Faults:

There honestly have not been any problems with the car. The interior is great, the exterior is great, and so is the engine. I would have to say that the only problem is that if you hit a curb the alloy wheels do scratch and is very noticeable.

General Comments:

When I walk up to my car I notice the fine exterior design. Unlike the other cars in it's class, it has distinctive styling. Toyota Camry's and Honda Accords all look like a normal 4 door sedan. The Passat has a nice bubbly front common on '00-'04 Volkswagens. The wheels have nice designs and the car has silver trims on it adding to the styling. The looks of the car are just fantastic.

Like all German cars, the interior is king. I have the black heated leather package and it is just amazing. The seats are comfortable, there is a massive amount of leg room, and there are a lot of places to store things. I would have to say that I am upset that there are no under seat storage boxes to keep first aid or other common things that you would find in a car.

Also in the interior is the good looking center console. Even though the knobs are plastic, they look and feel great. They aren't the normal bubble grey plastic that you normally have. The sound system is also amazing. I bought the Monsoon package which really makes it sound good.

The other thing in the interior that is noticeably different from other cars is the colors of the car at night. Instead of the boring and unattractive green or orange, the Passat has neon blue highlights.

Finally, the engine. It's so quiet that sometimes I don't realize that I am hitting 85 miles per hour. The engine just whispers a little whine of turbo and that's about it. I have the 1.8T Automatic and it is great. The turbo doesn't have any lag like people say. If you know how to drive you can get around this "problem". For an in line four car, this thing moves. I can get off the line faster than any other car in it's class. In all, the acceleration and speed are fantastic.

Faults:

Nothing!

General Comments:

Excellent handling.

Acceleration outstanding.

Extremely comfortable and well designed interior.

I like to read up a lot before I make the purchase. Obviously, if you've found this page, you're doing the same thing. The problem with a lot of pages is that you mostly hear from the folks that have problems with their car, and want to vent/warn others. I thought I'd drop this note in here to give some praise. I recently purchase the 2003 Passat GLX, after my 1999 Audi A6 Avant was totaled in a flood. My relationship with the Audi could at best be described as love/hate, and I was rather cautious about buying another VW/Audi product.

Although I'm still under 2000 miles with the Passat, I can hereby affirm that VW fixed more than a few issues over those 4 years, and this Passat is possibly one of the best cars I've ever owned. Absolutely no problems with it. While I've still got the same engine as I had in the Audi, this time it's mated to a manual transmission, and boy can you tell the difference. OK, there's probably a weight difference with the the sedan vs. the wagon, but still... the get up and go will push you right back into those leather seats.

After a heavy rain, I did notice that the floor of the passenger side was slightly damp, but after a quick cleaning of the pollen filter and associated drains, the problem has not repeated itself.

All in all... the 2003 Passat GLX is an outstanding car for the money, and I'd recommend it highly to anyone considering the purchase!

Passat - True Fahrvergnuegen!