2002 Volkswagen Passat LX turbo gas

Summary:

An unadulterated lemon

Faults:

Two ignition coils (out of 4) have already failed. Both times, car is rendered inoperable. VW acknowledges the problem, but since every coil they installed in the Passat and Audi over the past two years is defective, they will only replace them one by one, as they fail. Car is acting up again, but since it hasn't completely failed, they won't replace the third coil. Can't trust the car, can't drive it beyond town.

General Comments:

Stay away from anything made by Volkswagen.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 29th January, 2003

2002 Volkswagen Passat LS turbo

Summary:

Unreliable

Faults:

The first ignition coil blew at just over 19,000 miles. The dealer replaced it under warranty, but would not replace the other three coils even though they have had an extremely high failure rate. The second coil failed two weeks later. It took three days for a replacement coil to arrive. VW USA told me that they were not planning a recall. They also told me that they could not replace all the coils in my car because they did not have enough parts to replace all the failed coils. During my last visit to the dealer, I was told they had six cars on the lot waiting for ignition coils that may take weeks to arrive.

General Comments:

The VW response to the serious quality and safety problem with the Passat is inadequate and unacceptable.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 25th January, 2003

30th Jun 2004, 16:53

I don't feel that it is fair to judge a whole car as unreliable when a single component sourced from outside of VW is what fails. VW has since recalled all the faulty coil packs and is replacing all of them, not just the ones that fail.

2002 Volkswagen Passat 1.8T

Summary:

Attractive, solid, completely unreliable car

Faults:

At about 6000 miles, an ignition coil blew necessitating a tow for repair. The dealership could not guarantee that the remaining three would not blow because they admit to having innumerable problems with coils on the 2002 1.8T.

General Comments:

Volkswagen must recall and repair these Passats as soon as possible. To blow a coil at high speed may cause serious damage or death.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 17th January, 2003

23rd Sep 2005, 20:38

Just a quick comment in VW's defense. I believe that VW did in fact conduct a recall on the problematic ignition coils...however, I can hardly believe that failure of the ignition coils (be it one, or all four) would be anything more than a delay and an inconvenience... at worst the engine would shut off, and one would have to pull to the side of the road.

24th Sep 2005, 05:29

So you're driving to the airport to catch your flight and one of your coils decides it won't run any more... Or you find yourself driving home on a rainy night and you have to stop by since the coil (s) "decided" so. Come on, at least VW should have acknowledged the problem and issued a recall instead of changing coils one by one every time a car broke down. All cars have problems- it's inevitable since all cars are far more complex (electronically and mechanically) nowadays. BUT, and this is a big, but, the companies are also judged by the way they treat their customers on after-sales terms. The truth is that VW (being in part shortage) decided they would not admit the problem as long as they would be able to do so, and this is inexcusable.

1st Dec 2007, 00:03

I have to say that I totally agree with the last comment, however I know from personal experience that this type of attitude that VW America has should be fixed, and I have to say that all the fault comes from the dealers itself. I have lived both in Germany and Spain (job reasons), and in both European countries I have owned a VW. First the service over there was way better than over here; never had a problem with either of my cars.

I do have a friend that had the same coil problem that you had with your 1.8T (in Spain). He took it to the dealer and changed all coils no questions asked.

I do thing that VW needs to step up over here in the US; the dealer's attitude, knowledge and customer service is one of the worst.