5th Jan 2008, 10:14

Just to add to list of dissatisfied PASSAT (a.k.a, Piece of Saat) owners..71K miles, well maintained, blew timing belt while running yesterday, and belt not even up for replacement til 105K...we will see if it is tied to Oil Sludge, but regardless based upon my research, never will get VW to honor their 8yr warranty as I probably missed ONE oil change by 300 miles.. never again and I reccomend you join this cause to NOT BUY a VW!

14th Jan 2008, 12:07

I have a 2002 Passat with 57K. Two weeks ago the stop/oil pressure light came on. I took it to the VW dealership and they couldn't figure out what was wrong. They replaced the cam seal & gasket for $250, but that did not correct the problem. They finally figured out that it was oil sludging. Thankfully VW picked up the tab for this and all I had to do was document that I had the oil changed every 10K miles. I typically have it changed every 5K.

Overall I really like this car, but I'm definitely concerned about the reliability. During the 4 years I've owned the car, I've spent probably $1,200 to repair things outside of normal maintenance. I would like to keep the car for several more years. However, after reading all of these comments I'm wondering if I shouldn't get rid of it before I have to sink a lot more money into it.

21st Feb 2008, 16:37

I own a 2002 Passat Wagon and have had my share of issues and expenses. Now I'm trying to get it ready to sell and put a new battery in myself, because I refused the give the dealership any more money. Now the stereo won't turn on. Any advice.

4th Mar 2008, 11:19

You need to take it to the dealer for them to re-enter the anti theft code into the head unit. This is to prevent it from being stolen since the thief wouldn't have the code which is located in the back of the owners manual.

18th Mar 2008, 18:44

Well reading all of these comments has changed my mind a bit. I saw a GLS wagon for sale for only $2800 for a 2002 and I thought it was to good to be true. I guess it was. They were probably having the same problems as you all and just want to dump it. I think I will take your advice and not go for it.

14th May 2008, 06:36

I just bought a 2002 passat V6 front wheel drive wagon. Any tips on what I need to do to keep it spinning like a top? 80k miles. oil? 5W30 Synthetic Oil? Any easy do-it-your-self things I might need to do?

15th May 2008, 10:03

I have a 02 Passat w/1.8T and recently experienced the "stop engine, low oil pressure" light at 67k miles light. I took it to my local dealer and after chasing to find my receipts they proceeded to do a $1200 engine flush. Upon leaving the dealer the "check engine" light came on. The saga continues...

20th May 2008, 21:20

Same STOP warning came on for my wife & I this past weekend. We did what the car told us to do, STOP & called Roadside Assistance. We had the sludge issue, and fortunately, after documenting our 5 oil changes to the VW dealer, they got VW to cover the cost of repair. Also fortunately, our lease was up in 3 weeks...so, we went ahead an leased a new 2008 Passat Wagon (this one has a 2.0 engine, so we should not see this sludging issue). No cost out of pocket (nor should there have been!). Was able to walk away with a new, trouble free VW. I am annoyed that VW would not make an effort to contact it's Passat owners to warn of this issue... and truly feel for those who got screwed. This also contributes to my bias towards leasing a vehicle, vs. buying new or used. Lease, maintain, turn in, get a new trouble free car.

15th Aug 2008, 02:45

I'm glad to hear all these comments, I thought I was the only one with this problem and that it wasn't such a big deal, so now I'm angry, am I screwed? Cause the engine light comes on too, it went away for a while, but came back on like the others, and the stereo doesn't turn on, I check the manual, it says that sometimes it locks, and when you turn on the stereo it will show on the screen that it's locked, but the screen doesn't even turn on with instructions on how to decode it, so does anyone else have this problem??

6th Jan 2009, 16:14

I bought a pre-owned 2002 VW Passat Wagon with under 40K miles a little less than one year ago. Since then, I have had nothing but regrets about buying this car.

There has been a consistent electrical issue that the dealership didn't know about or decided not to tell me about. The first issue was when I turned my headlights on, a flashing yellow triangle symbol pops up and never goes away. I had paid for a bumper to bumper warranty, so brought it back to the dealership. They had no idea what the symbol meant, but replaced all the fuses anyway. Since it didn't seem to affect the car's performance, I decided to live with it.

The second issue was when I pushed the ASR button (for traction control) and the power to my radio and steering wheel controls (including horn) went out. After a full day at the authentic VW dealership (not where I bought the car), they also had no idea what was wrong, but had "fixed" the problem to the point where the stereo and horn worked as long as I never, ever used the ASR traction control. Awesome. But the car ran, so again I continued making payments and driving it.

Then the EPC light started to come on randomly. Once in awhile, the car wouldn't turn over on the first attempt, but then it would start and drive fine.

Then a few months later I get a letter from VW saying that a heat shield needed replacement (free of charge). While I was there, I opted for the 40K mile tune up, got my brakes replaced and had an oil change. The EPC problem was intermittent, and they couldn't recreate the issue, so there was nothing they could fix.

Well, now the piece of junk car is stalling (randomly, with no cause) at red lights. I put it into park, turn the engine off, and try to re-start. It coughs and sputters, but finally turns over with the EPC light on and horrible performance. I have to pull over, turn the car off, and try to re-start. On the second attempt, the car will turn over and run fine with no EPC light.

What is wrong with this car?? I am so sick of paying out the rear for an unreliable vehicle. I thought VW was the way to go, but NEVER again will I own one of these. Now driving is a stressful and joyless operation. Thank you Volkswagen!