Faults:

Front headlight bulb blew. It actually exploded. Cost me 6 euro to buy a new one and 30 minutes to fit.

Car has a full service history with nothing major reported.

General Comments:

The engine in my Passat is the 130BHP one. It took me months to find the right engine, as I really wanted the 130BHP one. After viewing nearly a dozen cars for sale advertised as 130BHP, I soon realised after a quick test drive that they were not the 130BHP. Look at the tag in the boot for the KW of the engine is a dead give away. 98KW is the 130BHP version.

I'm 6'3", so I really needed a car with leg and head room. This car has plenty of it. The steering wheel is fully adjustable so it can move towards my chest unlike most cars, which only let you move the steering wheel up and down. Seats are fully adjustable and very comfortable.

Road noise is minimal and there is no wind noise. The car is very quick, but is in no way a sports car. It will roll to the left or right in corners, but it's not too severe. The suspension soaks up the bumps in the road, and the solid feel to the cars chassis makes for a very comfortable drive.

Faults:

Water pump.

Outside trim.

ABS sensor.

General Comments:

Purchased the car in late 2007. The previous owner had treated the car quite badly, however the car was cheap (late 2003 model, £4500).

After a full service and some niggly parts fixed, the car has been excellent on a run. You will get a realistic 50+ MPG if driving between 70-80 mph.

In town it is also excellent on fuel. Overall it's a really well put together car, let down by poor handling on the local country lanes. I am just about to try and sort this out by fitting a sports suspension kit; hopefully it will not ruin the ride too much on the motorway. I will update this ASAP and let you know how it goes.

The TDI Sport is the best Passat I have driven. I also tried the 1.8T & the 2.5 TDI, both of which I was not overly impressed with.

If you are in the market for a TDI Sport, I would suggest buying as cheap as you can, and have some money set aside for the servicing & replacement parts you will no doubt need.

You will be amazed at the lack of turbo lag and just how fast this model is in a straight line; you can have a lot of fun.

Faults:

Power steering pump belt failed

Engine Seized

Power steering pump belt failed again

Air Con stopped working.

General Comments:

I bought this to be a comfortable daily driver that would be capable of taking the Daily grind, plus my regular motorway drives, as well as being capable of towing.

Good bit (won't take long)

This was one great car on the motorway. By far the best I have owned. Smooth, soft suspension giving excellent ride. The Engine suited the car perfectly.

Bad bits.

I will always remember this as the worst car I have owned. for the 6 months I owned it, it spent 4 in the garage. The soft suspension that I originally fell for and gave it its motorway manners also gave it woeful handling. It rolled around corners with terrible body control, pitching all over the place.

The Interior design was traditional VW and this is a good thing. Well laid out and the Interior quality was lovely. Less lovely though was in spite of this, the actually build quality was not good, with trim regularly falling off. The interior was not worn, in fact it was in beautiful condition for a 90k car. Strips kept coming out the doors.

I have heard so much about VW build quality, but a friend with a Golf Mk4 has also suffered. My own opinion, and I am sorry if you disagree is that because the interiors are so nice looking, and made from such quality materials that VW have gained an undeserved reputation for build quality...

At the end of the day, I was deeply saddened that such a nice looking, comfortable car turned out so badly. I have since replaced it with a Mondeo. Bit bumpier than the Passat on the motorway, but the firmer chassis give handling abilities that the Passat can't dream off.

I do acknowledge that I got a bit of a "Friday night model". Even so if it had been perfectly reliable, I would still prefer the Mondeo.