same old problem.

General Comments:

The car handles like a dream. I've taken curves at over 140km/h and it stick to the ground. The interior is great. Heated leather seats are awesome.

The worst part was the oil. I had to poor oil every time I gassed up.

It was a blast to drive, but the maintenance killed me.