Thinking of getting a Passat estate, Diesel, bout a W to a 52, what should i be on the look for?

Also, would you choose a car with FSH and 170k or one with patchy SH and 135k ?

Reckon i'd got abot £2500 once i sell my van. Anything esle to look at? V70 2.4? Octavia?

Cheers

I had a 130 sport tdi 51 plate. It was great until I had the leaves blocking up the drainage holes around the battery and water ingress into the car. Got into the brakes and everything. Also my turbo needed replacing (£££) at around 120,000 and windows mech went on drivers side (did it on my Mk4 golf too). Seems to be a problem with electrics on VW.
Eventually had enough and sold it at 140k miles.

But it was still a great car (had it for 5 years). Great PD engine that would of gone on forever.

If you do get one, get the battery out of the compartment and push the rubber bungs below it so the water drains better and does not clag up with leaves. May of saved me a hefty bill. I got a safety recall letter the other week from VW regarding the above water ingress. Pity they never acknowledged the fault earlier, may of saved me several hundrerd pounds!

1.9tdi great motor, 50+mpg run forever.

buy pre '01 plate, anything up to late 2000 reg, before the next model. They just seem batter made, my old man has had a succession of them and they've got worse since then. We have a late Y plate PD130 sports (6 speed) and it's been great, 170K and it's on clutch number 1 (just) and all we have replaced is the usual sus/drivetrain parts and a new rad and cam belt tensioner. loads of VW specialists around too for repairs. Make sure it has had all the recalls done, a VW dealer will tell you what should have been done.

mine is 99 v, 140k. 1.9TD 90bhp and crucially (imo) fsh.

It could do with a clutch but apart from that I love it – 50mpg is dead easy.

If it feels utterly gutless on test drive it probably needs a new mass flow meter.

"I had a 130 sport tdi 51 plate. It was great until I had the leaves blocking up the drainage holes around the battery and water ingress into the car."

Seems to be an achilles heel, that killed my dad's one as well, lots of water in the electrics and it never recovered, we ended up scrapping it rather than try to repair it. And it's not just passats either.

(rant- what really honked me off was that the dealership he uses had twice charged him for replacement batteries, one just a month before it flooded for the first time, and it'd be impossible to miss that it was full of leaves with the battery out- so either they're thieves or incompetents. Anyway…)

they replaced the plastic section below the windscreen and the battery cover on ours as a recall a few years ago, maybe this was the cause of the problem?

I've not had a great experience with VW dealers either, John Fox in Nottingham tried to rip me off after threading the sump bung on my old car.

Just got a 140k golf TDI estate on a Y with full service history for 2k. Its got the bog 90bhp engine. Plenty fast enough. Would have liked a Passat but couldn't find one for that sort of money. Major engine wear if the proper spec VAG oil hasn't been used with the PumpDeuse engine. 45mpg round the doors no matter how its driven, more on a run. Mechanic mate tells me its a lot more reliable than the TDCi fords.
If you can find a good one go for it!

Just had to take the bumper off to change the side light bulbs!

If you're anywhere near Sheffield give me a shout, I can come with/could loan you my VAG diagnostics cable/laptop/etc.

Failing that, spend £20 on ebay and buy a cable, software is available, just shout!

Mum just bought a 52 plate golf after viewing about 8 previous cars all described as 'mint' with 'full service history' – plug in laptop and soon get some further info, very useful to bargain with and discuss any found issues.

Preferential to get the more powerful tdi (130bhp) very very little difference in economy but just that little bit easier to get up to speed and easier overtaking.

I have a 51 plate 130 version, bought at 125K and now up to 177K still going strong. Great car, easily get 50mpg, huge boot.
Also learnt the hard way about the drain holes and then got the recall letter after spending ££
front tyres tend to wear. check for cambelt changes

VW'S are overpriced IMO
as said before pre 2000 vw's better built

Exactly what rich_tee said. Mines coming up to 180K, got it at 94k, currently doing 50.5mpg overall. Ditto the drain holes but mine seems ok on front tyres.
I'll have another.

I have an 05 1.9 130 TDI and I love it. I see MPG into the high 50s but it still has plenty of poke for overtaking or making fools of lads in chav cars. Even with 105k on the clock it should last a few years and at £4k if I run it into the ground it is still good value motoring.

Worth a look at Mk1 Octavias too. Mine's a 51 110ps TDi, and on a 120 mile M4 run up to South Mimms, sticking to motorway limits I got 63.8/gallon. Not too shabby.

I bought an 05 Passat estate a few months ago and it's a really nice car but i'm not getting anywhere near 50mpg?

Jon i might drop you a mail as i'm in Sheffield.

replied to the people who've emailed me 😉

Got a 1998 110 red i same problem with the drain bung but never got a recall and paid out nearly 1k for repairs to the electrics and new carpet and liner when I had the car when it was four years old!
All the locks and motors had to be changed they all packed up within weeks of each other.
As for mechanics etc not too bad at all bought mine with 48000 on the clock now got 150000. On its third VW cambelt and tensioner (they give two years parts and labour warranty so if it goes pop back to VW for a new engine). On the third set of discs but it is driven hard and still get normally no less than 48mpg.
Check the undertrays are all there as it makes a difference to fuel economy and wind noise. Oh and they are very expensive £120 just for the mid tray!
Having listed the bad stuff I aint getting rid of mine till its only fit for the scrappies hopefully in more than another 100k miles.

When I was last changing cars I had a passat tdi out for a week long test.

I was driving a 3 series at the time and the car was equally as comfortable and pleasurable to drive and was roomier.

The thing that put me off was the electronic handbrake though.

I have a 51 plate 100ps one – 211k miles and still on first clutch. However, I bought it as an ex-fleet car with FVWSH on 130k and the service history included some major expenditure such as new injectors, cat etc. I had a few problems with it after I first bought it (various including new wiring loom for the injectors – bizarrely it sits in the oil under the rocker cover) and some other bits including air mass meter which packed up about 150 miles after I'd bought it…. Also had new drivers door winder, but that was down to mechanism not electrics. I too had the hassle with the 'plenum chamber' drain holes which I managed to sort out myself before catastphic damage – and about 2 months before VW issued a recall having denied for years there was a problem.
Overall I would say an average to good performer all things considered. Still feels nice and tight to drive in terms of gearbox etc but I'm not sure how much longer it will go on. I'll probably try and get another but that's partly because I've had VWs almost exclusively for 20 years and have a good independent garage.
I wouldn't use a main agent if they paid me…

I had a Seat Leon TDi110 but sold that to get an estate. Seat dont do one so bought the Passat. (Nb Its the 1.8T sport so it is really thirsty 🙁 )

Already had 120000 miles on the clock but only problem so far is Blower packed in.

NB My Mass air meter failed on the Seat.
(Oh and backsteet garage did Air con service, didnt put the Filter cover back together properly and footwell flooded every time it rained because of it)