1999 Volkswagen Passat V6 from North America

Summary:

Never again

Faults:

Everything went wrong with this car. Each 2 months I had to go to the dealership for approx. $700 each time.

General Comments:

Fast and comfortable, but cost way too much.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 4th March, 2010

1999 Volkswagen Passat SE 1.8 turbo from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Quality German engineering in a perfect package

Faults:

Nothing so far.

General Comments:

A very good family estate car.

Spacious, fast and very economical for a larger petrol turbo estate car.

Build quality is head and shoulders above anything else.

Best design by far by VW Audi in the last 20 years.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 27th January, 2010

1999 Volkswagen Passat GLS Wagon 1.8 turbo from North America

Summary:

FUN FUN FUN, until the mechanic shows you the bill

Faults:

Well first off let me just clarify that I knew the car needed work when I bought it, and that the cost of ownership would be more expensive with my VW than with, oh say, a Honda. Also that the car has never failed to start. But this is my list of faults.

1) The front drive axles and CV boots needed replacing at 123K.

2) The exhaust pipes were rusted through at 123K.

3) The left front inner and outer tire-rods went bad very suddenly around 150K.

4) Half the fuse box fried and needs replacing currently. This left the headlights, blinkers, windshield wipers, horn, and AC blower motor useless.

5) The ABS will kick on needlessly in regular non-panic stops.

6) From time to time (normally when it's cold) the driver side window will go up when I push down, and go down when I pull up.

7) The CD changer randomly will not work and read *CD ERROR*. Sometimes in the middle of a song on a brand new CD.

8) When it gets below 40 degrees, it's almost impossible to get the car into 1st. Even after letting it warm up for 20 or so minutes.

9) The defroster SUCKS BIG TIME!

10) The leather is cracked and ripped on every seat in the car, along with the shifter.

11) The paint seems thin and fairly easy to scratch.

12) Oh yeah, and my driver side heated seat never worked. It's irritating to have your passengers 'ooo-ing and aahh-ing' in the seat next to you while you're frozen stiff.

General Comments:

OK, so now that I've said all the negatives on this car, let me get to some of the positives.

This car never fails to make me smile (when I'm not dropping a thousand dollars to keep it on the road). And it's very attractive to look at... for a wagon.

The 5-speed mated with a turbo really makes this car fly after about 3000 rpm's, and it handles very playfully for a station wagon. It also has the best brakes I've ever had in a car, I mean this car stops QUICK (which is handy in stop and go Atlanta traffic). It's tons of fun to flip through the gears at night on a windy road while going double the limit and feel like you have complete control of the car at all times. And the stock stereo is AMAZING! It's extremely crisp, clear and loud.

It's got tons of features I didn't expect to find, like an air conditioned glove compartment.

The insurance is dirt cheap because it's got the 'best pick' rating in crash tests. I'm 20 year old guy and I pay $98 a month for full coverage. I have clean record though :P.

The car is very sturdy and feels like the body and interior will last faaaaaar longer than the drivetrain. I actually got rear-ended buy some ugly Chevy Equinox fairly hard and got out expecting a lot of damage, yet I only had scratches in the paint.

This car has served me well for the past 30k miles and I love it to pieces. I just can't continue dropping a thousand dollars in it a month to keep it running. I feel like I'm in a losing battle with it. It just always seems to be needing something else fixed. I hate it because I love the car so much. I'm in the process of getting the fuse box fixed (approx. $500) and will heave a sigh of relief and sadness when I see her drive away with a new owner. Not only because I love the car, but because I wasted so much money keeping it driving down the road.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 21st August, 2009

23rd Aug 2009, 01:33

Why would you complain about broken heated seats? I mean, I know that if you've got them, you obviously want them to work, but if they don't, what's the big deal? I live in New England, the winter days are easily in the 20's. No Canadian cold or anything, but let me tell you, it ain't warm! I've never owned a car with heated seats. I find such a thing to be a waste anyways. On winter mornings, I start my car up 10 minutes before I'm ready to go, and by the time I leave, my car is nice and warm inside. Heated seats have always seemed like a waste to me, I've ridden in cars that have them, and find them to become to warm very quickly. Maybe I'm weird, but broken heated seats don't seem like a very big deal.

24th Aug 2009, 08:35

Regarding #1 -3 & 7 Comments...

They are normal wear and tear items.

You are actually lucky that that they lasted that long. Most other cars have these issues at half the miles.

Domestic cars are famous for that, and you could add 10-12 other items to that list.