I’m randomly looking for a Passat to replace our existing one which has a similar mileage. Our old one has been thrashed mercilessly with minimal servicing over 45000 miles. Its current mileage is 166000. It too is a 1.9tdi but only 115bhp.

Are there any issues I should look out for on the 130bhp model. Thinking of something 2004/5 before the 2.0Tdi models came in.

May I be the first to reference DPF and EGR’s from the other thread 😀

Watches with interest… currently looking at spending upto 4k on a mondeo/passat sized estate. Some of the mileages are making my eyes water. I’ve just scrapped a 15 year old primera with less miles that we owned for 13 years. 😯

I’ve got the same engine in my Ibiza and it’s been great.
If you are fussed, check whether the air con compressor is working. Mine went around 160k and was £500 fitted for a new one – although the dealer wanted £850 just for the parts!

People keep banging on about DMFs, but mine is on a whisker shy of 230k on it’s original clutch and flywheel. But, the engine has an easy life really, as the Ibiza is quite a bit smaller than the Passat, so presumable less stressed; especially if the estate gets used for it’s carrying capacity frequently.

Friend of mine had the A4 with the 1.9TDi – think it was an X reg. He gave up servicing it and just used to top the oil up (not change it, top it up) every month or two. It ran and ran. He was waiting for it to keel over so he could have an excuse to get a new one, but it never did. In the end he traded it in.

VanMan – Member
May I be the first to reference DPF and EGR’s from the other thread

Not sure the 1.9 would come with DPF. I’ve not had any issue wit the EGR valve.

its a big wallowy bus of a car that makes me feel like an old man.

other than that its great.

Good service history and has it had a new clutch and dmf?
It’s pot luck with any 2nd hand car.

Took a 2001 Passat TDi 130 from 105,000 to 235,000 miles with pretty much no issues at all. Had an interim issue with a MAF sensor which in the end cost £60 to fix and that was about it. With servicing, tyres, pads and discs I think I spent less than £2000 on it over 125000 miles.

My only word of warning was that i bought mine off a known source, regularly serviced ex-company car. It had been maintained money no object. If it hadn’t been, i am not sure it would have been as trouble free.

No DPF on that engine. Mine did 235,000 on original clutch, turbo, egr valve etc. No sign of weakness.

We changed the timing belt and radiator when we bought ours, I think I’ve only changed the oil once when the sump cracked after hitting a sleeping policeman.

The last repair was a rear wheel bearing which was straightforward. The engine mysteriously cut out today with all the lights on the dash coming on, then wouldn’t restart. The AA guy jump started it and it ran and restarted fine thereafter. So maybe its time to get rid.

My only word of warning was that i bought mine of a known source, regularly serviced ex-company car. It had been maintained money no object. If it hadn’t been, i am not sure it would have been as trouble free.

The one I have my eye on has a full dealer service history.

Check for damp in the passenger footwell – my 2005 estate started to leak and I couldn’t find how to fix it.

If you are fussed, check whether the air con compressor is working. Mine went around 160k and was £500 fitted for a new one – although the dealer wanted £850 just for the parts!

This. It’s an engine-out job to replace hence the labour is also astronomical. At last count we had the compressors fail in my Golf, my wife’s Golf, my brother-in-law’s Passat and my father-in-law’s A3, all at about the 4 year mark.

Clutch judder was an issue on mine (they have a tendancy to do that IIRC), and it devoured front tyres. Also the AM waveband went AWOL so no 5Live, but apart from that it was okay… big and dull, and much better than the shitty 140ps new shape Passat that replaced it, on which the dash would regularly light up like a bloody kiddies’ disco.

I have done 100,000 in Passat Tdi’s.
First on , same as yours 100bhp 235k – 312k . NO drama at all , no clutch issues or EGR problems. All I did was change the oil with a flush every 12k. and the air filter every other. Lots of tyres , 1 new rear caliper that was seized fully wound out .

Newer one 186k – 199k so far and is a 130 6 speed. Small issue with not being able to find reverse without some dicking around , ie put it into 3rd , bite clutch then go for reverse.
Not as economical by about 6mpg i reckon , even with the 6 speed.
Damp in the footwell normally battery tray related issue with drain holes.
Mine has parking sensors , cruise, variable radio volume, dimming mirror, traction control. All works as it should. I paid £1300 for mine its a 52 plate in inky blue , estate of course.

They are well made and some low milage B5.5 are on Ebay for more cash than higher milage B6 new shape ones.

A Passat you say? Weren’t you recently considering a Unimog?

You’ve changed, man…

Check for damp in the passenger footwell – my 2005 estate started to leak and I couldn’t find how to fix it.

The drains in the battery/plenum shelf get blocked with leaves/soil, then the collected water seeps in/over the bulkhead seals and floods the cabin. Also, the seal around the pollen filter (next to the battery above N/S footwell) degrades from collected leaves/soil, allowing water to run from the windscreen and gutters straight down the climate-control air intake and into the footwell.

I fixed the battery issue a couple of years ago, but the pollen filter seal went on me last weekend and left an inch or two of water. Luckily, no damage was done to the electrics and VW have given me new seals for free. Shouldn’t have happened in the first place, but at least they’re still looking after old cars – mine’s a 2000.

My old B6 PD was fairly crude, smokey and noisy and the cabin rather plasticky, and the rear tyres wore badly on their inside edges with a sawtooth pattern and lots of thrumming noise. I complained to VW about the tyres and got nowhere but a couple of months later someone from VW UK phoned me and asked for a copy of the photo I’d taken of the sawtooth wear, so they must have been concerned.

The new B7 Tdi is considerably quieter and smoother and is chewing front tyres much faster – about 17,000 miles a pair as opposed to 25,000 miles on the B6. The rear tyres seem to be wearing more evenly and someone has just told me that VW have rearranged the rear suspension to prevent the rear wheels canting inwards at the tops. I can easily get 62 mpg with the new B7 on a gentle A road run.

A Passat you say? Weren’t you recently considering a Unimog?

You’ve changed, man…

Hangs head in shame. The Mog would have been a plaything, we just need a durable runabout for day to day stuff.

Had my golf estate 130 6 speed for almost a year
Got it with 140000 now about 150000 and it’s had a rear caliper
Rear pads shocks all round ( to many hay bails may not have helped )
The dmf is rattling more and more and now it’s got some intermittent abs issue
Was full history etc just way it is with second hand cars

But feels good to drive still all the stuff still works air con cruise etc
Only average 42 but lots of small trips

Oh and erg can leak oil but does not seem to matter

Just had one from a garage as a replacement vehicle when my truck was getting sorted out, 380,000 on the clock! Was running perfectly.

That’s the old shape one then, B5 or B5.5 the facelift version. That engine is famously reliable and the car is decent. The passenger footwell water issue is caused by blocked drains under the battery, google for it. A 2 min job but if unattended leads to the demise of the comfort ecu.

ratherbeintobago – Member

If you are fussed, check whether the air con compressor is working. Mine went around 160k and was £500 fitted for a new one – although the dealer wanted £850 just for the parts!

This. It’s an engine-out job to replace hence the labour is also astronomical. At last count we had the compressors fail in my Golf, my wife’s Golf, my brother-in-law’s Passat and my father-in-law’s A3, all at about the 4 year mark.

It’s not an engine out job – at least not on the Ibiza and that engine bay is packed out like a tin of sardines with that engine in.
Like I say, mine was £500 fitted and the cheapest place I could find just a compressor for online was about £350, so I was quite pleased at how reasonable it was.

Mines on 188,000 now.

Clutch@50,000 (under warranty dealer).
Cambelt@120,000(£500 local garage)
Turbo@160,000(£700 did it myself)
Discs and wheel bearings@170,000(£150 did em myself)
Its also had a few steering arms here and there. Im the second owner picked with a full dealer history.

The car is now being driven by almost ex missus, still wont die or do less than 50mpg.

I was in it recently and thought the aircon was sounding a little noisy, which doesnt bode well given the above post.

Three words…
Electric Parking Brake
Mine was a nightmare to begin with, failing at junctions and leaving you stuck! Had to disconnect the battery to get it to reset (still keep a terminal sized socket in the glove box).
In the end it cost nigh on £1,100.00 to sort and IIRC that only replaced one rear caliper.
Other than that fault free motoring on a 55 plate 1.9tdi 🙂

I got rid of my 2001 one after 12 years. I did really like the car even if it corners like a bus. I had the following issues as the car got older:
-Front suspension arms changed every 18 months.
-Head gasket at 120k miles.
-turbo boost sensor
-front springs
-injector wiring
-flooding from the usual blocked holes (holes are hidden and out of
reach. Rotted through the brake servo which allowed the water to get
sucked into the engine sump (might have caused the headgasket to go?)
-electric window cable snapped.

Bought a Mazda 6 in the end; come out much better in reliability surveys!

Three words…
Electric Parking Brake

Not on the B5s afaik. And on the B6 the caliper motor, whilst expensive at about £230, is nowhere near £1,100! And apparently from I think 2008 on they changed the design to be better. Sounds like you need a better garage, suspension arms every 18 months implies some other undiagnosed issue.

I have exactly that car. with 163k on the clock.

just passed it’s MOT with no problems. 40mpg round town, 55 on a run. pretty quick, quiet, refined. big.

best car I’ve ever had.

FWIW, i’ll be selling mine within a month or so.
135K miles, black, 130bhp TDI B5.5 Version, fair condition inside & out and drives/goes well. Had a few niggles sorted in the last few months, probably go through its next MOT with no problem.
Just too big for us & prefer hatchbacks. We’d only want £1.3k, based in Somerset.

FWIW, i’ll be selling mine within a month or so.

I’ve emailed you.

Well I can recommend buying a well service VAG product with 166000 miles. I flew down to Exeter this morning and just the Passat, it felt like a car with half the miles.

Exeter to Fife with still 150 miles left in the tank. Modern diesels are awesome.

The previous owner was a Doctor and had serviced it meticulously.

looks tidy, how much was it?

A nice looking car, hope it continues to give good service.

looks tidy, how much was it?

£1900. It has a history file as thick as a phone book.

Mr McMoonter, if I had known I would have taxied you in a similar Passat to your new car and stocked you up with a decent mug of coffee for your big journey.

Bought mine new, well a garage registered one with 800 miles on the clock in 2003. It was supposed to do 3 years as mine car and then become the family/wife’s car. However 11 years later I am unwilling to let it go.

Up to 90k I just replaced pads and wiper blades and the cam belt, then front discs at 90k. It now now has 145 and was about to sell it again but my son said he would like it in a year or two so even though it goes well it was getting a little tired (looks great) so we thought a re-fresh would help. So new discs, same on the back, 312s now on the front, new struts and springs (went for B12s – same height and stiffness but better damping and not much more than org Vw) new intercooler, egr valve and ever important cam belt. We bought all the parts, all OE kit (but B12s), if you shop around it can be bought upto 50% off. Only giving this list as I reckon most this mileage will be tired in those areas. Told turbo and clutch can go from around this mileage but can also last to 200k plus.

Ours has a new lease of life, doesn’t wallow, corners damn flat but Sports are low and you have to be carefully around speed bumps. Goes surprisingly quick, (quicker than a friends A6 V6 tdi) I think a lot of the 130s, especially if the cooler, pipe work and egr valve are good, put out a touch more than 130 – and all around 50mpg if keeping progress and no worse than 42 if rapid.

Pretty amazing around cars !

suspension arms every 18 months

That sounds like our Galaxy. 😕

Three words…
Electric Parking Brake
Mine was a nightmare to begin with, failing at junctions and leaving you stuck!

I only ever had two issues with mine. One was the price of the oil, could only be sourced from a VAG dealer and was something mental like £20/litre, the other was the parking brake occasionally failing to release. It once did it as I was at the front of the queue trying to disembark a ferry from Ireland; if you were behind me that day, I’m very sorry.

Couldn’t tell you what revision it was, would’ve been something like 2005-6 vintage.

Google would suggest I had a B6.

mcmoonter very interested to see how you get on. I’ve always liked that era of Passat but ‘scared’ of them at high mileage.

Dunno about this oil issue. Yes you do need a special oil for PD engines, and you also need long life oil IF you have the car set to long life service schedule, but you can buy it in Halfords. It’s not that expensive either, no more so than any of their other premium oils.

mcmoonter very interested to see how you get on. I’ve always liked that era of Passat but ‘scared’ of them at high mileage.

Hora, I drove the 500 miles from Exeter to Fife in seven hours. The engine was super torquey, no rattles or squeaks. It cornered well and the brakes were good. The fuel economy is very good. General build quality on what is a family car is super strong. It had been vacuumed but the interior looked as good as new. It had been well looked after, I’ve got a history file as thick as a phone book.

I bought it for my folks for plant gathering duties, but Im on the look out for another for when the mothership dies.

From what I’ve read on here the 1.9tdi seems capable of many more miles. Why you would need to spend more on a car I don’t know?