I posted the other day about the VW Passat…

Do you own one ? If so what problems have you had ?

I am looking at a diesel

main problems seem to be injectors and autopark brake

Many thanks in advance

Have you looked at the car by car breakdown on honestjohn.co.uk? Lists known problems for pretty much every car, definitely worth a look if you’re considering anything second hand.

many thanks for the honestjohn.co.uk link

looks like I will stay well clear of the passat !

No problem, it’s a very useful thing to know about!

Honest John thing is good, but to be honest it would put you off buying every car on the road if you read whats on there.

Passats are dull to drive…

3yr old Passat here, 29,000 miles and no problems, my second and I’d defo buy another.

You only here about the bad on the WWW, never the good

IIRC the Passat is on a stretched Golf floorpan; in my immediate family, we’ve had the aircon compressor fail on two Golfs, an A3 and a Passat, all at about the 4-year mark. Anyone else?

Andy

Almost bought one last year, 2008 model. Loved the car on the test drive but the salesman (at a VW place) started playing games so I walked. I then spoke with a mate in the trade and read Honest John…first time I’ve been grateful for a smarmy salesman!

HonestJohn is rather self-selecting. If you listened to the tales of woe, you’d probably never buy a car of any type.

Personal experience with a 140ps TDI estate: had a probem with the parking brake, but a new switch cured it. £70 or so. A shock absorber started leaking at 100k, so we replaced it. Needed a new headlamp bulb.

Gearbox, aircon, electrics, engine, injectors…..all fine.

Other than that, it’s been the usual consumables. Tyre life is fine, and pad/disc wear is good (though it does maily motorway miles). Changed cambelt/waterpump at 80k, will do again soon.

On 140k now, still doing 500 miles/week, still doing c.50mpg. The interior’s held up well – give it a valet and you’d think it had done 50k. No corrosion of any type, nothing perishing, exhaust still solid.

An excellent workhorse, albeit rather dull.

I have an 07 plate 140TDi estate with PSD and electric switch handbrakey thing.

I do get warning lights come up about the handbrake but ignore them and they go away… it appears they come up occasionally when you have the auto handbrake on and press the handbrake on button when you have your foot on the brake.

If I remember not to self apply the handbrake, which has been ingrained, then its fine.

I did have the drivers seat electrics fail but was done under warrantee that was due to the wires rubbing on the runners and then shorting when the insulation had worn through

83k miles on a 56 plate 2.0 TDI 140 auto, although only 40k of those are mine. No problems that I know of – parking brake was iffy at first but I think it had siezed due to lack of use. Like GJ I occasionally get a warning now when it’s got confused about what I am doing, but it always goes away when I do it properly. I always use the button to disengage, and I always have my foot on the brake too.

Oh actually I forgot – airbag warning light came on, some wiring under the seat had become damaged. That could easily have been caused by the teddy bear or some other kids junk under there though. Or a discarded bottle/coffee cup etc 🙂

Oh yeah and I get 50mpg, and the interior is also in remarkably good shape. Hard to believe it’s coming up for 6 years old to be fair. And the exterior too. I’m very happy with it and would love another.

Had a choice between a Passat and an Octavia. Went with the Skoda, over £1.5k cheaper. Solid build. Not as much space as the Passat mind.