Faults:

EGR valve, handbrake issues, oil leak, injectors, clutch, flywheel, ABS, you name it! Just about everything!

General Comments:

One of the worst cars I ever had. This Passat was bought at 4 years old with low mileage from an approved dealer. Forced to keep it for another 4 years due to being locked in to a crappy finance deal. Never again.

On the plus side, I thought it was a good looking and comfortable car. To drive it was nice and smooth and very economical on diesel. And I had many VW Passats before with no major issues. This car really put me off the brand however.

Since owned a Vauxhall Insignia and Ford Mondeo with no issues in recent years. I promised myself never again but the newer Passats look nice. I wonder if they would treat me better than this car did...

Faults:

Not much while I've had it, but according to the history, the DPF filter has been replaced and that was not cheap! And the flywheel and clutch also at great expense. Injectors were looked at as well at some point, but a vague description of work carried out.

General wear and tear - it's had all the oil changes and correct servicing bar, one miss according to the history logs.

General Comments:

Great car to drive, the 2.0 diesel engine pulls strong while doing a solid 50 MPG (but only on a long drive, around town expect 40 - something).

Interior is very nice and has a high quality feel even after more than ten years. Well laid out and comfortable. Electronic hand brake is a real pain to use - much preferred a lever!

One of the first of the new shape 2005 Passat's, improves on the already great previous car of the 90s and early 2000s. Very popular as a taxi and it's easy to see why - lots of space and good economy.

However, if recommending as a car to buy privately, I'd say go for a petrol one - although the year I've had it has been great and gave me no trouble, looking through its previous history, it has been a typical modern diesel car - with expensive repairs outweighing any advantage of fuel savings. You just don't get the problems this car has had with petrol models of the same type.

Only reason I bought this car in fact was because of the large amount of work it had already done to it, but let's face it, at over 10 years old and over 100K miles, I'll be moving on to another car soon. If I can afford a newer low mileage car it will definitely be petrol and possibly another Passat, as well it's a good car all things considered; just be aware of those diesel repair bills as the miles rise if you buy a diesel one of these.